Alfred the Great and England in the Dark Ages: A Comparison of the Saxons and Vikings

M. T.: Ed West makes history come to life with his great writing style.

Australia on Aug 05, 2023

Charlie: Informative, well-written and often funny. A great introduction to the era, plus jokes. I loved it, and recommend all his books in this series.

Canada on Apr 28, 2023

Charlene: West can even spell the Welsh and Viking names correctly. An lover of British history can enjoy his approach to these tumultuous times, and he is both ironic and accurate. His footnotes are a wonderful resource. He even mentions what happened to the Lindesfarne Gospels!

United States on Apr 13, 2023

Manifold: I really enjoyed this book. The voice reminded me of a podcast I enjoy about English History. My only quibble is the characterization of coerls as timid farmers armed with pitchforks, cowed by rampaging Vikings. Coerls were the free men of the Anglo-Saxons. A defining feature of their identity was the right to bear arms. Coerls were expected to fight, and fight they often did. A Coerl would have been armed with a spear, shield, and Seax (a long hacking knife carried by the Anglo-Saxons, sort of an English machete.) The Anglo-Saxons were often at war with themselves, so coerls had plenty of practice with arms and warfare. It wasn't until Alfred's reign that English society was stratified into men who fight, men who farm, and men who pray. One of Alfred's genius moves was to divide the Fyrd, the fighting force of coerls, in half so half could continute to tend crops, allowing the other half to stay longer in the field to repel Vikings or other Anglo-Saxons. This, combined with the Burr system, allowed the Anglo-Saxons to mobilize quickly, move directly to a threat, and not be distracted by matters of agricultural survival while in combat. Coerls were farmers, to be sure, but they...

United States on Jan 05, 2022

Pete Raynor: I very much enjoyed the author's writing style with humour injected into what could have been a very dry subject. My family emigrated from East Anglia in 1634 to "The Colonies so I am very interested in learning the early history of England.

United States on Dec 25, 2021

Jillian Dellit: I read this to refresh my knowledge of the period which I studied as an undergraduate some 50 or so years ago. I wanted a refresher to assist with a study of Viking textiles. It served the purpose admirably. It’s humorous, direct summaries and perspectives on events tell a coherent story of nation development, at least for those readers who have a prior knowledge. I’m not sure how it will serve those wanting an introduction to the period.

I found it a fun read. It is skilled writing, displaying a sharp, sceptical mind that grasps essentials, probabilities and significance. As with much humour, there are times when the sarcasm and characterisation is on the edge of stereotyping but for the most part this is rigorously avoided.

Certainly fit for my purpose.

Australia on Sep 19, 2021

Claire Spurling: Plenty of interesting information if you can follow the repetitive naming of everyone in the dark ages. Helped enhance my knowledge enough for teaching KS2 History on the Viking invasion and settlement of Britain. Beware of the many printing errors throughout the book.

United Kingdom on Jun 06, 2021

Anne Elliott: History is the record of many reports of the same events through the eyes of different beholders. This is one.

United States on May 12, 2021

Fred C: I found this to be an easy to read and pleasant book. It takes the country from the end of the Romans through until the basic structure of modern England. The political structure, the preservation and growth of literature. The basic legal system of "English Common Law" is set and applied to all. All in all I found it a pleasant read with enough clues of more topics in \\for further study,

Canada on Sep 30, 2018

Dave Hunter: This was a fun, quick read, written in a jocular tone. An entertaining quick history of early England, the author does a good job of going over things that I hadn't read about since high school (over 30 years ago), and mostly making them interesting. A lot of historical ground is covered, and keeping the names straight can be a little difficult, but this the only caveat. Note: the author is from the UK, and I am from the USA; I still found it to be perfectly accessible, even though I was not familiar with the period.

United States on Aug 22, 2018