"Thorough and convincing... likely to become the standard work on the subject." ―Library Journal
"Highly readable." ―Medieval Literature
"A major work of synthesis." ―Walter E. Kaegi 
"Burns has achieved much for the modern study of Ostrogoths." ―Antiquaries Journal

A History of the Ostrogoths

History

Burns, Thomas S.

Ancient Civilizations

Indiana University Press

Combining the latest archaeological findings with information from traditional literary sources, Thomas Burns presents the first modern portrait of the Ostrogoths from their contacts with the Roman world in the third century through the disolution of their kingdom in Italy in 554

Europe

Indiana U.P.

Tales of ITT;: An insider's report

Houghton/Mifflin

The barbarians of antiquity, so long a fixture of the public imagination as the savages who sacked and destroyed Rome, emerge in this colorful, richly textured history as a much more complex―and far more interesting―factor in the expansion, and eventual unmaking, of the Roman Empire. Thomas S. Burns marshals an abundance of archeological and literary evidence, as well as three decades of study and experience, to bring forth an unusually far-sighted and wide-ranging account of the relations between Romans and non-Romans along the frontiers of western Europe from the last years of the Republic into late antiquity.
Looking at a 500-year time span beginning with early encounters between barbarians and Romans around 100 B.C. and ending with the spread of barbarian settlement in the western Empire around A.D. 400, Burns removes the barbarians from their narrow niche as invaders and conquerors and places them in the broader context of neighbors, (sometimes bitter) friends, and settlers. His nuanced history subtly shows how Rome's relations with the barbarians―and vice versa―slowly but inexorably evolved from general ignorance, hostility, and suspicion toward tolerance, synergy, and integration. What he describes is, in fact, a drawn-out period of acculturation, characterized more by continuity than by change and conflict and leading to the creation of a new Romano-barbarian hybrid society and culture that anticipated the values and traditions of medieval civilization.

Rome and the Barbarians, 100 B.C.–A.D. 400 (Ancient Society and History)

Johns Hopkins University Press

One review: When the Glomar Explorer cover was blown--and it was learned that this supposed Howard Hughes-sponsored ship was not intended to perform deep-sea mining, but to recover a sunken Soviet submarine--there were hints of other covert goings-on at sea. Now Burns, a former Navy officer, adds substance in a dryly detailed but extensive study of ""the wet Cold War."" Burns, an executive involved in government submarine weaponry procurement, is clearly taken by the sophistication of undersea technology--and impressive it is, particularly in communications and surveillance. Much of the effort, Burns indicates, is to design new systems that help avoid detection by the enemy. As the U.S. or the Soviet Union comes up with a new sonar or X-ray device, the other must find an alternative. Back and forth it goes, adding billions to both countries' defense budgets and all too frequently producing methods or equipment obsolete before they are even used. Chapter by chapter Burns chronicles the nation's experiences with--most prominently--the Thresher, a prototype nuclear submarine whose mission was ""locating and destroying other submarines--no matter how deep or fast or quiet they were running"" (which was lost somewhere off Cape Cod, presumably killing the 128 men aboard), and the Trident, an expensive and controversial, but still-promising, submarine twice the size of any other. The bottom line, Burns contends, is maintaining superiority at sea, and with it the U.S. right to share the riches the sea has to offer. A thorough chronology and detailed comparison of U.S. and Soviet naval strength enhance the research value of the book.

The secret war for the ocean depths: Soviet-American rivalry for mastery of the seas

Rawson Associates Publishers

Rome and the Germans as seen in coinage: Catalog for the exhibition

Emory University

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Books by Burns, Thomas S.