The Vikings: A History

A comprehensive and thrilling history of the Vikings for fans of the History Channel series

From Harald Bluetooth to Cnut the Great, the feared seamen and plunderers of the Viking Age ruled Norway, Sweden, and Denmark but roamed as far as Byzantium, Greenland, and America. Raiders and traders, settlers and craftsmen, the medieval Scandinavians who have become familiar to history as Vikings never lose their capacity to fascinate, from their ingeniously designed longboats to their stormy pantheon of Viking gods and goddesses, ruled by Odin in Valhalla. Robert Ferguson is a sure guide across what he calls "the treacherous marches which divide legend from fact in Viking Age history." His long familiarity with the literary culture of Scandinavia with its skaldic poetry is combined with the latest archaeological discoveries to reveal a sweeping picture of the Norsemen, one of history's most amazing civilizations.

Impeccably researched and filled with compelling accounts and analyses of legendary Viking warriors and Norse mythology, The Vikings is an indispensable guide to medieval Scandinavia and is a wonderful companion to the History Channel series.

• Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North
• The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings
• Northmen: The Viking Saga, AD 793-1241
• The Legend of Ragnar Lothbrok: Viking King and Warrior
• The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings (Hist Atlas)
• The Dark Ages 476-918 A.D.
• Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen
• The Age of the Vikings
• How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower
• Europe in the High Middle Ages: Penguin History of Europe (Penguin History of Europe)