Product Description

The idea that with the decline of the Roman Empire Europe entered into some immense ‘dark age’ has long been viewed as inadequate by many historians. How could a world still so profoundly shaped by Rome and which encompassed such remarkable societies as the Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian empires, be anything other than central to the development of European history? How could a world of so many peoples, whether expanding, moving or stable, of Goths, Franks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, whose genetic and linguistic inheritors we all are, not lie at the heart of how we understand ourselves? The Inheritance of Rome is a work of remarkable scope and ambition. Drawing on a wealth of new material, it is a book which will transform its many readers’ ideas about the crucible in which Europe would in the end be created. From the collapse of the Roman imperial system to the establishment of the new European dynastic states, perhaps this book’s most striking achievement is to make sense of an immensely long period of time, experienced by many generations of Europeans, and which, while it certainly included catastrophic invasions and turbulence, also contained long periods of continuity and achievement. From Ireland to Constantinople, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, this is a genuinely Europe-wide history of a new kind, with something surprising or arresting on every page.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61702 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 720 pages

Review
'Chris Wickham is the leading expert on early medieval Europe, and [The Inheritance of Rome]is ... refreshingly different from all the traditional accounts ... 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, and that it may be a long time before they are united so successfully again' --Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

Review
'[displays] meticulous scholarship ... The breadth of reading is astounding, the knowledge displayed is awe-inspiring'

Review
'Wickham covers ... momentous changes with great skill, deftly mixing narrative and analysis, and explaining much that is difficult or unapproachable in this fascinating period ... it is intensely rewarding ... it is hard to imagine the job being done better.'

Customer Reviews

Hardcore history, but not a classic
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?

One for the serious student
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.

I am not so happy
In 500 plus pages this is an overview of the period 400 to 1000 A.D. It has been widely praised in the national press and on this site. BUT I have to say that I was disapointed for two reasons. Firstly because, in general, the enormous scope of the book makes it impossible to generalise about the different cultures from Spain to Armenia and everything in between. In consequence many of his statements on, for example, the aristocracy or the peasants have to so qualified as to make them not very valuable. Secondly because space does not allow him to deal adequately with some important matters. For example, I could not understand how or why the Visigoths came to overrun France and Spain, nor how the Lombards came into northern Italy. Further, I dont think he dealt adequately with the history and influence of the Roman Church. (I am not a historian and perhaps he takes the reader's general knowlege too much for granted). Having said all that, he writes excellently and I read the book with pleasure while forming these reservations.