Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire religions that we now label "paganism" was seen as the result of the religious intolerance inherent in the monotheistic Christian faith. The classic expression of this view occurs in the work of Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." As historian Herbert Drake puts it, "It is difficult to overestimate the influence of Gibbon's interpretation on subsequent scholarship." Herbert Drake takes issue with the historiography of Gibbon, arguing that while persecution certainly occurred for religious reasons, that the underlying motivation was consolidation of power in the Constantinian dynasty, which was offered in the form of promoting the cult
Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire by , and the philosopher Adolf Grünbaum's "The Foundations of Psychoanalysis" (1984). He accepts Elizabeth Thornton's argument, made in "Freud and Cocaine" (1983), also published as "The Freudian Fallacy", that Breuer's patient Anna O. suffered from tuberculous meningitis. "Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire" was first published by Viking Press in 1985. The book was published by Pelican Books in 1986. In 2004, a revised edition with a preface by Hans Eysenck's widow, Sybil Eysenck, was published by Transaction Publishers. "Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire" received a positive review from Paul Stuewe in "Quill & Quire", and