John Haywood was educated at the universities of Lancaster, Cambridge and Copenhagen. He is an expert on the history of Dark Age Europe, the Vikings and Celts. His authorial credits include Ocean: A History of the Atlantic Before Columbus as well as The Penguin Atlas of the Vikings and The New Atlas of World History, also published by Thames & Hudson.

'This book is Haywood’s crowning achievement. It is a delight just to leaf through the pages, feasting on the eye candy … a beauty to behold … a useful explanation of how, over the space of 500 years, Europe went from order to chaos and then back to a semblance of order. At a time when Europe is again in flux, this is an interesting and edifying tale about interlopers and the inevitability of change' - Sunday Times

John Haywood was educated at the universities of Lancaster, Cambridge and Copenhagen. He is an expert on the history of Dark Age Europe, the Vikings and Celts. His authorial credits include Ocean: A History of the Atlantic Before Columbus as well as The Penguin Atlas of the Vikings and The New Atlas of World History, also published by Thames & Hudson.

'This book is Haywood’s crowning achievement. It is a delight just to leaf through the pages, feasting on the eye candy … a beauty to behold … a useful explanation of how, over the space of 500 years, Europe went from order to chaos and then back to a semblance of order. At a time when Europe is again in flux, this is an interesting and edifying tale about interlopers and the inevitability of change' - Sunday Times

John Haywood was educated at the universities of Lancaster, Cambridge and Copenhagen. He is an expert on the history of Dark Age Europe, the Vikings and Celts. His authorial credits include Ocean: A History of the Atlantic Before Columbus as well as The Penguin Atlas of the Vikings and The New Atlas of World History, also published by Thames & Hudson.

'This book is Haywood’s crowning achievement. It is a delight just to leaf through the pages, feasting on the eye candy … a beauty to behold … a useful explanation of how, over the space of 500 years, Europe went from order to chaos and then back to a semblance of order. At a time when Europe is again in flux, this is an interesting and edifying tale about interlopers and the inevitability of change' - Sunday Times