The subtitle says it all. A new perpective on what is known as the Dark Ages which, as the author points out, can only be called "dark" if you take the Roman Empire as the peak of "light". An interesting overview of some of the factors at work which contributed to creating the art and architecture styles that eventually become the Carolingian culture.
He uses archaeological evidence to back up the assertion that there was no great abandonment of cities and towns or of long distance trade. Instead what you have with the fall of the Roman Empire is the disappearance, or maybe the transformation or melding, of the culture of the elite with the culture of the local inhabitants. The book inadvertently draws attention to the fact that the Roman Empire was essentially a colonial enterprise.
The one thing I find missing in the book, particularly in the discussion of the development of the new animal motif, semiabstract style of art, is the link to the Steppe cultures that were moving into Europe at that time. If you look at the art reproductions in the book you can't help but think of the earlier Scythian jewelry from the Black Sea step area.
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