The Vikings Book A Brief History of the Vikings

The Vikings were those Norse people from southern Scandinavia who, from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries, raided, traded, explored, or settled their way across wide areas of Europe - and even distant lands as far away as North America and the Middle East.
Despite the persistent clichйs of Vikings as violent, heathen savages, Norse civilization during the Viking age was technologically, militarily, and culturally advanced. This period of expansion witnessed a wide dissemination of Norse culture, while simultaneously introducing strong foreign cultural influences into Scandinavia itself, with profound implications for early medieval history in both directions. For example, Normans, descendants of Vikings who became rulers of Normandy in France, later formed the English aristocracy after the Norman conquest of England.
This short book provides an abbreviated account of the sacred, mundane, noble, and savage practices and cultures of the Vikings - a version that you can read in about an hour.