A comprehensive and thrilling history of the Vikings for fans of the History Channel series

From Harald Bluetooth to Cnut the Great, the feared seamen and plunderers of the Viking Age ruled Norway, Sweden, and Denmark but roamed as far as Byzantium, Greenland, and America. Raiders and traders, settlers and craftsmen, the medieval Scandinavians who have become familiar to history as Vikings never lose their capacity to fascinate, from their ingeniously designed longboats to their stormy pantheon of Viking gods and goddesses, ruled by Odin in Valhalla. Robert Ferguson is a sure guide across what he calls "the treacherous marches which divide legend from fact in Viking Age history." His long familiarity with the literary culture of Scandinavia with its skaldic poetry is combined with the latest archaeological discoveries to reveal a sweeping picture of the Norsemen, one of history's most amazing civilizations.

Impeccably researched and filled with compelling accounts and analyses of legendary Viking warriors and Norse mythology, The Vikings is an indispensable guide to medieval Scandinavia and is a wonderful companion to the History Channel series.

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Product details

File Size: 2945 KB
Print Length: 464 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books (October 28, 2009)
Publication Date: November 25, 2009
Language: English
ASIN: B002TV07E2
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,594 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #114 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Europe > Scandinavia
- #282 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Archaeology
- #394 in Books > History > Europe > Scandinavia

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Real History

March 20, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A relatively brief academic history--a bit dry in spots, or very dry if you're looking for a popularized history. And not for you if you're looking for a pseudo-history where women warriors fought alongside men and the fictitious Mother Goddess was worshiped until the eeeeevil Christians came along. No--in this book women don't appear hardly at all, and calling a Christian priest homosexual in a poem results not in a Pride moment but in him hunting you down and killing you. But if you want to learn not just about the usual Viking raids in England, but the settlement of and life in Iceland and Greenland, along with many fascinating cultural details of Norse life, this is the book for you.

18 people found this helpful

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I. Maruhashi

Informative, but fragmented and not the easiest read

May 31, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Although this is a book that is full of information and interesting anecdotes, as others have also written it is fragmented and is not the easiest book to read - even for a history major.

Of course, part of this is because of the nature of the Vikings; i.e., they came from different parts of Scandinavia (various parts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden), traveled to many different places to raid, trade and colonize, and many of these things happened concurrently. However, I got a feeling that the author didn't really have a consistent approach to how he presented the material which would have made the book easier to read.

All in all, an informative book, but you will have to commit to finishing it IMHO. If you want a book that is easier to read, you might want to look at some other books, such as Lars Brownworth's "The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings."

14 people found this helpful

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moonj

A very detailed overview of Viking history

September 29, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I liked this book. It is a good overview of the history of the viking raids, exploration and trading missions in the early middle ages. The author is not a professional historian, but appears very thorough in his curating of sources. The refers to the annals of the time, as well as the sagas written several hundred years after the events he is describing. The book covers the history of the Danelaw, the conquest of Normandy, and the role the Normans would later play in English history, the Kievan Rus and their links to Byzantium, the raids carried out in Muslim Spain, the settlement of Iceland, Greenland, and the gradual conversion of the Scandinavians to Christianity.

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glen chandler

Great starter for those interested in the Viking era.

February 5, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The amount of work that went into this historical offering is vast...a great combination of the political and social background of a totally ignored society. I loved it.

6 people found this helpful

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October 17, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Bought this as a gift. The person loves history and especially leaning about Viking. He loved this book! It still sits on our bookcase and gets reviewed regularly.

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Reading Like Mad

Slow to gain reader's interest.

November 16, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Interesting book, but the first chapter is slow-going. Whole sections read as if written to be delivered to a love audience, and I kept wishing the illustrations had been inserted in chapters instead of gathered at mid book.

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Ben Rothfeld

Great book, needs more pillaging.

June 1, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Engaging history of one of the world's great traveling peoples.

I really liked the author's focus on the long, slow adoption of Christianity, which threw the Viking stereotype into sharp relief.

Some choices, likely editorial, seemed odd. For one, I found the chapters dealing with the Vikings in England hard to read because, I think the book assumes that the reader is already familiar with medieval England (I am not). I suspect that the author wrote for an English or British audience, as he goes into greater detail about Ireland.

Another odd choice was the lack of discussion of the runic alphabet. In a few passages, the author used unfamiliar letters without explaining how they'd be pronounced in English.

Still, fascinating take.

4 people found this helpful

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Christopher Heard

This book made me want to raid and pillage.

October 3, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Books condition was exactly as described. Very interesting look at the overall history of the Norse peoples during the Viking age and their interactions on a large scale with the surrounding lands and people especially England and France. Charlemagne even makes an appearance.

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