History of the Goths (Paperback)

by Herwig Wolfram (Author), Thomas J. Dunlap (Author) "Classical ethnography applied the name Suevi to many Germanic tribes..." (more)
Key Phrases: federate warriors, federate kingdom, imperial federates, Origo Gothica, Black Sea, Theodoric the Great (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Herwig Wolfram's book represents the culmination of his scholarly work in this field and synthesizes the archaeological and historical research of several generations of scholars. Every serious student of the ancient, as well as the medieval, world should have a copy. Future textbooks on the period will have to take account of its contents. . . . An extremely important book." -- Robert K. Sherk, History

"This book provides a thoroughgoing revision of our knowledge of the German invasions." -- Michel Rouche, Francia

"Through a fresh examination and reassessment of the Latin and Greek sources, Wolfram provides a wealth of detail on the formation of the Gothic tribes, their migrations, and the later history of the Ostrogothic and Visigothic settlements. . . . There are original and provocative ideas and conclusions presented here . . . and it is safe to say that neither the Goths, nor their historians, will ever be the same." -- Everett Crosby, The Virginia Quarterly

"Wolfram's study is indispensable." -- B. S. Bachrach, Choice

Product Description
Incorporating exciting new material that has come to light since the last German edition of 1980, Herwig Wolfram places Gothic history within its proper context of late Roman society and institutions. He demonstrates that the barbarian world of the Goths was both a creation of and an essential element of the late Roman Empire.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 580 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (February 13, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520069838
• ISBN-13: 978-0520069831
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #542,588 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Academic Exercise, March 17, 2002

By	J. H. Minde "Can you keep up?" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Herwig Wolfram's HISTORY OF THE GOTHS is probably the best one-volume survey volume, perhaps the only, available on the Gothic tribes. These tribes, the quintessential "barbarians" who sacked and then succeeded the Western Roman Empire, were an amalgam of Germanic and Slavic bloodlines, who ultimately ruled large sections of the former Empire, and most notably Iberia.

As Wolfram admits, "A Goth was anyone who said he was," and the book suffers from the same lack of focus. Although attempts are made to discuss the social structure, culture, and history, military and otherwise, of the Goths, the discussions are superficial, rambling, and without point, and leave the reader feeling inconclusive. Wolfram seems fearful of drawing conclusions in this book, as if hypothesis or informed opinion might make him seem an irresponsible historian.

Who, after all, were these people, and why did they ravage Europe, and why were they so, finally, inestimably incapable of sustaining their identity? The book begs answers.

In part, the fault may be the writing style, which is textbook dry and lacks any sense (or attempt) at vividness. Wolfram's Goths are museum pieces, not a living, breathing community of people.

The scholarship of this work is exhaustive and astounding. Over half the book is comprised of Author's Notes and Bibliography. Certainly, if the reader has an abiding interest in Gothic history, this is a wonderful sourcebook for other, primary, materials.

Reading much more like a dissertation than a popular work of history, HISTORY OF THE GOTHS is a tedious and boring read, unless, like the author, you find these vanished people compellingly fascinating.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the premier works on Gothic history, December 16, 2000

By	Michael Martinez (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Wolfram takes on a difficult subject, the history of a people whose origins are crusted over with legends and generations of archaeological interpretations. Some of his conclusions have been challenged but Wolfram makes a solid case for many of his interpretations. His survey of Gothic history and culture is a landmark in Gothic research.

The book is intended for academics and therefore includes numerous citations and end-notes and footnotes. If the reader can ignore all the note references, the narrative flows well enough. Wolfram's detailed analysis does dispell a few nationalistic myths, but he replaces them with a thorough retelling of Gothic history. Most reference works about ancient Germanic peoples tend to speak of the Goths in an offhand manner. But they left a lasting imprint on several parts of Europe and Asia, even if we can no longer feel their presence today. Wolfram does a good job of removing the Goths from legend and putting them back into history.

38 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Simply aweful..., July 18, 2002

By	E. Filson (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is by far the worst book on the Goths I have found to date. While I will happily grant that this is a difficult subject about which to write, given the dearth of written history from the era and region, Wolfram takes wild stabs at the truth using etymological evidence that no linguist would ever consider legitimate. Wolfram's considerable bibliography has a number of questionable sources and his critiques of competing scholars (hidden in the footnotes) are laughable. Most of his cultural details are pure guesswork based on shady linguistics and archaeology which has never really been identified as Gothic. Even the maps in the back are low quality (like a bad photocopy) and lack keys to explain what the various shadings are supposed to be.

Insofar as my research has gone, the only book on the Goths that I can recommend is Peter Heather's "Goths in the Fourth Century" on Liverpool University Press, now sadly out of print. Interestingly, it points out a number of misreadings of contemporary texts that lead Wolfram to the wrong conclusions. Get this man an editor!