This is a reprint of a 1971 English translation of a Swedish work published in 1970. When the big ship drifted near Bergen harbor in Norway, it was found to be full of good woolen cloth and dead men. The scavengers took the cloth, scuttled the corpses with the ship, and promptly died. The Swedish people so close by, who had already survived the Viking years, a succession of good and bad kings, and the introduction of Christianity in relative good shape, were decimated by about a third. Moberg describes how Sweden's people weathered it all to come to be ruled by its greatest ruler, who was born in Denmark, educated in Sweden, married to Norwegian royalty, and eventually the monarch of all these countries united, Queen Margareta. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)