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Shop nowAlaric the Goth
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Learn moreDenied citizenship by the Roman Empire, a soldier named Alaric changed history by unleashing a surprise attack on the capital city of an unjust empire.
Stigmatized and relegated to the margins of Roman society, the Goths were violent "barbarians" who destroyed "civilization," at least in the conventional story of Rome's collapse. But a slight shift of perspective brings their history, and ours, shockingly alive.
Alaric grew up near the river border that separated Gothic territory from Roman. He survived a border policy that separated migrant children from their parents, and he was denied benefits he likely expected from military service. In stark contrast to the rising bigotry, intolerance, and zealotry among Romans during Alaric's lifetime, the Goths, as practicing Christians, valued religious pluralism and tolerance. The marginalized Goths preserved virtues of the ancient world that we take for granted.
The three nights of riots Alaric and the Goths brought to the capital struck fear into the hearts of the powerful, but the riots were not without cause. Combining vivid storytelling and historical analysis, Douglas Boin reveals the Goths' complex and fascinating legacy in shaping our world.
Douglas Boin is an associate professor of history at Saint Louis University and the author of Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome and Coming Out Christian in the Roman World, as well as two scholarly books on antiquity. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Chris MacDonnell is a classically trained actor who graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in 1973. He has an excellent reputation in the U.K. for playing leading and supporting roles in theater, television, radio drama, and films. His theater credits include London's West End and the Royal National Theatre. He's also featured in British TV shows, BBC radio-drama, commercials, and films. In the U.S. he's voiced many commercials, promos, games, and animations. He's also a featured character in the historical drama set against the backdrop of the American War of Independence, Courage, New Hampshire for PBS, in which he plays Merry Pugwell. He came to narration in 2013, and since then he's recorded over twenty titles in a variety of genres, including epic fantasy, thrillers, historical romance, and biography. Chris now lives and works in Southern California, where his forty-year career continues to flourish.