With this title Scarecrow's Historical Dictionaries of Europe series, which dates back 15 years and comprises 62 publications, completes its coverage of the countries of Europe. The reason why Norway is the final country to be explored in the series has nothing to do with its merit for investigation or level of interest in the subject matter. Rather, as the Series Editor Jon Woronoff declares “it was just uncommonly difficult to find a suitable author … who is sufficiently familiar with the country and can write about it in English”. This immense task has ultimately been undertaken by the Norwegian born United States based academic Jan Sjåvik. Through the use of a comprehensive chronology, introduction, appendices and over 250 cross‐referenced dictionary entries Jan Sjåvik explores the rich and captivating history of Norway. These sections detail the major events, key individuals, and political parties, economic, social and cultural characteristics that make Norway the country it is.
There are numerous biographical entries, which give an account of the main political personalities involved in Norwegian politics. These include Johan Sverdrup who was the founder of the Norwegian Liberal party in 1884 and who was given credit for the introduction of parliamentarianism in Norwegian politics and Einar Gerhardsen who was the Prime Minister in post Second World War Norway and considered one of its most important leaders. These biographical entries detail the protagonist's main achievements in their political life. Dictionary entries also cover the various rulers and kings who have ruled Norway from Harald (I) Fair Hair in the time of the Vikings in 872 to Harald V, present ruler. There is also a critique of the most influential writers including Bjornstjerne Bjornson and Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun. The economic, social and cultural characteristics of Norway, and the events that helped to shape the country as it is today are also examined.
This reference is well structured and the information is laid out in a clear and concise manner. The various sections intertwine to give an extensive overview of Norway. The author's style of writing is conducive, easy to read and his knowledge and passion for Norwegian history is clearly evident. The dictionary entries are cross‐referenced with other entries by use of emboldened text, which allows the reader to navigate their way through the resource and locate related entries. The entries vary in length from a paragraph to a number of pages depending on the importance or complexity of the subject matter.
The bibliography predominantly contains citations written in the English language with a number of important Norwegian language references. It is focussed toward non‐Norwegian speakers with an interest in the country. The citations are comprehensively organized with regard to the central themes of the reference, drawing on books, articles and electronic resources to provide a roadmap for further study on specific features of Norwegian life and history. The information is current and up to date. A commendable point worth noting is the author's identification of the best libraries and archives where library materials relating to Norway can be found.
The target audience for the reference will primarily be scholars and students of Scandinavian studies. Additionally any library with an interest in European affairs or who may have acquired other volumes in the Historical Dictionaries of Europe series will be interested in obtaining this resource. It will be of value to readers with a specialised interest in Norwegian history and also to the inquisitive information seeker who would like to know more about this fascinating country.
In these economically challenging times, Norway's financial prudence is most impressive. With a population of just over 4.5 million as of 1 January 2007, Norway has managed to amass a pension reserve in excess of $250 billion. This is all the more astonishing as Norway only gained full independence in 1905, having been under the realm of Sweden and/or Denmark since the fourteenth century. Norwegians have shown great ability to diversify their economic endeavours, with a strong history of trading fish stock to their European neighbours. Currently one‐third of all Norwegian exports are natural gas and oil, this has contributed not only to the accumulation of great national wealth but it also helped Norway to become the most liveable country in the world between 2001 and 2006 according to the United Nations.
While Norway is a leading free trader in the European Economic Area (EEA) and is pro‐European in its outlook, it remains one of the few remaining European countries to stay outside the European Union. In referendums in 1972 and 1994, the Norwegian people rejected the opportunity to join the European Economic Community and European Union respectively. This seemingly juxtapose position is examined in the reference and the author suggests that the wealth Norway has accumulated from oil and natural gas trading may have allowed them to function outside the European Union for so long.
Jan Sjåvik was an ideal choice to author this reference. He is a native of Norway, a professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington and has studied the subject for over thirty years. His Norwegian expertise and multilingual abilities are invaluable to undertaking this project. This is due to the fact that much of the relevant historical documents were written in Danish, Landsmaal (country language), Nynorsk (New Norwegian) and Riksmaal (national language). Any scholar of Norwegian history would need to be able to navigate through these resources in addition to the English materials. Sjåvik's in‐depth comprehension of the subject matter enables him to tailor the reference towards an American and European readership. He has also written extensively on various aspects of Norwegian literature and in 2006 published the Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater (Sjåvik, 2006) (RR 2007/379).
In these economically challenging times Norway is an inspiration for all countries. This resource gives a great insight into the principal protagonists, events and issues that shaped it as a modern nation. This reference will be of value to any library, and can be referred to sporadically by information seekers.
