The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000 (Penguin History of Europe),   ISBN:9780670020980

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If you are a professional, a student or simply an enthusiast of history and historiography, you will enjoy this top-flight volume of Penguin's History of Europe.

Wickham is especially adroit at resisting absolutes and teleology, painting a more accurate picture of the complexities and contradictions inherent in the period. He deftly incorporates recent research, archaelogical findings, and opinions on this oft-sketchy period. He addresses the usual topics of politics and power, but also illustrates well what can be known of the culture, art and architecture, commerce, class relations, religion, and intellectual life of the societies and kingdoms. Bravo!

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This is an exceptionally detailed and well thought out book on what used to be called the 'dark ages', but more accurately is now thought of as the early middle ages. The title of this book reflects Wickham's view that the period from circa 400 to 1000 C.E. represented a transition from the political and social institutions of the Western Roman Empire to an entirely newly set of institutions that yet contained threads of the former empire. It is a fascinating story well told.
Wickham provides an excellent account of the disestablishment of the Western Roman Empire and the reinvention of the Eastern Roman Empire as moved from a Roman to a Byzantine (Greek) institution. Unique among historians of the early Middle Ages, Wickham also devotes considerable space to discussing the raise of Islam and the treatment of the roman heritage by Islamic rulers. He also provides important insights into those European societies that were never incorporated into the Roman Empire, but were nonetheless influenced by it. Wickham also makes a particularly important point by noting that European Society in his time period was far from homogenous and the social economic and power structures very much reflected the strong regional differences between even ethnically similar peoples. He notes the role of the Catholic Church in this period in providing cultural unity and for a period during the "Carolingian Century" (751-887) a unique type of political morality. As the11th Century progressed, a new more homogenous social order based on a feudal social structure with the Catholic Church providing a common morality developed. Along with the stability and security provided by this new order came more widespread and complex economic systems. By Wickham's account the "dark ages" were politically confused and economically diverse, but far from "dark."

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I had high hopes for this book, having always been interested in the transition between the Roman Empire and the late Middle Ages. While rewarding for it's insights into this phase of history, I'm not sure if it was worth the almost herculean effort needed to wade through all the academic theories he puts forth. He backs up his theories with detailed stories of the period, but these are littered with so many characters it's impossible to keep all of the names straight. For academics well versed in this period and already familiar with many of the characters, this is probably a very interested read. But for the lay person, it would have been much more enjoyable if he had left out much of the theory (or at least simplified it) and told the stories without using every name at hand.

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The period 400-1000 is a blank spot in the minds of most people, even for those who know a great deal about Rome and medieval Europe. What we do tend to know are a handful of decontextualized names (e.g. Charlemagne) and some stock images of bearded men in leather armor killing each other. Wickham, then, was faced with a formidable task: not just to introduce his readers to the Ostrogoths, the Merovingian kingdom, etc., but also to disabuse us of popularly held notions, like the precipitous fall of Rome in 476 or the discontinuities between Rome and its 'barbarian' successor states.

It's for this reason that I strongly disagree with the reviews complaining that this book has too many details, and should not have been marketed to a general audience. The many details are not the intended "takeaway" of this book. Rather, Wickham presents us with such rich anecdotes so that long after the names and events vanish from memory, readers will be left with a deep (and accurate) feel for post-Roman culture, society, and government. Given how shallow (and inaccurate) my feel for post-Roman Europe was before reading Wickham's book, I consider his book extremely effective.

On the dust jacket, a reviewer describes Wickham's writing as "pointillist." I think this description is apt. As with pointillist paintings, this work's intent can only be comprehended after you take a step back from the anecdotes. Wickham's prose is only difficult if you get too worried about remembering that Sidonius Apollinaris was so-and-so's son-in-law, lived in Clermont in the 5th century, etc. General readers need not worry about the details - Just keep on reading, and be confident that you will finish the book with a different understanding of 400-1000 AD than when you started.

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Given the relative lack of more recent books on the early Middle Ages, sometimes considered the Dark Ages, this book is somewhat of a necessity in that it provides the latest history and insights on Europe and the Mediterranean world for the period covering 400-1000 AD. The author indeed covers a broad range of topics from the fall of Rome to the rise of barbarian/Germanic kingdoms plus the rapid and widespread conquests and subsequent development of the Arabic/Islamic states across the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. Several chapters also deal with the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. Among the subjects discussed and described include political conflicts and developments, changes related to economics and commerce, religious debates and theology, culture, and even architecture. Numerous personalities who shaped and influenced this period are also introduced.

Where this work falls far short is the author's writing style. While there is much valuable information, most of this book is written in a cumbersome, tedious, obtuse and boring manner and thus was not a pleasant read. I do have a history degree yet found this book comparatively dull, convoluted and difficult to absorb even compared to scholarly text books I used in college. This is a pity since the period being written about was in reality very exciting, interesting and intriguing.