Bryan Ward-Perkins
Was the so-called “fall of the Roman empire” really a relatively peaceful assimilation of so-called “barbarians” into so-called “civilization”? This is the view of many modern scholars. I suspect it’s a view rooted in modern relativism. If we talk about a “fall” after all, we’re being judgmental, and it’s not politically correct to call people “barbarians”. In this book Bryan Ward-Perkins makes a good case for the traditional view: the empire did fall, not peacefully but painfully, and what came after was not – for many years – as good a civilization (measured in material terms, at least) as the one that fell.
In addition to making the case for the traditional view, Ward-Perkins’ book is a nice short overview of the end of Rome. His use of archaeological evidence to support his argument is particularly interesting.