Thomas S. Burns (1) (1945–)

I'm not sure why this has gotten a few negative reviews. While the basic materials is fragmentary, Burns is able to organize it into a credible whole. His prose is more literary than is now common, laced with the irony that was almost de rigueur for histories written in the 20th century. He assumes a familiarity with the history of late antiquity -- this shouldn't be the first book one reads about the era -- and he's a bit hasty in covering the period after the death of Theodoric.

Burns brings 30 years of extensive study of the literary and archaeological evidence to bear on the nature of the impact none only that the Romans had on the barbarians but also about the barbarians out on the Romans. The complicated relationship between Rome and the barbarians is explored here in detail. Rome had no policy per se but extended Roman power as a self-evident truth.

He surveys the period from 100 B.C. to 400 A.D. and demonstrates how the client-patronage system evolved over show more time.

Modern Baden-Wurtemberg in southwest Germany was called Agri Decumates by the Roman conquerors (p. 207). show less

The only possible reason for reading this is the absence of much of anything appreciably better, at-least in English: thin in facts, weak in contexts, and deplorably dry in prose style.

The story of this Germanic people.