Fields of Mars

A New History of the Fall of the Roman Empire

Daniel Metcalf

A remarkable history of the end of the Roman Empire that captures the atmosphere and immediacy of a watershed moment in human civilization.

In Fields of Mars, Oxford-trained classicist and polyglot Daniel Metcalfe brilliantly reconstructs, almost year by year, the astonishingly rapid unravelling of the Roman Empire, showing how a state that seemed militarily dominant, economically robust, and politically fairly stable could unravel within the space of a few generations.

Rather than surveying the grand sweep of history from Olympian heights, in Fields of Mars, Metcalf operates closer to street level, travelling across modern Europe, from the Danube frontier to Ravenna, from Spain to Turkey, to follow key figures from Rome's final decades.

Emperors and refugees, generals and bishops, warlords and queens emerge in these pages as living characters, whose accumulated decisions and mistakes cause one of history's greatest geopolitical ruptures.

Brimming with first-rate scholarship, Metcalf's vivid prose holds the readers attention and builds suspens until the final page while challenging preconcieved notions about Rome and its fall. Fields of Mars illuminates a complex moment in history and separates truth from legend.

Daniel Metcalfe graduated from the University of Oxford as a scholar in Classics. His first book, Out of Steppe: The Lost Peoples of Central Asia, was shortlisted for the Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award and the Banff Mountain Book award. He has written for The Economist, Guardian, Financial Times, Vice News, Condé Nast Traveler, Foreign Policy, Prospect and the New Statesman. He speaks Russian, Ukrainian, Persian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and is an occasional Persian/Dari interpreter for the EU Agency for Asylum.  He lives in Málaga, Spain.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for Daniel Metcalfe

"A serious and moving account."
The Financial Times

"Metcalfe's book has many virtues, the greatest of which are courage and a keen eye for detail, plus an ability to convey the essence of a place." The Independent

"A terrific read. Metcalfe writes with sensitivity and great flair. I was totally absorbed." Ashdown
Rt. Hon. Lord Paddy Ashdown