Norway: A History from the Vikings to Our Own Times

by Stale Dyrvik, Tore Gronlie, Knut Helie

English (translation)
Original Norwegian

Genres: History

486 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ian]

Just started reading, but the English translation is laughably bad. Google translate might do a better job. There’s a lot of Norwegian idiom/syntax translated directly, to the point that it’s distracting.

[J.M. Hushour]

An excellent account of the Norwegian people and their groovy history: from Viking piracy up to the welfare state of today (well, 1995). The approach of the book works well and should be emulated: a group of Norwegian historians of Norway wrote each different chapter highlighting their own particular focus (geography, politics, economics, etc.) making a nice cohesive and integrative whole. A bit heavy on the economics but not surprising given Norway's crazy path of economic development which saw the state gradually start taking care of everyone for no real reason! Weird! Political parts are good, though the World Wars get short thrift and hardly anything on culture (no Knut Hamsun?!?). Those shortcomings aside, a nifty read.