The Anglo-Saxons

I write this review as an undergraduate history student, so while my expertise may be suspect, hopefully my methodology and writing skill is not. There is quite a lot to love about this book, and more than a few things that deserve criticism. Let's start with the good qualities first.Pros--This book, on the whole, is an exceptionally well-researched and sufficiently in-depth study of the six centuries of Anglo-Saxon history. Considerable effort is expended on church history and the evolving nature of kingship in the period.--Many (almost every other page) images of manuscripts, churches, coins, and other material culture, all with descriptions of their place of finding and date.--Detailed picture essays interspersed throughout that cover more specific subjects, such as numismatics and tombs of saints. These essays are often written by guest authors and take a more "archaeological" approach to the subject, i.e. discussions of excavations and the cultural heritage of items found.--The authors do their best to inform you of the origins of the myriad sources of this history, especially who wrote them and why. They make sure to include the famous ones like Bede and Alcuin, as well as a huge amount of charters, writs, etc.Now let's look at some of the weaker aspects of the book, of which there are a few.--This book is dry. It can be quite difficult to trudge through the pages at times. The authors tend to get caught up on minute details that are frankly unnecessary. Far too many lines of text are spent on who wrote what charter when and why, when ultimately it matters little for the overarching narrative of the history they are writing.--Three authors wrote this book, each writing a whole third of it themselves. One gets the feeling that this is a reason for the dryness I complained about, and that maybe they did not communicate between themselves as much as they should have. As well, especially towards the end, there are a huge amount of typos and misspellings.--It can be hard to keep track of people, events, and dates due to the whirlwind speed that the book tears through certain events and places at. It gets quite disorienting in places, because the authors sometimes fail to remind the reader of a person's identity when they were mentioned only once before, and 10 pages ago at that.--This book glosses over some of the most important events of the time, and this is my biggest gripe with it. The Viking era, beginning in about 793, is one of the most impactful and long-lasting periods of English history, yet it receives only one chapter, one that really talks about them only for about half of its length. Similarly, the achievements of Alfred receive a chapter the same length as the chapter on post-Roman Britain, which by the authors admission is one with a scarcity of sources, making it mostly unknown and indeed unknowable. Finally, the conquest by William of 1066 receives quite literally one paragraph in the final chapter. There is too much focus on the "little" parts of history and not enough on the "big."--Very little time is spent discussing daily life of peasantry, or really anything about commoners for that matter. When I said that the focus was on church and kingship, I meant it. Almost everything in the book related to one of those concepts.In sum, this is a good book, and served as a good starting point for me, someone who doesn't have much existing knowledge of the subject. As a survey of the field, it is excellent, but a little short, at only about 245 pages or so. I came away from this feeling somehow both enlightened and disappointed, having learned quite a bit but wishing I knew a little more about a lot of content. It should be known that, even though I spent more time writing about the negatives, the positives outweigh them. I'm sure this has been made recommended reading at some college or another at some point, and it's easy to see why. But the initiated reader should be warned, there isn't much for you here.

This valuable and informative text, written by a trio of scholars, provides an insightful, informative, and comprehensive first orientation to Anglo-Saxon history, archaeology, society and culture, that should be a necessary reference tool for everyone interested in this still-evolving discipline. Well-written and lavishly illustrated, this volume enables the reader to get a clear picture of early medieval England, following routes of historical and archaeological inquiry. Its value is increased by a number of picture essays, written by additional scholars, scattered throughout its pages, that explore side issues like the great twin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow in Northumbria, the archaeology of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries revealing aspects of Christian conversion, the finds from Sutton Hoo and what they reveal of 7th century Saxon society, princes and culture. This volume includes a very comprehensive number of footnotes that give full bibliographic reference, and an equally full bibliography following. It does deserve repeated readings, and ready reference for any person sincerely interested in Anglo-Saxon society, politics, economics and culture, esp. someone coming at the subject for the first time. On the negative side, this volume, though it is exhaustively comprehensive in covering all aspects of Anglo-Saxon history, society and politics, art and sculpture, and how Christianity made its presence felt in this society, delivers, frankly, way too much for the general reader to easily assimilate into a workingman's-not a scholar's or serious student's-understanding. The volume could have used an end-of-text glossary covering such important terms for better understanding the Anglo-Saxon centuries as "hides", "hideage", "burh", "eorldom" "bretwald", and the like. Furthermore, a chronological listing of the series of kings of the major Anglo-Saxon regions (East Anglia, Northumbria, Wessex, Mercia, Kent, Sussex) would be a quite useful addition to the book, either before or following the text, esp. helpful for the beginner, since many of their names are quite similar to each other (esp. those with prefix of Aethel-)

Excellent info on the Angels and the Saxons. Maps showing settlements and other pertinent locations, many black and white pictures and many beautiful color photos. There is a full page picture of a helmet found in the Sutton Hoo excavation believed to have belonged to the great Saxon King Redwald. This picture alone is worth the price of the book, as far as I am concerned. However, You will find much more on the Sutton Hoo excavation which is one of the most exciting excavations I have read about.Chapter 1 of the book gives info on the end of the Roman era. Then in Chapter 2 the authors give you a rundown of the Germanic peoples who invaded England who were mainly the Saxons, Angles and some Jutes. This is a comprehensive book about how England became England and if you have any interest at all in England you should love this book, and if you can look at the picture of the Sutton Hoo Helmet and not want to hang it on your wall I would not believe it. Just please don't tear it out of the book. I copied mine and it is good as the pic in the book and it will go on my wall.

On the High Street there are quite a few books on the Anglo-Saxons, all readable and I have read quite a few.But, this book is rather different in that in goes that it goes a deal further in explaining the Anglo-Saxons.It could well be that the author had a very academic background and this shows most strongly in the books contents.Most books you can read as much in Wikipedia.A book unique on the High Street.

This is a very interesting book however it is totally ruined by most of the photos being in black and white. How can we appreciate the beauty of art of the bygone eras in black and white?

Reads like a history book should. Follows a chronological pattern while explaining the history of the Anglo-Saxons.

A superb històrical account with lots of interesting art pictures.

A very well written, comprehensive study of the Anglo Saxons. Great for myself, a history undergraduate who is studying the period. I highly recommend this book.