The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization

A well-reasoned critique of recent "assimilationalist" views of the end of the Roman Empire in the West. It is based on archaeology, ancient sources and an understanding of how our view of the past changes relative to the influences on our present. Highly recommended.

Almost from the first page, I realized I was reading on of the best-argued and influential books I've ever read on the end of the Roman Empire and its culture. This book is not a history of one of the most massive dislocations in human history, but it does elucidate that history while taking issue with trends in recent scholarship which have, apparently, led historians somewhat away from what the facts provide about the fall of the West. This book will help you get historically back on track on this magnificent but frightening subject. Ward-Perkins is lucid, occasionally endearing, fair-minded but determined to use the evidence not only of archeology, and literature, but of economics, to prove that the current trend in pretending that, somehow, all those 'barbarians' just wandered in, settled down, and got along with the inhabitants of Rome's Empire is a wishful misreading of the facts. He does it with wit and grace and inarguable sources ranging from one side of the Mediterranean to the other, from the studies of coinage, trade and trade-goods, the kinds of buildings being built, and more. He manages to do so without disparaging other scholars, but taking issue with some of their conclusions. If anyone has, as I have, met history buffs who insist that the Fall of Rome never happened and that the cultures of the Germanic/Gothic and other tribes who took over the western world had cultures equal to anything in the late-Roman period, Mr. Ward-Perkins has provided a clear, cogent and convincing rebuttal. He also is entirely persuasive in proving how changes in 20th century understanding can influence, and even undermine, our understanding of ancient cultures, not always to the benefit of the truth. Scholars can be influenced by this as much as their vulnerable readers, and while it is perhaps currently fashionable to pretend that great cultures fall without much noise and fuss, it is also rather dangerous. Most highly recommended. This is one book I plan to read more than once as an excellent reminder of how great cultures can actually 'fall.' As Ward-Perkins notes with striking effect in his last sentences, "Romans before the fall were as certain as we are today that their world would continue for ever substantially unchanged. They were wrong. We would be wise not to repeat their complacency."

This book is, quite simply, one of the finest history books I have ever read (and I am an avid history fan). I wish more academic writers had both the will and the ability to write as clearly and with as much flaire as Bryan Ward Perkins in this book. Sadly, it is a skill that is lacked by many of them; yet this only makes the author's achievement all the greater. Perkins does not go in for the obfuscating style that sometimes plagues academic writing. He does not need to hide behind dense terminology - he explains his ideas confidently and in plain English. I truly believe that this excellent book deserves a five star review rating. In short, I urge you with all possible enthusiasm to buy this book today!

"The invaders were not guilty of murder, but they had committed manslaughter." So says Bryan Ward-Perkins in an entertaining and stimulating historical monograph. He attacks, among other things the post- World War II politically correct thesis that the Germans reached as easy accomodation with the Romans and together they worked hand-in-hand to transform Europe into the 6th century version of a "Brave New World". He gives substantial proof for the declining quality of life in the 5th century, and bases his work primarily on archaeologial remains and pottery studies that are often ignored by the text-centered classical scholar. It had never really occurred to me think of the significance of the lack of copper coins after the decline of the Empire, or the change in pottery finds. My doctorate is on the fall of Rome, and I plan to use this as a text the next time I teach the course. It is well illustrated, written with great wit and is brief enough to hold the interest of any student. The only odd thing about this book is that it does not mention the 80 year old "Pirenne Thesis" on the collapse of Mediterranean trade; he does however, give Peter Brown and the contemporary American "spiritual enlightenment and rebirth" school a good thrashing!

Bryan Ward-Perkins is concerned with impact of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire on the standard of living, or what he calls "the loss of comfort." Seen from this standpoint, the end of Rome was the end of the world's first complex, specialised economy. He is careful to explain that the end of the Roman Empire was not a uniform process, and that the Eastern half of the empire continued to flourish until the time of the Arab attacks in the seventh century AD. He uses three instances: pottery, roof tiles, and coinage, to demonstrate the material changes which took place. The use of pottery was widespread throughout the Empire, it was not solely the preserve of the elite, its manufacture was industrial, and its quality was excellent. In provinces like Britain the availability of sophisticated, mass produced, quality pottery simply disappeared. The skills and technology were lost. (Well the German invaders never had them!) Tiled roofs do not catch fire, they do not attract insects, and they do not need replacing every thirty years. In Britain, " ... the quarrying of building stone, preparation of mortar, manufacture and use of bricks and tiles ... " all ceased. Coins are the hallmark of economic sophistication: in Roman times they were "a standard feature of everyday life ... " Their disappearance meant the disappearance of economic complexity, and in the West this was "almost total". These three instances highlight the loss of specialisation, and as the author points out, specialisation depends on "a sophisticated network of transport and commerce ... in order to distribute ... goods efficiently and widely." But the frontiers were no longer secure, the countryside was more dangerous, and walls started to re-appear round cities. Traders who would have journeyed safely along the empire's highways find them no longer secure. The world's first intricate interlocking economy was unravelling. In this situation, specialization actually posed a serious danger: " ... its very sophistication rendered it ... less adaptable to change." Indeed, the author argues that countries like Britain went back to less-sophisticated levels that those which had existed before the Roman invasion: "It took centuries for people in the former empire to reacquire the skills and regional networks that would take them back to these pre-Roman levels of sophistication. Ironically, viewed from the perspective of fifth-century Britain and of most of the sixth- and seventh-century Mediterranean, the Roman experience had been highly damaging." Did the population also decline? Here the author admits that evidence is hard to find, since poorer communities leave little if any trace of their existence. However, the he uses evidence from Syria to argue that as farming became less specialist, and only local needs could be met, there was a decline in acreage cultivated. He cites the remarkable shrinkage in the average size of cattle, from a growth in size between t