Empires of Faith: The Fall of Rome to the Rise of Islam, 500-700 (Oxford History of Medieval Europe)
This book is a gem [...] Sarris avoids pomposity and instead employs the easy, relaxed style of the accomplished undergraduate lecturer. This is not to say that the material is dumbed down. In discussing such diverse and complicated subjects as law and the content of grave goods, the author provides older students with a wealth of subject matter that might ordinarily lie outside classroom readings. J. W. Nesbitt, CHOICE evoke[s], with a rare vividness, the world of the later Roman aristocracy Conrad Leyser, Times Literary Supplement Peter Sarris' splendid new book is a defiant act of intellectual imperialism. Under the triumphant banner of 'The Oxford History of Medieval Europe' it annexes four academic kingdoms: Rome, the early Middle Ages, Byzantium and early Islam [...] It is easy for forget that this is hard-fought territory, disputed by fractious experts and partitioned between different university departments [...] Peter Sarris' signal acheivement is to impose an academic unity on the period. Christopher Kelly, The Literary Review An epic, sweeping and ferociously clever history of the age of Justinian and Mohammed. Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard a brilliant book about the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam, filled with insights and revolutionary ideas by one of the finest historians in Britain. Peter Frankopan, History Today Books of the Year 2013 This is the first volume to appear in the 'Oxford History of Medieval Europe'. Its general editors express the hope in their preface that they have liberated their authors 'from the need to produce a standard authoritative account'. Thankfully Peter Sarris has refused to be liberated and has done exactly that. I dont think it is too fanciful to see points of similarity between Empires of Faith and Stentons Anglo-Saxon England. Both display a mastery of the relevant sources and scholarship; both provide very clear guides to complicated situations; both are very sensitive to the shaping of history by economic, social and religious forces. this is a very good book indeed. Michael Angold, History This is an impressive book. Sarris has succeeded in covering both western and eastern developments and tying them convincingly together ... Empires of Faith is a lucid and confident expression of Sarriss developed view of materialist history, and at the same time a coherent and highly readable book. Averil Cameron, English Historical Review