Beyond the North Wind: The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North

by Christopher McIntosh, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (Foreword)

"The North" is simultaneously a location, a direction, and a mystical concept. Although this concept has ancient roots in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales, it continues to resonate today within modern culture. McIntosh leads readers, chapter by chapter, through the magical and spiritual history of the North, as well as its modern manifestations, as documented through physical records, such as runestones and megaliths, but also through mythology and lore. This mythic conception of a unique, powerful, and mysterious Northern civilization was known to the Greeks as "Hyberborea"--the "Land Beyond the North Wind"--which they considered to be the true origin place of their god, Apollo, bringer of civilization. Through the Greeks, this concept of the mythic North would spread throughout Western civilization. In addition, McIntosh discusses Russian Hyperboreanism, which he describes as among "the most influential of the new religions and quasi-religious movements that have sprung up in Russia since the fall of Communism" and which is currently almost unknown in the West.

Genres: History, Mythology, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Religion, Philosophy, Ancient History

256 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2019

Reviews

[C Blake · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not again...
Honestly, this book and books like it begin cropping up every few decades. It smacks of ‘whiteism’ and McIntosh even admits that this scary aspect of the ‘northern revival’ exists among its ranks. Part of my heritage is also from the north but I have always held this part at arm’s length because of where whiteisms eventually ALWAYS lead. They lead to the subjugation or negation of what McIntosh calls collectively ‘the south’. He actually means any non-white races.
I do think ancient mythologies and religion are interesting however I feel they die and are buried for a reason. And these northern beliefs are not just being rekindled...because the truth is, they can’t be. McIntosh doesn’t really cover the fact that very little real evidence for what was involved with these ancient northern beliefs is actually known. The Edda works were reconstructed by one man from just a few snippets of then extant information. Possibly large parts of it were simply constructed and there’s no doubt that today’s versions of northern religions are just dreamed up.
To address the Hyperborea theory...well, there’s just no solid evidence for any of this. We might as well be reading a book about the Loch Ness Monster.
Again, this ‘theory’ is just more whiteism. Everything sprang from white people, according to these factions.
This is a frustrating book as, yet again, people are getting caught up with where they’re born, where their ancestors came from and what kind of body they were born into as though this is somehow related to spirituality. In fact, spirituality deals with what’s inside of us and demands a denial of these materialistic divisors, like geography and skin color, that have been ruining this earth for eons.
Not impressed at all.

[NoBeatenPath · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very odd book - I found it in equal parts entertaining and frustrating. It introduced me to many ideas about Nordic mysticism and 'heathenry' that I had not before heard of or thought about, and did so in an entertaining way. So as a social history of the revival of interest in ancient Nordic culture, the vikings, and shamanism was good.

However the author has a habit of talking about sources that are, shall we say, not really credible. He weaves established historical and geographical fact with nationalist, fantastical and sometimes outright crazy ideas and rarely differentiates between the two. So the book becomes a mash-up between an ethnographical study, a personal recording of ideas and ... a round-up of outlandish theories.

Thing is, for all it's faults I am going to give it three stars because there was some work of interest in here, and the topic is interesting. I just hope I come across a better book on the subject some time soon.

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pretty awful pseudo-historical (barely historical, more just new-agey nonsense), general discussion on the Nordic/Germanic pantheon and the mythology and its far reaching influences in both the ancient past and to modern pop culture. However, it is really bad. The authors fixation on the mythical Hyperboria feels more like a conspiracy theorist’s thesis. There are times his discussion of Hyperboria sounds a lot like that one YouTube video of the crazy women who was trying to convince passers by that Monster Energy drinks were actually satanic in nature. It’s just ridiculous.

The overall theme of Hyperboria very warped and misplaced that the author keeps returning to where basically all aspects of western civilization stem from this mythical northern proto-Norse Hyperborean (very white) culture. The ancient Greeks? = Hyperboria (Apollo is not Greek but the Greek version of a Nordic deity). The Scythians ? = Hyperboria. The lost city of Atlantis? = Hyperboria. The Saami people? Hyperboria. The Indo-Europeans? Not the kurgan, but the hyperboreans. Just bad scholarship all around. At best its a delusional author. And at worst, a charlatan.

[Anniken Haga · Rating 1 out of 5]

haha, nope!
This book felt wrong already in the first chapter, when the author mentioned ''the neo-movement'' in a favorable light. Then jump to chapter three, and he defends a nazi for his views on ''the ultimate race''. I really don't need that bull shit in my life, so I'm DNFing. It honestly makes me mad that these books exist, corrupting Åsatru.
Not to mention he couldn't even get the mythology right! Which makes me think that this books view on the Norse Mythology was based on the Neo-Nazi version Odinism, which makes me even madder!
Sure, religions grow and evolve, but Odinism is so... American... effectively ruining a lot of the messaging of the original sagas.

[Marci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have really mixed feelings about this book right up until he defends the use of anything written by Guido von List, an actual fascist who made up some nonsense to support his racist beliefs. Nopety-nope. There's no historical value to von List's work and he is best forgotten.

As a whole, the book is clearly working to skirt the edges of racism. As a whole, not so okay. (it gets an extra point for actually being pretty clear about citing sources, unlike so much trash of its ilk.)

[Andrew “The Weirdling” Glos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange, albeit informative, book. I don’t feel like I ever knew what to make of it. It is based on the mythic archetype of “the North“ and the way in which that archetype has been appropriated over the last few centuries, with special emphasis on recent history.

The book has a definite tendency to meander from one place to another. To be fair, I think this might be an unavoidable side effect of writing about any mythic archetype. Since archetypes are not confined by location or historical era, it is hard for most writers to stay focused on one at a time.

I also felt like I never fully grasp the perspective of the author. It is difficult to discern whether he believed the stories of “the north“ were fact, myth (in the non-pejorative sense), or something else. This was especially odd since it is clear he has a personal stake in the scholarship he represents here. He regularly refers to his participation in building up the Asatru movement in Iceland. He also seems to take an inordinate amount of time distancing any inherent connection between the Nordic mythos and anything that smacks of Nazism. For obvious reasons. Personally though, I felt like I got it the first ten times bleh pointed it out. I didn’t need to hear it three times a chapter.

The most valuable part of the book for me was as a sort of reading list. Much of the book recounts stars, writers, singers, poets, and historical figures connected with the myths and themes of “The North”. I got a very long reading list out of this book. That alone made it a pretty decent expenditure of my time.

[Kim Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeping in mind the negative reviews of this book I’ve read. I still found it informative and readable, especially for a “scholarly” book. It’s the first book I’ve read on the subject and I’m sure this colors my opinion. That said, I did find the flow of the subjects and themes a bit all over the place. If nothing else, it encourages me to read other books in the subject.

[Erika Skarlupka · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
It started off okay, but at some point you have to understand that just because there are, say, cows in multiple religious stories doesn't necessarily mean that they must have spawned from the North. I feel he REALLY reaches becuase hes desperate to prove his theory that Norse/Viking/ Northerns where the best and the source of everything, ignoring the fact that symbology can and does arise in different cultures due to those items or objects being important (like trees, poles, anything to give food, structure, shelter).

[BookCrazy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an overview that wandered far and near. As a condensation of, and introduction to, Nordic mysticism and Nordic mythology (not a run down of the gods that we all pretty much know, but how they have ebbed and flowed in followers) a lot of ground was covered.

I found myself wishing I had taken notes of all of the various sources mentioned so that I could review them, thus my need to relisten to this book. Some sources seemed credible, others seemed to come out of fringe history. That said there wasn't a lot of value judgement placed on the sources, leaving it up to the listener to do their own research and form their own opinion.

What I really loved was the last chapter that covered Nordic and "neoNordic" music and their influences starting with Led Zeppelin. Happily my very favorite band, Sigur Rós, was mentioned. Other bands from the Faroe Islands, Germany, Scandinavia, and elsewhere have given me some new music to checkout.

Simon Vance is an excellent narrator. I pretty much always enjoy his readings.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are parts of this book that are interesting in discussing the mystical/mythological idea of the North that has played itself out in art, literature, mythology, religion and various cultural movements. But then Mr. McIntosh goes seriously off the rails several times in a couple of ways. First he indulges in Erich Von Daniken style pseudo science promoting silly ideas like the "megalithic yard" as evidence of an uber culture of the distant past and suggesting at the end that there might be some validity in the idea of Hyperborea, a sort of Northern Atlantis. Second, there's some dangerous racism here in the "whiteness" of the North and in Mr. McIntosh giving creedance to purveyors of racist ideas. That didn't work for me.

[Ked Dixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book and vacillates between interesting mythology and flirting with white supremacy. The author spends an uncomfortable amount of time trying to differentiate between hedonism and it’s tendency towards violent nationalism.

The insistence of the North Being the seat of all civilizations was just too much of a stretch for me. I found his relocation of the seat of Greek mythology to be just another example of colonization. An unusual example of that, which is why I think I kept reading because it was a flavor of White nonsense I had not previously encountered. 🙄🙄🙄

[Seth Washeck · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first few chapters were an engaging and compelling discussion of the possibility of the North as the cradle of culture.

The remainder was a litany of pointers to other chapters, pop culture references, and what felt like a personal love letters to a region. Perhaps it was improper expectations part as I was hoping for more anthropology and less speculation and wistful pining for a abstract concept.

[Isaac · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is an utter piece of trash where the author tries to revolutionize the false notions of occultism with norther European history for nothing else that his own pat on the back. it reeks of desperate attention seeking and desire to feel validated.

[Dorthe · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, several readers give this a lukewarm review because it is not what they thought it would be. I never understand that - if the book does what it says on the tin, it's a good book; if you thought it was a different book, that's on you.

Anyway: this book is a history of ideas, of how various peoples in various times have viewed the far North and its inhabitants. The Hyperborea fantasy of a northern Atlantis is hilarious and reminds me of Hollow Earth-stories.

Of course, there has to be mention of the Nazis who stole symbols and ideas from other cultures and tainted them forever (most of all the ancient sunwheel / swastika), and various neo-Nazi groups; this is not the same as claiming that Norse cultural heritage is only for people of Norse genetic heritage - and, indeed, many ideals and values are shared with lots of other cultures.

Also, popular culture loves its Northern gods and heroes, from Tolkien to Marvel to Sigur Rós to American Gods and beyond ...

I highly recommend this book, for its learning and whimsy both.

PS: the audio narrator, Simon Vance, does an excellent job with the strange words :o)

[Els - cygny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the fact that I absolutely love the narrator, I recommend this being read on paper (or screen) instead. Or at a time when you can pause it and write things down or look things up. There were a lot of names and things being listed at certain points, that I could hardly remember any of it by the time I got home or sat down.

That being said, I really found it interesting and will look for more info about Hyperborea, Nordic mythology (which I already loved but which is a lot more widespread than I thought) and about runes. It also gave me a few ideas that helped me with a story I've been writing myself and where I was stuck. So overall, I will keep the audiobook and perhaps reread it at one point. Or at least certain chapters.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were moments where this book had its plusses. The Audible narration, for example, was pretty nice. It was exactly what you'd expect if you wanted an older British man to read a history book to you (really, that is a compliment). Simon Vance is a really good narrator. There are also a few historical facts peppered throughout the book that kept me interested. And I do love a mention of Vikings, Thor, etc. (Thor films make an appearance in the book, take that as you will).

Where the problem lies is with the methodological approach to the text, which I found to be lacking. There's also a bit of whitewashing throughout and *barf* I'm not excited about that ever. It is absolutely fair to say that the Northerners had their own religions, cultures, etc., but it is ridiculous to assert that thus everything else sprang from them. I think by 2021 we've put that theory to rest (or at least, I thought we had, but apparently we're still discussing it here).

Thus, while I was originally excited about this book, it became something else entirely a few chapters in and I ended up not engaging with it as I expected to. Not bad/awful but definitely something I would not necessarily have delved into had I know we were going down the whiteism route.

[Lionel Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Around 1970 I visited friends and relatives in Northern Scotland for the first time, and was surprised to see how many old houses in the highlands were built on the shaded Yin side of the valleys and mountains. As an ardent sun worshipper from South West Britain I assumed that people would choose to live on the warmer sunny slopes. But my friends explained that there was a traditional reverence for the North as a place of spiritual significance: buildings were often orientated northwards, where a Southern or Eastern aspect would be favoured down South. This intrigued me, because it resonated with another more familiar tradition: that the querent faces North when consulting the I Ching.

Nearly 50 years later, Christopher McIntosh’s carefully researched book Beyond the North Wind brought for me these two geographically separated traditions together in a most intriguing manner. Those were just two examples of what turns out to be a whole host of northern myths and traditions, including the legendary northern homeland of Hyperborea described by the ancient Greeks as “the land beyond the north wind”. Another idea that this northern realm could be a source of high culture, and not just its end point, is explored in depth. I was most excited by the book’s coverage of material now emerging from Russia, including some amazing archaeological evidence for advanced civilisations in Arctic regions. The book also has a chapter on the current resurgence of these northern mysteries in popular culture – from Tolkien to Heavy Metal and beyond. And the book begins with a really lovely and evocative foreword by Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson.

I experienced this book as an audio book – a small advantage but a huge disadvantage. The advantage is that I could enjoy this book while driving and the narrator has a good voice so that the many poetic extracts in the book come across all the better for being spoken – and I assume also that the Icelandic and other Nordic names are properly pronounced because they do sound good. The huge disadvantage is that an audiobook has no pictures, and there is a lot of visual material that I assume is in the other editions. I especially ached to see some of the archaeological artefacts and sites described. I glanced at the Amazon “Look inside” preview and note also that the printed version also has a very useful appendix “Who’s Who in Northern Mythology”.

I find so many half-remembered ideas and scraps of northern myth and tradition are brought together in this book. It is like the beginning of a journey.

[Ray Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher McIntosh presents a scholarly study of the idea that civilization originated in the North rather than the temperate regions. It has long been recognized that ancient civilizations in the north produced many of the world's most spectacular monuments such as Stonehenge. However, the cities and ruins that would provide archaeologists physical evidence is lacking. Nevertheless, there is much anecdotal and circumstantial evidence which McIntosh presents in this book.

One example is the acknowledgement that the ancient Greeks believed their God Apollo came from the North. Many texts make reference to a civilization in the North which they called Hyperborea, the land beyond the north wind. McIntosh goes on the explore everything from the idea of Atlantis to Russian mysticism. There is a great deal of myth and mystery here which is left unresolved for the most part. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and enjoyable read. Something of a history of the search for the origins of civilization in the North.

[lydia · Rating 1 out of 5]

waste of my time.

[Jan Chlapowski Söderlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

* * * - I liked it on a personal level.

Christopher McIntosh has written a highly speculative book about Norse society. Being an amateur in the field, I found it hard to follow which parts were based on facts, speculation or "conspiracy theories". For instance, there were references to what other peoples or scholars have said, as if these statements were facts.

"Beyond the North Wind" has an appealingly different take on Norse mythology and customs. And even though the factual accuracy might be hard for a novice like me to determine, the resulting mind-flexing and mythopoeic brew is quite inspiring.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every culture has their own stories of ideas, history, or myths of their own origins... yes .."Every culture". I find each fascinating. This is just a peek into the history and/or myths of the people from the north (Nordic, Atlantis, Hyperborean). If your into learning about different perspectives and is not easily offended or scared away with other views/histories/ stories/or myths, then this is a interesting read.

[Skallagrimsen]

Contains some interesting information on subjects like "Eurasianism" and the rise of Slavic Neo-Paganism, but for a deeper discussion of the "Mystic North" I recommend Pagan Resurrection by Richard Rudgley.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this to be a history and overview of Norse religion/culture. It is that and more. There is a lot of good stuff about Norse religion, magic, and the different Rune systems. The author also includes new innovations like Runic yoga and Runic martial arts in the bits about the modern revival of Norse traditions. There are even cute anecdotes about modern cultural revivals, not directly associated with Heathenism, like brides receiving hammers on their wedding day.

The author details what scholars have found and those scholars' theories. The author doesn't exclude scholars based on their politics or personal histories. This means that he does reference Nazi scholars along with non-Nazi and even anti-Nazi ones. The baby isn't thrown out with the bathwater, but it is the reader's responsibility to research those individuals themselves. You have to determine what parts of their scholarship are legitimate vs what parts are racist propaganda.

Unfortunately, the author predicates a lot of his own thought upon the theory of Hyperborea. For those unaware, this is the idea that the Atlantis style super culture was to the North and that all other cultures owe their advances to people fleeing into the South. The core claim is that the Indo-Europeans were Nordic. Samurai are noble warriors into poetry, because this Nordic super race brought that piece of culture to them. The Christian Trinity is actually based on the three main Nordic deities. Siberian shamans, Native American shamans, and Jewish rabbis get their mystical trees from Yggdrasil. The term Hyperborea comes from Greek myth, but the Atlantis link is complete hokum that originated in the ethnocentricity of the late Early Modern Period and Industrial Revolution.

The bits on pop culture (MCU, Asterix, etc.) seem almost tacked on.

I really don't recommend this book unless you are capable of running side research on the sources as you read and can just ignore all the Hyperborea garbage. The good that you get from it might not be worth the effort.

[Nerine Dorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one for me shamelessly digging up content narrated by Simon Vance – this time Beyond the North Wind by Christopher McIntosh. Honestly, this book would have been on my radar due to my interest in matters related to the Northern mysteries, and I've had it recommended to me by a few folks whose opinions I trust. Beyond the North Wind is a work of what I'd term as speculative history, examining the existence of a mystical North that predates modern times in much the same way that we often cast our gazes towards the mythical Atlantis by way of Graham Hancock.

While I have precious little love for Hancock, and I'm not the sort to entertain the possibility of an advanced civilisation that predates ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, I was nevertheless entertained by McIntosh's observations, speculative as they may be. He engages with the Northern mysteries in a way that shows how we, as Westerners, crave a mythical past that is not grounded in a Middle Eastern, Abrahamic religion.

McIntosh looks at how the interest in the Northern mysteries has resurged in recent years, which in itself is a fascinating topic, especially when one considers the huge growth in Heathenry and associated practices. The topic itself is complex and not without its problematic elements, when we consider how nationalism is often inextricably connected to certain neopagan and Heathen movements. Whether we choose to view this mythical "Hyperborea" – as the Greeks named the "land beyond the North Wind" – as real or merely story we tell ourselves about our complex European cultural history, it's really up to the individual.

What I appreciated about Beyond the North Wind was McIntosh's engaging, informative writing style, and of course my dearly beloved Simon Vance, whom I appear to be stalking across Audible because I can't get enough of his voice. This is a deeply fascinating audiobook, and I'll most certainly snap up a hard copy of the book should I cross paths with it in the wilds.

[Justyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff here, but also a lot of nonsense theories one after another (not what to me as a lay person seems like nonsense theories, and cursory googling did not reveal and extatic peer reviews, so I still have mixed feelings).

What I was expecting was a treaty on the concept of the North, North Vs south, the meaning, the mysticism, cultural place of the North as 'every place has the North'. What we got was author's love letter to Norse culture and religion, which as a pagan myself I can appreciate, but do not share.

Moreover in his chase for everything Norse, he's is widely attributing a lot of other culture characteristics, if they fit (the Slavic culture was uh, not really treated kindly in here.)

And as the author himself says- 'here be dragons ' a lot, including for me, in the very concept of this book. I know many lovely Asatru/Heathan folks, however one cannot forget how much negativity was imbued in the Norse concepts by nazis and other right wing movements. Even today, a lot of white supremacists- quite unfairly so, subscribe to ' Viking ideals'. While the author shies away and denounces said ideas, the very concept of, 'let us entertain the tale of magical Aryan North that had old advanced culture to end if cultures' just because one is called to the Norse gods ( which fine ) but also ROMANTICISES the past to uncomfortable degree, also unfortunately feeds into those very ideas the author is trying to denounce.

Mixed feelings all around here.

[Colin Baumgartner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I was surprised to see that so many others had rated it so poorly. Much of this seems to be due to the fact that they find some of the writers referenced to be racist. These people need to toughen up.

The book provides a nice overview of Northern mysticism. I enjoyed all of the information about northern mythology and how the Norse traditions still crop up today in Europe and especially Scandinavia. The sections about mind-altering substances in Norse mythology and culture was fascinating.

I enjoyed the historical overview of how and why interest in the Northern identity has been rekindled over the years. The author doesn’t flinch when we digs into Nazi appropriation of Norse tradition and the harmful legacy of this attempt to absorb the traditions. The sections dealing with Russian enthusiasm for Hyperborean theories was also intriguing.

What made this book drag was the portion of the book that dealt with Norse ideas on the internet and in pop culture. This section was uninteresting and didn’t really need to be addressed. Any thinking person can connect the fact that a movie called Thor is based on Norse mythology...

Overall, a good intro that makes me want to dig further into ideas about Hyperborea and the possibility of a highly advanced race in the north & also into the tradition of Norse mythology.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 1 out of 5]

"[....]basically the jury is still out on whether there was a Hyperborea and where it might have been located, but there are many who believe in scenarios that are a good deal more fantastic than the one I have just outlined, as a search on the Internet under “Hyperborea” will reveal. Hyperborea is one of those things that, if it didn't exist, would have to be invented...."

It's one thing to explore and celebrate northern prehistory, history, and lore. It's another to promote historical rationalizations out of their material-historical context and claim them for present-day worship as a more "authentic" than later forms of worship.

Beyond the North Wind is filled with banal generalizations that simplify history to stupefying lengths. McIntosh claims his personal "heathen" (his word) beliefs and practices have nothing to do with volkish political trends. "The Nordic-Pagan revival in Germany that I have described was devastated by the German tragedy of the midtwentieth century."


Yes, besmirching the "Nordic-Pagan revival" was the real tragedy of the "midtwentieth century."

Beyond the North Wind would be farcical were the heritage it defends and celebrates not so tragically rebarbative.

[Juan Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

In our Western schools we are taught very little about the rest of the world. Greece, they tell us, is the modern “cradle of civilization” and of China, India, because they teach us very little, much less about Africa.

And speaking of our proud "cradle of civilization" what if this was not such?

Christopher McIntosh makes us think about the civilizations of the north, those of which few know and shows us a theory that may be true: what if a civilization existed long before the Greek and due to a catastrophe they emigrated to that part of the world, being then another the cradle of western civilization.

Enriching are the visions of the "mystical" north, the ancient gods and their permanence even in details such as the names of the days from Tuesday to Friday in English, the Russians and their beliefs of being a "chosen race" (believe it or not), the origin of Russia really in kyiv; and many interesting topics.

The book talks in depth about the Vikings and Iceland, and taking advantage of this, I recommend the “Vikings” series on Netflix, they are excellent and have a good historical basis.

A book to devour and learn.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short book is an examination of the myths regarding the 'people of the North'. This land and its people is called 'Hyberborea' and seems to be the original Garden of Eden from which all of the world's 'northern' cultures were derived. Cynically, it provides the bases for racism, since this land is populated by the 'white' races...low-hanging fruit of Nazi-like thinking. McIntosh dances around this issue by relying on the positive cultural advances that he attributes to these mythical folk.
It's all well and good to be proud of a Norse legacy, with its colorful tales of Asgard and such. I just cannot take seriously the basic premise of northern origins, and certainly not northern superiority.
As other reviewers have noted, McIntosh does provide a robust list of references on a wide range of related (and unrelated) subjects that should be investigated to understand his point of view.

[Joe Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a history book, but a super fun, mystical, occult book, or more like a history of mythology and occult ideas. It's a really cool book, one of my favorites, but it's also, ridiculously niche and most people won't like it. Though, it baffles me that, so many seem to have been expecting something else when the subtitle is The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North. Some evidence for the discussions—and there are many discussions and much evidence—is good, some is bad, and some is clearly wrong (as the author often notes). This is more of a "what-if" book than anything else. If you're expecting another Viking history book, this is not your book. If you want to read something strange, rather bizarre, and non-fiction, written by someone who's clearly taken an immense amount of time to study occult ideas and mythology as it branched off into various spokes across 3,000 years, this might be your book.