Genuinely field-changing
Hannah Skoda, Books of the Year 2023, BBC History Magazine
An impressive book that turns the history of the Mediterranean upside down...an extraordinarily rich and wide-ranging reinterpretation of the Mediterranean...a monumental achievement that fully deserves to take its place among classic studies of Mediterranean history.
David Abulafia, Times Literary Supplement
A comprehensive and ground-breaking study...well-researched, well-written, and thought-provoking... an essential reading for anyone interested in Mediterranean history or the development of the European economy.
Richard Tuttle, World History Encyclopedia
Nothing short of impressive...a must read
Tobias Daniels, Sehepunkte
Punchy, eye-wateringly ambitious, and occasionally amusing, The Donkey & The Boat will set the benchmark for debate on this subject for many years to come.
Nicholas Morton, Engelsberg Ideas
Brilliant... the sheer depth of [Wickham's] research and the breadth of his insights warrants close attention.
Nicholas Morton, Books of the Year 2023, Engelsberg Ideas
This book is going to become a game changer and an unavoidable point of reference and discussion in the research on medieval economic growth in the next years.
Davide Cristoferi, Continuity and Change
It is not every day that one encounters a book that aims to overturn a paradigm and establish in its place the foundations of a new one; rarer still is it to find that the author succeeds in that task. But that is exactly what Chris Wickham achieves in his mammoth new book.
Robert Portass, World Archaeology
To be sure, the world needs scholarly tomes like this one.
Jonathan P. Conant, Early Medieval Europe