THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, VOLUME ONE

It's hard to imagine a narration that would better match Gibbon's history of the later Roman Empire than Charlton Griffin's, but the match is problematic. Griffin's rolling baritone and ultra-precise British accent fit the eighteenth-century historian's frequently long, complex sentences and archaic vocabulary, which also demand Griffin's somewhat slow pace. His reading is expressive and conveys Gibbon's tone--often satirical or censorious. But the thick sauce of Griffin's oratory style competes with Gibbon's rich prose, especially at such length (and this is the first third only). Listeners may find their minds wandering too easily. A crisper, sparer, more contemporary reading might have better served book and listeners, who may find they admire the reading more than they enjoy it. W.M. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2013]