The Story of Britain (2003)

The Story of Britain. Rebecca Fraser. 2003. Norton. 828 pages. [Source: Library]

Fraser has a clear purpose for writing The Story of Britain:

some kind of easy framework was still needed to guide the average person through the confusing shoals of disputed facts, to give a broad-brush picture of the past to those not in the van of historical research. The national curriculum today enables many young people to grow up used to handling esoteric historical documents yet without any real chronological sense of the years between, say, the Stuarts and the Victorians. Many children might be forgiven for believing that the Egyptians and the Aztecs once lived on these islands too. The aim of this history is to attempt to return to those old rules of 'who, when, what, how.' (xv)

This chunkster is divided into sections: Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Angevin, Plantagenet, Lancastrian and Yorkist, Tudor, Stuart, Hanoverian, Saxe-Coburg, Windsor. Most of the chapters are titled with the name of the monarch (king or queen) and years of their reign. But that doesn't mean the book is solely focused on royalty to the exclusion of everything else.

Is it readable? Yes and no. I struggled with the beginning and the ending. It just wasn't a thrilling read. There were sections that held my interest very well. There were sections that were more than informative, they were fascinating too. Other sections were packed with information but exceedingly dull. The sections that worked best were peopled with CHARACTERS that were memorable, dramatic, tragic, or vulnerable. The sections that dealt with human nature and dysfunctional families were quite good. But at some point in this history book, Fraser's focus shifts a bit. Starting perhaps with the Hanoverians (or perhaps even earlier with James II, William and Mary, and Anne), the focus is less on royalty and more focused on prime ministers and parliament personalities. As this one goes on, there is barely a glimpse at all of any royal personality. The last two or three hundred pages of this one were horribly boring.

I thought the book was helpful in some ways. I thought she did a great job conveying information from William the Conqueror through Charles II. There were chapters that were definitely accessible and interesting.

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Viking: Norse Warrior's Manual (2013)

Viking: The Norse Warrior's (Unofficial) Manual. John Haywood. 2013. Thames & Hudson. 208 pages. [Source: Library]


The world needs more history books like this one. Viking is written in second person present tense. The reader is addressed directly, and the material--though unofficial--blends what you want to know with what you need to know...if you want to become a Viking. The book is set in December 991 AD.

The book is arranged topically.

• Why Become a Viking
• Joining Up
• The Novice Viking's Guide to the Great War Leaders
• Weapons and Tactics
• Going to Sea
• Have Longship, Will Travel
• Life On Campaign
• Battle
• The Spoils of War
• The Sword's Sleep

 I found many sections entertaining and enjoyable. But probably my favorite section to grin about was "Have Longship, Will Travel." In this section, the author rates lands to potentially plunder. The name of each country is given, of course, as well as essential information such as location, inhabitants, key resources, several descriptive paragraphs, and the all-important section describing how hard it is to raid. (England is rated five stars; Ireland three stars). It reads in part:

Rich, green and fertile, England is the destination for the ambitious Viking at the present time. Since 978 England has been ruled by a foolish and unpopular king, Aethelred. (101)

Overall, this one is just a fun, light history book. 

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Alfred the Great (2005)

Alfred the Great. Justin Pollard. 2005. John Murray. 368 pages. [Source: Library]

I liked this biography of Alfred the Great. I can see why it might not appeal to every reader. Why it might not be considered a must-read by everyone. Not everyone gets excited by history. But I did enjoy learning more about Alfred the Great. This biography was pleasantly complex. It was rich in detail; it wasn't always the easiest to follow. I wouldn't want to be quizzed necessarily. But at the same time I was fascinated that there was so much to know, that so much has been passed down to us, that there are historians who specialize in this time period. There is a great deal about Vikings in this biography, which is just what I was looking for...

Since falling in love with Vikingland, I wanted to learn more. The song goes, "We split your isles diagonally from south-east to north-west. Our section was called the Danelaw, King Alfred ruled the rest" and "though we began as raiders so well-planned you accepted us as traders." The song does have a propaganda feel (in a good way) to it.

I found plenty within this one to interest me. Readers can learn a lot about Anglo-Saxon culture through the centuries. My goal was mainly big-picture. As I said earlier, there was a lot of information that could be absorbed by a careful reader or scholar. I wasn't trying to learn-to-remember every little thing. 

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

How The Barbarian Invasions Shaped The Modern World

How The Barbarian Invasions Shaped The Modern World. Thomas J. Craughwell. 2008. Fair Winds Press. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

The full subtitle of this one is "The Vikings, Vandals, Huns, Mongols, Goths, and Tartars Who Razed the Old World and Formed the New."

I'd describe this book as readable. It is a broad overview of the subject; it provides a framework for further study perhaps. It serves as a good introduction. It isn't the most thorough book on the Vikings or the Vandals or the Huns or the Mongols or the Goths or the Tartars.

I found it fascinating and quite entertaining. I knew practically nothing on the subject, and yet I found this one compelling instead of confusing. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began, but by the end, I was a fan. I loved the middle section the best. The Viking chapters were just what I was looking for.

• "The Brightest Light of the Whole World Is Extinguished" The Goths Sack Rome
• "They Filled The Whole Earth With Slaughter and Panic" The Arrival of the Huns
• The Scourge of God: Attila the Hun
• King of the Land and the Sea: Gaiseric and the Glory Days of the Vandals
• An Empire of Their Own, The Vandals and the Second Sacking of Rome
• The Groans of the Britons: The Angle, Saxon, and Jute Invasion of Britain
• The Long-Haired Kings: The Franks
• The First Viking Invasion of England: The Sacking of Lindisfarne Abbey
• The Last King: Alfred the Great
• "Floods of Danes and Pirates" The Vikings in Ireland
• The Wasteland: The Vikings in the Frankish Empire
• The Resurrection of Hastein: Vikings in the Mediterranean
• The Blood of Heroes: Irish and Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf
• The End of the Viking Age: The Battle of Stamford Bridge
• Vengeance On Her Mind, Olga of Kiev
• The Prince Who Made Kiev Christian: Vladimir of Kiev
• Spitting on the Emperor: The Mongols in China
• The Golden Horde: The Mongols in Russia
• Sacks Full of Ears: The Mongols in Eastern Europe

The legacy of the Vikings in England is destruction. Libraries burned. Rare works of art looted and lost forever. Towns and villages wiped off the landscape. Lives destroyed. And the future of England--the nation that has had an immeasurable impact on the world's ideas about civil rights, representational government, and personal freedom--placed in severe jeopardy.
Some historians have tried to find positive contributions that the Vikings brought to England. But aside from teaching the English a better method of shipbuilding and adding Scandinavian words such as "skate" and "skiff" and "anger" and "muck" to the English language, and giving Scandinavian names to about 1,400 locations in England (places ending in -by, -thorpe, -toft, and -thwaite), Viking influence in England was almost nil. With one exception: By annihilating six of the seven English royal families, the Vikings inadvertently transformed the country from a patchwork of little kingdoms into a single realm under one kind. And once England was unified, it became a political and cultural powerhouse. (128)

Once the Vikings and the English intermarried, and especially once the Vikings began to convert to Christianity, their assimilation into English society was virtually painless. But that integration came decades after the first Viking raid in England. Between 793 and 865, the Vikings were marauders who brought nothing but pain and anguish to the people of England. (130)

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews