Today’s episode is a conversation with Dr. Edward Watts. Dr. Watts is the Chair of the History Department at University of California San Diego and author of “Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny”. In today’s episode, Dr. Watts and I discuss this book and look for similarities and differences between the Fall of the Roman Republic and the current moment in the United States. Dr. Watts shares his thoughts on what history can teach us about the future, why Rome is a good model for thinking about the possibilities in the US, why compromise and consensus are important to the healthy operation of government through the lens of the Roman experience, how political violence contributed to the downfall of the Roman Republic and why we should pay attention to the eventual acquiescence of the Roman people to the rule of authoritarians. We also discuss the risks presented by political polarization and other topics.

Dr. Edward Watts: https://history.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/watts.html

Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny: https://amzn.to/3peOilO

Michael Tomasky's book "If We Can Keep It: How the Republic Collapsed and How it Might Be Saved": https://amzn.to/3kapiIJ

The French Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R8ZBm6_H9A&t=3601s