Vanishing American

Does anyone know of any good books about diversity and the Roman Empire? Rome was, of course, one of the few pre-modern political entities that allowed people of practically any ethnic background to have citizenship. It might be thought of as the most noteworthy past example of a "proposition nation".

I have heard Are We Rome? by Cullen Murphy mentioned, although I am a bit skeptical about how good it is from what I've heard. Has anyone read it?

Rome was, of course, one of the few pre-modern political entities that allowed people of practically any ethnic background to have citizenship.

The Romans didn't actually grant universal citizenship to their subjects until the early third century AD under the Emperor Septimius Severus (the first African Emperor ironically). Indeed, citizenship was often a source of strife as virtually all who fell under the Roman yoke were expected to provide soldiers for the legions yet they were not afforded the same rights of Rome's inhabitants.

Initially only the inhabitants of Rome and their colonies were granted citizenship. Then, either during or after, the Second Punic War all of the Latin Confederation were given citizenship. By Caesar’s time there was a call for all of Italy to be granted citizenship.

Typically the most common means of obtaining citizenship was service in the legions. Around 110 BC Gaius Marius enacted what would be known as the Marian Reform which would dramatically change the makeup of Roman citizenship. It was mainly a military reform but one of it's most popular features granted citizenship to free born males and their families after 16 years of service in the legions. The result was that the legions had become dominated by a foreign element in Sulla's day. By the time Caesar crossed the Rubicon much of the Abintine (the lower class quarters of Rome) was dominated by the descendents of foreign soldiers. This led to increasingly violent clashed between gangs backed by the Optimist and Conservative factions throughout the city.

I find the Republican era to be far more relevant to our current state than the Empire (though there is much overlap between these periods). People like Marius and Caesar were members of the Optimist faction which lobbied for land reforms, wealth redistribution and universal suffrage. Indeed, the use of democracy was one of their principal tools to bring about tyranny which is why there was such a desire to grant voting rights to non-Latins amongst the Optimists.

As for books, I've only read Gibson's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire concerning the Empire. It touches somewhat on the effects immigration had on Roman culture but they are few and far between and it's a massive work. To gauge Roman attitudes toward ethnicity and class (which was typically far more divisive in Roman society) Livy is invaluable. Any of his the surviving books of The Ab Urbe Condita delve into the social strife concerning ethnicity and the struggle for citizenship and suffrage. If you want something that delves into all the effects that brought down the Republic and want it in a highly entertaining fashion, I would recommend Tom Holland's Rubicon. It has something of a 60s bias especially in it's Marxist slant of the class wars that plagued Rome but ultimately it does a nice job of tackling all the issues that would have enabled such a proud and independent people as the Romans to accept an Emperor.