I bought this book recently and it's excellent so far-https://
www.amazon.com/Medieval-World-Illustrated-Atlas/dp/1426205333
It was written in 2009, so perhaps the editors these days might've taken more issue with some of the things written? Maybe not, but anyway I found this section particularly interesting-
I wonder what the open borders crowd thinks of stuff like this...
there are some striking similarities between modern western countries, and ancient rome, but these books usually ignore the striking differences.
-our economy is not dependent on conquering lands and stealing their shit (kinda)
-our politicians do not run armies loyal to them, rather than to the state
-there are not more slaves here than workers (roman elites bought the land, and put slaves to work rather than employees)
-rome had too much land to control, and not enough loyal people to do it. almost like having too much toast, and not enough butter. thats not a problem modern states have.
-aqueducts were often lined with lead. no small issue.
and as far as this author's opinion about groups like the cimbri, and the like being mass "immigration"....thats is certainly debatable. there are problems when modern states invite more people in that can really be assimilated. sometimes even violent problems. but the people coming into rome were murdering romans in large numbers, and visa versa. interactions between different groups of people were a bit more raw in ancient times, even when compared to the worst of interactions now.