87 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Really Good Book That Can Be Challenging to Read, August 14, 2009
This review is from: The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000 (Penguin History of Europe (Viking)) (Hardcover)
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. Having the information crammed so tight doesn't exactly make for an engaging read, but it is worthwhile. This book covers the entire Dark Ages and a bit before, giving a broad overview of the period from the 5th Century Roman Empire to the end of the First Millenium. There is rather a sense of information overload when reading this. Too much is covered in too short a time. Considering how long the book is already I can't see what could really be done about that. Even with all the names thrown at you it feels as if the author is really holding back.
The narrative sections dealing with the political history of the kingdom especially have an impressive number of indecipherable and hard-to remember names forcing the reader to slow down. The narratives are the worst part of this book reading almost like an encyclopedia article. Part of this is no doubt due to the bared down nature of the sources. Fortunately the chapters are reasonably short and the book will soon pass on to better topics. The author is at his best when describing trends or social conditions. Here he really shines and you can feel something of what it was like to live in these societies. Many of his choices of quotes are perfect, giving an idea of the feel of the society he's describing. The first Roman quote is probably the best. It comes from a children's Greek-Latin Primer and deals with Roman justice which was clearly a particularly chilling affair. The emphasis is always on discovering what changed and what caused these changes, as well as determining what made one culture different from another. The author has a problem with charting the progress back from future events to see what caused events to happen since he feels that this places too much emphasis on what the later writers felt was important and gives a sense of inevitability. He does mention important trends but he tries to see them as they would have been seen at the time. On the whole I think his arguments make sense.
He doesn't take any risks in his interpretations and when he doesn't have much data he refuses to even guess. This is especially apparent in the section on Britain where he refuses to make educated guesses about the questionable sources available. Some of what he chooses to leave out is unfathomable. In 600 pages you'd think he would at least mention the battle of Poitiers, probably the single most important battle of the Dark Ages. I think that he's trying to draw history away from setpiece battles and dramatic personalities and deal more with the changes over a long period of time. It's not always effective. The biggest problem with this book is it's dry tone. It is not a particularly easy read, although some sections are better than others. This book is probably essential as background information for anyone reading up on the Dark Ages. At the least I don't know of any better. At the very least this book is useful as a starting point for future reading.
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42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhat like a diamond wrapped inside a Gordian knot, September 19, 2009
This review is from: The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000 (Penguin History of Europe (Viking)) (Hardcover)
This book is a tough read and leans much more towards the graduate school level textbook than the popular history book it seems to be marketed as. The author clearly has extensive knowledge and research for his subject matter and the depth of information is more extensive than I have encountered in any other history book. This could have easily been expanded to a multivolume series (and perhaps should have been). An additional strength of the book is the analysis of the civilizations of the period. Both their relationship to other civilizations of the same time period and different time periods of the evolving European landscape are extremely well thought out and convincing (although often require lots of rereading to understand). Wickham knows the facts and scholarship of his subject thoroughly and it shows.
Unfortunately Mr. Wickham is not much of a writer. Much of the text feels like trying to untangle a ball of string and can be quite a frustrating read. Sentences and paragraphs are often unwieldy and facts are much too dense to maintain the right interest level and flow of the narrative. Reading this book feels more like the self torture of an eating contest than a leisurely and enjoyable experience. This book may make a great reference or text for a college level course but the casual reader will probably find it difficult and unenjoyable.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE INHERITANCE OF ROME: ILLUMINATING THE DARK AGES 400-1000 BY CHRIS WICKHAM, October 1, 2009
This review is from: The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000 (Penguin History of Europe (Viking)) (Hardcover)
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. I've never been a fan of the term "dark ages," or all the connotations, thoughts, and ideas that people - historians and laymen alike - infer from it. Thankfully there is Chris Wickham: a Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and author of Framing the Middle Ages. Wickham has worked hard to educate those who are unsure or simply don't that the period from 400-1000 was one of the most important growth period of ideas, invention, and thought in the history of Western Europe. The Inheritance of Rome does a fantastic job of explaining this in comprehensive detail with viewpoints from all of Western Europe, including the Near East with the Byzantine Empire. I won't lie to you; this isn't an easy summer read; it's a heavy book in every sense of the word; but if you're looking to educate yourself on what exactly was going on between the fifth and eleventh centuries in Europe, after reading The Inheritance of Rome, you will have amassed an impressive amount of knowledge and be able to defend yourself and the period against anyone who attempts to call it the "dark ages."
Wickham begins with a concise wrap up of the waning centuries of the Roman Empire, setting the stage for the focus of the book, which is divided into four parts: "Part I - The Roman Empire and its Break-up, 400-550"; "Part II: The Post-Roman West, 550-750"; "Part III: The Empires of the East, 550-1000"; and "Part IV: The Carolingian and Post-Carolingian West, 750-1000." While the time periods of each part do overlap, this doesn't prove to be a problem as Wickham is analyzing different areas, but also does a great job of linking what's happening in a particular location with what was going on in another location in the previous chapter. The author uses maps, illustrations, diagrams, and photographs to illustrate points about the constant trade, migration and commingling of societies, cultures, and kingdoms that continued to thrive during this period and were instrumental in setting a foundation for the eventual High Middles Ages and beginning of the renaissance. Wickham does have a theme and clear point to make, which is in the title: most of Western Europe had at one time been either a part of or bordered with the most dominating and impressive empire the world has ever seen, so it makes perfect sense that most of these different cultures would try to maintain and emulate the ways of Rome, which helped spark a genesis for new forms of writing, new ways of trade and negotiation, new forms of farming, a new judicial system of laws and ways, and forced societies that had been sheltered, supported and lapped from the bosom of Rome for so long, to gain their independence and establish themselves as individuals, with unique technology, development, and cultural ways, which helped give rise to the likes of the Merovingians and Clovis, the Carolingians and Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, and many others.
The Early Middle Ages has always been my most favorite period of history and I've never been able to explain succinctly why. It has something to do with the fall of Rome and leaving this vast world of different peoples and cultures to live on their own and develop their individuality whilst maintaining contact and trade with each other. It's about the countries of Western Europe beginning, with the birth of many of the renowned cities we know today. The Inheritance of Rome helps fuel my interest and love for this period. And as more knowledge, evidence, and archaeology about the period is discovered, the more we learn that the "dark ages" is a great misnomer that should be stripped from this important period of discovery and development.
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