This is perhaps one of the most glowing review/blurbs one could hope for.

Tyler Cowen, blogger extraordinaire at MarginalRevolution.com, reads scads of books every year and isn’t afraid to tell you if they’re junk or if they’re awesome. And he’s usually right. What he says is worth paying attention to.

Here’s what he says about Chris Wickham’s The Inheritance of Rome (amazon.com):

What can I say?  I have to count this tome as one of the best history books I have read, ever.  The author is Chris Wickham and the subtitle is A History of Europe from 400 to 1000.  The author states that this is a book written "without hindsight" so the focus is not on how early medieval times were a precursor of this, that, or the other.

Cowen lists eight more bullet points regarding strong points “in addition to its all-around stunningness”. Clearly, The Inheritance of Rome (amazon.com) is a book that we all should read. I’ve already added it to my Amazon Wishlist (I have a birthday coming up in October … hint, hint).

Here’s the Amazon.com blurb:

An ambitious and enlightening look at why the so-called Dark Ages were anything but that

Prizewinning historian Chris Wickham defies the conventional view of the Dark Ages in European history with a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship. Drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches, Wickham argues that these centuries were critical in the formulation of European identity. Far from being a middle period between more significant epochs, this age has much to tell us in its own right about the progress of culture and the development of political thought.

Sweeping in its breadth, Wickham’s incisive history focuses on a world still profoundly shaped by Rome, which encompassed the remarkable Byzantine, Carolingian, and Ottonian empires, and peoples ranging from Goths, Franks, and Vandals to Arabs, Anglo- Saxons, and Vikings. Digging deep into each culture, Wickham constructs a vivid portrait of a vast and varied world stretching from Ireland to Constantinople, the Baltic to the Mediterranean. The Inheritance of Rome (amazon.com) brilliantly presents a fresh understanding of the crucible in which Europe would ultimately be created.