A new look at the Vikings that goes beyond the view of them as bloodthirsty pirates to reveal their success in commerce and exploration
Fresh insights on Viking settlements and civilization culled from the latest archaeological findings
Explores the Viking legacy to cultures as far apart as the American Midwest and Nazi Germany
Written by a team of leading scholar of worldwide renown

Were the Vikings, as contemporary description had it, a `valiant, wrathful, foreign, purely pagan people` who swept in from the sea to plunder and slaughter? Or in the words of a Manx folksong `ware-wolves keen in hungry quest`, who lived and died by the sea and the sword. Or were they unusually successful merchants, extortionists, and pioneer explorers?

This book, by leading international scholars, considers the latest research and presents a compelling picture of the Vikings and their age. Excavations as far apart as Dublin and Newfoundland, York and Kiev, provide fascinating archaeological evidence, expertly interpreted in this extensively illustrated book.


List of Colour Plates
List of Maps
Notes on Contributors
1. The Age of the Vikings and Before , Peter Sawyer
2. The Frankish Empire , Janet L. Nelson
3. The Vikings in England, ic./i790-1016 , Simon Keynes
4. Ireland, Wales, Man, and the Hebrides , Donnchadh Ó Corráin
5. The Atlantic Islands , Sveinbjörn Rafnsson
6. Scandinavians in European Russia , Thomas S. Noonan
7. The Danish Empire and the End of the Viking Age , Niels Lund
8. Ships and Seamanship , Jan Bill
9. Religions Old and New , Preben Meulengracht Sørensen
10. The Vikings in History and Legend , Lars Lönnroth
11. The Viking Legacy , Peter Sawyer
Further Reading
Chronology
Index