THE VIKINGS

Live-action reenactments and impressive computer reconstructions re-create the world of the Vikings as archaeologist Helea Hamerow and architectural historian Jonathan Foyle travel to Sweden, Norway, England, and France to make some surprising finds: Viking longships traveled much further west than is widely believed, Viking raiders operated in a "mafia-like" culture, and it may not have been plunder and pillage but building, navigating, colonizing, and trading that really allowed the Vikings to thrive.