History of Rome (Mommsen) historian of his century or of ours. His only rival in any century was Edward Gibbon, whose monumental History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire complements rather than competes with Mommsen's superb description of the Roman republic." One encyclopaedic reference summarizes: "Equally great as antiquary, jurist, political and social historian, Mommsen [had] no rivals. He combined the power of minute investigation with a singular faculty for bold generalization... ." About the "History of Rome" the universal historian Arnold J. Toynbee writes, "Mommsen wrote a great book, which certainly will always be reckoned among the masterpieces of Western
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) accompanying LP. Agreements were finalised on 8 January, but the project was not revealed until a press release on 10 March. Separately, the Kinks began work on the programme's companion record, entitled "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)". Development of "Arthur" occurred during a rough period for the band, due to the commercial failure of their previous album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and the subsequent single, "Plastic Man", as well as the departure of founding member and bassist Pete Quaife. In early 1969, Quaife had told the band he was quitting, though