The Children of Ash and Elm

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.

From Tolkien's Middle-earth to Thor in the Marvel universe, the Vikings are everywhere. They speak of an idea of freedom and abandon, of setting out for the horizon, and they had a strange and vivid mythology. Neil Price's refreshingly different history tells the story from their own perspective - what was it like to share the world with a multitude of 'Others', the magical beings of Odin and Freyja, Valkyries, giants and nature spirits. What was it like to be a warrior, a farmer, a migrant to Russia, a sorceress, a king, and to die and mourn as a Viking? We've included a multitude of illustrations, selected and captioned by the author, many obtained directly from Scandinavian museums, of silver amulets, ritual objects, sites and landscapes, reconstructions of burials (including a sorceress from Birka), rune stones, and the carved funeral wagon from the famous Oseberg ship burial, one of the most strange and spectacular burials of the Viking age.