Product Description

The Vikings hold a particular place in the history of the West, both mythologically and in the significant impact they had on Northern Europe. Magnus Magnusson's indispensable study of this great people presents a rounded and fascinating picture of a nation who, in modern eyes, would seem to embody striking contradictions. They were undoubtedly pillagers, raiders, and terrifying warriors, but they were also great pioneers, artists, and traders--a dynamic people, whose skill and daring in their exploration of the world has left an indelible impression a thousand years on.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #281531 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
The Vikings brought us far more than the horrors of pillaging and looting - they introduced a hearty dose of art and culture too. It is no exaggeration to say England would never have become 'a nation of shopkeepers' without them, and that the trading bloc that is the European Community might never have got beyond petty squabbling. Magnus Magnusson paints vivid word pictures of what the Vikings did for us and the rest of Europe, but this is no whitewash job. He admits that rape, desecration and murder were as much a part of the Viking mindset as were more noble pursuits such as civilisation. In fact the Vikings were so contradictory that they remain among the more enigmatic people ever to have stormed down from northern Europe and spread their influence where it was not always wanted. Magnusson's book, first published in 1980, is gorgeously illustrated and shows the Vikings in a context you probably never imagined before. (Kirkus UK)

From the Back Cover
A COMPREHENSIVE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS OF THE 'PAGAN HORDES', THE MEDIEVAL NORESEMEN.

As the most notorious of the 'pagan hordes' to descend on Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages, the image of the Vikings has transcended the centuries. Even today their name evokes images of murder, pillage and desecration.

This graphic and complete history considers the totality of the Viking experience, taking their story from their origins in the fjords in Scandanavia to their great voyages and lasting impact on the wider world. Magnus Magnusson channels his years of writing and research in the field to produce a chronological account of Viking activity in the varied cultural areas of Europe with which they came into contact. Raiders, pagans and killers, but at the same time explorers, pioneers, traders and artists: the remarkable contradictions which characterized the Viking Age are explored and illuminated.

About the Author
Magnus Magnusson KBE, the well-known television broadcaster, has been closely associated with history and archaeology throughout his career. He has written and presented many historical documentaries for television and radio and has published widely on the Vikings.

Customer Reviews

"I've started, so I'll finish".
Sir Magnus Magnusson has always been closely associated with archaeology: having written and presented on the subject many times during his career. However, he was probably most famous for presenting the tv quiz "Mastermind" from 1972 to 1997. At its peak in the 1980s, he got the chance to present his own series - the Vikings. This a new adaptation of the book which accompanied the series.

As one might expect of a book dedicated to the revisionist historian Peter Sawyer, it is a balanced and intelligently drawn study. Magnusson's study of this great people presents an account of a nation that is perceived with striking contradictions (remember Tim Robbins in "Erik"?). To be a Viking was strictly to be a pirate (from the Old Norse "vikingr", a pirate or raider) but Magnusson shows how it is misleading to describe more than three centuries of northern history just as an age of raiders. They were undoubtedly pillagers, raiders and terrifying warriors, but they were also great pioneers, artists and traders.

This book is an excellent account of how the Vikings' vibrant warrior culture transformed the north Atlantic and much of Russia through trade and settlement.