Description: A reappraisal of the Vikings. The ultimate goal of Forgotten Vikings is to add to the corpus of popular history/overview books of the Viking Age.
Brief description: Alex Harvey is a postgraduate history student at the University of York with a focus on Scandinavian York. He has written for numerous journals and has presented research for York Archaeological Trust, Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference, and Leeds International Medieval Congress. Through a desire to disseminate complex academic theory and developments into an engaging and entertaining format, Alex is always writing scripts for talks, manuscripts for books, and outlines for future projects, ever-busy. Forgotten Vikings is his second contribution and first large nationally-published book, developed following eight years of study and two dissertations in-and-out of the University of York's Archaeology Department.
Review Quotes: 'Alex Harvey's Forgotten Vikings take us on a millennium-long tour from a volcanic eruption in 536 that blotted the sun out with an ash cloud and may have ultimately prompted outward migration from Scandinavia to the discovery of the corpse of what tantalisingly could have been Greenland's last Viking in 1540. He extends outwards our understanding of the Viking World in a lively exploration of some of its less well-known figures, like Harold Klak, a 9th century king of Denmark, or the anonymous Vikings, taken captive during an abortive raid in Spain who ended up as cheesemakers at an Arab emir's court. Always seeking to grasp the Viking's eye perspective of how they perceived the world, he amply fulfils his ambition to season the well-trodden narratives of Viking history with some truly engaging and fascinating byways.'--Philip Parker, author of The Northmen's Fury