Provides an accessible overview of the achievement of Edward Gibbon (1737-94), one of the world's greatest historians.

Chronology; Introduction Karen O'Brien; 1. An overview of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire J. G. A. Pocock; 2. Gibbon's geographies Robert Mayhew; 3. Gibbon and the city of Rome Catharine Edwards; 4. Do Byzantine historians sill read Gibbon? Mark Whittow; 5. Gibbon among the Barbarians George Woudhuysen; 6. Gibbon and enlightenment history in eighteenth-century Britain Tim Stuart-Buttle; 7. Gibbon and republicanism Béla Kapossy and Richard Whatmore; 8. Gibbon and Catholicism B. W. Young; 9. Gibbon's Style in The Decline and Fall Fred Parker; 10. Gibbon's mind and libraries Robert Mankin; 11. The Memoirs and Character of the Historian Charlotte Roberts; 12. Afterword: a new Gibbon manuscript David Womersley.