The Vikings

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The Viking reputation is of bloodthirsty seafaring warriors, repeatedly plundering the British Isles and the North Atlantic throughout the early Middle Ages. Yet Vikings were also traders, settlers, and farmers, with a complex artistic and linguistic culture, whose expansion overseas led them to cross the Atlantic for the first time in European history. In this fully revised second edition Julian Richards highlights the latest archaeological evidence and scientific methods to reveal the whole Viking world: their history, society and culture, and their expansion overseas for trade, colonization, and plunder. He also looks at the Viking identity, through their artistic expression, rune stones, their ships, and their religion. The Viking story is also brought up to date, by examining their legacy from the medieval Icelandic sagas to 19th-century nationalism, Wagner, and the Nazis.</jats:p>