The Huns (Peoples of the Ancient World)

This book is worth while in that it summarizes much preceding scholarship in a coherent relatively brief overview. For that reason it is well worth reading.It’s tone, however, is so colloquial as to raise questions about the objectivity and seriousness of the author. Worse, it suffers from far too much repetition and too many 21st century value laden remarks. Of lesser concern, but still distracting is the author’s mixed perspective on the audience: general reader or fairly learned? At one point the author explains tgat “Gaul” was located in what is today France. Yet else where the contexts of massive numbers of individuals and people’s are assumed without any explanation. Hence, a decent editor could have greatly improved this book. All in all, I do recommend it. Nice short length and encapsulates the latest thinking on the Huns and their legacy.

I used it as research for my next historical fiction book.

Well written and views the Huns from the eastern perspective. Highly recommended.

Kim's The Huns is, overall, an excellent introduction to the history of the Huns as a group of related political entities throughout their long existence. It's important to understand that Kim (rightly) approaches the Huns not as an ethnic or (worse yet) racial group, but rather as a political group, which splintered into successor groups, which in turn produced their own Hunnic successor groups. As a result, the book covers the history of several related, though distinct, groups including the Xiongnu (ie, East Asian Huns), the Kidarites, Hepthalites, etc (ie, the Central Asian Huns), and the European Huns fmously ruled by Attila. Kim provides only a brief overview of some of the justifications in associating these various groups (there's a centuries-old debate about whether the European Huns originally came from the East Asian Xiongnu), but he does point the reader toward more detailed scholarship on the subject.Kim is, at times, rather over-eager in his attempts to rehabilitate our image of the Huns, however. Problematically, much of his more far-fetched arguments are tied up in other, far more likely claims. I would advise taking some of Kim's grander claims with a grain or two of salt.The book does include maps, but they are few, and difficult on the eyes. I'd recommend finding a bunch of maps online to accompany your read.Lastly, the typeface. Oh, the typeface. Usually when books have weird fonts, there's some sort of page titled 'About the Typeface' which gives some sort of justification for it's use. Here, nothing. It's like someone accidentally switched fonts before hitting 'Print' at the publishing house, and no-one noticed until it was too late. After you get a few pages in, you start to get used to it, but....In summary, the book is excellent, but imperfect. Kim may get a touch over-excited about the wonderfulness of the Huns at times, but if nothing else, this gives a counterbalance to the all-too-common view of the Huns as nothing but savage raiders. The content is marred by some distracting font and poor maps, but these are not severe enough to ruin the book by any means. Highly recommended as an introduction for anyone looking to learn more about the Huns, and his bibliography will lead interested readers on to more substantial works by various scholars.