A fine history of a people who deserve more attention.
A fresh look at “the Vikings and their Scandinavian offspring,” who have always been considered “among the world’s most powerful and important journey makers.”
Hudson Institute senior fellow Herman makes a convincing case that the peoples of Scandinavia have contributed more to today’s world than they are given credit for. For more than two centuries after 780 C.E., Vikings wreaked havoc over immense areas of Europe and east Eurasia. Then, writes the author, “their role shifted from marauder to trader to settler.” An ex-Norseman ruled much of France and then invaded England in 1066 as William the Conqueror, who won at the Battle of Hastings. Other Normans expelled the Muslims from southern Italy and Sicily, becoming the dominant power on the peninsula and allowing the papacy to vastly expand its influence. Ironically, the lands they left behind became a backwater until the 16th century, when the Reformation returned them to center stage. Unlike persistent resistance in Britain and civil war in France and Germany, the Reformation converted Scandinavia with much less bloodshed. This proved critical when Catholic armies of the Holy Roman Empire were rampaging across Lutheran Germany. Their only opposition were forces led by Sweden’s King Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), who won spectacular victories that preserved Protestantism in Germany and may have made him Holy Roman Emperor—if he hadn’t died in battle. Herman then fast-forwards to the 19th century, when population and poverty grew and immigration to the U.S. became a major force. In the middle third of the book, the author describes Scandinavia’s contribution to America, which includes a significant chapter on the Civil War and long biographies of famous Scandinavian Americans, including Charles Lindbergh, Thorstein Veblen, Knut Rockne, and Carl Sandburg. In the 20th century, aided by the decision to stay out of World War I and escaping lightly from World War II, Scandinavian nations prospered into some of the world’s wealthiest and most socially progressive.
A fine history of a people who deserve more attention.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-328-59590-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.
A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us.
There’s something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who’s found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. “Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels,” he writes. “Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights.” Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson’s Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective.
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325372
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.
A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.
On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice.
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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