A good entry in the Very Short Introductions series: Clark provides a thematically-organized account of the transition of power from the domains formerly ruled by the (Western) Roman Empire to domains ruled by the various Germanic kingdoms. The focus lies on showing how cultural, theological, administrative and political debates taking place under the latter rule were natural continuations of those ongoing under previous rule, as opposed to the apparently superseded conquer-and-start-anew story I was taught in school. The book clarified the period for me, and corrected some misconceptions I had. Job well done, in other words.

One complaint I have is that Clark could have dealt more with the perspective of the incoming Germanic tribes, or the everyday Gallo-Romans, instead of devoting so much attention to theological disputes. But I suspect that the latter may be one of the things that sets this book apart from similar ones, so I won’t hold it against Clark.

Bonus points for including maps! Tracing migrations of people is so much easier with them! ( )

This is the best VSI I've seen so far - they're usually interesting and compact, but generally give the mainstream view, like you would get at a community college course - this one is lively and brings in many intriguing points from current active research, while at the same time covering enough background to keep it truly introductory - highly recommended, for anyone interested in Mediterranean Late Antiquity. ( )