Product Description

Between the eighth and eleventh centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homeland to trade, raid and invade along the coasts of Europe. Their influence and expeditions extended from Newfoundland to Baghdad, their battles were as far-flung as Africa and the Arctic. But were they great seafarers or desperate outcasts, noble heathens or oafish pirates, the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans? This concise study puts medieval chronicles, Norse sagas and Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic, genetic profiling and climatology. It includes biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings, from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf, and King Canute to Leif the Lucky. It explains why the Danish king Harald Bluetooth lent his name to a twenty-first century wireless technology; which future saint laughed as she buried foreign ambassadors alive; why so many Icelandic settlers had Irish names; and how the last Viking colony was destroyed by English raiders. Extending beyond the traditional 'Viking age' of most books, A Brief History of the Vikings places sudden Scandinavian population movement in a wider historical context. It presents a balanced appraisal of these infamous sea kings, explaining both their swift expansion and its supposed halt. Supposed because, ultimately, the Vikings didn't disappear: they turned into us.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71845 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Jonathan Clements is the author of Pirate King, Moon in the Pines and Confucius: A Biography. He lives in London and Jyvaskyla.

Customer Reviews

Best Viking Book Ever!!!!!!!
Ive read lots of viking books but none were as good as this. This is Not "A Brief History" as it is very informative but it leaves out the boring bits and leaves in the bits you really want to know. It puts the story of the Vikings into a larger and new perspective. It obviously tells us everything from the Viking age and the raids on Christian Anglo-Saxon England, Ireland and all the other countries they plundered. It also shows how the vikings were forced to become christians or be burned alive. And it looks at their long lasting impact as they never really went away, they became Christian and they added to, and adopted the cultures where they settled and eventualy became us. This is a very interesting book that is a pure joy to read. (some of it is a little boring but what do you expect from a history book, but most of it is very very good).