The book is also full of a lot of academic and post-modern jargon, which even as someone with a scholarly background in this material, was too much for me.
This is unfortunate because there are a lot astounding and dramatic events in the Dark Ages, but Wickham seems to almost intentionally ignore or downplay them. However, his structure and style make it unnecessarily dry and even boring. I have read a lot about this period and Wickham does have some good information and analysis in this book. This is a bad book, and the author is vastly inferior to Tom Holland and especially Peter Heather. The Inheritance of Rome brilliantly presents a fresh understanding of the crucible in which Europe would ultimately be created. Sweeping in its breadth, Wickham's incisive history focuses on a world still profoundly shaped by Rome, which encompassed the remarkable Byzantine, Carolingian, and Ottonian empires, and peoples ranging from Goths, Franks, and Vandals to Arabs, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings.ĭigging deep into each culture, Wickham constructs a vivid portrait of a vast and varied world stretching from Ireland to Constantinople, the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Far from being a middle period between more significant epochs, this age has much to tell us in its own right about the progress of culture and the development of political thought. Drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches, Wickham argues that these centuries were critical in the formulation of European identity. Prizewinning historian Chris Wickham defies the conventional view of the Dark Ages in European history with a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship.
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