American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America by Martyn Whittock

REVIEWER: Ali Hull

BOOK: American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America

(Pegasus books, 2023) 272pp, hardback, RRP £23.02 

Anyone watching the attacks on the Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 may remember the strange figure of the ‘QAnon Shaman’ – Jacob Chansley. Amongst other adornments, he sported some Viking tattoos. Why would patterns that relate to a people from many miles away mean anything to a modern-day US rebel? Why is America so fascinated by the Vikings? Why do they appear, as a brand, on everything from business names to beauty products? And is there any truth in the Icelandic sagas, with their tales of travel to a place called Vinland, where attempts to settle were made but were ultimately unsuccessful? These were seen as myths for many years, but what does the evidence now say?   

In this well-written book, Martyn Whittock (who has authored a few others on the Vikings) explores why the Vikings have become so important to many Americans, and why they are pushed as offering an alternative origin story, even competing with that of the Native Indians. Because for many Americans, it wasn’t Columbus who discovered the country, or the Pilgrim Fathers who first colonised it: it was the Vikings, who first sailed to the East Coast in the 11th century.  

Like all Whittock’s books, this one bursts with enthusiasm for its subject, as he considers the history of the Vikings in Europe and some key figures in their history, before turning his attention to their gradual expansion around the globe, particularly to Iceland and Greenland. He then turns to the question of whether or not their long ships ever did reach North American shores, weighing the archaeological evidence for each of the various sites and assorted artefacts that have been claimed to have Viking origins.  

He moves on from there (no spoilers here) to consider how and why interest in the Vikings has grown, and why it has become so important to many Americans, and how that interest has become darker, with strong links to racism and even Nazism. This book is a fascinating but disturbing read, particularly with our own homegrown far-right becoming more evident. 

Reviewer: Ali Hull 

Ali Hull is the Book Editor for Preach magazine, and has spent nearly thirty years working with words, as a writer, editor and writing coach.