The Story of Norway

THE STORY OF THE NATIONS OCTAVO, ILLUSTRATED. PER VOL., $1.50 THE EARLIER VOLUMES WILL BE
THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A. Harrison THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Gilman THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmer THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. Ragozin THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Boyesen THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and Susan Hale THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vámbéry THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfred J. Church THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Arthur Gilman THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. A. Ragozin THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By Stanley Lane-Poole THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. Benjamin THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By Prof. J. P. Mahaffy THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. By Geo. Rawlinson THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henry Bradley
For prospectus of the series see end of this volume G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON

The Story of the Nations THE

It has been my ambition for many years to write a history of Norway, chiefly because no such book, worthy of the name, exists in the English language. When the publishers of the present volume proposed to me to write the story of my native land, I therefore eagerly accepted their offer. The story, however, according to their plan, was to differ in some important respects from a regular history. It was to dwell particularly upon the dramatic phases of historical events, and concern itself but slightly with the growth of institutions and sociological phenomena. It therefore necessarily takes small account of proportion. In the present volume more space is given to the national hero, Olaf Tryggvesson, whose brief reign was crowded with dramatic events, than to kings who reigned ten times as long. For the same reason the four centuries of the Union with Denmark are treated with comparative brevity. Many things happened, no doubt, during those centuries, but there were few deeds. Moreover, the separate history of Norway, in the time of her degradation, has never proved an attractive theme to Norse historians, for which reason the period has been generally neglected.