[An] engaging historical panorama ... Vivid and readable ... [He] recounts his story in the lucid, unjudgmental diction he has made his own ... He makes characteristically deft use of historical comparison ... Palmer also has an admirable eye for telling detail Christopher Clark, Sunday Telegraph This is no social history but a huge narrative sweep across centuries of war, from the Vikings' long boats to Gustavus Adolphus and well beyond. A huge, highly ambitious book Good Book Guide This assured work is a calm and confident guide to a sea that knows relatively few tremendous storms but whose waters and storms have been the satting an exciting and varied history History Today This cauldron of jostling powers is summed up in a single sweep, and in irrestistibly lively style Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman With his deep knowledge of European history, Alan Palmer is the ideal guide to the variety, intricacy and drama of Baltic history ... Any traveller to the Baltic will take this book and be both instructed and entertained by its broad, fast-flowing panorama Sir Martin Gilbert 'Palmer's panorama perceptively grasps the inter-relationships of the Baltic nations within European history ... a timely reminder to the EU ... that past history has seemed to haunt present politics' Geographical Magazine 'Very well researched and written in a simple, elegant prose style' The Tablet 'This is not a book about shipping per se, but a compelling history of Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltic states and an area of Europe so very different from those bordering the Mediterranean' Lloyd's List A story rich in fascinating and formidable characters ... Alan Palmer steers a skilful course through this maze of material The Spectator 'Fascinating' BBC History A fine example of the skills that have brought him [Palmer] fame and fortune ... he handles complex material so logically and elegantly that the reader can easily digest a diet of unfamiliar names and places ... grippingly described The Economist
