Review by Choice Review
Editors Brink and Price are to be commended for coordinating this impressive volume. The book is large and learned, intended as a reference work for scholars and serious students of Scandinavia in the Viking Age. Lay readers with a keen interest in the Vikings will also wish to have this reference work, not only for the wealth of information, but also because the articles are well written by noted scholars. The articles are often wide-ranging, and the breadth given to the various topics covered is impressive; 40 percent of the articles cover Scandinavian attacks and settlement overseas (chapters 25-46). Particularly useful are the articles on Scandinavian market towns, warfare, and shipbuilding, which feature excellent illustrations and plans and bibliographies on the archaeology. The articles on Scandinavian religious beliefs (chapters 16-19) include important original contributions on sorcery, burial practices, and the value of Snorri Sturluson's 13th-century Prose Edda as confirmed by archaeological evidence. Indispensable for scholars of the Middle Ages who wish to expand their course offerings by teaching courses on the Viking age, or for scholars and students who wish to do research in this field. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. K. W. Harl Tulane University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
