Hughes was written some excellent books on Stilicho, Bellarius, Aetius, Valens and Valentinian. He now turns his attention to the fall of the Western Empire - so doesn't focus on just the one person but on some key figures - Majorian, Ricimer, Marcellinus, Gundobad, Orestes, Odoacer. As a result it doesn't have a strong central focus because the collapse of the Western Empire was so messy and complicated that it was hard to tell when it actually ended (the Goths didn't change that much, the Eastern Empire kept going).
No matter how bad things was, it could have been reversed for a long time if the East had been able and/or willing to help out - but they didn't and chaos ensued. Hughes argues that things were basically doomed even when Majorian took over. I don't think so, he was a successful leader who could have at least consolidated if not for Ricimer. Hughes paints a more sympathetic depiction of Ricimer, arguing he wasn't as manipulative and evil as he's been depicted- but intentional or not, look at the scoreboard, the executions and coups added up and they rarely improved things. Towards the end of the book things get very confusing as I'm sure this was at the time. But it's a very good book.
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