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| Attila: A Barbarian King and the Fall of Rome | 
 enlarge | Author: John Man
Publisher: Bantam Press
Category: Book
List Price: £20.00
Buy Used: £4.49
You Save: £15.51 (78%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 384276
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 389
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0593052919
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN: 9780593052914
ASIN: 0593052919
Publication Date: March 1, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: A couple of library marks/labels near front. Very fast delivery from the UK; please check our feedback. We provide a professional service and aim for complete customer satisfaction. Sent in a new padded envelope.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Give me facts, Man, not fluff! July 29, 2008
I bought this title expecting a serious history of the Huns and their most famous leader, Attila. Now more than halfway through the book I am compelled to write an early review as I'm not entirely sure I will finish it for the simple reason that I have gained very little information from what I have read so far. I appreciate that sources are lacking for this subject, but surely that should simply result in a shorter book concerned with facts, and not a narrative account of the author's encounters with Mongolian professors or Hungarian archers? Most historian's manage to write eminently readable and often exciting accounts of their subjects without waffling on about their trip to the British Library and their impressions of the librarian they met there, so why does John Man think this improves his history of Attila? Also, he very often makes up for the lack of real information with simple unsubstantiated speculation. And finally, to top it all, he sometimes gets his facts wrong, such as when he refers to the Bosphorus and calls it the Hellespont - an entirely different strait at the opposite end of the Sea of Marmara - which kinda undermines my faith in him as an authority.
The book's light tone may perhaps make it accessible to a wider audience, which can only be a good thing, but I am no academic and yet found this an unrewarding, simplistic and uniformative read.
 Compelling Reading April 4, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Is it me, or are modern days authors making historical books that much more readable. Most of the historical books I have read recently are far removed from the dusty old volumes that lay mouldering in the bookcase or on the shelves of the library. Mainly, I believe because the contents inside the book are as dry and dusty as the outside and of little value to anyone other than a scholar.
This book is written with a light touch, making it refreshingly readable without straying from the facts. If more books were written in this way, history would become a rare treat, rather than something that is there mainly for the academic.
Although most schoolboys know the name Attila, a man who was known for his barbarism, and some may even be able to tell you that he was instrumental in holding the fate of the Roman Empire in his hands. Very little else is known about the man himself and the warriors he led.
In the early 5th century AD Attila and his warriors earned an undying reputation for savagery, the like of which had never been seen. His empire briefly rivalled that of Rome, reaching from the Rhine to the Black Sea, the Baltic to the Balkans.
Attila: The Barbarian King who Challenged Rome January 19, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
John Man covers the subject in his wonderful writing style, offering many suggestions on vague areas. A tremendous read. A must for those interested in the history of the Huns.
attila December 31, 2005
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
The author,john Man, has produced a superb book.The Huns had a history that Mr. Man has traced to its origin,the Hsiung-nu, who plagued the Chinese before being defeated and then the long trek and a metamorphisis into the Huns. As the Huns they collided with Germanic peoples such as the Goths,Alans absorbing some forcing others to flee to the Roman frontier on the Danube. The Huns must have been ferocious warriers as the Goths having initially negotiated apeacefull crossing of the Roman border to be resettled turned on their erstwhile benefactors and heavily defeated the mighty Roman army at Adrianople,killing the Emporer Valens to boot.Initially the Romans used the Huns as auxiliaries.Later Attila saw how weak and divided Rome was and swept through the Empire ravaging the countryside even using seige engines to take towns. Attila suffered a reverse atOrleons by Aetius,a Roman general.With Attilas death his Empire fell apart. Mr. Man produces a good story that needs to be told anew.One error his photo following page 196of Aetius is actually Flavius Stilicho.On his shield are the images of the boy emperorsHonoriusand Arcadius a slightly earlier period.
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