The Scandinavians are regarded as Europe's most tolerant and peace-loving people. So how was it that one of the worst acts of political terror ever witnessed on this continent was committed by a Norwegian - against his fellow countrymen?

Scandinavia is the epitome of cool: we fill our homes with cheap but stylish Nordic furniture; we envy their health-giving outdoor lifestyle; we glut ourselves on their crime fiction; even their strangely attractive melancholia seems to express a stoic, common-sensical acceptance of life's many vicissitudes. But how valid is this outsider's view of Scandinavia, and how accurate our picture of life in Scandinavia today?

Robert Ferguson digs down through two millennia of history to tell stories of extraordinary events, people and objects - from Norwegian Death Metal to Vidkun Quisling, from Agnetha Fältskog to Greta Garbo, from Lurpak butter to the Old Norse rune stones - that richly illuminate our understanding of modern Scandinavia, its society, politics, culture and temperament.

Discursive, meandering, sometimes beautifully written, it presents a historical narrative punctuated by reminiscences, conversations retold, snatches of autobiography, fragments of biography and stories added, one suspects, solely for their strangeness' Wall Street Journal.

Autorentext
Robert Ferguson is an award-winning writer, translator, and radio dramatist. He is the author of numerous books, including Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North , The Vikings: A History , Henrik Ibsen: A New Biography , and Enigma: The Life of Knut Hamsun , which was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Best Biography Award and won the University of London J.G. Robertson Award. His translation of Lars Mytting's Norwegian Wood won Non-Fiction Book of the Year in 2016. Born in the UK in 1948, he emigrated to Norway in 1983 and has made his home there since.

Klappentext

An essential guide that delves into what makes Scandinavians tick, Ferguson takes us on a journey of discovery through two millennia of its history, culture and society.

Zusammenfassung
A journey of discovery through two millennia of Scandinavia's history, culture and society.