Book cover of Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe

Book description

At the start of the first millennium AD, southern and western Europe formed part of the Mediterranean-based Roman Empire, the largest state western Eurasia has ever known, and was set firmly on a trajectory towards towns, writing, mosaics, and central heating. Central, northern and eastern Europe was home to subsistence…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Empires and Barbarians as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Peter Heather’s work is one of the broadest in scope on the topic of the European ‘Barbarians’, while still retaining enough detail to keep the reader’s attention pinned. A great starter for this period of history, encompassing the entire first millennium AD, the time when the heart of European civilization gradually moved from the Mediterranean South to the cold Barbarian North. It reads like a novel – but is supported by years of painstaking research. If you can only read one book on Barbarian Europe, this is the book.

From James' list on Barbarian Europe.

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Book cover of Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages

Aristotle's Children by Richard E. Rubenstein,

The rediscovery of Aristotle's works by Christians in the libraries of Muslim Spain set off an intellectual and moral revolution in the Roman Catholic Church that, in many ways, launched the modern era. Rubenstein's book tells how a remarkable series of characters, including Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, and William of…

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