3 Review(s)

This book is a lively introduction to Norsemen in the period 750-1050. Without dismissing stereotypes of aggressive, warmongering Vikings, Eric Christiansen shows how Nordic peoples responded to hostile environments at home and overseas. He concentrates on life within their homelands and colonies, families and communities. "The Norsemen in the Viking Age" covers many aspects of Nordic life, including ecology, politics, war, work, and migration. Christiansen examines both social conventions and self-awareness of individuals and groups, and reconstructs Viking-age ideas about the past, present, and future to explain contemporary behaviour. Runic, poetic, and archaeological evidence is used to illustrate the author's arguments, while an appendix sketches the outline of modern research and the directions it is taking.