The Inheritance of Rome — Chris Wickham

Wickham's survey of early medieval Europe — from the fall of Rome to the year 1000 — is the most rigorous single-volume account of a period that historians have traditionally either mythologised as 'dark ages' or neglected entirely. He is particularly attentive to the economic and social structures that persisted through political disruption, and to the profound regional variation that makes any generalisation about the period suspect. The book demands concentration, but rewards it: Wickham is one of the finest historians of his generation, and this is his most comprehensive work.

Winner of the Wolfson History Prize. 'A magnificent synthesis of the early medieval world. Wickham's achievement is to make the complexity of a thousand years of history both manageable and revelatory.' — Times Literary Supplement