"Best Non-Fiction Books on Vikings" Topic
10 Posts
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| Pan Marek | 30 Nov 2016 2:24 p.m. PST |
There has been a recent spate of books on Viking history, and there were already lots of books on them. Can anyone give me a few suggestions of some good (reasonably readable) books on them? And why you like the ones you suggest? |
| Pan Marek | 30 Nov 2016 4:01 p.m. PST |
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| Hobhood4 | 30 Nov 2016 4:09 p.m. PST |
There are a number of recent books of dubious quality possibly cashing on the success of the TV series 'Vikings'. For a good general history which is scholarly, quite readable and not over detailed I go with Else Roesdahl
link However it is not primarily a military history – it covers all aspects. |
| Sundance | 30 Nov 2016 6:01 p.m. PST |
Personally, I like reading the sagas but some are clearly novels while others are largely true-ish as far as we know. |
| Green Tiger | 01 Dec 2016 2:51 a.m. PST |
Gwyn Jones – The Vikings is a pretty good starting point |
| Hobhood4 | 01 Dec 2016 3:23 a.m. PST |
This looks good. I've not read it but it comes well recommended, and you can preview a lot of it on Amazon. link |
| axabrax | 01 Dec 2016 8:47 a.m. PST |
The Viking Art of War by Paddy Griffith. Good analysis of warfare for wargaming. Anything by Jesse Byock, especially his Medieval Iceland and Feud In Icelandic Sagas book which examine societal aspects of the culture. On Netflix, there is a good documentary on the Viking sword. Really the best thing to do however is to read the actual sagas, which are more modern and "readable" than you might think. My favorites are Grettir's Saga and The Volsung Saga. There's also a new edition of The Poetic Edda by Crawford that's supposed to be very good. I would also check out the children's book section at your local library: the DK readers and some of the other stuff are very readable, a great illustrated overview, and fun for adults as well as kids. |
| Pan Marek | 01 Dec 2016 9:33 a.m. PST |
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| Benvartok | 05 Dec 2016 2:51 p.m. PST |
A few ideas Oxford illustrated history of the vikings – around 12 essay/chapters with different authors expert in their area on different aspects of viking history, 1997. Phillip Parker – the northmans fury. 2014 so in the vikings TV series period just. Reading now and quite readable. Lot of incidents /happenings described that appear in the TV series. Frank mcglynn – 1066 year of three battles. Heavy focus on the three battles and the leaders but good background on Hardradar and vikings. BBC do co by neil oliver in 3 parts was quite good. I second the kids DK guides. Got some for my boy and ended up reading and getting painting tips for designs. Might look at viking art of war and the sagas a bit more closely myself. |
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