Bangladesh, May 18 -- Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome contrives to be both an irresistibly good read-open at random and you will keep reading till supper-and a major contribution to the history of the Roman Empire. It's a very high standard to meet, considering that the serious study of history as such started with the 19th-century German historians of the Roman Empire.

Setting aside the tales of writers ancient or modern, they were the first to line up the hard evidence of documents, inscriptions, coins, archaeology, to tell their story by stepping from fact to fact, frankly recognizing the gaps, and never ever weaseling past ignorance with "must have beens."

Instead of shrinking historical writing, the new rule triggered a hunt for evi...