How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World: The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars who Razed the Old World and Formed the New | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas J. Craughwell
Publisher: Fair Winds Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.89
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Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 81774
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1592333036
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.809
EAN: 9781592333035
ASIN: 1592333036
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars Who Razed the Author Thomas J. Craughwell reveals the fascinating tales of how the barbarian rampages across Europe, North Africa, and Asia – killing, plundering, and destroying whole kingdoms and empires – actually created the modern nations of England, France, Russia, and China. Moscow, Dublin, and Delhi are international centers of government, commerce, and culture because of the barbarians. How did the devastating invasions of these merciless rapists, killers, looters, destroyers of great cities, and ravagers of the countryside set off a string of events that resulted in the world we know today? Craughwell explores the reasons behind the attacks and the motivations of the barbarian kings and chieftains. He explains how coarse, violent men could bring down the Roman Empire, but also safeguard the Silk Road, create an Asian superpower we know as China, and in the process, change the world forever.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Young Person's Book -- not for Historians November 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an attractive, well produced book evidently aimed at junior high school readers, with many, many fancy illustrations from classical and modern artists, good and relatively accurate reference maps, double-spaced type, and many, many vignettes like those in textbooks to hold the reader's interest. The prose is ninth grade, and there are zero (nada, zip) footnotes and end notes -- yet the author makes sweeping opinion statements throughout as if they are fact. As an example, the author states on page 60, "Their (the Romans) commander was the Roman's finest military strategist, Flavius Aetius." Wow, and here I thought that Julius Caesar, Scipio Africanus, Lucullus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius or Constantine might have been in the running for this accolade. I think the author meant to add "at the time" but it's not there. The author also says, "No one knows what became of the Huns." Well, there are several good studies of the Huns, but for whatever reason the author chose to fire for effect rather than present solid scholarship. This is probably all junior high school students can handle anyway, but anyone reading this as an historical treatise will be disappointed.
My copy of the book is officially softbound (& produced in Singapore), but had a very stiff cover with fold-out ends to display Thomas Cole's "The Course of Empire -- Destruction", his depiction of the Vandal sack of Rome. Of course the author goes to great lengths to discuss that the Vandals did not actually vandalize Rome -- as it that made any difference. There are many other short descriptions that leave much to be desired -- for example the Battle of Liegnitz. Where did the burning naphtha come from? What were the Mongol tactics? Oh well, it was enough to say the Mongols collected nine sacks of right ears cut off from those slain.
All that being said, the book does have many redeeming features, particularly for a reader who knows nothing about the Barbarian invasions from Alaric's sack of Rome in 410 to the Mongols of the thirteenth century. The author skips over the earlier invasions that Rome contended with throughout its existence (the Gauls sacked Rome in 390 BC and the Marcomanni in 178 were a dangerous threat handled by Marcus Aurlius) which should have been covered since they substantially affected Roman history. The coverage by the author does impart a modicum of knowledge, however, mostly a broad understanding of events and their effects.
If nothing else, this book is a good primer to popularize the study of barbarian invasions, including the effects of the Vikings on history from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean. I was particularly impressed that the author had included the Kievan Rus, Olga, (one of history's most successful warrior queens), and the eventual spread of Christianity in Russia in opposition to the Jewish Khazars (although the author forgets to mention that they were Jewish.)
All in all, I gave the book three stars for filling a niche in the literature. If this book helps promote study into its subject, then everything will be to the good. Just don't expect superior scholarship and a detail study. This book is long on glitz and short on substance.
 Great book for any lover of history November 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Thomas Craughwell is a great author who portrays history in such amazing and succinct ways that anyone could get into this book and love it. It is not only well written, it has great illustrations and, as always from Craughwell, interesting facts, including the fun, gossipy stuff e.g. how early Russians bathed or how each great barbarian leader looked or acted. This is a great gift to any budding historian, even teenagers. Craughwell is always flawless in his knowledge and research, but writes it in such great fashion that you will have great difficulty putting it down once you start it. This is a good book for anyone, it is not repulsive but yet describes the horror of the barbarian invasions of Europe. But it also shows the reasoning of these invasions and essentially shows that both the barbarians and those they invaded were both cruel people. But it also shows that in our times in many ways, we the "civilized" tend to continue to be as cruel as these barbarians once were.
A scholarly look at times referred to as Dark Ages by many July 14, 2008
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
Barbarians - unwashed, vicious, destroyers of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. They were also some of the most influential people in the history of the world. "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World: The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars Who Razed the Old World and Formed the New" is a look at the barbarians responsible for how the world is today. With examinations of the lives and actions of such brutal individuals such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and others, "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World" describes barbarians' nasty crusade against the civilized world and how their influence is still prevalent even today. A scholarly look at times referred to as Dark Ages by many, "How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World" is highly recommended for community library history collections.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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