Broad surveys of the country’s history include T.K. Derry, A Short History of Norway, 2nd ed. (1968, reprinted 1979), and A History of Scandinavia (1979), both good introductions; and Rolf Danielsen et al., Grunntrekk i norsk historie: fra vikingtid til våre dager (1991). Two monumental new standard works are Knut Mykland (ed.), Norges historie, 15 vol. (1976–80); and Aschehougs Norgeshistorie (1994–98), lavishly illustrated. Highly recommended is the work by Phillip Pulsiano et al. (eds.), Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (1993). A study based on excavations of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland is presented in Anne Stine Ingstad, The Norse Discovery of America, 2 vol. (1985). Pierre Jeannin, L’Europe du Nord-Ouest et du Nord aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, 2nd ed. updated (1987), is a comprehensive history of the area and the period. Social conditions are explored in Michael Drake, Population and Society in Norway, 1735–1865 (1969). Recommended volumes from the series Handbok i Norges historie are Per Sveaas Andersen, Samlingen av Norge og kristningen av landet 800–1130 (1977); Knut Helle, Norge blir en stat 1130–1319, 2nd ed. (1974); Rolf Fladby, Samfunn i vekst: under fremmed styre, 1536–1660 (1986); Knut Mykland et al., Norge under eneveldet, 1660–1720 (1975); and Ståle Dyrvik et al., Norge under eneveldet, 1720–1800 (1976).
The 19th and 20th centuries are covered in Tore Pryser, Norsk historie 1800–1870: frå standssamfunn mot klassesamfunn (1985); Sverre Steen, Det frie Norge, 5 vol. (1951–62), continued in På egen hånd: Norge etter 1905 (1976), and Frihet og liv er ett: Norge fra 1920–årene til 1950 (1977); Jens Arup Seip, Utsikt over Norges historie, 2 vol. (1974–81), covering the years 1814–84; and three related works: Arne Bergsgård, Norsk historie, 1814–1880 (1964); Jostein Nerbøvik, Norsk historie, 1870–1905, new ed. (1993); and Berge Furre, Norsk historie, 1905–1990: våre hundreår (1992). Raymond E. Lindgren, Norway-Sweden: Union, Disunion, and Scandinavian Integration (1959, reprinted 1979), examines cooperation among Scandinavian countries in the first half of the 20th century. The war years are studied in Olav Riste, The Neutral Ally: Norway’s Relations with Belligerent Powers in the First World War (1965), and “London-regjeringa”: Norge i krigsalliansen, 1940–1945, 2nd ed. (1995), on the Norwegian exile government in London. Tim Greve, Haakon VII of Norway, trans. and ed. by T.K. Derry (1983; originally published in Norwegian, 1980), is especially useful for the analysis of Norway’s independence and its role in World War II. A survey of the postwar period is found in Franklin D. Scott, Scandinavia, rev. and enlarged ed. (1975); and T.K. Derry, A History of Modern Norway, 1814–1972 (1973), which focuses on 20th-century industrialization and economy. Comprehensive and excellent is Thomas Pedersen, European Union and the EFTA Countries: Enlargement and Integration (1994). Fredrik Sejersted et al., EØS-rett (1995), is recommended as a central work on the legal situation in Norway after the implementation of the EEA rules.