The Vikings - (Historical Facts and Fictions) by Kirsten Wolf & Tristan Mueller-Vollmer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book explores 11 popular misconceptions about the Vikings. Each chapter looks at a particular misconception, examines how it became popular, discusses what we now believe to be the truth, and provides excerpts from primary source documents.

When people think of the Vikings, they often envision marauding barbarians who lived violent lives. While a number of mistaken beliefs about the Vikings have become engrained in popular culture, they are not grounded in historical facts. This book examines popular misconceptions related to the Vikings and the historical truths that contradict the fictions.

The book discusses 11 mistaken notions about the Vikings, with each fiction treated in its own chapter. Topics include whether the Vikings wore horned helmets, whether they were unhygienic, whether they had primitive weapons, whether they drank out of skull cups, and more. Each chapter examines how the misconception proliferated and discusses what we now believe to be the facts contradicting the fictions. Excerpts from primary source documents help readers to understand how the misconceptions came to be throughout history and provide evidence for the historical truths.

Review Quotes

"The Vikings is an excellent work not only for those interested in Viking history but also for those interested in how our view of the past can shift." --Booklist

"This well-designed series presents contemporary fictions in a historical context to explain both the origins of the fictions as well as the actual background stories. . .The volume would be an excellent research aid for advanced high school students and undergraduates." --ARBA

"A book that just came out - and one that deserves to be on many bookshelves - is The Vikings: Facts and Fictions, by Kirsten Wolf and Tristan Mueller-Vollmer." --Medievalists.net

About the Author

Kirsten Wolf is the Kim Nilsson Professor and the Torger Thompson Chair of Scandinavian Studies in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tristan Mueller-Vollmer is a doctoral student in Scandinavian Studies in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.