The Story of Scandinavia

From the Vikings to Social Democracy

Stein Ringen

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English

Weidenfeld & Nicolson
15 November 2023

History; European history; Travel writing

"In The Story of Scandinavia, political scholar Stein Ringen chronicles more than 1,200 years of drama, economic rise and fall, crises, kings and queens, war, peace, language and culture.

Scandinavian history has been one of dramatic discontinuities of collapse and restarts, from the Viking Age to the Age of Perpetual War to the modern age today. For a thousand years, the Scandinavian countries were kingdoms of repression where monarchs played at the game of being European powers, at the expense of their own populations.

The brand we now know as ""Scandinavia"" is a recent invention. During most of its history, Denmark and Sweden, and to some degree Norway, were bloody enemies. These sentiments of enmity have not been fully settled. Under the surface of collaboration remain undercurrents of hatred, envy, contempt and pity.

What does it mean today to be Scandinavian? For the author, whose identity is Scandinavian but his life European, this masterly history is a personal exploration as well as a narrative of compelling scope."

By: Stein Ringen
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 150mm, Spine: 44mm
Weight: 600g
ISBN: 9781474625203
ISBN 10: 1474625207
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 15 November 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Stein Ringen is an international scholar of Norwegian origins. Since 1990, his base has been at the University of Oxford, where he is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Policy. He is currently a Visiting Professor of Political Economy at King's College, London, where he now lives.

Reviews for The Story of Scandinavia: From the Vikings to Social Democracy

Carrying us from the Vikings to today, Stein Ringen's sweeping narrative will engage and instruct everyone from specialists to first-timers. Scandinavia is another outstanding book from a writer remarkable for the breadth of his reach and the incisiveness of his analysis -- James T. Kloppenberg, author * Toward Democracy: The Struggle for Self-Rule in European and American Thought *