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Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North
Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North
Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North
Audiobook15 hours

Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North

Written by Robert Ferguson

Narrated by Michael Page

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Scandinavia is the epitome of cool: we fill our homes with Nordic furniture; we envy their humane social welfare system and their healthy outdoor lifestyle; we glut ourselves on their crime fiction; even their strangely attractive melancholia seems to express a stoic, commonsensical acceptance of life's vicissitudes. But how valid is this outsider's view of Scandinavia, and how accurate is our picture of life in Scandinavia today?

Scandinavians follows a chronological progression across the Northern centuries: the Vendel era of Swedish prehistory; the age of the Vikings; the Christian conversions of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland; the unified Scandinavian state of the late Middle Ages; the sea-change of the Reformation; the kingdom of Denmark-Norway; King Gustav Adolphus and the age of Sweden's greatness; the cultural golden age of Ibsen, Strindberg, and Munch; the impact of the Second World War; Scandinavia's postwar social democratic nirvana; and the terror attacks of Anders Behring Breivik.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 27, 2017
ISBN9781541475557
Author

Robert Ferguson

The author, Robert Ferguson, is a musician, songwriter, vegetarian, world traveller, writer and animal lover; especially cats. His current aim is to write more novels, which will always have a Scottish theme or connection; concealed somewhere in his writing. He just loves making up curious stories and writing them down. Robert lives in Alloa, Scotland, with his wife, Lorna, dog, Ziggy, cats, Jesse and Roxy. He has a son, Jamie, daughter-in-law, Gemma, granddaughter, Maya, and grandson, Cooper. The Beatles are his FAB 4!

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Reviews for Scandinavians

Rating: 3.53125 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

16 ratings2 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this very personal account of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark written by an "outsider" who maybe shouldn't be considered an outsider after anymore, having spent more than 30 years in Norway, and became so much involved with Scandinavian literature and history.This is not a very didactic book, following a strict pattern with the aim of guiding the reader like a student on history and culture of Nordic lands. The book is rather like an old friend buying you a beer, or aquavit in this case, and telling you personal stories, literary anecdotes, strange encounters with famous figures from the world of theater and cinema. The writing is fluid, but the author can easily deviate from a topic, only to jump to another anecdote, only to return the original theme some pages later. This is the beauty and curse of it! One thing is certain: After having read this book, I know more about various aspects of Scandinavian culture, history and literature; and I'm motivated to learn much more. Hence, I consider this book a success, but I'm not sure I can recommend to everyone.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I picked up this book at Barnes and Noble after browsing for about 15 minutes. The subject looked intriguing, as I love history, am curious about Scandinavia and have very little background on the subject. After reading the entire book, I am still curious and still have very little background.I must say that I have seldom encountered a book so poorly organized. I fact, I would have to say that it is not organized, at all. There are about 20 chapters about various aspects of Scandinavian life, history and/or culture, with seemingly no structure or connection. It is almost like an anthology, or collection of essays written by different people, except the author makes almost every chapter more about himself than the subject.I didn’t buy this book to read about the author’s life, his friends, the lives of his friends, or his philosophy, yet that is predominantly what I got. Scattered throughout the book are nuggets of helpful and/or entertaining information, but they are widely scattered.