I had the opportunity to read a translated version of this book, unfortunately it has been impossible to get an original version of it. (Update to my comment, in 2004, thanks to Amazon making available buying used books, I had the opportunity to buy an english version of the book, that I am now reading for a second time)The decline of Rome is explained using modern economic concepts. While reading this book, I kept on comparing Rome to our modern world, it looks like there is a hidden lesson in what happened close to 2000 years ago!