With the appearance of this book, there is no longer an excuse for anyone to rely on Aswynn, Thorsson, or Blum for their understanding of the religious or magical use of runes in pre-Christian and early Christian history.
2. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, by Neil S. Price. Uppsala Univ., 2002. ISBN 91-506-1626-9.
An important new look at the practice of seiðr and other forms of pre-Christian Northern sorcery, which Price interprets as an adjunct to warfare.
3. Decolonizing the Viking Age, by Fredrik Svanberg. Almqvist & Wiksell, 2 vol., 2003. ISBN 91-220-2006-3 (v. 1); 91-220-2007-1 (v. 2).
The final nail in dispelling the 19th-century myth that "the Viking Age" was characterized by any widespread uniformity of religious practice or belief. Volume 2 consists of archaeological data from grave sites, documenting Svanberg's analysis in vol. 1.
4. The King, The Champion, and the Sorcerer: A Study in Germanic Myth, by Lotte Motz. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 1, Fassbaender, 1996. ISBN 3-900538-57-3.
This path-breaking examination of Odin, Freyr, and Thor was the first book to break away from the artificial confines of Dumezíl's tripartite model, and draw from the historical/literary record as it exists.
5. Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions, ed. Anders Andrén, Kristina Jennbert, & Catharina Raudvere.
Nordic Academic Press, 2006. ISBN 10: 91-89116-81-x; ISBN 13:
978-91-89116-81-8.
Seventy-five papers, many by younger scholars, from an international
conference held in Lund in 2004. An excellent overview of current
scholarship on topics ranging from Old Norse cosmology through pagan images and
rituals, archaeology and literature, down to the abuse of our mythological
traditions by modern-day racial nationalists and cultists.
6. Murder and Vengeance Among the Gods: Baldr in Scandinavian Mythology, by John Lindow. Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1997. ISBN 951-41-0809-4.
Lindow's volume dispels more nonsense about Loki's role in Baldr's death than any other book ever written.
7. The Prose Edda, translated by Jesse Byock. Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN 0-140-44755-5.
A good modern translation of Snorri's Edda, with notes and a glossary of names.
8. Rudiments of Runelore, by Stephen Pollington. Anthony Rowe Ltd., 1995.
ISBN 1-898281-16-5.
This concise, inexpensive volume remains one of the best serious introductions to the historical use of runes.
9. The Dating of Eddic Poetry, by Bjarne
Fidjestøl. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana, v. 41, 1999. ISBN
8-778761-54-9.
A comprehensive, although sometimes dense, review of the history of
scholarly approaches to dating the poems of the Elder Edda, with Fidjestøl's own
linguistic-analytical approach.
10. The Germanization of Early Medieval
Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, by
James C. Russell. Oxford Univ. Pr., 1994. ISBN 0-19-510466-8.
An essential read for anyone interested in the process of
"conversion" of the Germanic peoples.
(c) 2008 Galinn Grund Viking Center