I have a couple of books I can recommend. I’ll put them in order of least complex to more complex, because I’m betting you’ll eventually want to read the more complicated stuff, like i did.

“History of the ancient world” - Susan Wise Bauer. Now this book is a world history book. But her coverage of Roman history is really good and not too far complex that you won’t be able to understand it. It’s great if you’re just getting into Roman history.

“The history of medieval world” Susan Wise Bauer. This book covers the late Roman Empire ( among other things ) and again is great for the fall of Rome, highly recommend it for the reasons listed on the other book.

“SPQR” Mary Beard. This book is nice for people just getting into Rome and it decently in depth for a beginner. You may find some of her other works interesting if you get more into Rome.

“The Rise of Rome” Anthony Everitt. This book goes through the founding of Rome to about the start of the Empire. It’s great if you want a more complex look at early Rome.

“A short history of Byzantium” John Julius Norwich. This is a food book as it covers the eastern Roman Empire and eventually the Byzantine ( if you’re into that) and gives a good overview of the eastern Roman Empire.

“The Punic Wars” Adrian Goldsworthy. This book looks at the Punic wars and goes decently in depth into all 3 wars. It’s very good if you are interested in Hannibal and the Punic age, very good book.

“Caesar” Adrian Goldsworthy. This book looks at Julius Caesar in depth. This is great if you want to look at the fall of the Roman republic through his eyes. It’s pretty good and I’m personally a big military history guy and I really like this one.

“Belisarius” This book looks at the Eastern Roman Reconquest of Africa and Italy while it gives an overview of what many call the last Roman general and one of my personal favorites, Belisarius, if you like an underdog story, you’ll like this biography as it goes into the age of the last real Roman emperor.

“The Fate Of Rome” Kyle Harper. This book covers how climate, disease and other factors played a role into the rise of the Romans to the fall of their empire. If you’re into science than you really may like this one. It also gives a great overview of how plagues were a major downfall if not the most important factor into the fall of the Roman Empire.

“The Inheritance Of Rome” Chris Wickham. This book looks at the end of the Roman Empire in serious depth while also looking at the successor states, The Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Islamic powers, Franks ect and explains how Rome as a cultural icon never actually fell.

These are some of my favorites, I even used “The Fate Of Rome” in one of my college papers, happy reading!