Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil PriceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Amazing, but exhausting.
Right away I'm going to tell you that this book is for people who love history, cultures, and who have the willingness and drive to learn the truth about Vikings. This is absolutely not the book for someone that thinks a viking is a fat singing guy with horns on his head at the opera, or who get misled with what I'll call the modern media version of Vikings we see in things like Assassins Creed: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom TV Show.
The intro gives us Neil's credentials but for those that want to know: "Neil Price is distinguished professor and chair of archaeology at Uppsala University, Sweden. He has been researching, teaching, and writing on the Vikings for nearly thirty-five years"
In other words, he is THE expert on all things Viking.
What I loved about this is that he constantly dispels our idea of who the vikings were. Sure, parts of their culture as represented today are true to form but the portrayals tend to disregard a lot of who they were and how they acted. He also takes a history is written by the winners approach to telling their story, constantly reminding us that a lot of their own texts are in existent and we developed our viewpoint based on the writings of their rivals and neighbors. I also liked how Neil talked about the Norse Mythology which a lot of us are familiar with but in a way that showed how it truly related to the Vikings themselves. These aren't just stories, they are beliefs.
Now, I am going through some personal stuff so although I found this book amazing and fascinating, I also found it really exhausting. I don't know if it's because of my own issues or because the book is extremely heavy with information. I would absolutely recommend this book, but would caution that you have to be really committed to it. I trust Neil with the Vikings the way I trust Zahi Hawass with the Egyptians.
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