The Danes are the happiest people in the world, and pay the highest taxes. 'Neutral' Sweden is one of the biggest arms manufacturers in the world. Finns have the largest per capita gun ownership after the US and Yemen. 54 per cent of Icelanders believe in elves. Norway is the richest country on earth. 5 per cent of Danish men have had sex with an animal. Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians, on and off, for over ten years, perplexed by their many strange paradoxes and character traits and equally bemused by the unquestioning enthusiasm for all things Nordic that has engulfed the rest of the world. He leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success and, most intriguing of all, what they think of each other. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterised by suffocating parochialism and populated by extremists of various shades.

丹麦人是世界上最幸福的人，也是交税最多的人。中立 "的瑞典是世界上最大的武器制造商之一。芬兰人的人均枪支拥有量仅次于美国和也门。54%的冰岛人相信有精灵。挪威是地球上最富有的国家。5%的丹麦男子曾与动物发生过性关系。迈克尔-布斯在斯堪的纳维亚人中间断断续续生活了十多年，他对他们许多奇怪的悖论和性格特征感到困惑，同时也对世界其他地区对北欧所有事物不容置疑的热情感到困惑。他离开了自己的家乡丹麦，踏上了穿越北欧五国的旅程，去探寻这些好奇的部落是谁，他们成功的秘诀，以及最耐人寻味的是他们彼此之间的看法。一路走来，一个更细微、更黑暗的画面出现了，这个地区被禁忌所困扰，以令人窒息的狭隘主义为特征，并由各种肤色的极端主义分子所占据。