The New Deal in Old Rome

Westminster's most promising MP has highlighted what sounds like a very promising book: The New Deal in Old Rome, by H.J. Haskell (first published in 1939).

From the conclusion:

The fundamental modern social problem is the problem that Rome failed to solve. It is the problem of building a unified yet free society, with decent minimum standards of living. A society so intelligently and justly organized that there is no menacing submerged class. A society that provides reasonable incentives for the free rise of a general staff of competent managers whose ranks are always open to fresh recruits. A society that develops a social pressure under which leaders accept an enlightened and far-sighted view of their responsibilities. This is the society which the long experience of Rome sets as a goal before the modern world.

72 years later, we still haven't cracked it.

The book is available for free as a PDF.