In Irish history the Vikings are often seen merely as attackers, but this book gives an account of the wider picture - how the Vikings significantly influenced Irish art and trade and the growth of towns and cities. It describes their first landing as a raiding party, and their settlement and gradual merging with the Irish by intermarriage and trade, and also explores the customs and traditions, and the arts and crafts which have become part of the Irish way of life. Cameos of the lives of individual Vikings - some real, some fictitious - are used in the retelling of events, and the illustrations include photographs of excavations and artefacts.