Really, the best general guide available H.R. Ellis Davidson The Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin, UK|. A handy Saga companion, this is a Who's Who of Norse mythology, including some useful reviews of the more obscure gods. Displaces the classical deities and their world as the most relevant mythological framework for northern and western European culture. P.V. Glob The Bog People (FaberCornell University Press). A fascinating study of the various Iron Age bodies discovered preserved in fu|| in northwestern European peatbogs, most of which have been found in Denmark. Excellent, if ghoulish, photographs. F. Donald Logan The Vikings in History (HutchinsonB & N Impons). Scholarly and radical reexamination of the Vikings' impact on medieval Europe, indispensable for the Viking fan. Geoffrey Parker The Thirty Years' W (RKP Routledge, Chapman & Hall). One of the more recent accounts of this turbulent period, acknovvl edged as authoritative but a dry read. Else Roesdahl The Vikings (Penguin, UK). A lucid and recent account of the 300year reign of Scandinavia's most famous (and most misunderstood) cultural ambassadors, and the traces that they've left throughout northern Europe. DENMARK HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY Inga Dahlsgird Women in Denmark. Yesterdsf and Today (DDS, the Danish Cultural Institute, 3 Douane Terrace, EdinburghNordic Books) A refreshing presentation of Danish history from the point of view of its women. W. Glyn Jones Denmark: A Modem Histon (Groom HelmRoutledge, Chapman & Hall). A valuable account of the present century (up until 1984), with a commendable outline of pfS' twentiethcentury Danish history. Strong on politics, useful on social history and the arts, but disappointingly brief on recent grassroots movements. Roger Poole & Henrik Stangerup (eds) Danisl' KierkegaardReaderifounh Estate, UK). Byfaf'"® best and most accessible introduction to tn' notoriously "difficult" nineteenthcentury philosopher and writer, with a sparkling mtrodu' tory essay.? Kirkegaard EitherOr IPenguin, UK). A new uanslation of Kirkegaard's most important packed with wry and wise musings on love, rrand death in nineteenthcentury Danish soci eiy; includes the (inlfamous Seducers Diary. LITERATURE AND BIOGRAPHY Hans Christian Andersen (ed. Naomi Lewis) fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (PuftinNAL) Still the most internationally prominent figure of Danish literature, Andersen's fairy tales are so widely translated and read that the full clout of their allegorical content is often overlooked; interestingly, his first collection of such tales (published in 1835) were condemned for their "violence and questionable morals". A Visit to Germany, Italy and Malta, 18401841 (Peter OwenDufour) is the most enduring of his travel works. And his autobiography. The Fairy Tale of My Life, is a fine riposte to the numerous sycophantic biographies which have appeared since. Steen Steensen Blicher Diary of a Parish Clerk (Hans Teitzel o): Twelve Stories (Kraus o).