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I am interested in reading about the rise and fall of ancient Rome but I have very little knowledge of it. As with any subject I assume there are books of varying quality which is why I don't want to just peruse the "Ancient Rome" section at my local chapters. I thought maybe someone could point me in the right direction towards a series of books either by the same author or by a number of authors that would give me a good start on the subject.
Thanks in advance for any help and if this isn't an appropriate question for this sub let me know.
For an overview of the Roman Republic, I can recommend The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic edited by Harriet I. Flower (Cambridge 2004). It has articles on political and military history, Roman society, Rome's empire, and Roman culture. Articles are grouped in those categories; it is no problem skipping an article or a category if you don't think it'll be interesting (you won't know what you're missing though :)
For a proper scholarly discussion of the decline of the Roman Empire, I liked two books: The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180-395 by David S. Potter (London 2004). It covers not just political history but intellectual and cultural history as well. For a slightly more 'old-fashioned' mostly political history of this period, The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine by Pat Southern (London 2001) is a nice read.
Weirdly enough I don't have any recommendations for the Principate, arguably the height of Roman power. It is not a period which has had my interest.
Well, THE book according to many scholars is 'The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire' by Edward Gibbon. Although it was written in the 18th century and there are a couple of inaccuracies/biases, he was WAY ahead of his time in both scholarship and ideas. I would definitely suggest starting there. It starts at the very beginning of the Empire and ends with the last Emperor of Rome (Romulus - ironic?). It includes everything Byzantine as well, which is an amazing time period to read into.
I'm not too sure if there's actually a series of books about the rise and fall of the empire, but I'll recommend a few books:
Livy wrote a very long history of Ancient Rome, and I'd recommend the two Penguin volumes The Early History of Rome and Rome and Italy. These cover the period from the founding of the city up to 293 BC.
Next comes Polybius, who wrote a history that details the dramatic rise of the Roman republic from the First Punic War. Alternatively you could read Adrian Goldsworthy's book on the Punic Wars imaginatively titled "The Punic Wars". I haven't read it though, so I can't vouch for its quality, but I hear it is very good.
There are loads of books on the decline and collapse of the Roman republic. One is Rubicon by Tom Holland which is significantly less weighty than the books I've just recommended!
With the early Imperial period, you could try and read the works of Tacitus to get an understanding of the period. You could also read the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius. I'm afraid I haven't read an actual work that details the period after Domitian to Marcus Aurelius sadly!
Regarding the long decline of Rome, you could read Fall of the West by Adrian Goldsworthy. You could also read an abridged version of Gibbon's Decline and Fall though it is very long and some of its views are quite outdated (considering that it was written in the 18th century) but it still is very good.
If there were a few books you should read to get an understanding for general Roman history, I'd read Rubicon, Tacitus' Annals and Fall of the West. It would provide you with quite a bit of information about the Roman period.
There's also a book list in the resources section if you want more.