'A beautifully written book, often whimsical in style and always stimulating.'

Jennifer Hewett (Australian)

'A mesmerising book on the similarities between the superpowers of Rome and the USA.'

(Financial Times)

The New Rome? 'is just about a perfect book. Cullen Murphy is deeply knowledgeable about the classical world, but his erudition is presented with a sly and witty touch. He is equally sophisticated about modern politics and the real strengths and weaknesses of American culture and the American model. I wish every politician would spend an evening with this book. Since the beginning, Americans have nervously compared themselves to Rome. I don't think the exercise has ever been as instructive or entertaining as what Cullen Murphy has produced.'

James Fallows (International correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly)

'Cullen Murphy has written a book of remarkable richness. A brisk, learned, and highly entertaining tour of the last three millennia, Are We Rome? imbues readers with both foreboding and hope. And it serves as an urgent, ever-so-timely reminder that what we cherish in America will only be lasting if we make it so.'

Samantha Power, prize-winning author of The Problem from Hell

'The New Rome is an insightful and intelligent analysis of the contemporary US, given fresh meaning by Murphy's easy familiarity with the Roman Empire.'

Dennis Altman (Australian Literary Review)

'The New Rome? is a thoughtful and nuanced read that makes its points carefully with wry humour.'

David Costello (Courier Mail)

'Murphy invokes imperial Roman history as a way of demonstrating the lessons to be learned from the past, and the results are provocative and challenging.'

Lucy Clark (Sunday Telegraph)

'An elegant, learned, and graceful book that offers wise analysis and shrewd prescriptions. We could be Rome, Murphy says, but we don't have to be if we "focus on the handful of big factors that are substantially within our control." Read in the light of the mess we're in, this is a disturbing book brimming with hope.'

E.J. Dionne Jr, author of Why Americans Hate Politics

Murphy 'appears to have read absolutely everything on his subject, and with a keen editor’s eye and a deft touch on the keyboard, has compressed his argument into a lively and readable book. It’s rich in scholarship, stories and anecdotes, and hooks you on page one ... You may come away shaking your head with worry, but you’ll also be grinning with insight as to how we might get out of this historical mess.'

Christopher Buckley (ForbesLife)

'provocative and lively'

Walter Isaacson (New York Times)

'Murphy wears his erudition lightly and delivers a lucid, pithy and perceptive study in comparative history, with some sharp points.'

Publisher's Weekly

'This is a concise, tightly argued book that deserves the attention of everyone interested in international current affairs and the world their children and grandchildren will live in.'

Graham Cooke (Canberra Times)