A non-fiction book… about the Vikings.
Contents (blurb)
Von Birka bis Ragnarök.
criticism
Cross Cult presents us with a non-fiction book about the Vikings, which is published in hardcover format and is therefore a little more expensive. But you will be rewarded here on at least 128 pages (okay, it’s a bit thin) with beautiful colored illustrations that range from Vikings, ships and all sorts of other things related to the Northmen. The cover, with the warriors depicted, gives a good insight into what it looks like in the book.
It is important to the author Peter Bergting to give a small cross-section of the Vikings and not to delve too deeply, as these would be topics for other works. And in fact, here you get an overview of the most important topics relating to the seafaring people. It is not just limited to the history of the Vikings (whose period from 745 to 1045 was quite short), but other important subject areas are also depicted, such as religion, fashion or even swords.
Occasionally there are even explanatory illustrations, which means that, for example, there is a pictured uniform in which individual pieces are highlighted. Anyone who knows the DK books (and readers of my reviews know that I’m a fan of them) has a good idea of what this looks like. Overall, this results in a good mix of informative texts and embedded illustrations, even if not all pages are always filled to the brim with text.
In addition to the general information about the Vikings, which includes things like their ships, some myths are also dispelled. For example, the famous burning of Viking ships at funerals did not occur and women also held a high position (even if it is not known whether they were actually fighters). It was only Christianity that set the Vikings back when it came to progress in equality. Well, not everything used to be better. There are also one or two aha effects. WarCraft fans are happy that the word thrall for slave comes from the Vikings. And did you know that the Bluetooth symbol on your PCs is a Viking rune? What it means… well, you can read that for yourself.
Because you never stop learning and there are still a few things to discover here, so I don’t want to mention everything, you should find out a little something yourself. Of course, the world of myths mentioned also plays a big role among the Vikings and of course that shouldn’t be missing from this book, so we can also explore the world of fairies and creatures.
In addition, there are the most famous personalities in the Viking ranks, who definitely helped to shape England through their raids from Norway and Greenland. But they also ventured into an eastern country and became known there by a different name… and then there is the question of who really discovered America.
As you can see, short and crisp information is thrown into the room (or the text of the book pages) that represents a good and instructive mix and that’s pleasing overall.
