The Vikings

A New History

By: Neil Oliver

Narrated by: James A. Gillies

The Vikings famously took no prisoners, relished cruel retribution, and prided themselves on their bloodthirsty skills as warriors. But their prowess in battle is only a small part of their story, which stretches from their Scandinavian origins to America in the West and as far as Baghdad in the East. As the Vikings did not write their own history, we have to discover it for ourselves; and that discovery, as Neil Oliver reveals, tells an extraordinary story of a people who, from the brink of destruction, reached a quarter of the way around the globe and built an empire that lasted nearly 200 years.

Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light, Scottish archaeologist Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? And just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1,000 years ago? The Vikings: A New History explores many of those questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest.

©2013 Neil Oliver (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Anyone interested in finding out more about these real-life raiders will enjoy everything Oliver reveals." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great! so much to learn! wow!

one of the very best books i have ha the pleasure of listening to! go for it!

Informative. A whole new look at Viking history

Very thorough and informative work. Not thrilling, but solidly interesting. You will leave with a wealth of knowledge from 2000 years of Northern European history surrounding the rise and assimilation of the Vikings.

Great Book

Oliver deals fantastically with the “what we know and what we believe” conundrum that surely faces all writers of history. I would call it literary integrity; parsing the known from the hypothetical. Yet he does so in such away that does not diminish the imagination and in fact, his attention to this issue only heightens the whole experience. Add a fantastic voice to convey it all and I was enthralled.

Excellent structure

This book was read well and had an excellent structure. It’s one of those books you find yourself not wanting to stop listening to, it’s that good! Insightful mix of a broad perspective on the Vikings as well as the author’s experience with the topic. Do yourself a favor and take a listen!

Fantastic book

The writer has a background in archeology and journalism, so it is well written and even sometimes poetic. The narration was good, no flaws that I could tell: