Francis Sejersted, one of Scandinavia's leading historians, is former chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (the Peace Prize Committee) and current chairman of the Norwegian Freedom of Expression Foundation. The author of many books, he is a senior researcher at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo and a former professor at the University of Oslo.

"[R]ich and multifaceted. . . . [T]he thrust of Sejersted's own analysis is an empirically well based and theoretically articulated discussion."---Kristian Gernera, European Legacy --- "Drawing upon an extensive array of research from both the social sciences and humanities, Sejersted delivers an account that is almost encyclopedic in terms of the topics reviewed, and one that is likely to become regularly consulted by those seeking a primer in the history of Scandinavian social democracy. It will be, quire simply, the go-to book on the topic."---Gregg Bucken-Knapp, Perspectives on Politics --- "[A] very well-written and readable overview of an impressive Scandinavian transformation and the achievements of Scandinavian social democracy in the twentieth century."---Robert Geyer, International Affairs --- "There can be no doubt that this is an extremely important--even seminal--contribution, which may be expected to stand as an influential account of the Scandinavian twentieth century for some time."---Mary Hilson, Journal of Modern History --- "Historians generally overlook modern Scandinavian history, but Scandinavia's remarkable social stability and prosperity in a century of European turbulence merits much more attention than it has received. If only to fill this gap, this history of the development and demise of 20th-century Norway's and Sweden's Scandinavian models is highly welcome. The richly detailed work evaluates intertwined economic, political, and cultural history to show how in the 1930s, Norway and Sweden assembled durable farmer-labor coalitions and avoided totalitarian temptations. . . . [The Age of Social Democracy] fills a huge gap in English-language work on Scandinavia, and will prove highly useful for comparative scholarship on the development of industrial democracies and welfare-state politics more generally." --- "I hope that every member of the shadow cabinet reads this book."---Vernon Bogdanor, New Statesman --- "One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2011"