The Vikings

Although this was mostly a very good book, I must first state that this really wasn’t what I was expecting. When I read “history” in a title, I really am wanting just that – a linear history of the subject matter. I wanted to be transcended to the particular time and live through the events along with the people that created the story. This really isn’t what you get with this book. Now, to be fair, the Vikings lived over 1000 years ago, and we must remind ourselves that the further we go back in time, the less actual records of the time exist. This was several hundred years before the average laymen knew how to read and write, so one really shouldn’t expect that such famous marauders hired a secretary amongst the brood to keep a detailed journal.In fact, I would argue that this book is more of an anthropology than a history. This book reminded me of watching one of those documentaries on the History channel where the narrator starts the biopic by walking into the camera view and begins with an introduction. He’s in a field, or cemetery, or by a body of water, and he then starts talking to the audience about the subject of the program. He states that he’s actually standing where said events occurred hundreds, if not, thousands of years ago. Throughout the program, we visit cemeteries, churches, castles, and many old relics as the history unfolds. Not really a bad thing for a tv program, but it just didn’t seem an ideal narrative for a history book.It seems as though we read more about the actual excavation of corpses and relics then the actual events during the times of the plundering and sackings that we always associate when hearing the word “Viking”. We read a lot about the corpses’ teeth, the jewelry, and other accoutrements which, again, might be par for the course when one has to go back so far in history. It just seemed more of a distraction when I wanted to read about actual history.When the author does get around to telling us the historical events, it isn’t necessarily done in a linear fashion either. This makes it harder when you’re trying to assimilate so many new names, places, and events from such a long time ago. It’s almost as if the author (i.e. narrator) would rather focus on travelling from present-day location to location and telling a new story each time he arrives at a new destination. Some of these new stories contain people we’ve already met in his earlier narratives, whereas other tales have brand new people and places; so it becomes a chore juggling all the different pieces.It really is a good narrative though. I was never bored. You learn a lot of history of the Scandinavian countries and the people. We see the conquering and assimilation of many distant lands including England, France, Russia, Greenland, and even North America. The pillaging never really comes across as too violent. I imagine the real history is somewhat more barbaric than the events described here. Since the time period was quite a long time ago, this might be one of the most accurate recordings of the history of time – even if it is told in a rather unconventional way. I did learn a lot, it just really wasn’t quite I was expecting.

I was so excited to get this book for my son, who was a History Major in college, and getting the note from Robert about how much he loves his books and wants them to go to "good homes" almost made me cry!This book will be well taken care of and will join the library of someone else who loves books as much as the seller clearly does!

Even though I’m a History enthusiast, I didn’t know a lot about the Vikings before I decided to read Neil Oliver’s “The Vikings: A New History.” To be honest, World History classes in High School and European History classes in college just didn’t have much to say about them, but after reading this book, I came away with more knowledge of the Vikings and a desire to learn more. Oliver goes from the pre-History of the Vikings to the close of their age in the British Isles, exploring their origins, their development, and their movement across Europe, the Middle East, an Asia. He shows how they often adapted to the cultures of the areas they occupied instead of forcing their culture on the occupied. They have a fascinating History and Oliver tells it in an enthusiastic, conversational way. In my opinion the books has two shortcomings. First it has no maps; maps would better illustrate and represent the Vikings’ travels. Second, he is admittedly enthusiastic about the Vikings and while I don’t know enough to presume to call his objectivity into question, the thought did linger in the back of my head at times.

I don't like Neil Oliver on TV. I find his manner of presenting really annoying with far too much emphasis on him, however he really can write well. This is a really engaging book with an amazing capacity to bring the Viking world and its characters to life. This is the book that Oliver's TV series should have been, without distractions of shots of him walking here and there or flicking his hair out of his face all the time you really get to see what an excellent historian he is. Archaeology, history ,myth and legend are combined to reveal the Vikings for who they were. Oliver doesn't subscribe to the theory that just because they produced great art the Vikings have been misunderstood and were really just talented pagans misreported by monks with their own agenda. The Vikings are revealed as brutal raiders, canny traders, daring explorers AND brilliant artists who were doing it tough as farmers in the difficult environment of their homeland. Oliver presents a fascinating, balanced picture of Viking achievements, blunders, politics and culture, a mixed and colourful tapestry that is very readable and beautifully researched. The Viking influence reverberates even today, and not just in Scandinavia, Oliver takes a look at this too This book definitely deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone with even a passing interest in this turbulent period.

If you are scholars, this book does not add anything new. Of course, because it is educational. In Italy, we have a word that means: a book or paper or TV programme that someone creates summarizing the state of the art of a scientific (or historic or other) issue, aiming to inform people who were completely uninformed about it, using plain and pleasant prose.If you like this kind of books, this one if for you. About Vikings and why their history fascinates Neil...

Neil Oliver writes with the heart of a romantic and the mind of a scholar. This book is a worthy addition to your library. The Scottish author is welleducated in the history and personally involved in the actural archeology of ancient Scotland. Thereby, the reader embraces the research, photos, and understanding of the Viking's effect on Scotland and the world's population into which they fought to blend their strong Viking blood and DNA.

On page 84 in this book (which is over a third of the way through) , the author states "The Vikings were a long time coming". He ain't kidding, as he meanders his way through the backstory of the Vikings taking in all manner of ancient history regardless of how tangential it is to the subject he is supposed to be writing about.This is possibly the worst book on history I've read.I suspect it is because it is the obligatory book accompaniment to the TV series with most attention given to the priority of the latter and a relatively token effort to the former.

This book is very good; it’s certainly enlightening me on many aspects of Viking history that I didn’t know about. And Oliver writes particularly well, different from other histories I’ve read (Starkey, Strong, Fraser, Tombs), making, more of less, the same story (ie, the history of the British Isles) refreshing and almost ‘new’. I would definitely recommend this book as I would his other book that covers the early history of Britain (A History of Ancient Britain). Indeed it would be fabulous if Oliver extended his treatment of this early volume and brought it up to modern times, covering an extra two thousand years of history with reference to political, economic, social, military and even landscape changes (an area not often covered in general history books). I would love to read such a book (preferably of a thousand pages in length) written in Oliver’s unique prose style that for me makes reading history both enjoyable and engaging.I hope you find my review helpful.

I enjoyed reading the book but the amount of basic errors it contained was quite shocking.For example, in Chapter One it states 'just as Emperor Penguins remain behind to endure the Arctic winter, when all other warm-blooded creatures flee southwards'.As all school children know, Emperor Penguins are native to the Antarctic not the Arctic so all the other warm-blooded creatures flee northwards when the winter season starts.Basic errors like this littered the book and therefore diminished the impact of the narrative to the point where it was difficult to know what was truth and what was fiction.

I wanted a easy to read historical book about Vikings. I tried Magnus Magnusson and found it too dry, so went for Neil. The first 106 pages focused on the Romans, Middle East, Frank's everything but Vikings. He rambles from one subject to another trying to build an unnecessary background. I will stick with it, because I don't like giving up on books. But it nearly went in the Charity pile.

Really loved this book. Neil Oliver is a brilliant writer and so CLEAR! With so much detail he keeps the threads together. He explains everything fully inserting his intelligent opinion in places and gives examples in modern terms that really makes it easy to understand. He keeps to the point all the time and his interest in the subject shines through so the reader is kept fully interested also.