The History of the Vikings: Norse Sagas, Medieval Marauders, and Far-Flung Settlements

by Christopher Fee

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

Published January 5, 2021

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quality lecture on the Norse/Vikings I never got in college. Now on audio!

MY GRADE: B plus.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been so much better if the narrator was coherent. He would sometimes lose his chain of thought and start rambling and apologize.
Other than that, this is a nice series of lectures about the Norse history and how Vikings lived, why they travelled, how their law worked. You can learn about their religion, their runes and their life styles when they were not in their longships.
It also talks about an aspect I did not think about 100%: the romanticizing of Vikings. We admire these warriors who dove into the unknown, but we forget they were viewed by those who they invaded as killers and rapists. But it's the courage, the honor and the justice that the viking world brought to us all that we crave and admire. It's these old gods who did not performed miracles, but simply were there as witnesses and to empower those who called upon them that we love and seek now.
I liked this series. I do recommend it.

[Shane Findlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched. 5⭐️

[elche_dimmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook was a lecture series that I enjoyed listening to on my commute to work. I did notice there were times that the professor would go on many tangents throughout the entire series. I did learn some random tidbits throughout with those tangents, but other times I found them unnecessary. Still, I enjoyed the information.
Though this was a general overview of the Vikings, I still felt like I learned something and, in the end, that's the whole point.
If you want to know more information about the Vikings and don't know where to start, this is a good intro.

[T. Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. So generally this isn't a bad series of lectures. However, there is a lot of wrong information mixed in. Some of it is slightly wrong and some more completely. One example I remember was he says the origin of the pronoun "I" is from Old Norse, mentioning some weird version of the same pronoun in Old Norse (which was "ek"). "I" absolutely comes from Old English "ic" and the "ich" form survives well into Middle English before the shortened form.
Enjoy it, but please don't make this the ONLY text you learn about the Norse and the Viking Age.

[B.A. Malisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and a bit different from some of the other viking books I’ve read and studied, so that was good for my purposes.

[Susan McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this would be a great course to take with this professor if one included additional readings and question and answer sessions. There was tons of information but needed more somehow.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The content is very good. At times the delivery sounds almost unprepared, which could just be me.