Douglas Boin

I guess it’s really a look at Rome at about 350 - 450AD. There’s not much good historical info about Alaric himself, so the author tries to fill in without actually making stuff up. I learned many things about Roman life at that time, but I think a good historian, had they worked on a history of Rome from 350-450, could have come up with something a little more solid. By trying to focus on Alaric, about whom so little can be known, something was lost. But still the book was very educational.

Because Roman history really doesn't need modern day sensibilities transposed onto it.

A fairly light read for a book that straddles the line between academic and popular history. The author does the best he can with the very limited number of primary sources about the historic Alaric. It does provide an interesting perspective on the late Roman empire.