Customer Reviews

The Vikings: Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder (General Military)

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For the last couple years Osprey books have garnered my attention causing me to add many titles to the history items on my book shelves. As with the recently released The Normans by Osprey Publishing, this volume on the Vikings is also a true bell ringer.

Though the book contains new and added material, it represents a reprint in hardcover of the Osprey softcover books: Elite #3 The Vikings, Warrior #3 Viking Honor 793-1066, and New Vanguard #47 Viking Longship. As with The Normans, a chronology appears listing historical events from 350 BC through AD 1085. The book contains many pictures and illustrations which for the most part are all in color.

I don't know whose bright idea this was at Osprey, but they have hit upon a very good idea. Taking a series of previously published trade paperbacks and reissuing them as a new hardcover should find many history buffs willing and able to purchase them. Good thinking Osprey.

This volume will be a good one to introduce or reintroduce you to the good, solid history from these wonderful people at Osprey books. Cannot think of a better book to buy, unless it would be another newly published volume from Osprey: Soldiers of the Dragon, Chinese Armies 1500 BC-1840 AD. But whether you choose The Normans, The Vikings, or Soldiers of the Dragon you as a reader cannot possibly go wrong. Best in reading.

Semper Fi.

The Vikings have long been portrayed as ruthless barbarians who pillaged and sacked - and little more about them is usually revealed. To gain this depth, consult The Vikings: Voyagers Of Discovery And Plunder. Here are detailed surveys of their seafaring exploits, their history, and all that's known about major figures in Viking lore. From Viking ships to how they raided around the world and established world empires, The Vikings: Voyagers Of Discovery And Plunder is a college-level recommendation not to be missed by any studying the topic.

A good critique will illustrate the good and bad points of the book.

Good:
**Very good illustrations, nice captions, and in color.
**High quality paper
**Illustrations actually pertain to the text on the page
**Has information on a wide variety of Viking culture
**Easy to read
**Has a glossary (wish it was bigger)
**Bibliography is decent (although nothing cited)
**Top-Notch illustrators--Angus McBride is a legend

Bad:
**Wide-ranging topics doe not allow for complete analysis of any one topic
**No footnotes or citations (except in illustration captions)
**Lack of citations does not allow for easy follow on research
**Section of longships has too much word picture without a picture right next to the text (I had to refer to pge 190 too much)
**Not enough maps! Reading it with a Viking Atlas beside it would help; other illustrations make up for it though)

I would not recommend this book for graduate-level or serious research, but it does have good information. If you like footnotes, you might not like this book--try Gwyn Jones "A History of the Vikings," it is probably cheap enough and will make your head hurt by giving you plenty to look up. I'm still trying to digest it.

Oh, and shame on you if you don't leave a critique on any books you read from Amazon. It's a great tool, I use it a lot.

"Vikings:Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder" originated as three separate volumes published by Osprey, the well-known source of highly-ilustrated military works, and this origin is evident in the triple focus of the present book. The first section provides a general history of the Vikings (who operated principally during the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries), the second section examines the Viking "hersir" (the middle rank of Viking warriors), and the last gives a detailed look at Viking longshipss (and associated vessels). The volume is extremely well illustrated throughout, including contemporary works of art, modern drawings, and photographs of modern recreations (and in this regard, I cannot think of any human artifact that can surpass the Viking longships for their combination of utility with beauty). Even readers with numrous books about Vikings on their shelves will profit from adding this new volume to their collections.

This 3 in 1 collection is a great example of how good some of these Osprey books can be. For me the first two sections were a good review with great photos.The excellent illustrations have been a great help for a diorama I'm working on.The third section focuses on the ships and is both detailed and accessible. Again the illustrations are wonderful. One nice thing is that recent discoveries are included, which are not in some of the classic studies.Few people would need anything more than what is in this book.

I picked up good information about Viking history from this book, but the book didn't flow well and was sometimes overly detailed in describing a subject, such as technical aspects in building long ships. However, it was well illustrated and appeared to be well researched.