Everyday Life in the Viking Age

In this book Ms Simpson sets out to construct an accurate image of what is known about Viking life. She succeeds remarkably well. Ms Simpson points out that both those who see the Vikings as mere bloodthirsty savages and those who depict them as perfect heroes tend to ignore a great deal of what is known about the Vikings. She then seeks to describe in great detail what life was like, from the construction of farm houses to life in the cities, from warfare to religious rites. On the whole I felt that Ms Simpson's work succeeded in its original mission-- to depict accurately the typical elements of Viking life. Additionally, she supports even those ideas I thought were questionable well enough that it is clear that she has important points to make on these subjects. I would highly recommend this work.