Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough

I knew nothing about the Old Norse Sagas prior to reading this book, or perhaps I should say, I only knew as much as I had gleaned from the pages of the Lord of the Rings which I have read and re-read ten or more times...

I have had little interest in Vikings. I knew of them...I learned what I learned in school...but, unlike a host of other historical peoples and cultures, the Norse and their history has not been something that has caught my attention.

I am a bit of an armchair archaeologist, however, and recently there have been a number of discoveries in northern Europe and recently here on the coast of North America, which have spurred me to learn more.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough's book is really well done and she managed to do what all good books do, in my opinion...made me want to learn more. I was particularly interested in the chapters regarding the Rus and the Varangian Guard in Constantinople.

I want to thank @Oxford University Press and the author for selecting me as a winner in this giveaway. Beyond the Northlands is a very good book and I am happy to add it to my shelf.… (mais)

This is an entertaining pop history read, following Viking voyages from the far North, west to North America, east to Russia, Constantinople, and points further south. Barraclough traces her narrative through Old Norse sagas, and she clearly has a scholar's grasp of her material.

I found the chapters on the Arctic, Iceland, and Greenland fascinating; generally, as the narrative ventured farther from the Norse homelands, I found it more speculative and less tightly written. The light conversational style had grown a bit tired by that point as well. Every once in awhile, it reads more like a contemporary travelogue, which I found slightly distracting.

There are nice maps and images throughout, but these were difficult to view on my Kindle.

Thanks to Netgalley and OUP for this ARC.… (mais)

Very enjoyable account of what is known of the vikings from their own works and from their archeological leavings. I highly enjoyed the author's writing style and sense of humor, as well as the depth of her analysis countering various pop-culture assumptions about the Vikings.

Note: Borrowed from Anne Arundel County Public Library because of this article:

rel="nofollow" target="_top">https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/viking-beyond-northlands-norse-saga-...

(2018)… (mais)