Viking marauders, assassination in ancient Rome and the terror of the Second World War. It’s comforting to remember that there were worse years to live through than 2020. If that’s too much terror, why not explore the history of sport, the golden age of Egyptology or life as an unusually adventurous 19th-century Japanese woman.
Everybody thinks they know the Vikings, but Neil Price’s magical book casts them in an entirely new light. There are plenty of raids and battles, naturally, but the spirit is captured by one chapter title: Meeting the Others. Exploring everything from poetry to pyjamas, Price makes the Scandinavians seem sophisticated, cruel and always surprising. And as he sifts through the sources, he brings alive a world not just of climate