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Other widely shared rhetoric referred to the end or collapse of America, often alluding to the fall of Rome.

Critic Jessica Kiang said “Megalopolis” “is a folly of such gargantuan proportions it’s like observing the actual fall of Rome.”

Some anthropologists believe such tainted wine contributed to the fall of Rome more so than lead-laced plumbing.

Instead, Bump tells us what he is sure of — that the aftermath of the boomers will be a nation-shaking historical event, akin to the fall of Rome — but he emphasizes that it could take a few different paths and that boomers themselves are going to wind up largely responsible for their legacy.

Thomas Cahill, who combined a fascination with the ancient world and a gift for droll, exuberant storytelling in best-selling books such as “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” which argued that Ireland was a haven for Western thought during the tumultuous period after the fall of Rome, died Oct.