The first four books are a fictional series by Bernard Cornwell, called “The Saxon Chronicles”. The main character is a Saxon captured by Vikings as a child and raised as one of their own. The series gives you a great sense of daily life among the Vikings. We especially enjoyed the dialogs and the Norse language sprinkled throughout the series. Highly recommended.

The Vikings, By Nurmann/Schultz, is a must-have for Viking reenactors. Lots of great photos of very authentic dress and equipment.

Viking, DK Publishing, although written for children, gives a quick overview of Viking culture. For the price, it’s a good starter for your Viking library.

The third row of books are from the “Men-at-Arms” series by Osprey publishing. Typically about  60 pages long, they pack a lot of information into each one. Every book also includes 8 pages of original artwork commissioned for the series.

Movies! Gotta have something entertaining to watch after a hard day at the forge!

Beowulf – This is the animated version, but if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s fantastic!  Great costume ideas for early Vikings too.  

Beowulf & Grendel – Classic story, very well done, filmed on location in Iceland. Some of the costumes aren’t too bad either.

Eric the Viking – Just plain fun. If you enjoy Monty Python, you’ll love this one.

From the fifth row on, we get into the real deep stuff – not for the easily distracted. I’ve listed them in the order I would read them if I wanted to learn everything about Vikings. I put ‘A History of the Vikings’ by Gwyn Jones first, not because it’s an easy read, but because if you check the bibliography of almost every book written about the Vikings, you’re probably going to see this one listed.

Everything that follows will help build your knowledge of the Vikings and their culture.