Piecemeal—but loaded to the gunwales with glittering hoards of historical detail.
A chronicle of the spread of Vikings and Viking culture, from early raids to Wagner’s Ring cycle and Tolkien.
Maintaining more or less chronological progression within a framework of topical headers and rubrics, Parker opens the “Viking Age” with a first attack on England in C.E. 793, traces expeditions and invasions in lands from Iceland and Vinland to Russia through the death of Norwegian king Håkon the Old in 1263, then closes with the Vikings’ contemporary romanticized (e.g., horned helmets) “reinvention.” If the author takes a parochial viewpoint (“the Vikings were not savages. They had a rich culture in art, literature, and law”) and barely mentions indigenous cultures or, for that matter, women, he does offer a particularly broad historical overview punctuated by colorful names: Ivar the Boneless, Ragnar Lodbrok (killed by being thrown into a pit of snakes, forsooth), Erik Bloodaxe, Gorm the Old, Sihtric Silkenbeard, Magnus Barelegs. Like the variously sized and weighted captions and narrative blocks, the illustrations filling every spread pile together images of old coins and other artifacts, portraits from various later eras, and photos of ruins, restored structures, and modern cosplayers charging into “battle.”
Piecemeal—but loaded to the gunwales with glittering hoards of historical detail. (maps, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-195-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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