The Children of Ash and Elm — Neil Price

Price's history of the Vikings is grounded in archaeology rather than saga, which produces a substantially different picture from the familiar narrative of raiders and settlers. He examines the Norse relationship to slavery — central to the economy of the Viking Age in ways that most popular accounts suppress — the role of women in Viking society, the spiritual world of Old Norse religion, and the vast geographic range of Scandinavian expansion from Vinland to Constantinople to Uzbekistan. The title refers to the first human couple in Norse mythology: his starting point is how the Vikings understood themselves, not how they have been understood since.

Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize. 'As brilliant a history of the Vikings as one could possibly hope to read.' — Tom Holland. 'Revelatory. Price overturns decades of received wisdom about one of history's most compelling peoples.' — The Times