Scandinavians (In Search of the Soul of the North) - 9781468316674

Scandinavia is the epitome of cool: from IKEA to hygge, Hamlet to the latest bestselling crime novel, the region’s cultural influence is vast. But how valid is this outsider’s view of Scandinavia, and how accurate is our picture of life in Scandinavia today? Enter Robert Ferguson’s Scandinavians, an ambitious work of history and cultural comment that follows a chronological progression across the Northern centuries: from the Vendel era of Swedish prehistory all the way through Scandinavia’s postwar social democratic nirvana and the terror attacks of Anders Behring Beivik.Scandinavians is also a personal investigation, with award-winning author Robert Ferguson as the ideal companion as he explores wide-ranging topics such as the power and mystique of Scandinavian women, from the Valkyries to the Vikings; from Nora and Hedda to Garbo and Bergman. Employing a digressive technique that deftly “combines the factual and the intimate” (Publishers Weekly), recalling the writings of W.G. Sebald, Scandinavians provides unequaled access to the society, politics, culture and temperament of modern Scandinavia.