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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Iceland History > Item 50
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A History of the Vikings
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by Gwyn Jones
Sales Rank: 34870
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List Price: $18.95
$12.89
At Amazon
on 11-27-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 552 pages
Published by: Oxford University Press, USAEdition: 2nd Edition July 19, 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0192801341
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0192801340
Book Dimensions:
7.6 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 13.6 ounces
Product Review
"Excellent revision and useful for both graduates and undergraduates."--Benjamin T. Hudson, Pennsylvania State University
"In this revised edition of his 1968 volume, hailed as the definitive study of the three hundred years during which Scandinavians changed the face of medieval Europe, Jones has updated his text to incorporate the latest scholarly findings from both Europe and North America."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Excellent survey - in-depth and well balanced."--Cassandra Potts, Middlebury College
Product Description
"An utterly splendid book, quite the most brilliantly written, balanced, and explanative general work on the Vikings ever to appear in English or in any language."-- Scandinavian Studies
The subject of this book is the Viking realms, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, their civilization and culture, and their many sided achievements at home and abroad.
A highly readable narrative follows the development of these Northern peoples--the Nordmenn--from their origins and the legendary pre-history to the military triumphs of Canute and the defeat of Harald Hardradi at Stamford Bridge in 1066, which symbolically ended the Viking age.
The book recounts the Vikings' exploits in war, trade, and colonization: the assault on Western Christendom; the trading and military ventures to the Slav and Muslim worlds and to Byzantium; and the western voyages of discovery and settlement to Greenland, Iceland, and America.
Numerous photographs, maps, and drawings contribute to Gwyn Jones's rounded portrait of Viking civilization and vividly evoke the importance in their culture of religion, art, and seafaring.
Reader Reviews
Unless you're an extremely knowledgeable expert on Viking history, you can't ask for much more than this opus from Gwyn Jones if you're at all interested in the subject. Jones presents a nearly overwhelming amount of detail on the far-flung history of the Vikings, from tribal origins in Scandinavia to their voyages of conquest and trade as far afield as Constantinople and Newfoundland. When historical information is scant or doubtful, Jones fleshes out the book with rewarding studies on Viking culture, language, and society; including a refreshingly understated examination of Norse mythology. We learn that sometimes the Vikings really did deserve their reputation as bloodthirsty marauders, but at the core they were very pragmatic empire builders who were usually able to blend into the societies they conquered, especially in Russia and Britain, thus disappearing as a distinct group and enriching the cultures of those other lands. The most fascinating portion of the book concerns the Viking exploration of the new world (including the harsh Iceland and Greenland) a good 500 years before Columbus. Jones also pulls out a surprise at the end of the saga with the indirect Norwegian influence on the Norman conquest of England in 1066, while the Normans had once been Vikings themselves. Just note that if you decide to tackle this work, you are in for a real challenge. Jones is clearly the type of historian who refuses to let any detail or piece of knowledge go unused, giving this book an often oppressive sense of information overload. Some sections could really use more brevity and big-picture conclusions rather than all the exactitude. A case in point is the intensive coverage of petty power struggles between minor figures that really makes the tail end of the book a slog. In general, Jones' use of extremely long paragraphs, some of which are more than two pages in length, plus imposingly exact footnotes, lead to some real readability issues. But if you can hunker down and tackle such difficulties, you will be able to amaze your colleagues with the knowledge of Viking history that Jones imparts.
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A History of the Vikings
Available from Amazon
Price: $12.89
Updated on 11-27-2008.
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