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| Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History | 
| Authors: Terry Jones, Alan Ereira
Publisher: BBC Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $9.07
You Save: $5.88 (39%)
New (23) from $9.07
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 236971
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 056353916X
Dewey Decimal Number: 937.06
EAN: 9780563539162
ASIN: 056353916X
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
A completely fresh approach to Roman history, this book not only offer readers the chance to see the Romans from a non-Roman perspective, it also reveals that most of those written off by the Romans as uncivilized, savage, and barbaric were in fact organized, motivated, and intelligent groups of people with no intentions of overthrowing Rome and plundering its Empire. This fascinating study does away with the propaganda and opens our eyes to who really established the civilized world. Delving deep into history, Terry Jones and Alan Ereira uncover the impressive cultural and technological achievements of the Celts, Goths, Persians, and Vandals. In this new paperback edition, Terry and Alan travel through 700 years of history on three continents, bringing wit, irreverence, passion, and the very latest scholarship to transform our view of the legacy of the Roman Empire and the creation of the modern world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Mr. Lanny North February 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I fell in love with Jones' "Who Murdered Chaucer" and the result was a deepened interest in the period and a return of excitement for the Richard and Henry series in Shakespeare. My return to the joys of Middle English was also prompted. Like that volume, "The Barbarians" is like a pile of leaves found in a dark wood. His picking and mussing those leaves exposes much that I found enlightning. Makes sense that the book of history being written by victors has pushed the Celts and the Gauls and the Germanics into oblivion. Mr. Jones messes about in that pile of leaves and exposes much for our contemplation and wonder. Like his Chaucer Book, I have not examined or tested all of his revelations or pronouncements, but as a book to spark an enduring interest and to seed further exploration I recommend and sing its praises. The Poet's History indeed!
Well, What do you know! February 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is very interesting, readable, and sheds light on the barbarian's view of the Roman world, and their fight against it. It's amazing how the Romans and the people they conquered both benefitted each other.
Good purchase!
 Revisionism for its own sake January 22, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
It's interesting to read a book about Roman history written from the viewpoint of the other side, ie the barbarians which Rome, mostly, defeated. The next time I read any Roman history it will stop me from making the automatic assumption that the Romans were the civilised ones and their opponents just savages.
However, Jones goes too far in his condemnation of the Romans. It surely cannot be true, as he believes, that Roman hegemony over five centuries was purely based on conquest. I suspect that most barbarians welcomed the Pax Romanus as an alternative to constant rivalry between opposing chieftains. This better explains the success of the empire.
Does Jones really believe that the people who built Rome were not superior to at least the vast majority of the tribes they defeated, tribes which never even invented written language? I don't think he really does; it just feels clever to take that viewpoint.
As an antidote to this nonsense, go to Rome and then stand outside the Pantheon. Then say to a nearby tourist: "Of course, the barbarians whom the Romans defeated were more civilised than the people who made this." Watch the tourist nervously back away.
Romans as propagandists take clever, if slanted, hit January 15, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Terry Jones may be one of the sharpest wits in the historians' arena, and "Barbarians" proves that Jones deserves credit as a serious historian.
That doesn't mean that "Barbarians" should be accepted as gospel. Its value rests in its willingness to examine the role of the "barbarians" in Western civilization . . . and that role is far greater than quaffing mead after a good rape-and-pillage.
Jones reminds us that "barbarians" were everyone who was not Roman - so it covered quite a bit of ground. Accordingly, the Roman concept of a Barbarian was not Conan. Jones goes to great lengths to prove that "barbarians" made several significant contributions to history, but that's not surprising considering the fact that the Greeks qualified as "barbarians" even though they were the leading scholars of the age.
Like most historians zealously pursuing a thesis, Jones clearly overplays his hand in several areas while ignoring Rome's obvious achievements. Jones argues that Rome stood as a bulwark against scientific progress and didn't achieve much of note in the fields of art, literature, or the sciences. But Jones never really gives the Romans their due - the Roman aqueducts and the Coliseum are ignored, and Jones dismisses Rome's magnificent roads because there's evidence that roads were also built in Britain. In other words, Jones ain't playing fair.
But that's fine - the Romans surely diminished the achievements of their neighbors on many levels when writing their own history. And this slant is pretty obvious, so it's easy to read Jones, enjoy him, and still learn something even if you don't take all his conclusions as gospel. This is one of the most entertaining histories of Rome you will read, and that by itself makes it worth a look.
What a great read! December 10, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Interesting subject matter, well written, really fascinating look at history - where the Romans aren't the only folks in the past who had, well, anything!
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