The Viking wars : war and peace in King Alfred's Britain, 789-955 / Max Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Max, 1961- author.

Contributor:

Albert C. Baugh Book Fund.

Standardized Title:

Alfred's Britain

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alfred, King of England, 849-899.

Command of troops.

Vikings--Warfare.

Vikings.

Great Britain--History--Alfred, 871-899.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--History, Military--449-1066.

History, Military.

Vikings--Warfare--England.

Alfred, King of England, 849-899--Military leadership.

Alfred.

England.

Genre:

Nonfiction.

Physical Description:

xviii, 509 pages : illustrations, maps, genealogical tables ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Pegasus Books hardcover edition.

Other Title:

War and peace in King Alfred's Britain, 789-955

Place of Publication:

New York : Pegasus Books, 2018.

Summary:

A history of Britain in the violent and unruly era between the first Scandinavian raids in 789 and the final expulsion of the Vikings from York in 954. In 865, a great Viking army landed in East Anglia, precipitating a series of wars that would last until the middle of the following century. It was in this time of crisis that the modern kingdoms of Britain were born. In their responses to the Viking threat, these kingdoms forged their identities as hybrid cultures: vibrant and entrepreneurial peoples adapting to instability and opportunity. Traditionally, Alfred the Great is cast as the central player in the story of Viking Age Britain. But author Max Adams, while stressing the genius of Alfred as war leader, law-giver, and forger of the English nation, has a more nuanced narrative approach to this conventional version of history. The Britain encountered by the Scandinavians of the ninth and tenth centuries was one of regional diversity and self-conscious cultural identities, depicted in glorious narrative fashion in The Viking Wars.

A history of Britain in the violent and unruly era between the first Scandinavian raids in 789 and the final expulsion of the Vikings from York in 954. In 865, a great Viking army landed in East Anglia, precipitating a series of wars that would last until the middle of the following century. It was in this time of crisis that the modern kingdoms of Britain were born. In their responses to the Viking threat, these kingdoms forged their identities as hybrid cultures: vibrant and entrepreneurial peoples adapting to instability and opportunity. Traditionally, Alfred the Great is cast as the central player in the story of Viking Age Britain. But Max Adams, while stressing the genius of Alfred as war leader, law-giver, and forger of the English nation, has a more nuanced narrative approach to this conventional version of history. The Britain encountered by the Scandinavians of the ninth and tenth centuries was one of regional diversity and self-conscious cultural identities, depicted in glorious narrative fashion in The Viking Wars.

Contents:

The tiger in the smoke, 789-878

Newton's cradle, 879-918

Going native, 919-955.

Notes:

First published in England with the title Alfred's Britain: war and peace in the Viking age; London : Head of Zeus,©2017.

Maps on lining-papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 465-489) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Scott fund bookplate.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Albert C. Baugh Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781681777979

1681777975

OCLC:

1005691283

Publisher Number:

99977635621