Journeying from Turkey to Iceland, Nicholas Jubber explores Europe's enduring epic poems to learn how they were shaped by their times, and how they have since shaped us. Beginning with Homer's Odyssey, Jubber finds new angles on The Song of the Nibelungen and Beowulf, but also the French Song of Roland, the Serbian Kosovo Cycle, and the great Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njal. In this NPR Best Book of 2019, Jubber assesses how Europeans across the millennia have powerfully documented their struggles with religion, nationhood, sex, class, and politics.