The Barbarian Invasions: Catalyst of a New Order

This would be a good book to start with if you happen to be interested in the Roman-Germanic barbarian problem. Ms. Drew (who when I met her was teaching at Rice University in Houston) has pulled together a sort of compendium of who's who (at least as of the early 1970's) in this area of study. Thus you will find the thoughts of Dill, Wallace-Hadrill (sr.), Thompson, Pirenne, Dopsch, and Latouche as well as others. The table of contents follows so you can get an idea of what is discussed. Introduction ROMAN REACTION TO THE INVASIONS Prosper Boissonade - The Destructiveness of the Invasions Samuel Dill - Persistence of the Aristocratic Way of Life THE NEW GERMANIC STATES Louis Halpen - Germanic Society in the Early sixth Century J.M. Wallace-Hadrill - Roman Survivals in Frankish Gaul Dorthy Whitelock - The Heathen English J.M. Wallace-Hadrill - Italy and the Lombards THE SOCIOECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF THE ROMANO-GERMANIC WORLD E.A. Thompson - The Germans in the Time of Caesar Robert La touche - The Primitive Economy of the Germanic World Robert La touche - Agriculture in the Early Middle Ages Alphons Dopsch - The Agrarian Economy in the Late Roman and Medieval Periods PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION C. Delisle Burns - Christianity and the First Europe Henri Pirenne - The Pirenne Thesis Carl Stephenson - The Origin and Significance of Feudalism Suggestions for Further Reading Four Stars. If one is interested in a jumping off point for studying the germanic invasions of the Roman Empire this would be good book. It offers a selection of topics and opinions from seminal historians in this field of study.