The last half century of the Western Roman Empire is retold through the eyes of its Empress, Galla Placida. The reader experiences her evolution from debutante to barbarian hostage, Goth Queen, Empress, exiled Augusta, regent and dowager. The story opens with the sacking of Rome by the Goths in 410 A.D. The morphology of Rome is detailed from the time of Hannibal through Romulus Augustulus' deposition marking the conclusive end of the Western Roman Empire in 476. Galla refuses to succumb to the proclivities of fate as she wrestles with moral conventions and the natural human urge to accumulate power. The lessons the protagonist learned from the precedent Republic and Empire become a thought-provoking process for the reader. Plato's denial of self-evident truths, as reinforced by the likes of Cicero, reminds us with stark clarity of the dangers we face today. Further, that insanity rules groups and is the stimulation that feeds the perils that threaten our present world. A Farewell to Reason compels us to ponder, ""What might we learn?"" Rome was unable to reverse its last downward spiral because reason was cast aside. Can we allow this to happen today?