THE AUTHOR MARGARET MALAMUD is associate professor of ancient history and Islamic Studies at New Mexico State University. She is co-editor of Imperial Projections: Ancient Rome in Modern Popular Culture (2001).

"Malamud’s analysis provides a key to understanding why the US party system aligns itself with certain issues. To be read by all Americans, as history or a warning. [It is] not just another United States as New Rome, but [has] clear, meaningful comparisons. [It] clarifies our current political trajectory." (About.com (Ancient History Guide), November 2008)

• List of Illustrations viiAcknowledgments xIntroduction 11 Exemplary Romans in the Early Republic 92 Working Men’s Heroes 343 Rome and the Politics of Slavery 704 Corporate Caesars and Radical Reformers 985 Manifest Virtue 1226 The Pleasures of Empire 1507 Screening Rome During the Great Depression 1868 Cold War Romans 2089 Imperial Consumption 229Epilogue 253Bibliography 261Filmography 279Index 280