Swedish gift shop

“A History of Sweden” by Lars Lagerqvist is a book found in many gift shops in Stockholm. It's published by the quasi-official Swedish Institute and is presumably geared towards tourists. The English isn't perfect, but the book is nevertheless perfectly readable. What I don't know is whether it makes much sense to a foreign reader. To me, who studied Swedish history already in elementary school, most of the book is old territory. Indeed, it gives more context than my old school textbooks. So yes, if you want an introduction to Swedish history (and a lot of interesting photos and drawings), this is probably a must. Don't forget to read the picture captions – some events not mentioned in the main text are dealt with there.

Since “A History of Sweden” has a somewhat official flair, the author skips certain issues deemed too controversial, or deals with them only in passing. Thus, the Great Strike of 1909 only gets half a paragraph, despite being a landmark event in Swedish history. A number of important post-war scandals, (the Haijby affair, the IB affair, the brothel affair and the Ebbe Carlsson affair) aren't mentioned at all, presumably being too recent and therefore too hot to handle. Imagine a book about U.S. history not mentioning Watergate or Monica Lewinsky!

The author also skips a controversial historical issue: was “the cradle of Sweden” in Uppland or Västergötland? He veers towards Uppland, but never says so explicitly. (Today, most historians would say Västergötland, but tourist guides at Old Uppsala would presumably still say Uppland!) Overall, the book is rather weak in its description of medieval Sweden. But then, few written sources (apart from rune stones) have been preserved from the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages. The king list at the end of the book is different from that found in other sources, since the evidence for some 11th century rulers is scant. Curiously for an Uppland-hugger, Lagerqvist doesn't mention Blot-Sven, supposedly the last pagan king of Sweden, based at Old Uppsala…

With these caveats, I would nevertheless recommend a buy and give “A History of Sweden” three stars. Four stars for the illustrations.