Children of Ash and Elm
A History of the Vikings
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Children of Ash and Elm
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Narrated by:
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Samuel Roukin
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By:
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Neil Price
About this listen
The definitive history of the Vikings - from arts and culture to politics and cosmology - by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertise
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies, beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed. From Eirík Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their time.
©2020 Neil Price (P)2020 Recorded BooksWhat listeners say about Children of Ash and Elm
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan New Zealand
- 02-01-2021
Long book but good
Fab narrator, enjoyable deep content for an academic history book. Loved it, it took a week to get through.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- QueenieGalore
- 17-07-2024
Excellently Narrated and Fascinatingly Told
The absolutely gorgeous narration carried me through this long, exhaustive and intense retelling of Viking history. While slightly convoluted and a tad bogged down with dates and timelines in the later third, the majority of this book was utterly compelling and engaging to this complete novice in Viking history. Cannot stress enough what a wonderful job the narrator did.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- b neill
- 18-04-2021
an Incredibly well done intro to Viking beliefs
the detail on Viking culture and worldview in this book is unparallelled in my opinion. narration is also excellent.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rowey555
- 25-06-2025
Brilliant
Price continues to unapologetically explore and explain in fascinating detail, the reality of the Norse diaspora and their Viking element.
This book is more broad stroke and robust than Price other work of genius ‘the Viking way’ which is an up-close intimate look at the Norse in the Middle Ages. This book is just as good in its own right.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BeeJay
- 30-05-2025
Well presented overview of Viking history
This is a clear, easy to listen to presentation of how the Vikings evolved and positioned themselves in the world. It explains their culture, movements, sagas, and motivations in a balanced way, that goes beyond their violence and barbarism. I was curious about my heritage and this was informative and enlightening.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-01-2025
In-depth and Engaging
Provides a very interesting take on the Vikings that provides a better image on 'who' they were rather than the modern constructed image we most often see and hear.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-06-2025
Great narrator.
Excellent information balanced with story. Very enjoyable I highly recommend. Images were entertaining and I felt drawn into the past.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Liam Prendergast
- 18-02-2021
great and informative listen
A nuanced and interesting exploration of the Viking legacy. Everything from the foundation for the viking way of life and their religious beliefs to the conscription of Viking warriors into the Byzantine Empire and original European settlement of the New World.
Neil Price analyses the primary sources and archaeological evidence and gives an honest account of these things as opposed to the often exaggerated retellings.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LANDREN
- 14-01-2021
Great story, mixed performance
Fascinating history well told, but the otherwise well chosen reader was let down by disconcertingly odd or poor pronunciation of several ordinary English words (as well as many non-English) that jarred in the listening. Otherwise a very enjoyable well researched and well written book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-12-2023
Brilliant book- But extremely difficult to listen to if you speak Swedish.
This book was absolutely fascinating and engaging. A well done balance between academic text and engaging narrative for a general audience. But goodness gracious was it difficult to remain engaged when so many Swedish words and place names were pronounced incorrectly. Especially since much of the book consists of Swedish place names when referring to archaeological sites. Just unbelievably disappointing that the reader wasn’t adequately informed on pronunciations. The letter Ö was consistently pronounced “oo” and Gotland was pronounced Goatland? Absolutely brilliant if you can ignore this however, and aside from the Swedish words, the narration was fabulous and deeply engaging.
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1 person found this helpful