The following books are available in the bookstore.

John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, The Roman World, OUP, 1988 (1996)
Janet Huskinson ed., Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire, Routledge, 2000
Paul Veyne,The Roman Empire, Harvard University Press, 1997
Plutarch, Roman Lives, transl. Robin Waterfield, OUP, 2000
Livy, The Early History of Rome, Penguin, 1971.
Tacitus, The Annals, Penguin, 1985.

The followings readings are available online. Links to them are also found on the syllabus.

Primary:

Polybius 6.11-18 (The Roman Constitution)
The Twelve Tables
Elogia from the Tomb of the Scipios
Polybius 38.3-11 (The destruction of Carthage)
Suetonius, Life of Claudius
Augustus, Res Gestae
Horace, Secular Hymn
Josephus, The Jewish War III.5-6 (Roman Army)
Josephus, The Jewish War. VII. 3-7(Roman Army)
Pliny, Epistles book 10.25ff (on Christians)
Seneca, Epistle 7(Spectacles in the Arena)
Herodian on the accession of Didius Julianus
Petition to the Emperor Philip the Arab

Secondary:

Using Historical Sources
Bartlett, "How excessive government killed ancient Rome," The Cato Journal 14 1994