{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Intellectual History","slug":"new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753","podcast_index_feed_id":1045753,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/w9MOrNGB","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/ea7b1c52-c072-4295-b066-cec4067bc5e2/849571c7-bcd2-4e7f-b939-f60b0b82e141/3000x3000/7b472a09e0ba06314b3d8cd1401cd52a.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":600,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history","last_synced_at":"2026-09-19T12:22:14.721883+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753"},"episode":{"title":"Why the Roman Empire Fell: On Edward Gibbon with Hugh Liebert","slug":"why-the-roman-empire-fell-on-edward-gibbon-with-hugh-liebert","published_at":"2026-08-13T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753/why-the-roman-empire-fell-on-edward-gibbon-with-hugh-liebert","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/ea7b1c52-c072-4295-b066-cec4067bc5e2/episodes/9ab351c8-10ad-4d7a-a59f-ad4885bd1438/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=ea7b1c52-c072-4295-b066-cec4067bc5e2&awEpisodeId=9ab351c8-10ad-4d7a-a59f-ad4885bd1438&feed=w9MOrNGB","summary":"250 years ago when the United States declared independence, Edward Gibbon across the ocean published the first volume of his magisterial series, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Immediately his text caused a storm of controversy. Many readers thought that Gibbon had implied that the rise of Christianity caused the fall of the western empire. But is that the real story? To answer that question, in Episode 1 of Season 6, I have as our guest Hugh Liebert. A Professor of Political Science at West Point, he earned his doctorate through the Committee on Social Thought at UChicago, and has written two books: Plutarch’s Politics (2016), and Gibbon’s Christianity (2022). Drawing on Gibbon’s Christianity, we look at the historian’s paradoxical views on religion, his early conversions to both Catholicism and Protestantism, and how he used those experiences to chronicle the early church as a disciplined new republic that overcame decadent Roman polytheism much as how the Roman Republic conquered aged empires. Along the way, we discuss Gibbon’s ironic and elusive style, his larger essays and memoirs, and the love of literary glory that pervades his fascinating life and complex work. Hosted by Ryan Shinkel, Madison’s Notes is the podcast of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. The transcript for this interview is available on the JMP substack page, “Madison’s Footnotes.” Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history","meta_description":"250 years ago when the United States declared independence, Edward Gibbon across the ocean published the first volume of his magisterial series, The Decli…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3401,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753/episodes/why-the-roman-empire-fell-on-edward-gibbon-with-hugh-liebert/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-intellectual-history-1045753/why-the-roman-empire-fell-on-edward-gibbon-with-hugh-liebert.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}