a bit confused

This had the potential to be really interesting, but there's a lack of focus that leaves it meandering all over the place. Rather than being a biography (because there's very little material available), it sketches a profile of life in the late Roman empire to suggest the sorts of experiences he might have had. In particular it looks at the long-standing Roman xenophobia and increasing religious intolerance of the reigns of Theodosius and his sons, and the effects that had on Gothic immigrants like Alaric.

The book seems aimed at a reader unfamiliar with the period, so there's a huge amount of background, and parallels with the present, to try to provide context for the times. The trouble is that the actual narrative gets a bit lost in frequent asides and examples. It has the depth and detail of a sprawling epic and tries to fit it to the running time of a brief overview. It's a shame, because somewhere in all this are insights into Alaric and how he was perceived by his contemporaries and subsequent ages which were genuinely interesting and well thought out.

On top of that, the narration was quite dull, with some pretty dodgy or inconsistent pronunciation.

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