The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I
A linear detailed presentation of a bunch of Roman Emperors and wannabe emperors after the reign of Marcus Aurelius for which you most likely have never heard of. There's no doubt Gibbon writes better than almost anyone ("all the German men were brave, and their women were chaste, and notwithstanding the latter of these virtues is acquired and preserved with much more difficulty than the former"), but there is a reason why the emperors after 150 AD to 300 AD are so little known today and are best just a footnote instead of the main story of a history.Read at your own risk. Beautifully written, but comprehensive to the point of tedium.
