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Review
A work of tremendous authority and breadth. With this book, as with Charlemagne's empire, one feels that an extraordinary range of things have been brought together (Noel Malcolm Sunday Telegraph )
Intensely rewarding (Jonathan Sumption Spectator )
Almost every page is full of arresting details and insights ... and a sharp eye for a revealing anecdote, illuminating even the murkiest corners of the so-called Dark Ages (Dominic Sandbrook Daily Telegraph )
Intensely rewarding (Jonathan Sumption Spectator )
Almost every page is full of arresting details and insights ... and a sharp eye for a revealing anecdote, illuminating even the murkiest corners of the so-called Dark Ages (Dominic Sandbrook Daily Telegraph )
Review
'[displays] meticulous scholarship ... The breadth of reading is astounding, the knowledge displayed is awe-inspiring'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 62 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read this book a few months ago and just picked it up again having read Dominic Sandbrook's effervescent review (above).
There has been a glut of historians chronicling the demise of the Roman Empire and the immediate aftermath (if the next 500/1000 years can be termed such). On my shelf are Tom Holland (Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom - Sep 2008), James O'Donnell (The Ruin of Rome - Feb 09), Adrian Goldsworthy (The Fall Of The West: The Death Of The Roman Superpower - Feb 09) and Peter Heather (Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe -Jun 2009). Collectively they catalogue the politics of the marbled empire descending into brutal muddy village squabbles. For the general reader seeking good writing, not an academic or someone seeking to pass exams these books are - at best - dull. The problem is a) they cover so much, politics and military entanglements, emerging economic, social and ecclesiastical structures and b) the evidence is complicated and controversial, as are the primary sources and archaeological data. Dr Wickhams' book is hardcore academic history covering six centuries and almost all of the European ""theatre" in 560 pages. He dispels the myth of the dark ages and charts the birth of nations (or entities that name can be applied to - I struggled with this). It is well written but I have a problem with this - and these - collective histories(this being part of the 8 book Penguin history of Europe). They tend to be formulaic, get it all down and fill the library shelves. Perhaps written to a deadline rather than with passion.
In these books, and specifically this book, the quantity of material and quality of interpretation is demanding if not frustrating as the non-specialist reader seeks to pull all the elements together. For their authors they are academic rights of passage, and if they get accepted as definitive historical reference the sales follow. But many of the books that got me through my undergraduate (and postgraduate) exams were instantly forgettable. I wonder had Wickham adopted thematic approach, for example the history of taxation over the same period would you get an astonishing historical perspective, political, economic and social. I find the publicani an intriguing, illuminating aspect in understanding Rome, pros and cons. All Kings tax! That would be a great book for a scholar of Wickhams's ability - some commissioning editor could make a career on this one.
Apparently Dominic Sandbrook is a cultural commentator. I wondered if his review were a spoof. Some 43 people appear to think not though "some of the people all of the time" comes to mind. My reading was this book is a excellent chronicle, all of the facts in a logical order. This is not a revisionist tirade, that the Barbarians were meek and mild (the Monty Python / Terry Jones thesis), more a well-reasoned essay in adaptation and evolution over a lot of geography. This is a work of historical scholarship but as for Sandbrook's comment that "The new year may be only a month old, but it is hard to believe that it will produce many more enduring and impressive history books than this...... No review, in fact, can really do this book justice: it is a superlative work of historical scholarship " suggests to me care in the community may have gone too far. Of the five books noted here, read one only unless you want to get serious (or confused). I'd personally opt for Peter Heather (above) or The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History also by Peter Heather (May 2006). Just how do you reach a conclusion short of doing a Phd and adding a new book to the crowded shelves?
There has been a glut of historians chronicling the demise of the Roman Empire and the immediate aftermath (if the next 500/1000 years can be termed such). On my shelf are Tom Holland (Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom - Sep 2008), James O'Donnell (The Ruin of Rome - Feb 09), Adrian Goldsworthy (The Fall Of The West: The Death Of The Roman Superpower - Feb 09) and Peter Heather (Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe -Jun 2009). Collectively they catalogue the politics of the marbled empire descending into brutal muddy village squabbles. For the general reader seeking good writing, not an academic or someone seeking to pass exams these books are - at best - dull. The problem is a) they cover so much, politics and military entanglements, emerging economic, social and ecclesiastical structures and b) the evidence is complicated and controversial, as are the primary sources and archaeological data. Dr Wickhams' book is hardcore academic history covering six centuries and almost all of the European ""theatre" in 560 pages. He dispels the myth of the dark ages and charts the birth of nations (or entities that name can be applied to - I struggled with this). It is well written but I have a problem with this - and these - collective histories(this being part of the 8 book Penguin history of Europe). They tend to be formulaic, get it all down and fill the library shelves. Perhaps written to a deadline rather than with passion.
In these books, and specifically this book, the quantity of material and quality of interpretation is demanding if not frustrating as the non-specialist reader seeks to pull all the elements together. For their authors they are academic rights of passage, and if they get accepted as definitive historical reference the sales follow. But many of the books that got me through my undergraduate (and postgraduate) exams were instantly forgettable. I wonder had Wickham adopted thematic approach, for example the history of taxation over the same period would you get an astonishing historical perspective, political, economic and social. I find the publicani an intriguing, illuminating aspect in understanding Rome, pros and cons. All Kings tax! That would be a great book for a scholar of Wickhams's ability - some commissioning editor could make a career on this one.
Apparently Dominic Sandbrook is a cultural commentator. I wondered if his review were a spoof. Some 43 people appear to think not though "some of the people all of the time" comes to mind. My reading was this book is a excellent chronicle, all of the facts in a logical order. This is not a revisionist tirade, that the Barbarians were meek and mild (the Monty Python / Terry Jones thesis), more a well-reasoned essay in adaptation and evolution over a lot of geography. This is a work of historical scholarship but as for Sandbrook's comment that "The new year may be only a month old, but it is hard to believe that it will produce many more enduring and impressive history books than this...... No review, in fact, can really do this book justice: it is a superlative work of historical scholarship " suggests to me care in the community may have gone too far. Of the five books noted here, read one only unless you want to get serious (or confused). I'd personally opt for Peter Heather (above) or The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History also by Peter Heather (May 2006). Just how do you reach a conclusion short of doing a Phd and adding a new book to the crowded shelves?
37 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although very well written, with plenty of personal anecdote to enliven it, this volume in the Penguin History of Europe Series is definitely aimed at the serious student of history; I thought I knew quite a lot about the so-called Dark Ages, but Professor Wickham shows just how much there is to know. Those who have readMillennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom Tom Holland's excellent book, which partly overlaps Professor Wickham's, will no doubt want to progress to "The Inheritance of Rome" - but be warned! It is very dense and will keep you absorbed for a long time.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book profoundly useful, both as a narrative overview which covered societies and regions which are often ignored (such as Ireland), and as a stimulus for further research and consideration. We need some books available outside specialist academic libraries to people who are seriously interested in a topic. As Mr. McRorie says, there have been several books on this period written for a more generalist market, and a good thing too. But that doesn't mean that there is no place for a more in depth study.
I find this book to run on very effectively from Peter Beard's Fall of Rome, and to stand beside that, Gibbon, Norwich's Byzantium trilogy and the Konemann 'Romanesque' (for visual reference) to form a useful bedrock of books to consult on a regular basis. It seemed to me to be both more considered, more wide-ranging and less judgemental than Roger Collins 'Early Medieval Europe' which covers a similar period.
I find this book to run on very effectively from Peter Beard's Fall of Rome, and to stand beside that, Gibbon, Norwich's Byzantium trilogy and the Konemann 'Romanesque' (for visual reference) to form a useful bedrock of books to consult on a regular basis. It seemed to me to be both more considered, more wide-ranging and less judgemental than Roger Collins 'Early Medieval Europe' which covers a similar period.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
incredibly detailed
I would say that if you are reading for pleasure, this book is the way to go. But if you need this book to write an essay it takes a very long time to get to the point and uses... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Aysha
A Really Good Book That Can Be Challenging to Read
This is a challenging book to read. There is so much information crammed into every page that you have to read slowly or you'll miss something. And there are 550 pages of this. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Stuart McCunn
Serious and informative
Simply excellent. Ok so it perhaps assumes a certain level of knowledge but this is a comprehensive, balanced and well written history that succeeds in providing a fluid narrative... Read more
Published 15 months ago by V. Morgan
A huge feast, not without flaws
Most of the rave reviews, and indeed the most critical ones of this book, have come from historians. This gives the general reader relatively little guidance. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Peasant
Is this a book for the general reader?
This is an outstanding book. Wide-ranging in scope, deeply scholarly but wearing that scholarship lightly, and very fluently written. I would most definitely recommend it. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Slow Lorris
Very Very Informative and Interesting
I thought I understood the post-Roman world pretty well, but the depth of knowledge and erudition displayed in this work is exceptional. Read more
Published 19 months ago by F. Collier
A bit too much
An excellently written text with an enormous wealth of information. But this is not for the light-hearted, casually interested learner, or even student and well versed reader of... Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. Adamowski
Heavy Going.
This is a fascinating book covering a spread of history for which documentation (after the Roman Empire) is sketchy to non existant. Read more
Published on 23 May 2010 by Neil Hugh Holliday
A missed opportunity; not radical, not great
The central thesis is that Rome evolved and did not collapse. The book covers 500 years to 1000. It covers most of Europe a bit of Africa and a bit of Asia. It is too broad. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2010 by P. Latimer
Huge and somewhat unsatisfactory
A long (600 pages plus, including bibliography) study of the early Middle Ages (from 400 to 1000, as the subtitle helpfully adds). Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2010 by Andres C. Salama
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