A fearless defender of the last Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdom left standing, after all other kingdoms were brutally conquered by the pagan Viking Danes, King Alfred the Great (841-899 AD) was a courageous warrior leader and brilliant military strategist in battle, and a statesman and intellectual luminary in times of peace. Alfred was instrumental in returning scholarship and structure to his kingdom of the West Saxons or Wessex, shattered by the Viking raids of the 8th and 9th centuries. Guided by faith, the Bible, his witan, and the wisdom found in his chosen books to know, Alfred also renovated the remarkable Anglo-Saxon code of law, which influenced what we know today, as English Common Law.

Alfred was the only king in the history of the English monarchy to be granted the epitaph, The Great, and was held in such high esteem by America’s Founding Fathers, the Continental Congress of 1775 christened the first Flagship of their newly-formed Navy, Alfred. This book provides the reader with an overview of Alfred’s life and some of his chosen books, which served to guide him as he defended and rebuilt Wessex during the turbulent and perilous 9th century. The editors also attempt to demonstrate how this timeless wisdom has endured through the ages, and can now help to inspire and guide the preservation of Western civilization in the 21st century.