This is drier than other histories I've given five stars to, but I still want to give it the highest rating because of the comprehensive nature of its vision. The author, Peter Heather, takes to task the idea that the Roman Empire collapsed because of internal weaknesses brought on by decadence and corruption (i.e. the Edward Gibbons line of thought). Instead he paints a canvas of the late Empire as having very effectively reformed itself in the 3rd and 4th Centuries in response to the rise of the Sassanian Persian Empire. It was as powerful as it had ever been in 376 C.E. when the migration of the Huns into Europe began a century worth of invasions by unifying Germanic peoples. The subsequent chaos and loss of tax base turned the Western Roman Empire into dust. Heather lays out the state of the late Empire's structure and capabilities before showing every step of this massive and dizzying collapse. I had only vague ideas about this huge period in Eurasian history prior to reading and set the book down feeling like I had gotten as comprehensive a reading as is possible in one book.