Why am I passionate about this?

I study and write about the Early Medieval period, and in a series of books about its most important characters, its archaeology and landscapes, I've tried to share my lifelong passion for this most obscure and tantalizing period of our history – what we still call the Dark Ages. From the two most shadowy centuries after Rome's fall (The First Kingdom) to Northumbrian King Oswald (The King in the North), who brought Christianity into pagan Anglo-Saxon England, and a walking, riding, sailing tour of Britain's Dark Age lands and seas (In the Land of Giants), I see a continuity of rich cultures, vibrant politics and regional characters that help us to understand how and why we are like we are.


I wrote

Book cover of Aelfred's Britain: War and Peace in the Viking Age

What is my book about?

The story of Aelfred the Great, his war against the Vikings, and the foundations of modern Britain. In AD 865…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Northmen's Fury: A History of the Viking World

Max Adams Why did I love this book?

Every subject needs a really sound, comprehensive introduction – and Parker's book is just that: a big, chunky history of the Vikings in all their guises, as traders, raiders, explorers, and entrepreneurs.  It's very well illustrated with photos and maps, lucidly written, and with a passion for the subject that is infectious. If you're looking for just one book to see you through the Vikings, make it this one.

By Philip Parker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Northmen's Fury as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Northmen's Fury tells the Viking story, from the first pinprick raids of the eighth century to the great armies that left their Scandinavian homelands to conquer larger parts of France, Britain and Ireland. It recounts the epic voyages that took them across the Atlantic to the icy fjords of Greenland and to North America over four centuries before Columbus and east to the great rivers of Russia and the riches of the Byzantine empire.

One summer's day in 793, death arrived from the sea. The raiders who sacked the island monastery of Lindisfarne were the first Vikings, sea-borne attackers…


Book cover of The Vinland Sagas

Max Adams Why did I love this book?

When I write about any period, I want to go back to the original sources: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the charters and, especially for the Viking period, the sagas. They may not be contemporary with the tales they tale – of adventure and murder, treasure, intrigue, and betrayal – but there is no more evocative way of hearing the 'voice' of far distant times and places. The Vinland Sagas, which includes the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Eirik the Red, tell of the great voyages to the west in search of Vinland. They are thrilling and accessible in a good English translation – a must-read for any Viking enthusiast.

By Unknown, Keneva Kunz (translator),

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Vinland Sagas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?



The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik's son Leif the Lucky's perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to…


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Book cover of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret St. Augustine By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

Tourists and local residents of St. Augustine will enjoy reading about the secret wonders of their ancient city that are right under their noses. Of course, that includes a few stray corpses and ghosts!

Book cover of Vikings of the Irish Sea

Max Adams Why did I love this book?

This may not look, at first sight, like a book for the general reader. But in my research into the period I have found no more useful, better written, or more thought-provoking work. David Griffiths is, like me, an archaeologist; and he knows his material. How the Vikings explored, conquered, and settled the lands in and around the Irish Sea is a story of marvellous sculpture and enigmatic burial mound; of silver, towns and landscape. A very fine book.

By David Griffiths,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Vikings of the Irish Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Vikings began raiding islands and monasteries on the Atlantic fringes of Europe in the 790s. The Irish Sea rapidly became one of their most productive hunting-grounds. Attacks, battles and destruction were accompanied by trade - in slaves, silver and fine objects. Vikings crossed and re-crossed the Irish Sea in search of land, wealth and power. Raids were followed by settlement, firstly in fortified camps, and later in towns, market enclaves and rural estates. Vikings came into contact with existing populations in Ireland, Britain and the Isle of Man. Viking paganism, demonstrated by spectacular burials, was gradually eclipsed by Christianity. By…


Book cover of The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman

Max Adams Why did I love this book?

Nancy Brown's search for one of the most intriguing characters of the sagas, Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, is both a detective story and an evocation; a travelogue and history. It brings the adventuring spirit of the age to life; and in exploring this most fascinating and intrepid woman – the first European to give birth on American soil – it warns us not to forget half of the Viking population.

By Nancy Marie Brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Far Traveler as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Five hundred years before Columbus, a Viking woman named Gudrid sailed off the edge of the known world. She landed in the New World and lived there for three years, giving birth to a baby before sailing home. Or so the Icelandic sagas say. Even after archaeologists found a Viking longhouse in Newfoundland, no one believed that the details of Gudrid's story were true. Then, in 2001, a team of scientists discovered what may have been this pioneering woman's last house, buried under a hay field in Iceland, just where the sagas suggested it could be. Joining scientists experimenting with…


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Book cover of A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir

A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains By Victoria Golden, William Walters,

Four years old and homeless, William Walters boarded one of the last American Orphan Trains in 1930 and embarked on an astonishing quest through nine decades of U.S. and world history.

For 75 years, the Orphan Trains had transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast…

Book cover of The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings

Max Adams Why did I love this book?

If I'm to understand a period and a theme, I want maps: lots of them and packed with information. John Haywood's beautifully presented series of full-colour thematic and chronological maps is a perfect companion for the curious reader and student of the Viking period. It has good thematic summaries, plenty of illustrations and helps one to understand the sheer breadth and pace of Viking activity across Europe and beyond in the two centuries after the first raid on Lindisfarne. Invaluable.

By John Haywood,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Viking marauders in their longships burst through the defences of ninth-century Europe, striking terror into the hearts of peasants and rulers alike for two centuries. But the Vikings were more than just marine warriors and this atlas shows their development as traders and craftsmen, explorers, settlers and mercenaries. With over sixty full colour maps, it follows the tracks of the Viking merchants who travelled deep into Russia, of Viking mercenaries who served in the emperor's bodyguard at Constantinople, and Viking mariners who sailed beyond the edge of the known world to North America.


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of Aelfred's Britain: War and Peace in the Viking Age

What is my book about?

The story of Aelfred the Great, his war against the Vikings, and the foundations of modern Britain. In AD 865, a 'great host' of battle-hardened Norse warriors landed on England's eastern coast, overwhelmed East Anglia with terrifying swiftness and laid the North to waste. Ghosting along estuaries and inshore waters, in 871 they penetrated deep into the southern kingdom of Wessex, ruled over by a new and untested king, AElfred son of AEdelwulf. It seemed as though the End of Days had come.

Max Adams tells the story of the heroic efforts of AElfred , his successors and fellow-kings of Britain, to adapt and survive in the face of an apocalyptic threat; and in so doing, to lay the foundations of the nations of modern Britain in all their regional diversity.

Book cover of The Northmen's Fury: A History of the Viking World
Book cover of The Vinland Sagas
Book cover of Vikings of the Irish Sea

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Interested in Vikings, explorers, and the Norsemen?

Vikings 118 books
Explorers 112 books
The Norsemen 16 books