Damrosch presents a nice overview of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, along with a mini-biography of the author that is essential to understanding the book. While hailing Gibbon as both a great writer and great historian, who can still be read as a historian, he i not oblivious to the book's faults, many of which have to do with the severe lack of information Gibbon had to work with compared to the archaeological evidence modern historians enjoy. Damrosch also points out some of Gibbons' biases that may detract from the work in the opinion of some readers--although they may weigh positively in the eyes of others. As someone who has read 5 of the 8 volumes of the Folio Society's edition of Gibbon, I can say this was much easier to get into. I found that there were moments when reading Gibbon that I could get into a zone where everything just flowed, but they didn't come often enough. Damrosch's explanation of Gibbon's writing style may help when I finally venture back into the story. ( )