A History of the Vikings

Masterful book -- intensively and extensively researched, strikingly well-written, even compelling and memorable, but beware that this paperback edition is not well made and the back will break after you've read chapter four or five. Personally, I don't mind this, generally, because of the way I annotate and mark and fold-spindle-mutilate my favorite books. Gwyn Jones ranges through all the relevant material, which is a broad range indeed, from Newfoundland to Bagdad and beyond. With the exception of Arabic, he is a master at all the languages and literatures, from Old Norse, Welsh, Old English, Latin and their modern counterparts. This book represents an enormous depth of research and confrontation with numerous serious issues, and he expresses it in an almost physically engaging style. Although it is now quite old, the insights are still valuable and the evidence worthwhile. For example, the weighty question of why the Vikings suddenly burst out on the world stage in the eighth century. This is STILL being debated today, in spite of the most obvious explanation. Because, Jones says plainly, it was at that point that they had developed their ship-building and navigation methods, so that they could keep doing what they had always done (enterprising and enthusiastic merchants, with a touch of exuberance in claiming new markets and places to settle), just on a wider scale. Jones places the sagas and accounts into context. The Norse were just doing what Norse people did then. Jones even recognizes that the interactions and even the settlement was not entirely violent, which has been demonstrated statistically since then, in spite of recalcitrant scholars to the contrary. In a word, this is one of my favorite works of history, which is saying something. I only wish it were my field and discipline.

Jones' _A HIstory of the Vikings_ is epic in scope, detailing not only the political history of Scandanavia, but also the cultural, economic and social history of the region. Jones begins with the pre-historic record of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, discussing their geography and how it shaped and influnced culture before focusing on the period of history most associate with Scandanavia, the "viking age" between 750 - 1100. In writing about the vikings, Jones provides so much detail that it is at times overwhelming - the petty rivalries and infighting between lesser nobles, while relevant to scholars and those interested in such minutae was oftentimes distracting from the larger historical picture. That said, Jones shows the complicated variety of forces that led to viking exploration, conquest and settlement. Everything from details of the construction of the long ships to details maps of exploration and various ideas on navigation are presented. Abundant illustrations and maps of sites and the layout of viking settlements in Iceland and Greenland give detail to the sophistication of their society. Of course, no history of the vikings would be complete without a discussion of the raids that is so often associated with this group, which Jones shows from a variety of primary sources; historical context is provided around not only the internal forces that pushed the vikings westward, but also the climatalogical and sociological forces that enabled the vikings to be successful in their forays. It is a very dense book, rich with information. Those with an interest in medieval Europe in general will want to skim or skip to the relevant parts - which is rewarding and can be done easily given the clarity of the organization of the text. Historians or readers interested in all aspects of these people (or of this place and time) will similarly find much to relish here given the tremendous amount of information Jones provides. A first-rate history, strongly recommended.

This book seems to me a thorough history, but I am no expert. Subjects of interest are broken down and described separately. There aren't many pictures, but it does have a few black-and-white maps. Some of the reading is heady, but sticks to history and goes into a good amount of detail. If you don't like to read long pages of information and prefer pictures, this may not be the book for you. I bought another Norsemen book to supplement this one, and that is what I suggest. If you only have a passing interest in Vikings, this is probably not the book for you.

Great book I highly recommend people read up on the history before all the lore to get an idea of the worldview of our ancestors.

I want to begin by saying that this is a very good book. Jones provides a small library of sources/continued reading and to say this is an information dense book is to vastly understate the matter. Potential buyers should know, however, that this is not so much a book that one would read as a means of relaxation: it is a book you study. There are many small details Jones does not explicitly elaborate on, expecting the reader to either have previous knowledge of this field, or to look up some basic information themselves. Some might also find her somewhat archaic vernacular to be a challenge in itself. That being said, if you're genuinely interested in Scandinavian history, I can hardly think of a better book for jumping in.

This book is full of information on the Vikings. The book is wordy which is something I was looking for in a history book. The more info the better in a history book. The words are a little small but it wasn't enough to detract from the overall rating or quality of this book. Gwyn Jones knows her stuff.

Gwynn Jones traces the origins of the various viking communities and their settlements, with the Danes making inroads into England and France, the Norwegians into North England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and America, and the Swedes into Russia. I was particularly interested in the account of the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan who describes the vikings he found in Russia as "tall as date palms". In addition, Ibn Fadlan's accounts depicts a culture that appeared to him as barbaric. "A man will have sexual intercourse with his slave girl while his companion looks on." In the event of the death of such a viking, his slave girl (after lying with her master's companions) then is ritually killed so that she might follow her master into the afterlife. The deceased viking, his sacrificed slave girl, and whatever else, is then burned in a longship.

The upside is this book is well written and for the most part, engaging. It might be dry to the average reader, but as history texts go, it's pretty good. However, the volume just doesn't live up to my hopes: 1. I purchased this anticipating that it started before the middle ages. It does, but there's precious little book dedicated to the history before Vikings started harassing continental Europe. What's there is good, and interesting, but there just isn't much. 2. The book unfortunately repeats what are likely "myths" about the Vikings. That is, people made up fearsome things about the raiders and these continue to be put into history texts un-examined and unexplained. These documents should be presented, and then a significant number of pages should be dedicated to explaining why the document probably contains suspect information. (Any information that comes from a document that contains dragons and flying ships is likely to be wrong, even if it makes more believable claims.) 3. Too much weight and credence is given to the EUROPEAN view of Vikings. I felt like I was learning about them by looking through a telescope, as opposed to learning about them from the center of their village. I've found that this is very common in books about Vikings, but I'd really like to get away from this paradigm.

fascinating read with lots of relevance to the history of Northern and Western Europe. It was a pleasant read during my last holiday.

texte super intéressant. Une très bonne analyse du monde Viking et de leur établissement dans différentes contrées.

Ich gebe gemeinsam mit meiner Frau das monatlich erscheinende Magazin "Chrilly's Goldpreis-Report" heraus. Der Report ist in drei Abschnitte gegliedert. Der erste Teil behandelt ein populärwissenschaftliches Thema. Im zweiten Teil geht es um das Börsegeschehen des letzten Monats. Der dritte Teil ist ein (halb-) fiktiver Dialog zwischen dem Chief (Chrilly D.) und der Seniora (Anni D.). Eine treue Goldreport Leserin hat sich für den ersten Teil einen Beitrag über die Wikinger und ihre Schiffe gewünscht. Das war der Anlass mir dieses und die unten angeführten Bücher zu kaufen. A History of the Vikings ist eine umfassende und wissenschaftliche Einführung in die Geschichte und Kultur der Wikinger. Manchmal keine leichte Kost. Das verwendete Englisch ist relativ anspruchsvoll. Das Buch ist aber sehr gut geschrieben und man hat auch als Laie eine Chance es zu verstehen. Es ist von den insgesamt vier Büchern die ich gelesen habe das Beste. Ich hatte nach der Lektüre das Gefühl dass ich zum Thema Wikinger Mythos und historische Fakten unterscheiden kann. Für mich ist es "THE History of the Vikings". Gelesen habe ich noch: Rudolf Simek: Die Wikinger. C.H. Beck. Leicht lesbare, kompakte Darstellung. Man sollte zuerst Simek und zur Vertiefung Jones lesen. Rudolf Simek: Die Schiffe der Wikinger. Reclam. Kompakte, gut verständliche Darstellung. Simek behandelt sowohl den technischen als auch den kulturellen Aspekt der Schiffe. Jochen von Fircks: Wikingerschiffe. Hinstorff. Schöne Abbildungen. Empfehlenswert wenn man primär an den technischen Details interessiert ist.

ottimo libro

It is exactly as the title states. It is an older text, but rather prescient of the newer research. Worth buying for people of serious or casual interest