How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World: The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars Who Razed the Old World and Formed the Ne

If you are a historical scholar, working on your doctorate degree, I doubt this book was written for you. But if you are like me, someone who is interested in history, and wants to gain an overview knowledge of a specific period of time and events, this book is great. As a descendant of Hungarian grandparents, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the role the Huns played in Hungary, which led me to this book. But I found that this book is so much more. While it has some great info on Attila and his foraging armies, it also covers in depth the Vikings, the Mongols (they are a lovable sort), the Tartars, etc. There were a lot of Barbarians in the first thousand years after Christ, and they were out to take all that they can, with as much force as they could muster, not caring who they hurt or destroyed. They looked to conquer through theft, pillaging, and gluttony (not unlike the CEOs looking for handouts in Washington today while they refuse to lower their own gluttonous salaries). Understanding these invading Barbarians helps us understand the modern world in which we live today. If you are looking for a great overview, this is the book. Great illustrations, maps, and timelines are included. If you are looking for a stocking stuffer for that barbarian that you love...this book is highly recommended.

Thomas Craughwell is a great author who portrays history in such amazing and succinct ways that anyone could get into this book and love it. It is not only well written, it has great illustrations and, as always from Craughwell, interesting facts, including the fun, gossipy stuff e.g. how early Russians bathed or how each great barbarian leader looked or acted. This is a great gift to any budding historian, even teenagers. Craughwell is always flawless in his knowledge and research, but writes it in such great fashion that you will have great difficulty putting it down once you start it. This is a good book for anyone, it is not repulsive but yet describes the horror of the barbarian invasions of Europe. But it also shows the reasoning of these invasions and essentially shows that both the barbarians and those they invaded were both cruel people. But it also shows that in our times in many ways, we the "civilized" tend to continue to be as cruel as these barbarians once were.

Barbarians - unwashed, vicious, destroyers of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. They were also some of the most influential people in the history of the world. "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World: The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars Who Razed the Old World and Formed the New" is a look at the barbarians responsible for how the world is today. With examinations of the lives and actions of such brutal individuals such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and others, "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World" describes barbarians' nasty crusade against the civilized world and how their influence is still prevalent even today. A scholarly look at times referred to as Dark Ages by many, "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World" is highly recommended for community library history collections. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch