I can only imagine a very small group of specialists interested in this period that was described not very long ago as the “Dark Ages” to go into such detail but for an amateur history student like me it is much like my reading a Chinese history textbook where most of the names and violent events remain Dark Ages. “The Weight of the Empire” describes the overextended Roman Empire in first period covered very well but “Crisis and Continuity” is a curious chapter title for the fifth Century Rome. First, the Germans halted the Roman advance with Arminius’ victory in the Teutoberg Forest. It seems sound and I like the breadth of vision in trying to incorporate Western, Byzantine and Islamic views. The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 by Chris Wickham starting at $8.64. Just to be clear: Chris Wickham does not believe that he can explain anything. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I went into this with high hopes, but the subtitle of this book 'Illuminating the Dark Ages' could not be less accurate. The reviewer who mentions a pointillist writing style used a good term - except that with the painter Seurat the dots actually cohere into a composition. Perhaps they don't exist--but what was the literacy rate? But it seems forced to consider that movement as part of the Roman 'inheritance'. Chapter such as these might as well have been done simply as a genealogical table or a dictionary with names and dates. Lots going on. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. I suppose it would be fair to say that it reads more like a textbook (not in the best way) than a book of erudition aimed at a readership without history degrees. “he sacked Rome in 410, an event which shocked the Roman world much as 11 September 2001 shocked the United States, a huge, upsetting, symbolic blow to its self-confidence; but it was without other repercussions,”, “To survive, Byzantine society and politics folded itself around the state.”, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph & Diversity 200-1000, Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568, Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800, New African American Histories and Biographies to Read Now. Yet. Let me also add that this "enlightening" of the period is exactly what in many ways was promised (and even required) from this work, yet I think there's a partially missing field, as we'll see. He was also accused of sexual assault. That was attractive to me because I had considered this field back many moon ago when I was contemplating grad school and when the field was beginning to experience a modest revival. But a lot of it is endless lists of what kings did what and where...tedious. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of. There's something to be said for resistance to grand narratives about the broad sweep of history. It also dates itself by not taking climatic events into account. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. If I took time to talk to those who don’t appreciate this period of history, I would tell them to read this book because Wickham tells this history better than almost anyone. Like the earlier book, The Inheritance of Rome is more concerned with the uses the people of the era made of their understanding of the past than with giving a straightforward chronology of the era. I’ve never been a fan of the term “dark ages,” or all the connotations, thoughts, and ideas that people – historians and laymen, Many people refer to the period of 400-1000 as the “dark ages.” After the fall of Rome, when society in Western Europe shut down, people went back to simple, primitive ways – terms like savages and barbarians are often used – as they squabbled and fought against each other, killing mercilessly for a bit of land; the only beacon of hope the growing light of Christianity. Even if the ‘Dark Ages’ had been exaggerated by early scholars, my impression was still that not much intellectual progress had been made in Europe after the Greek Hellenistic period (as opposed to in India and the Islamic world) - and that this state of affairs deteriorated after the collapse of the Roman Empire - until the 16th and 17th Centuries. 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. A basic chronology of major events might have been a real help. Not even the Charlemagne chapter interested me. He repeats this over and over, so you'll not get the wrong idea. Perhaps the Dark Ages are something like that--unknowable. The Oxford scholar who wrote this tome in no doubt a specialist who knows more about this period than most who read this work. Who among us doesn’t love Western History from 400 CE to 1000 CE? The Inheritance of Rome brilliantly presents a fresh understanding of the crucible in which Europe would ultimately be created. This book includes the Arab world, Egypt and North Africa, the Byzantine Empire, etc., and again is grounded as firmly as possible in archaeology and critical readings of original source texts. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. And yet I did read it and enjoy it almost every day for several months and finished it. This history is at its worst when it becomes such a forest of names, all too often with just “d. Very rare that I skim through a book, or even with a skimming give it less than 3 stars but here we are. The rapid Arab movement is still surprising considering the myriad internal dissent and civil wars among them, the continuous assassinations, not unlike in Rome in the fourth Century. Like the earlier book, The Inheritance of Rome is more concerned with the uses the people of the era made of their understanding of the past than with giving a straightforward chronology of the era. In many ways brilliant. A unique and enlightening look at Europe's so-called Dark Ages Defying the conventional Dark Ages view of European history between A.D. 400 and 1000, award-winning historian Chris Wickham presents The Inheritance of Rome, a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship. 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