"Explains that in 200 A.D. Rome was a far-flung empire which reached from the Middle East to Spain and from northern Africa to Great Britain, and that in 476, it was invaded and looted by barbarian tribes and ceased to exist as an empire. Uses actual settings in France, England, the Near East and Rome to present the political, social, and economic forces which weakened the Empire from within and the forces from without which brought about its decline." - Summary from Worldcat.