The Barbarians

Winner of the Felicia A. Holton Book Award 2020

* Archaeological Institute of America *
Winner of the Popular Book Prize 2018 * Society for American Archaeology *
The Vandals did vandalise Rome, but were the barbarians truly barbarous? This is the question asked by Peter Bogucki in his new book The Barbarians, a thought-provoking, highly readable addition to Reaktion’s always interesting Lost Civilizations series. * Minerva *
Bogucki successfully shows that the barbarian world was not flat and monolithic, and he sheds light on the development of the barbarian cultures over the centuries as a result of migrations and interactions with other civilizations. * The Historian *
The author’s goal is to present an overview of prehistoric Europe via modern archaeological discoveries, with the major focus on the years between 2000 BCE and 500 CE. Archaeologist Bogucki (Princeton) provides valuable information from the European Stone, Bronze, and Iron ages to balance the biased written records from the hostile Greek and Roman accounts that depict the northern barbarians as violent and depraved subhumans . . . The author brings an intriguing story of barbarians into the present consciousness via looking at their emerging politics, complex economic and social systems, and evolving, sophisticated culture as evidenced in objective physical remains . . . Recommended. * Choice *
Peter Bogucki offers a concise and clearly written summary of the archaeology of “prehistoric” Europe in his book titled The Barbarians: Lost Civilizations. The focus on less acknowledged European groups and their numerous complex lifeways serves as a counterpoint to the well-known ancient Greeks and Romans. The introduction in the book is particularly valuable for educating popular readers on the techniques of archaeology and it offers a brief account of its history in Europe . . . The color photographs in the book were selected with great care and their quality is exceptional. This engaging book comes highly recommended for those who want to learn more about the ancestors of present-day Europeans. * Society for American Archaeology *
I’m fascinated by barbarians, just I’m fascinated by Greeks and Romans and Egyptians – though I’m fascinated by the latter because they were literate and we know so much about them. With barbarians the attraction is equal and opposite: they fascinate because they wrote nothing, and we know so little about them. Or rather, what we know must be inferred from the material remains of these prehistoric Europeans. Archaeologist Bogucki is thus an ideal candidate to write a general interest book about ‘barbarians’ for the Reaktion Lost Civilizations series. He starts way back. -- Tim Morris * Lection *
Peter Bogucki’s The Barbarians: Lost Civilizations is a beautifully bound and illustrated work of approachable scholarship . . . ably covering the most significant events in early European history from a learned and always interesting perspective. Bogucki details how the Barbarians played a role equal to that of the Classical civilizations in the creation of European culture, and their legacy, while necessarily much harder to trace and define, is every bit as important and lasting as their Mediterranean brethren. -- William H. Funk * Ancient History Encyclopedia *
Bogucki takes us on a travel tour of Europe, offering a series of wonderfully written vignettes about sites and situations of the prehistoric past. The Barbarians is an ideal way for students and lay readers alike to enter into the past with ease. * Ian W. Brown, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Alaba