Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400-700

Barbarians and Romans (1983) examines the rise of the barbarian tribes and the consequent decline of the Roman Empire. The author contends that the two sides were not bent on destroying each other, and that after years of accommodation and alienation a new world would emerge that had its foundations not only in Rome but also in Germanic culture. The book ranges across the Roman world, and from the rulers to the ruled, combining the study of monuments and artefacts with the literary evidence of the period.

Justine Davis Randers-Pehrson studied at Radcliffe College, the Sorbonne, the University of Heidelberg and Howard University. For many years she was librarian of the National Library of Medicine, Library of Congress, and was an editor and translator for the US Office of Technical Services and the US Patent Office.