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The Viking
by Alan Baker. Having written popular accounts of the lives of the Roman gladiator and then the medieval knight,
Alan Baker now turns his attention to that other most attractive of historical figures, the Viking.
Baker's vivid and dramatic narrative pays tribute to the Viking culture which preyed on fellow Norse
as much as the enemies to the south. Whilst stressing the absolute terror that the monks and ordinary
people of the British Isles must have felt for the Vikings ('the image of the Viking as a fearsome
warrior descending like the wrath of an ancient god on his enemies is largely accurate'), Baker also
looks at their seamanship, their mythology, their society, homeland, material culture and the forces
that drove them on their great journeys in the Atlantic, North Sea and Mediterranean.
The study also looks at whether the legend of the Vikings reaching North America has any fact in it.
Throughout Baker draws on legends and epic tales which are integrated into the text.
216p (Wiley 2004) Hb £14.99
Time Team Book Club price £12.95 |
