Description
By (author) Kuldkepp, Mart
Short /annotation:
From the Stone Age to “Scandimania”—discover the aesthetic influence and unparalleled global impact on peace by these Nordic nations
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Scandinavia has long been lauded for its equality, universal welfare, peacefulness, and untouched nature—not to mention its interior design, crime literature, and love of all things hygge. But the Nordic nations have had their dark periods, too: pandemics, wars and occupations, and expansionism are all essential to understanding the Scandinavian story.
In The Shortest History of Scandinavia, historian Mart Kuldkepp sketches the outlines of the region’s rich history, tracing its political and social evolution from its first-known peoples, who followed the retreating ice sheet north during the last Ice Age, to the modern Scandinavians living in countries that are among the happiest in the world today.
Through Scandinavia’s many cultural touchstones—tales of Vikings, the Nobel Peace Prizes, and even ABBA—Kuldkepp illuminates the concept of “Nordicness,” a hard-to-define quality that has nonetheless steered the region to respond to major challenges, actively shaping its history and exerting a considerable influence on European and global history in the process. As the issues of climate change, democracy, and world peace continue to shift, The Shortest History of Scandinavia is a pertinent, brisk primer on one of the world’s most admired regions.
Table of contents:
PrefaceWhat Is Scandinavia?Prehistorical ScandinaviaThe Viking AgeThe Rise of StatehoodThe High Middle Ages: Centralization and EuropeanizationThe Late Medieval Crisis and the Kalmar UnionWars and Politics: 1500s–1600sThe Early Modern Period: Absolutism and ParliamentarianismEconomy, Trade and Colonialism in the 1700sThe Napoleonic Wars and the Swedish–Norwegian UnionRomantic Nationalism, Liberalism and ScandinavianismEconomic and Social Modernization: Late 1800s – Early 1900sModern Parliamentarism and the End of the Swedish–Norwegian UnionWorld War I: Neutrality and Political RenewalThe Interwar Period: Crisis and RecoveryWorld War II: Resistance and AcquiescenceThe Cold War and the Nordic BalanceThe Classic Era of the Welfare StateEuropean Integration and Post–Cold War TransitionPolitical Developments in the 1990s and 2000sNordic Cultural Exports and “Scandimania”Scandinavian Successes and FailuresAcknowledgmentsSelect BibliographyImage CreditsIndex
Review quote:
“A superbly clear, learned and wide-ranging history of the five Nordic nations.”
Review quote:
“Admirably condensed. . . . Popular, accessible history by a Nordic specialist.”
Biographical note:
Mart Kuldkepp is a professor and researcher of Estonian and Nordic history at University College London, where he specializes in the political history of the Baltic and Nordic regions in the twentieth century. He has also translated numerous books, poetry and short stories, mainly from Icelandic and Old Icelandic into Estonian. He lives in London.
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