"The Viking Art of War by Griffith?" Topic
10 Posts
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| Henrix | 15 May 2007 2:30 a.m. PST |
Is The Viking Art of War, by Paddy Griffith, a good book? Normally I would check it out at my friendly local university library, but both copies seem to have gone missing ':-[ |
| mrabbit | 15 May 2007 2:43 a.m. PST |
Yes! Interesting analysis of how shieldwalls work. Griffith is, IMHO, always worth reading even if you don't always agree with his analysis you do get a fresh perspective. |
| hurcheon | 15 May 2007 2:53 a.m. PST |
Also I like his theory of Berserkers as the village ned that just doesn't have the wiring to require a workup to violence |
| CATenWolde | 15 May 2007 3:13 a.m. PST |
I had mine "borrowed" and it's on my list of books to replace – good stuff. |
| Henrix | 15 May 2007 4:02 a.m. PST |
Sounds like I should get one! Thanks! |
| Wombling Free | 15 May 2007 11:11 a.m. PST |
Whoa, before you go buying it, you should know that most academic specialists in the period consider it to be a poorly researched book! While there is not space on this board to go into detail regarding why it is not a good book, the main problem is that Griffith does not appear to have the appropriate critical toolkit to analyse the source material for this period (mainly the Icelandic sagas). He relies too much on secondary sources and is too accepting of the primary sources that he has used (in translation). The fact that he has worked with them only in translation means that he does not get the full picture that someone reading them in Old Norse would and it is clear that he has missed a lot. While there are some little gems in the book, it reflects more 20th century reception of Viking Age warfare than it does the probably reality. Cheers,
Wukong |
| Wombling Free | 15 May 2007 11:13 a.m. PST |
Forgot to add; if you can wait 6 months, Gareth Williams' forthcoming "Viking Warfare and Military Organisation" will probably be a much better book on the subject. |
| (Change Name) | 18 May 2007 12:54 a.m. PST |
[Sounds like I should get one! Thanks!] Now for the bad news. It has been out of print for quite a while. Expect to pay a premium. |
| Henrix | 18 May 2007 9:41 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the warning, Wukong. And I have seen it at reasonable prices, so it shouldn't be too bad. |
| (Change Name) | 05 Feb 2008 4:21 a.m. PST |
[Forgot to add; if you can wait 6 months, Gareth Williams' forthcoming "Viking Warfare and Military Organisation" will probably be a much better book on the subject.] Scheduled for publication in February 2014 |
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gets medieval.