Step inside a Viking town & discover for yourself what it was like to live & work in this bustling centre of long-distance trade. Admire the well-built houses before joining the towns defenders as they fight off an attack by rivals from across the sea. This is a superbly-illustrated look at the daily lives of different types of Vikings. Astounding architectural acheivements are explained & explored with full-colour cutaway illustrations. Pinpoint enlargements focus on the day to day lives of the people looking at how they ate dressed entertained themselves & sometimes fought. Illustrations of artifacts & paintings from the era help to support the main text by providing proof which explains how we know what we know. Informative captions maps a complete glossary & an index make these titles ideal educational texts. Each one features a sturdy flexi-bound cover with gold foiling. ...

Filling a gap in the literature for an academically oriented volume on the Viking period this unique book is a one-stop authoritative introduction to all the latest research in the field. Bringing together todays leading scholars both established seniors & younger cutting-edge academics Stefan Brink & Neil Price have constructed the first single work to gather innovative research from a spectrum of disciplines (including archaeology history philology comparative religion numismatics & cultural geography) to create the most comprehensive Viking Age book of its kind ever attempted. Consisting of longer articles providing overviews of important themes supported by shorter papers focusing on material of particular interest this comprehensive volume covers such wide-ranging topics as social institutions spatial issues the Viking Age economy warfare beliefs language voyages & links with medieval & Christian Europe. This original work specifically oriented towards a university audience & the educated public will have a self-evident place as an undergraduate course book & will be a standard work of reference for all those in the field. ...

The fifth instalment in this popular & highly successful series Viking" follows on from Legionary Gladiator Knight & Samurai your guide to the Norse world of the tenth century ad. Discover everything you will need to become a successful Viking warrior: how to join a war band; what to look for in a good leader; how to behave at a feast; what weapons & armour to choose; how to fight in a shield wall; where to go raiding; how to plunder a monastery & ransom a monk; how to navigate at sea; & what to expect if you die gloriously in battle. Modern reconstructions & ancient artefacts including 16 pages of brilliant colour images will immerse the reader visually in the Viking world. The humorous text peppered with"es from sagas & chronicles will take you on an engrossing journey from joining a raiding party to how to die gloriously." ...

Far from being just wild barbaric axe-wielding pirates the Vikings created complex social institutions oversaw the coming of Christianity to Scandinavia & made a major impact on European history through trade travel & far-flung consolidation. This encyclopedic study brings together the latest research on Viking art burial customs class divisions jewellery kingship poetry & family life. The result is a rich & compelling picture of an extraordinary civilisation. ...

The Vikings famously took no prisoners relished cruel retribution & prided themselves on their bloody-thirsty skills as warriors. But their prowess in battle is only a small part of their story which stretches from their Scandinavian origins to America in the west & as far as Baghdad in the east. As the Vikings did not write their history we have to discover it for ourselves & that discovery as Neil Oliver reveals tells an extraordinary story of a people who from the brink of destruction reached a quarter of the way around the globe & built an empire that lasted nearly two hundred years. Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? & just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1000 years ago? VIKINGS will explore many of these questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest. ...

Enter the enchanting world of make-believe in Fairy Tales the first work of fiction by groundbreaking Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf. Beautifully illustrated by the designers themselves their surreal fairytales feature a lonely disco hedgehog a magical golden dress & a little girl with bright red hair as well as many other memorable characters. This sumptuous book is essential reading for style-conscious babies fashionistas & anyone with a hankering for some luxurious escapism. ...

Fight the Beasts Fear the Magic! Join the hero Tom on a high-action adventure with terrible Beasts & deadly danger! Tom must face not one but two Beasts on his next amazing Quest! The forests of Avantia are stalked by Viktor the Deadly Archer who rides a terrible skeleton horse. Will Tom prevail against double the danger? ...

Evelyn Waughs acidly funny & formally daring satire Vile Bodies" reveals the darkness & vulnerability that lurks beneath the glittering surface of the high life. This " Penguin Modern Classics" edition is edited with an introduction & notes by Richard Jacobs. In the years following the First World War a new generation emerges wistful & vulnerable beneath the glitter. " The Bright Young Things" of twenties Mayfair with their paradoxical mix of innocence & sophistication exercise their inventive minds & vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade
- whether promiscuity dancing cocktail parties or sports cars. In a quest for treasure a favourite party occupation a vivid assortment of characters among them the struggling writer Adam Fenwick-Symes & the glamorous aristocratic Nina Blount hunt fast & furiously for ever greater sensations & the fulfilment of unconscious desires. Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead second son of Arthur Waugh publisher & literary critic & brother of Alec Waugh the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti & his first novel " Decline & Fall" which was soon followed by " Vile Bodies" (1930) "A Handful of Dust" (1934) & " Scoop" (1938). In 1942 he published " Put Out More Flags" & then in 1945 " Brideshead Revisited". " Men at Arms" (1952) was the first volume of " The Sword of Honour" trilogy & won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes " Officers & Gentlemen" & " Unconditional Surrender" followed in 1955 & 1961. If you enjoyed " Vile Bodies" you might like Waughs "A Handful of Dust" also available in " Penguin Modern Classics". " The high point of the experimental original Waugh". (Malcolm Bradbury " Sunday Times"). " This brilliantly funny anxious & resonant novel.. .the difficult edgy guide to the turn of the decade". (Richard Jacobs). " Its Britains Great Gatsby". (Stephen Fry director of " Vile Bodies" film adaptation " Bright Young Things")."
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They may have looked all prim & proper but the Victorians were a jolly naughty bunch who could be vicious & violent & villinous. Readers can discover the murderers who wouldnt hang when the first public loo was flushed & about stag hunting in Paddngton Station. History with the nasty bits left in! 2013 is HORRIBLE HISTORIES twentieth anniversary. ...

There is nothing to be found in the pages of these books but misery & despair. You still have time to choose something else to read. But if you must know what unpleasantries befall the charming & clever Baudelaire children read on... The Vile Village": Why would anyone want to open a book containing such unpleasant matters as migrating crows an angry mob a newspaper headline the arrest of innocent people the Deluxe cell & some very strange hats." ...