I'm going to be visiting Norway and I'm looking for books on the history of Norway. Focus on the sociopolitical history, mainly (but not limited to) the time after the Vikings. A quick search returned two books titled 'A History of Norway', and 'Scandinavia: A History', but they do not seem very thorough.
Thanks!
Danielsen, Rolf et al., Norway: A History from the Vikings to Our Own Times, Oslo:Aschehoug, 1995, is written jointly by several Norwegian specialists on their field of research, so you can generally rely on its description. It is still the best as the overview of Norwegian History, especially before the period before 1814, breaking up with Denmark.
Its problem is availability (even the secondhand copy is sold from ca. 50 USD) and the length (ca. 486 pages), though.
The series of Cambridge History of Scandinavia [3 vols.], published from 2003, is also with higher academic standards, but they are very expensive and not to meant for non-specialists to read through, I afraid.
If you are looking for the one-volume overview of Scandinavian history mainly for non-specialists, though dated, Thomas K. Derry, A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Pr, 1979, is probably still almost only and affordable candidate.