Ward-Perkins’s book The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization is a book that looks at, rewriting the history books. His main focus is the transitioning period between the rule of Rome and the rule of the Germanic tribes and their culture. The rule of Rome has fallen and fallen hard in the west, but just Rome’s rule, not their culture: that has assimilated into the Germanic tribes creating late Antiquity. The book starts off with Ward-Perkins talking directly to the reader, about how he lived in Rome. “I was born and brought up in Rome, the heart of the empire… Despite my upbringing, I have never much liked the ancient Romans.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 3. He also notes the traditional view of the Romans and the barbarians. “Romans and barbarians fight it out.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 10. Ward-Perkins is “obligated” to fight these traditional views. Before I go any farther in my look at this book I feel that, it must be noted that Ward-Perkins puts in many puns and smart-ass comments throughout his book things like: “they ignored the bread and butter, and headed straight for the cake stand.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 81. His writing is still understandable and enjoyable with these types of comments, but if you cannot take a joke this book maybe harder to understand. Also I should inform you that, I may fall prey to his style of comments even with-in this paper. Now on to The Horrors of War, the second section of this book. Mr. Perkins writes about a treaty between the Romans and the Visigoths, which was settled in 419 CE. After that the Visigoths expanded their territory by conquering larger areas. Mary Boatwright says that the Visigoths settled around Aquitania in 418 CE. Mary T. Boatwright, et al, A Brief History of the Romans, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014) 327. The next thing that is discussed is the land that the barbarians now control and weather it was a peaceful take over or a violent one? To that argument Mr. Perkins says that “all [regions] previously experienced invasion and devastation.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 16. Next he gives credit to the saint who wrote Life for providing a “vivid” account of life during the invasions of the late fifth century. At the end of this section he says that Roman power had disappeared, except in name. In the third section of this book The road to Defeat Ward-Perkins does pose a good question: Did Rome Decline before it fell? Mr. Perkins answers this question rapidly with what he calls the key element in Rome’s success or failure: taxpayers. Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 41. I have to agree with him, because well it makes sense. Any governmental power has to have means to fund itself, and if the people don’t give Rome taxes; Rome no longer has power. “No man, said one edict to the people, shall possess any property that is tax exempt. Apparently taxes doubled across the fourth century…” Chester G Starr, “The Final Test (A.D. 330-476)” In The Roman Empire, 27 B.C. – A.D. 476: A Study in Survival, (New York: Oxford University Press) 1982, 165. Mr. Perkins connects the taxes that the people paid to Rome’s Military. To simply put it; he says with less money the borders could not be protected and with this weakness invasions became more common. The fourth section is about Living under New Masters, the new master being the German tribes that slowly invade the empire. Although the interesting part of this is the Germans created kingdoms out of areas of the empire “in a style that closely imitated that of the empire, and that required Roman administrators to make it function.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 68. The barbarian invaders no longer act like the barbarians from earlier in the empire. They now want to settle and live under Roman influence instead of swimming back across the Rhine. The German tribes finally want to be a part of the Roman culture, law and order and to listen to the church and follow the churches god. Of course the Germans didn’t completely become Roman, they kept the moustaches. Mr. Perkins connects both of the cultures by explaining what each culture adopted into their culture. Part two of this book is The End of a Civilization. I find it interesting that he adds in “a”, considering in the title of the book he says- End of Civilization. In this part of the book which is composed of two sections The Disappearance of Comfort and Why the Demise of Comfort, Mr. Perkins talks a lot about pottery. Yes a book discussing the end of civilization talks in length about broken pottery. I agree that knowing facts about how people met their basic needs of eating is important, but its overdone for me. Mr. Perkins does connect the pots to the larger economy. It is a good way to show that specialized trade did decrease in the empire. His pottery research is a new look at late antiquity and one that is not common. He talks about the increase use of simple designs for things that can be mass produced and there use is less in less at the fall of the western empire. Yet he does talk about the use of metals for the same products, and this leads me to think that people just decided to use less pottery and more metal. After all a bulls only run in china shops. The next section of Mr. Perkins book looks at The Death of a Civilization. With the vanishing population, a strong economy declines and the amount of pottery declines. “Unfortunately, material remains although a good index of economic sophistication, are not necessarily a reliable index of levels of population.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 139. What was left of the population seemed to go to churches more. Mr. Perkins does not rely heavily on Christianity as a cause of the fall of Rome, like Heather: “The new religion sowed internal division within the empire through its doctrinal disputes, encouraged social leaders to drop out of political participation by becoming monks, and, by advocating a ‘turn-the-other-cheek’ policy, [helping] undermine the Roman war machine.” Peter Heather, “The Fall of Rome.” In The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) 443. Mr. Perkins does talk about the impact of Christianity when he discusses the homes for saints, mainly the size of the churches that were built. He notes as the empire fell, the churches got smaller. Along with the size of the churches the amount of people who could read and write-properly declined. Mt. Perkins uses graffiti in Pompeii as evidence, with the language not being just in Latin but a hybrid between Latin and Greek dialects. The last section of the book All for the Best in the Best Possible Worlds, is when we see the last step in late antiquity. This section is a collection of Mr. Perkins final thoughts on the fall of the Roman Empire. “Present-day historians seem to find more comfortable discussing the ‘rise’ of this or that… This is I think the main problem with the new way of looking at the end of the ancient world.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 182. Bryan Ward-Perkins book is a wonderful look at the fall of the Roman Empire, if you can get over the side bar comments that can be confusing but at the same time funny. After all culture can create a change that is much more powerful than the rule of any government, because we would be wise not to repeat [Rome’s] complacency.” Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: and the End of a Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 183. Book Review: The Fall of Rome Logan C Bedford:5 Book Review: The Fall of Rome Logan C Bedford And the End of Civilization