The Fall Of The Roman Empire Peter Heather

The Fall of the Roman Empire is a retelling of the last centuries of Roman collapse in which the author, Peter Heather, put his expertise on ancient Rome and its barbarian neighbors to good use. In this book, Heather sought to reconnect disjointed scholarly analyses which, for years, have been focused on specific aspects of the collapse of the Roman Empire into one broad story.
Written in casual and easily-understood language, this book rarely sounds like a stereotypical history textbook. Heather’s work aptly fulfils his stated goal of transforming dry renditions of history into a detective story in which the reader is invited to fully engage with the evidence and come to his or her own conclusions. Full of fascinating particulars, well thought-out arguments, and a distinct lack of judgment, this book serves the dual purpose of conveying historical information and eliciting reader involvement admirably well.
The book’s first chapter opens with a dramatic retelling of the ambush and slaughter of a Roman legion after they had been betrayed by a pair of barbarian kings, something which was exceedingly rare historically and which served as an excellent shock to bring the reader’s attention to focus. This tactic works well, and Heather employed it at several junctures throughout the book to bring a sense of drama and realism to his tale.
The first part of the book, “Pax Romana,” sets the stage upon which the drama of the collapse will take place. It contains chapters introducing the major players, Rome and its barbarian neighbors, and a chapter which points out the weaknesses of the Empire which left it vulnerable to