Vol 8 2004 - Review by Tony Maniaty in Weekend Australian, 2-3
October 2004Scandinavian stereotypes abound: Vikings, Volvo, saunas, interior design, Nokia phones, the midnight sun, Ingmar Bergman and summer huts in the woods. But in Tony Griffiths's brilliantly compressed history, the bigger picture defied categorisation. Swedes, Danes and Norwegians all share a linguistic past; the Finns, with convoluted grammar, sit apart. And Denmark, alone among the Scandinavians in the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq, is notable "not only for the innovative nature of its pornography but also for the violence of its motor cycle gangs".