“More than a good history book. This work bears all the hallmarks of a scholar of genius.” Franco Cardini

”It is no secret that, as Croce was wont to say, history is always in the present. In this good use of the past Alessandro Barbero is a champion who is always raring to go. Barbari is a fascinating read.” Silvia Ronchey, Tuttolibri

”A world that holds itself to be prosperous and civilized, marked by internal inequalities and imbalances, but with a stable administration and integrated economy; on the outside, people forced to survive, threatened by hunger and by war, who increasingly clamour to be admitted; a militarized border to filter refugees and immigrants; and government authorities that must decide each time what attitude to adopt when faced with these emergencies. It could be the description of our world and instead it is the situation in which the Roman Empire found itself for centuries with the Barbarians at its gates.”