Customer Reviews

The Hun: Scourge of God AD 375-565 (Warrior)

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Osprey's "The Huns" was quite a disappointment. The biggest flaw was that author Nic Fields failed to integrate any of the recent scholarship on the subject for this book. There has been a flood of archeological and physical anthropological research from Eastern European scholars regarding the Huns and the Pannonian/Hungarian plain in the last 30 years. Much has been translated into English and is available at most decent research libraries. Fields, also, fails to incorporate more recent Western scholarly materials, such as the works of Denis Sinor or Peter Golden. Based mostly on classical sources, Fields's work reads as if written by a 1920's British armchair historian. This was a huge lost opportunity for Osprey as a follow up to David Nicolle's tremendous if overly ambitious (tracing a thousand years of steppe cultures), Attila and the Nomad Hordes.

Another disappointment was the illustrations. Fields lards the book with illustrations and photos from the Renaissance, the European Romantic period, a Verdi opera, and from the cinema (including a photo of Anthony Quinn playing Attila.) While these may be interesting in a contemporary cultural context, they add absolutely nothing to a portrayal of the Hunnic culture. Fields, also, includes the ubiquitous photos of Greek artisan representations of Scythians on golden bowls, which pre-date Attila by about 700 years and armor from the Chinese Qianlong Emperor c. 1750 C.E., i.e. 1400 years after the Hun era! They are so askew chronologically that it's hard not to look at these inclusions as less than energetic scholarship. If he had emphasized more recent source material he would have found far more engaging images. There are some chronologically appropriate photos included: a skull displaying "Hunnic" cranial deformation, an Alemanni spangenhelm from the period, and Hunnic/Gothic jewelry. These are germane and powerful photographs. It is unfortunate that there aren't more photos as relevant as this in the book.

The final straw is the color plates, usually the high point of Osprey books. Christa Hook's illustrations are poorly drawn and ugly. She has done fine work for Osprey in the past. Her work on "Saracen Faris," "Knights of Outremer," "Norman Knight," "Late Roman Cavalry"," and other works are more than competent. But here, the work appears rushed. Her representations of Hun warriors are rough and grotesque. Moreover, there are only 6 color plates in the book. The other Osprey Warrior series books that I've seen have at least 10-12 color plates.

This work appears that it was done on the quick and cheap.

Contrary to most of the Osprey books (I have more than three hundred them now, after 20 years of collecting) this is a poor quality thing. The text is at the very best average, the color plates are just HORRIBLE!!

The impact of the Huns in history is staggering, given their impact on pushing the declining Roman Empire over the edge. Hun warriors themselves are intriguing, since these steppe cavalrymen were able to best most contemporary armies. Realizing that historical records on the Huns are very limited, writing a military history of the Huns is a difficult but not impossible task. Unfortunately, Osprey's Warrior #111 on the Huns comes up far short of what readers will expect.

The Hun: Scourge of God has the usual Warrior series sections on dress, equipment, weapons, horses and on campaign. The six color plates - usually the highlight of Osprey volumes - are awful. The best parts of the volume are the 17 pages on Hun society (which are adequate, but little more) and the 6 pages on campaign. However, I thought the 16 pages spent on the Hun's composite bow would never end. There simply was not enough meat and potatoes in this volume on tactics and would made the Huns such fearsome warriors.

I was very disappointed in this book about the "Neighbors from Hell". The text was so-so but the illustrations were a disappointment. Pity as it (The Subject) is a great theme what with the birth of the Dark Ages and the "Fall" of Rome. That and that symbol of a really bad man - Attila you could of had a compelling story. The "Elite" book of Attila by the same publishers is a better deal.

To a point, I agree with the previous reviews in that it was not, in text or pictures, one of the better Osprey books. I disagree on the plates however. Although there were only six, they were still pretty good (albeit not Christa Hook's best). There is really little information in this book that cannot be gleaned from previous Osprey titles.