Commonweal offers summer reading suggestions in its June 15 issue. I'd like to add a book to that list, Cullen Murphy's Are We Rome? (Houghton Mifflin). Subtitled: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America. As usual with Murphy, a lot ofnuance, wit, and real knowledge (about the Roman Empire and the American one). The comparisons he makes are complex and fascinating; he does not overplay the metaphor--yet it is sobering. All who love Prince Valiant will find much to appreciate here.