Barbero's lively and entertaining study provides a superb overview of the latest scholarship on the Carolingian age and constructs a compelling argument for Charlemagne's pivotal role as the father of Europe. We gain a sense of the look and feel of peasant villages, the dynamic interplay of monastic economies and long-distance trade, and the manipulation of justice by local notables. This is histoire totale at its best.—Sharon Farmer, author of Surviving Poverty in Medieval Paris "This up-to-date account focuses on the man and his times while clearly and judiciously dealing with key historio-graphical issues. Barbero explores and explodes the myths that have grown up around the emperor."—Barbara H. Rosenwein, Loyola University