Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Vikings. When it comes to historical players, one can hardly ask for better. Don Hollway, in his new book “Battle for the Island Kingdom: England’s Destiny 1000–1066,” takes the reader through the plotting, betrayals, usurping, and political machinations of this ongoing struggle for England’s throne. This era of intrigue and bloody violence is brought to life by Mr. Hollway’s deft writing, as he seamlessly weaves together numerous stories taking place on the British island, the Norman coast, and in Scandinavia.
It is a time of ruthless kings, and general ruthlessness. At no point in this historically significant story (so significant as to set the course of the modern world for the next millennium, at least for the West) does it feel that any figure can let down their guard, from kings to earls to queens to exiled nobles. Every head seems ready to roll and Mr. Hollway skillfully follows the varied paths to those many chopping blocks along the way.
