https://eidolon.pub/barbarians-inside-the-gate-part-ii-c22c5...
Granted, he's writing about Republican Rome so it doesn't directly relate to the 5th century, but it deals with similar themes in a thoughtful way.
And I agree that it would be better for everyone if we collectively just ignored the 2015 incarnation of Niall Ferguson, but unfortunately being a tenured professor at Harvard (and now Stanford) gives you quite the bully pulpit! His first book is actually good, but it's been a downhill slide into largely fact-less political assertions and nasty ad hominem attacks since then...