A history of Sweden. From ice age to our age

Historien om Sverige #10

by Herman Lindqvist

For fourteen thousand years, people have hunted, grown food, built, struggled and loved in what is today called Sverige Sweden. The way this once so barren area at the edge of northern Europes ice cover became one of the richest and most developed countries in the world, is in my opinion an exciting story. So now I have tried to write the history of this country where war has often been the normal state of affairs, where peace has been the exception, and of its people who have survived all difficulties, who have never ceased to dream and today are involved in planning the future of Europe. Herman Lindqvist -

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sweden, Scandinavian Literature, Swedish Literature, Audiobook

728 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Nat Gurnee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swedish cavalry doesn’t mess around

[Ginebra Lavao Lizcano · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Swedish friend Hanna lent this book to me unexpectedly, so I had no previous expectation nor real interest in Swedish history before. To someone who has no idea of Swedish history this is an easy to read and enjoyable book to gain understanding on the subject. Even if I won’t remember all the dates and names I read about, I learnt lots of things about how Sweden has become the country it is today. It also has beautiful pictures and diagrams to visualize the events and characters better. ALSO, I really liked how much it talked about historic female characters compared to other history books.

[Alfred Ingmår · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jag känner att jag börjar lämna fler och fler böcker halvt färdiglästa bakom mig. Trots detta tänker jag fortsätta klicka i "read".
Trevlig repetition av sedan länge bortglömda grundskolekunskaper + lite nytt.

[Michael Jacobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting History Lesson on Sweden. Sometimes difficult to stay interested. Maybe to big of à span?

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew absolutely nothing of Swedish history coming into this book. As an introduction, it can been a bit disorienting in the beginning with the various names and places. However, the author does an excellent job making the text readable and not strictly academic by injecting humor and sarcasm at certain parts. This does not distract from the material.

As the book progresses, it can be difficult to keep track of each king and what they did, except for Gustav II who seems to be the celebrity of the text having accomplished many great things.

All in all, this is a comprehensive text that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting a good general history of Sweden.

[Pellervo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written history of Sweden with some anecdotal material that keeps up the interest even when otherwise the narrative is what can be expected from general history. As a Finn, I found the more modern history more interesting because we in Finland we have learned the history of "Sweden-Finland" (as it is called here) in the school, whereas the post 1808 history is relatively unknown unless one seeks material to read.

[Vilgot Björling · Rating 4 out of 5]

En mycket bra historiebok som enkelt och kort sammanfattar Sveriges historia på lite mer än 600 sidor. Lindqvist tar med många viktiga historiska och, senare i boken, politiska perspektiv vilket främjar perspektivet av den historiekunskap man lär sig av denna bok. En rekommenderad bok om man vill få en översiktlig bild av Sveriges historia!

[Callefors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historien om Sverige är ett passade namn på boken. Eftersom det i mångt och mycket är en berättelse om Sveriges historia snarare än en poplärvetenskaplig prestentation av vad arkelogisk och historisk forskningen har att säga om Sveriges historia.

[Sini H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it that he tried to stay aware of how modern judgment can distort history. Regarding some royals he repeated "winners' history" which new research has proved unfair. So don't believe all the nasty biographical gossip here.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was the one. It was 10 books or so in the series. I read most of them. A bit too much focus on kings and less on common people, inventions, culture etc. But on a whole good history books.

[Johannes Wedham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindqvist är duktig, men historien handlar mest om gubbar och kungar, och blir oftast därmed inte mer intressant än så.

[Lauren Gurnee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to NATO Sweden

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may have been the English translation that made the content of this book feel so disjointed. It may also have been the author's habit of skipping back and forth in time in the narrative. Add to that the fact that the Swedish royal lineage is seriously over-populated with the names Karl and Gustav, and so keeping them all straight requires a kind of clever mnemonic device that's sadly above my pay grade. Finally, it may have been that the reader needs to be above rank amateur in their knowledge of Swedish history to fully appreciate it (many passages indicate he is writing it for a Swedish audience, who are likely familiar with the basics already).

In any event, this was not the book on Swedish history for me.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a huge but highly entertaining history book of the first 14000 years of Sweden. There was a lot about this and that and I got some interest to search further about some things and people. It was well written and easy to learn a lot. Never got bored by it and I'm excited to see if my library have more books in the series. Had found a few previously at a second hand kind of things but there seem to be many more!

[Alexander Olcén · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rating is for the whole book series, which you should read instead. I have fond memories of reading this , it was the first history books I´d ever read and got me interested in both Swedish and History as well. I would say that it is quite light reading but still gives an good compromise of Swedish history for beginners.

[Andres · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who had just recently moved to Sweden this was an excellent introduction into Swedish history which is surprisingly more substantial that I had originally expected. Written in a very readable manor it's well worth a read if you are interested in Sverige.

[Shazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weather it's history or novels it's bound to be a good read.

[Samuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melkein viisi tähteä.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy and entertaining introduction to the history of Sweden.

[Will]

great read.

[Aron Modig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gillar denna, har läst den tre gånger med 8-10 år emellan varje gång, fastnar lite nytt varje gång.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweden, from Ancient times to the end of WWII.