Children of Ash and Elm

March 15, 2020
A fresh history of the Vikings and their world. The Vikings, writes Uppsala University archaeologist Price, whose books include The Viking Way, were "as individually varied as every reader of this book." Yet, he adds, it's possible to advance some generalizations about them. They regarded the world as a hostile place to be met with violence that was supernaturally empowered by their gods. The Vikings thought of themselves as children of the great ash tree Yggdrasill, "the steed of the terrible one," an epithet for Odin. Over the course of three centuries, they ranged over an impressively large territory in a number of guises, from traders and soldiers to raiders and legendarily ferocious fighters. One Norse woman lived in Greenland, meeting First Peoples, and later visited Rome and met the pope; moving to Iceland after becoming a nun, she was "probably the most traveled woman on the planet." In this elegantly conceived, constantly surprising narrative, Price charts this evolution. When Viking merchants landed near wealthy British monasteries to attend trade fairs, one of their number, thinking hard about the possibilities, likely turned to his fellows and said something like, "Why don't we just take it?" So effectively did they put the fear in their targets that the English were soon calling them "slaughter-wolves." With clarity and verve, Price examines various aspects of Viking society, including the place of women and transgender people on the battlefield and other venues of warrior society; the structure of warrior cults such as the berserkers; what Viking mass burials tell us about the people thus interred; and, especially, the structure of the Viking economy, which was enriched by the widespread application of slavery. The author also considers the last generations of Vikings as pirates whose society, though founded on violence, was also definitively democratic. An exemplary history that gives a nuanced view of a society long reduced to a few clich�s. (16-page color insert; maps)

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April 13, 2020
Archaeologist Price (The Viking Way) leaves no stone unturned in this exhaustive chronicle of the ancient Scandinavian peoples collectively known as the Vikings. Drawing on discoveries made at archaeological digs and burial sites across Europe, as well as medieval sources including the Icelandic sagas of Snorri Sturluson and the observations of Arab traders, Price pushes back against romanticized notions of Viking culture that originated during the Enlightenment. He focuses instead on more material concerns, delivering extended discussions on jewelry found in graves, shipbuilding, alcohol consumption, and gender roles, including an unexpected queer reading of Viking relationships. The infamous Viking funeral (not nearly as prevalent as popular culture imagines, according to Price) is described in horrifying detail, as are raids on the English and Irish coasts that left monasteries and villages devastated. Price also documents Viking exploration of Iceland, Greenland, and Canada, and notes that some warriors made it as far east as Constantinople, where they served as guards to the Byzantine emperor. Though the writing occasionally falters under the weight of accumulated archaeological minutiae, the breadth and thoroughness of Price’s research impresses. Readers interested in Viking culture should consider this monumental history a must-read.

May 1, 2020

Price (archaeology, Uppsala Univ., Sweden; The Viking Way) sets out to uncover Vikings myths and legends in order to create a nuanced view of the Viking Age (750-1050 CE). Using research taken from across various disciplines, such as archaeology, sociology, and economics, Price attempts to get at how the Vikings viewed themselves and how they reshaped the world. An immense undertaking from an expert who has studied the Vikings for almost 35 years, this is a masterful piece of work that seeks to present the historical Vikings as distinct from the caricatures of pop culture. Separated into three sections focusing on how the Vikings viewed themselves from gender identities to burial rites; to the Viking phenomenon itself of raids and expansion; and finally, to the transformations of both themselves and the world at the end of the era, this is an engaging and engrossing read. VERDICT Exhaustively researched using cross-disciplinary resources, this breathtaking, epic history will appeal to all types of readers.--Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

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