We see this primarily in two ways. First, we see it in his constant belittling of Christianity. I do not mean here that he quotes Vikings or sagas that belittle Christianity. I mean he belittles Christianity. He does it in big ways and small ways. He does it from one end of the book to the other. He does it fairly and unfairly. He is just everlastingly at it. There is no neutrality in him in relation to Christianity, a position that is intellectually barren at best and underhandedly evil at worst. To add insult to injury, he soft pedals the blatantly wretched aspects of Viking culture, minimizing them. It jumps out at you from every chapter. Second, we see it in his pathetic excuse of a chapter on gender. Gender? Really? Somehow, by the time he is done, the Vikings are a sterling example of gender bending pioneerism. I read fifty books a year. I didn't read a worse chapter than this in any of those books last year. It screams, "I'm an American academic liberal idiot." What follows in subsequent chapters is the progression from raiding to invasions, conquests and settlements, in the context of the piratical sea-kings and large-scale trading networks that were opening up across the world. By the end of the book, we have reached Iceland, Greenland and the North American seaboard, not to mention Constantinople, Russia and the Middle East. The dangers of such a big-picture synthesis cannot always be completely avoided; no wonder that Price himself calls the task a “daunting prospect” and speaks of “snapshots and brief visits in different times and places”. On occasion, specific source difficulties – particularly in the textual record – can get glossed over, and regional differences elided. In the final few chapters, there is perhaps less of the vigour and sparkle that characterises the book as a whole, although what remains is still a strong account of the latest historical research. Price doesn't exactly phrase it this way - because, unlike me, he's not a dreary old cod-Hegelian historical materialist - but the basic story he tells is of a system of accumulation empowered by recent technological changes that propelled itself outwards, had internal material demands that required the reorganization of the rest of the Scandinavian economy to support it, and which produced internal and external pressures that resulted in the sublation of the whole thing. As Neil Price shows in his colorful, revelatory new book, we are almost always looking at the Vikings the wrong way around.... He may know more about medieval Scandinavia than anyone else alive, and he aims to show us these fascinating people as they saw themselves, not as they were perceived by those on the sharp end of their robbery.... Thousands of books have been published about the Vikings — this is one of the very best."— Sunday Times (UK)

Circa 550–750 CE, endemic warfare among petty Scandinavian kingdoms. p. 274. Polygyny, concubinage, and perhaps female infanticide left an underclass of young men without inheritance or marriage prospects. pp. 316–317. Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies, beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed.Rus also plied the Don and Volga rivers toward t One would think that not much can change in a field dealing with literally thousand-year old history, but seeing as how the last book I read on the topic was Johannes Brøndsted’s Vikings, written in 1960 and (despite being quite good) stuffed with all the stereotypes Price lists for books dealing with the subject, the shift to a more up-to-date perspective was almost like the shift from a kid’s picture book to Brøndsted’s study. The very identity of a “Viking” gets an overhaul and thorough re-examination, starting with the largely artificial divide between the east and west variants, cutting right through and deconstructing “Norse mythology”, social relations, foreign and internal policies, causes and consequences of expansion, similarities and differences with other contemporary regions and peoples, right down to the “map with arrows pointing outwards from Scandinavia” that every Viking book simply must have.

The author never lost his professionalism and not once condemned or praised the actions of a historic peoples, something which is bafflingly rare and it shouldn't be. A fascination with certain people should not lead to romanticization of their acts. Outstanding….This is as much a historyofmindsets asofsignificant namesanddates….Price constructs a very human historyofthe period….Yield[s] new insights into the complex natureofViking culture.”Round trip, Denmark to England, 14 days by Viking longship, weather permitting. A 24-meter (79-foot)-long, 5-meter (16-foot)-wide 32-oar funeral longship, circa 890, in Harald Finehair's reign, was found in 1880. A 30-meter (98-foot)-long warship for an 80-man crew, with a draft of just 1 meter, from the 11th century, was found in Denmark. The largest Viking warship yet found is from the early 11th century, 32 meters (105 feet) long, for a single-watch crew of 80, that could've been doubled for war. Warships with sails from as early as 750 CE have been found. pp. 197–201. In winter, people and their animals used iron crampons on shoes or hooves. Carved animal head found in funerary treasure, Oseberg, Norway. Photograph: Photo 12/UIG/Getty Images Whether your only reference to Vikings is thanks to an Asterix comic book or you know Huginn from Munin, The Children of Ash and Elm is a must-read. Worst of all, Price writes these cringe-worthy, interior monologues that try to get the reader into the head of a Viking. Here's one of them:

Capturing the fullandrich nuancesofthe Viking Age, Neil Price's ChildrenofAshandElmoffers a sweeping accountofthe famous Scandinavian culture that stretched from North America to the Asian Steppes....Price relies on archeologicalandtextual evidence to move past stereotypesandreveal the Vikings as never before.”— Explore the Archive, 12 Best History Books of 2020 This helps cut through the "assumed" knowledge of yesteryear, showing that Viking warriors were more than the lazy stereotype of skillful sailor barbarians hell-bent on satisfying carnal desires and a lust for treasure. What an interesting book! I really had no idea about the socio-cultural impact the Vikings had throughout history and how they've influenced modern society. What a truly timeless and remarkable people. Another thing of major value here is that Neil Price does not do what so many scholars before him have done; he doesn't separate things into different arenas. This book makes it clear that the same people conquering Iceland and sailing to North America were also present in Russia at the same. This is of great importance to a beginner in this time period, in my opinion.

In the unlikely event you only read one history book in 2020, the new book by Neil Price on The History of the Vikings should be it.

Price fleshes out Viking culture,often by focusing on the material realitiesoftheir day-to-day lives....What Price attempts to do with ChildrenofAshandElmis to strip away the cultural sediment that has built up around the ideaofthe Vikingsandreturn us to the archaeological record itself....What we’re left with are fewer illusionsanda much more interesting mystery.”— Washington Examiner Majestic.... Children of Ash and Elm illuminates the brutal realities of Viking raids, of course, but its revelatory power comes from its focus on the culture that built and launched those ships, an industrial feat more impressive than the pillaging.... Price's stripping away of Viking cliché still leaves warriors worthy of the songs — they're just people now, too."— Shelf Awareness No doubt, next year's students at Uppsala University will have a new book as part of their Viking-era history curriculum. Price is also very familiar with the textual sources, as if by heart, and he keeps analyzing them throughout the book, thus introducing much more context for often overlooked aspects of Viking life. Also, no politising. Which is a brilliant as too many now seek to place a modern day political stamp on heathen subjects, which is kind of missing the point. Norse has been adopted by those who seek to use it ,by misinterpretation, for means of hate on both sides. If those people were to listen to this, they would be appalled, as some doesn't fit with their narrative , the same for gatekeepers who have read little and refuse to accept anything further than what they read or heard once, or watched on a show.

Oneofthe most comprehensive treatises on the Norse to date….This book brings together a wide bodyof scholarship that makes the worldofthe Vikings all the more comprehensible.” And there's that tall one again, good-looking despite the scar, with the gold-hilted blade (which he didn't have last year). This is the third ship he's sailed with, and he's got another stripe on his teeth. Ignore that frightened girl he brought home with him--that's just to be expected, and anyway she can't even speak the language; and he does keep looking at you. But you'll be the judge of where that might lead." Anyway, this book starts with the Norse creation myth, and ends with Ragnarok, and covered literally everything in between, from socio-political aspects to fashion to trade to how the Vikings shaped the world we live in to this day. Without them, without their piratical ways, their ruthlessness and greed and desire to roam and explore and exploit and most of all to leave their mark and be remembered, the world we live in would be a drastically different place today. Instead he has created a very believable depiction, the Vikings, as Price views them, are cosmopolitical, creative and opportunistic people, who believed in a certain reality of the world that needed blood sacrifices and raids. There are hundreds of books introducing the general reader to the Viking Age; as there are numerous excellent books by both Neil Price and other archaeologists and historians providing us with fine introductions. So what, may we ask, is so special about this new book?

Retailers:

Rus also plied the Don and Volga rivers toward the Islamic, Khazar, Magyar, and Bulgar worlds. pp. 424–425, 438. Pirate "sea-kings" with their armies arise in southwest Norway in the 8th century. pp. 299–. Some of the agricultural-elite Norwegians settled Iceland, beginning around 870 CE, to escape pirate rule. Harald Finehair (circa 850–932) ruled Norway circa 872–930. pp. 303, 378. The first part explores this realm through the Vikings’ sense of self, and of their environment, and begins by delineating the contours of its landscape both on the ground and inside their heads. It explores their unique understandings of personhood, gender, and the place of the individual in the many dimensions of the cosmos. This also involves meeting the other beings with whom the Vikings shared these spaces." From Eirík Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their time. Most of the prose is clear, but not all. Sometimes it seemed like the author wanted to be deep and elusive. These sections left me confused.