The Vikings

by Niel Oliver

The Vikings famously took no prisoners, relished cruel retribution, and prided themselves on their bloodthirsty skills as warriors. But their prowess in battle is only a small part of their story, which stretches from their Scandinavian origins to America in the west and as far as Baghdad in the east. As the Vikings did not write their own history, we have to discover it for ourselves, and that discovery, as Neil Oliver reveals, tells an extraordinary story of a people who, from the brink of destruction, reached a quarter of the way around the globe and built an empire that lasted nearly two hundred years. Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light, Scottish archaeologist Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? And just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1,000 years ago? The Vikings explores many of those questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest.

Genres: History

456 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2021

Reviews

[ExtraGravy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid sober history of the Vikings with sufficient detail to carry the point without getting in the weeds too badly. While this is not my favorite Viking history, I enjoyed it. I recommend Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price as a superior Viking history.

[Alfred Timperley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have done without the authors own anecdotes, would have liked it to focus my squarely on the history, even though it would have made the book a lot shorter

[Richard G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting history of the Vikings, when, where and who.