The Vikings: A New History

The Vikings: A New History by Neil Oliver

Although this was mostly a very good book, I must first state that this really wasn’t what I was expecting. When I read “history” in a title, I really am wanting just that – a linear history of the subject matter.  I wanted to be transcended to the particular time and live through the events along with the people that created the story.  This really isn’t what you get with this book.  Now, to be fair, the Vikings lived over 1000 years ago, and we must remind ourselves that the further we go back in time, the less actual records of the time exist. This was several hundred years before the average laymen knew how to read and write, so one really shouldn’t expect that such famous marauders hired a secretary amongst the brood to keep a detailed journal.

In fact, I would argue that this book is more of an anthropology than a history. This book reminded me of watching one of those documentaries on the History channel where the narrator starts the biopic by walking into the camera view and begins with an introduction.  He’s in a field, or cemetery, or by a body of water, and he then starts talking to the audience about the subject of the program. He states that he’s actually standing where said events occurred hundreds, if not, thousands of years ago.  Throughout the program, we visit cemeteries, churches, castles, and many old relics as the history unfolds.  Not really a bad thing for a tv program, but it just didn’t seem an ideal narrative for a history book.

It seems as though we read more about the actual excavation of corpses and relics then the actual events during the times of the plundering and sackings that we always associate when hearing the word “Viking”.  We read a lot about the corpses’ teeth, the jewelry, and other accoutrements which, again, might be par for the course when one has to go back so far in history. It just seemed more of a distraction when I wanted to read about actual history.

When the author does get around to telling us the historical events, it isn’t necessarily done in a linear fashion either. This makes it harder when you’re trying to assimilate so many new names, places, and events from such a long time ago.  It’s almost as if the author (i.e. narrator) would rather focus on traveling from present-day location to location and telling a new story each time he arrives at a new destination.  Some of these new stories contain people we’ve already met in his earlier narratives, whereas other tales have brand new people and places; so it becomes a chore juggling all the different pieces.

It really is a good narrative though.  I was never bored.  You learn a lot of history of the Scandinavian countries and the people. We see the conquering and assimilation of many distant lands including England, France, Russia, Greenland, and even North America.  The pillaging never really comes across as too violent. I imagine the real history is somewhat more barbaric than the events described here.  Since the time period was quite a long time ago, this might be one of the most accurate recordings of the history of time – even if it is told in a rather unconventional way. I did learn a lot, it just really wasn’t quite I was expecting.