Michael Pye (1) (1946–)

[b:The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are|25242119|The Edge of the World How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are|Michael Pye|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430668797l/25242119._SY75_.jpg|41927871] was my first Covid Christmas read. It was rather too complicated for my feverish and sleep-deprived brain, so took me a little while to get into. Although the content was interesting, the structure is very episodic, with each chapter covering a loose theme. (I really wasn't in the mood for the plague one.) The most memorable element for me was detailed discussion of the Hanseatic League, which I'd heard mention of before and assumed was a nation state. In fact it was something very different and much more ambiguous, which I enjoyed learning about. There is economic, social, and cultural history in here, with plentiful intriguing details presented in an involving style. However I struggled to identify a clear thesis or theses, other than 'things were more complicated than you might think'. Chapters tended to conclude on a note like this:

A seemingly simple activity, the digging of peat, changed a culture, redefined how the world thought of a people, changed the way money made things happen, remade a whole landscape and turned peasant farmers into men with international connections, at least in the eel and butter trades. There never was a truly simple change.

I likely would have appreciated the book better if I hadn't had the covid when reading it. There is a lot of great material in it, but the assembly thereof isn't as accessible as most popular history.… (more)

I can't say this is a poorly written history book. But the style and narrative does seem kind of one dimensional. Some chapters are better than others and overall there is a ton of information that is not normally discussed in other books on this subject. I will give the writer props, there are sections which give the reader cause to go "Oh MY" I love the parts on the Islamic world meeting the Norse environment. I have read Ibn Fadlan's accounts on his meetings and observations with the Vikings. As a history fan The Edge of the World is recommended. Mr. Pye does a wonderful job of giving the reader an idea of how much terror and icy fear these traders and adventurers must have faced and felt while crisscrossing the North Sea. Sea Monsters, lore, and a land beyond with strange curious and terrifying inhabitants...his descriptions of this really crawl under the skin.
The triangle of Anglo Saxons, Irish, and Vikings intermingling is fascinating. The Roman Empire was well known for documentation, architecture, law and a desire to move the world forward. The former groups all but disdained those ideas, with the exception of a few who had the mind to preserve Roman knowledge, while the Christians did their best to imitate the same format, but rewrite it and use it as a self serving blueprint for Papal supremacy. What encompassed was a massive relearning of the ancient and classical world in the mindset of monotheism. Meanwhile we get hints of the Islamic world moving from beliefs that incorporated several religions into their own. And it is not hard to see just how cultured and educated they were compared to their European counterparts and what that would lead to.… (more)