Rating: 
Summary: Clear and Intriguing
Review: This transcription of lectures dates from 1927 yet it still shows up on Norman Cantor's "Core Bibliography in Medieval Studies" (Inventing the Middle Ages, p. 443). There is good reason to continue to include it among a list of works generally of much more recent vintage.Lucid and engaging, Bury presents a convincing case for the idea that the Roman Empire in the West did not "fall" but rather transformed through assimilation of the various Germanic tribes. Bury's description of the extent to which the "barbarians" strove to work within the empire and co-existed with remnants of Roman society are of particular interest. Good companions to this work are "Before France & Germany" (Geary) and "The World of Late Antiquity" (Peter Brown).
Rating:
Summary: A+ Direct History
Review: Though originally taken from lectures that date before WWI, this history is what I would consider to be some the best, purely objective and fact-oriented, entirely focused on the subject at hand and nothing else. I miss this old style of historical writing, but thankfully this book provides it well.
The divisions and subdivisions of the lectures make them very manageable and help the book read along quite easily. Though a few of the purely political lectures do drag a little, the light and quick-moving style of Bury gives a great overview and easily inputs all of the truly important information on the subject with excellence.
This is among the best in books on the transition of Europe from Roman to barbarian, but also does a great job of showing that this was a transition, not an overnight shift as it is so often thought. That is an ongoing theme in the book and perhaps overall represents the best part of a truly fine piece of historical writing.
| 
