ThedefinitivehistoryoftheVikings--fromartsandculturetopoliticsandcosmology--byadistinguishedarchaeologistwithdecadesofexpertiseTheVikingAge--from750to1050--sawanunprecedentedexpansionoftheScandinavianpeoplesintothewiderworld.Astradersandraiders,explorersandcolonists,theyrangedfromeasternNorthAmericatotheAsiansteppe.Butforcenturies,theVikingshavebeenseenthroughtheeyesofothers,distortedtosuitthetastesofmedievalclericsandElizabethanplaywrights,Victorianimperialists,Nazis,andmore.NoneoftheseappropriationscapturetherealVikings,ortherichnessandsophisticationoftheirculture.Basedonthelatestarchaeologicalandtextualevidence,ChildrenofAshandElmtellsthestoryoftheVikingsontheirownterms:theirpolitics,theircosmologyandreligion,theirmaterialworld.Knowntodayforastereotypeofmaritimeviolence,theVikingsexportednewideas,technologies,beliefs,andpracticestothelandstheydiscoveredandthepeoplestheyencountered,andintheprocesswerethemselveschanged.FromEir穩kBloodaxe,whofoughthiswaytoakingdom,toGudridThorbjarnard籀ttir,themosttraveledwomanintheworld,ChildrenofAshandElmisthedefinitivehistoryoftheVikingsandtheirtime.
