God's Hammer: A History of the Viking Crusades

A commanding history of how the Vikings and their descendants in medieval Scandinavia took up arms—and the cross—in pursuit of fortune, power, empire, and, occasionally, salvation.

In 1861, the archaeologist James Farrer excavated a grass-grown mound on the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. He discovered a Neolithic tomb that had once provided shelter for the prehistoric dead. He also found evidence that many centuries earlier, Norse-speaking tomb-breakers had entered the mound...