The Age of the Vikings

September 1, 2014
The world of the Vikings is still a bit mysterious. Norse chieftains and their skalds (poets) rarely kept written records of their voyages, and Viking rune-stone writers were deliberately misleading. Modern scholars have to study archaeological evidence and foreign accounts (sometimes unreliable) to piece together histories of the people who eventually formed Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Because field archaeology continues to make discoveries, new histories such as this one are needed for students and general readers. Winroth focuses on the eighth through eleventh centuries, a period in which the Vikings transformed themselves from feared coastal raiders to full participants in the Christian civilization of Western Europe. After his introduction, which dramatizes the festivities of a celebratory dinner at which a chieftain distributes booty, the author explains Viking warfare, shipbuilding, travel, trade, monarchies, agriculture, religions, arts, and literature. Thanks to its good organization and index (unseen), this history will also help students with assignments.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)