Book description
Medieval Iceland was unique amongst Western Europe, with no foreign policy, no defence forces, no king, no lords, no peasants and few battles. It should have been a utopia yet its literature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Byock, lie in the underlying structuresā¦
Why read it?
1 author picked Viking Age Iceland as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Almost everything we know about the Vikingsātheir gods and heroes, their history and myths, their values and fearsācomes from texts written down on parchment in medieval Iceland. Yet the Icelandic sagas and Eddas are biased. They explain very little about the Vikings in the east (and get wrong much of what they do describe). Their world is not the Viking World, which stretched from Constantinople to North America, but Viking Iceland.
Jesse Byock brings all this material together in Viking Age Iceland. First published in 2001, this immensely readable book is a classic that has not yet been bettered. Itā¦
From Nancy's list on The best books on Vikings, their humor, and their world.
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