Mr. T. D. Kendrick observes in his preface to A
History of the Vikings (Methuen, 18s.), that there is in English no sub- stantive history which covers the whole extent of the activities of those daring robbers, merchantmen and colonists, who made 'their presence felt from Central Russia to the shores of North America. Very modestly he puts forth this book as a quarry to provide materials for the man who is going later on to write a real history of the subject. That is as it may be. But meantime Mr. Kendrick's comprehensive and fully docu-
mented account will content most of us, and should in par; titular interest the people of these islands for a double reason and also the inhabitants of the United States, for it was a Viking, Snorri Thorfinnsson, who was the first white man to be born on American soil. For us, there is hardly a corner in these islands, save in the west of England and Ireland and in the mountainous interiors, that does not bear some trace of the presence of the Vikings, while the Normans themselves were but Vikings of two or three generations back.
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