Book Description
How did the Vikings get to America before Columbus, and how did that affect history? Was "Vinland" a land of grape vines or a land of pastures? Was Columbus's theory of Asia in the West informed by the Norse voyages? New answers spring here from surprising evidence. The Norsemen intermingled with America's Eskimos far more actively than previously imagined, and may have learned to make maps of America from the Eskimos. This is an enthralling epic of exploration, adventure and scholarship.
Customer Reviews:
Well written, backs up supposition with historical documents.......2001-02-13
I found this book to be incredibly readable. Despite his background as a scientist Enterline writes in an academic narrative that makes him easily understood and his references easily checked. Enterline goes further than previous writers on the topic; suggesting not only Norse discovery of America, but their continued presence there. This book is now quite old and Enterlines sources for the most part were similarly old then, so its relevance as source for study has quite diminished. Fortunately a follow up book seems to be scheduled for publication in 2001 which I very much look forward to.
Amazon.com
In the early Middle Ages, driven by famine at home and the promise of wealth to be had in other lands, the Viking people exploded out of Scandinavia and set about conquering parts of England, Ireland, France, Russia, and even Turkey. Emboldened by their successes, the Vikings pushed ever farther outward, eventually crossing the North Atlantic and founding settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and eastern Canada.
In The Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, some three dozen scholars examine the growing archaeological evidence of the Viking presence in the New World--including such items as a Norse coin excavated in Maine, runic stones from the Canadian Arctic, and farming implements found in Newfoundland. The contributors consider the sometimes friendly, sometimes warlike history of Viking interactions with the native peoples of northeastern North America (whom the Norse called skraelings, or "screamers"); compare the archaeological record with contemporary sagas and other records of exploration; and argue for the need to better document the Viking contribution to New World history.
"As an historical and cultural achievement," write the editors, "the Viking Age and its North American medieval extension stand out as one of the most remarkable periods in human history." This oversized, heavily illustrated volume celebrates that little-understood time. --Gregory McNamee
Product Description
The story of the Viking expansion west across the North Atlantic between AD. 800 and 1000, the settlement of Iceland and Greenland, and the exploration of northeastern North America, is a chapter of history that deserves to be more widely known. Norse discoveries in the North Atlantic are the first step in the process whereby human populations became connected into a single global system. The Norse, and their Viking ancestors, are little known, misunderstood, and almost invisible on the American landscape. Although Norse voyages were known since the early 1800s, the near absence of physical evidence of Vikings in the New World has rendered the information, and the possibility that Norse explorers reached the North American mainland five hundred years before Columbus, speculative, at best. Yet, discovery of a Viking site in Newfoundland in 1960 confirmed a pre-Columbian European presence in the Americas, and Norse artifacts found in archaeological sites scattered throughout the eastern Canadian arctic and sub-arctic, raise the issue of how far south of Newfoundland the Norse did explore, and what impact their contacts had on Native Americans. The term Viking is indelibly associated with seafaring warriors. Carpentry, and especially boat building, were skills known to all Viking men, and along with maritime skill, was the characteristic upon which Viking expansion and influence depended. Viking craft had an advantage over all other watercraft of their day in speed, shallow draft, weight, capacity, maneuverability, and seaworthiness, giving Vikings the ability to trade, make war, carry animals, and cross open oceans safely. The territorial expansion of the Vikings from their Scandinavian homelands began in the last decades of the eighth century, and started as seasonal raids on the British Isles. Those Vikings who ventured west settled the islands of the North Atlantic. Many theories attempt to explain what propelled Vikings outward from their northern homelands: developments in ship construction and seafaring skills; internal stress from population growth and scarce land; loss of personal freedom as political and economic centralization progressed; but the overriding factor seemed to be an awareness of the opportunities for advancement. By taking on lives as soldiers of fortune, Vikings could dramatically alter their prospects: becoming wealthy, reaping glory and fame in battle, and achieving high status as leaders and heroes based on their own abilities and deeds. Although there is reason for speculation about how far the Norse traveled south of Newfoundland, recent archaeological research provides a solid basis for understanding more about Norse explorations and contacts in the north. Archaeologists found Norse artifacts in early Inuit (Eskimo) sites in the Canadian arctic and Greenland. That people of the Dorset culture had begun to replace their stone blades with metal after AD. 1000 seemed curious, although understood when both late Dorset and Early Thule sites began to produce not only Norse iron and copper, but a host of other Norse materials. Soon Norse materials were reported from many eastern Canadian arctic and northwest Greenland sites dating to the Norse period. These finds suggest that Native Americans interacted with the Norse in a variety of ways: by casual contacts, scavenging Norse wrecks, or outright skirmishes This volume celebrates the Vikings epic voyages, which brought the first Europeans to the New World. In doing so, the ring of humanity that had been spread in different directions around the globe for hundreds of thousands of years, was finally closed. Even though Leif Erikssons was not the firstnor the lastvoyage of Viking exploration, nor did it lead to permanent settlement in the Americas, his voyage achieved an important and highly symbolic goal that made the world an infinitely smaller place
Customer Reviews:
A wealth of info on the medieval Norse reach across the ocean.......2006-07-24
This sumptuous and lavishly illustrated volume of 432 large pages, was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 2000 to coincide with the thousandth year, as close as we can reckon, of Leif Erikson's pioneering voyage to North America where he founded an outpost in "Vinland" that was used by subsequent expeditions until finally being abandoned after several skirmishes with the native inhabitants -- this according to the two pertinent surviving sagas.
The book is an impressive compendium of scholarship by 40 writers in 32 different articles, naturally from often different viewpoints. It gets a five-star rating not because I don't have disagreements with certain conclusions of a number of articles, but because of the wealth of information it contains on Viking/Norse life and legacies for anyone seriously interested in the topic. It's divided into seven sections, titled Viking Homelands, Viking Raiders (in Europe), Vikings in the North Atlantic (including Iceland), Viking America, Norse Greenland, and Viking Legacy. (The term "Viking" is ill-used as applied to Iceland and the farther lands -- or for that matter in Europe after about 1100 -- but the label seems irresistible to publishers in titles, even to the Smithsonian. At least Greenland gets a proper "Norse" label.)
Obviously it's not a work to be read cover to cover in one gulp. Since there are too many topics and regions covered in detail to look at closely in a review of any reasonable length, I'll focus briefly here on "Viking America," which presents eight major articles. Their topics range from Ellesmere Island in the High Arctic where Norse artifacts have been found, to, of course, Vinland in the far south (just how far south a matter of complex disputes often passionately held.) Too, it explores what the lore and the sagas tell us on one hand, to hard archeological digs on the other, both subject to interpretation. An interesting wrap-up article in this section is intriguingly titled "Unanswered Questions." The Canadian archeologist Birgitta Linderoth Wallace, who wrote two articles and collaborated on another, has been in charge of the famous L'Anse aux Meadows site at the northern tip of Newfoundland since its discoverers Helge and Anne Ingstad finished their work there in the late 1960s. With the Ingstads she believes the site is in fact the remains of Leif's settlement of Leifsbudir -- although others, including Carl Sauer, Erik Wahlgren and myself, have strong doubts on that score. But even if we're right, this in no way diminishes the importance of the site, as this is the first thoroughly, physically confirmed site of Norse occupation found in America. If I may register a guess, it might have been a strategically placed "way station" occupied for a few years by some other unrecorded Norse voyagers presumably from Greenland, which would open other intriguing questions. There's a good possibility that we'll never know.
Another engrossing article deals with the native peoples of these regions: the Innu, Dorset, and Thule Inuit in northern Canada and Greenland (it was the Thule "Eskimos" who remained after the Dorset and Norse were gone), plus the now-extinct Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland; a panel of four maps shows their respective areas of occupancy from AD 900 to 1500. Several articles in the America and Greenland sections look at contacts and relations between the Norse and "natives" (remembering that the Norse Greenlanders were no less "native" than the Thule, having lived in southwest Greenland for over 300 years before the Thule ever arrived in that region). One article includes a recounting of an Inuit folk tale as told to the Danish Greenland official H.J. Rink in 1858, of a bloody incident and reprisals between a group of Inuit and Norse hundreds of years before, complete with color illustrations drawn for Rink by an Inuit artist.
The above comments scarcely touch the surface of the riches to be found in this volume. The general tone is scholarly and carefully conservative in most respects (sometimes too conservative and one-sided in my view, as if the writers/editors were reluctant to delve much into matters subject to heated controversies except to dispose of them as quickly as possible). Nevertheless, all in all it's a most impressive compendium of fascinating information not obtainable elsewhere, and the editors and writers are to be congratulated for that.
A Great Resource!!!.......2003-12-08
For those interested in:
the history of an ancient people, the Vikings
the history of a people's travels and explorations
the history of a people's art, storytelling, and craftsmanship
the history of a people's society and everyday living
This book is for you. I constantly use references from this book in my writings, as it contains such detail that is just begging to be acknowledged. The images are fantastic, and continues to inspire! Historical enthusiasts, novice and veterans alike are sure to enjoy this book.
A great start.......2002-07-18
This great book takes you from western Europe and Russia to L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland in a gigantic arc of detail and archaeology. Many areas of great intrest such as the Isle of Man and the Shetland Isles are often overlooked in OTHER books but not this one. If you want to start learning about the Vikings disembark from here.
A touchdown.......2002-01-22
If you know only a little about Vikings, and want to know a lot more, this is the book to get. Lavishly illustrated, although, as another reader pointed out, a little big for bedtime reading or the train. I really liked the way the book recalls the entire Norse history -- from the 700s right up to the Minnesota Vikings. By the way, I got to sail for a couple days on the very ship depicted on the cover.
This gorgeous Viking book ranks with the best.......2001-11-19
What a complete package! Absolutely loaded with huge beautiful pictures of everything from ancient maps to medieval Scandinavian jewelry to charts of what individual experts think the Vikings dubbed "Vinland", this book has it all. Someone familiar with the subject will find it gorgeously re-introduced in this extremely professional layout, and yet anyone new to the subject will find this book to be inviting, informative, and fun to read. While this book doesn't dig quite as deep as either Jones' textbook-format "A History of The Vikings" or Haywood's geographically well-documented "The Penguin Historical Atlas of The Vikings", this is still like a huge compilation of every other Viking book I've seen yet, giving the subject the spotlight that it needs after so many recent discoveries. A very professional complete package for everyone.
Book Description
From 1961 to 1968, Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad, both archaeologists and acclaimed Viking scholars, conducted seven expeditions at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. The results of their excavations solved one of the world's greatest mysteries: the location of Vinland and the first European settlement in North America.
The Viking Discovery of America combines a first-hand account of the Ingstads' groundbreaking discovery with a compelling history of Viking explorations. This beautifully illustrated volume describes how the authors worked from old Viking sagas, existing research, and their own hypotheses to piece together the story of a group of Vikings, who, faced with crowded conditions in their settlements in Greenland, decided to expand their horizons, eventually discovering a new territory. Readers will also discover fascinating information about navigation techniques, well-known and obscure Viking explorers, their journeys, and the eventual evacuation of their settlement. Full-color maps and photographs from the expeditions help to bring the text alive.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing what a gifted amateur can acomplish!.......2007-03-13
Until Ingstad came along in the late 1950s, there was a principle operating among most U.S. historians which Charles Michael Boland called NEBC: "No Europeans Before Columbus." Then Ingstad, a trained lawyer and natural outdoors and explorer with a wife who was a professional archaeologist, looked again at his astute analysis of the Greenlanders' Saga and Erik's Saga, combined that with his extensive travels in the Arctic, and came to the conclusion that Helluland *had* to be Baffin Island, Markland *had* to be the mid-Atlantic coast of Labrador, and Vinland therefore *had* to be somewhere in the upper part of Newfoundland. To top it off, he was convinced that "Vinland" referred to meadows ("Vin" with a short "I"), not grapevines ("Vin" with a long "I"). In this popular but very informative treatment, he takes the reader step-by-step through his thought processes and explains in an entirely convincing manner why all this *had* to be so. Then, of course, he went out in a small boat, retraced the path Leif had taken (which itself was the reverse of the path Bjarni had taken), and when he got to the tiny, isolated village of L'Anse aux Meadows on the Strait of Belle Isle, he stopped and asked the local fishermen if they knew of any ruins in the area. "Sure do," they replied and the Ingstad spent the next eight years platting and excavating the foundations of a cluster of turf houses, plus a smithy, a kiln, and a row of boathouses on the creek that ran through the meadow. It's a fascinating story and this edition is beautifully illustrated. If you're interested in the Norse, or the history of discovery, or Newfoundland, or archaeology, you'll want to read this book.
Discovering THE Norse site yet found in America.......2006-07-24
This account of Norse explorations in America by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, focuses on the ruins they found and excavated, left by Norse settlers near the present village of L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland, somewhere around 1000 AD according to carbon dating. Helge Ingstad, a Norwegian, wrote most of the text of this well illustrated 199-page large-format book. His archeologist wife, in charge of the actual diggings, wrote the chapter on their meticulous uncovering of the ruins of eight turf buildings during the course of seven seasons from 1961 to 1968, the largest of which, House F, contained six main rooms separated by turf walls. Much smaller but of key importance was House J, a working "smithy" in which local bog iron was smelted. The three houses A, B, and C, closely clustered together, have since been restored to original condition to form the core of a Canadian national historic park established in 1977 and open to visitors, complete with "re-enactors" dressed in Old Norse costumes. The site's second-largest house, A, is a longhouse about 75 feet in length with four rooms. Much of the described detail of the actual digs will probably be lost on many general readers, but this chapter does convey a sense of the incredibly slow and painstaking efforts involved in any important archeological dig.
No doubt of greater interest to the non-archeologically inclined will be Helge Ingstad's chapters on the background of the Norse Vinland ventures in the region, including an illuminating analysis of the two pertinent sagas. Of these, the one long believed to be the more authentic ("Erik the Red's Saga"), presumably because of its more sophisticated literary style, many now consider factually the less reliable. Its Icelandic compositor in likely about 1260 seems to have had a copy of the less polished but more sober, matter-of-fact and much more nautically aware "Greenlanders' Saga" in front of him, composed probably at least 60 years earlier and likely by a Greenlander. The redactors of "Erik's Saga" are now thought by many, including Ingstad, to have modified the story to reflect more credit on Thorfinn Karlsefni of a distinguished Icelandic family, while greatly reducing Leif Eriksson's role to that of an accidental discoverer storm-blown clear across the ocean from Norway (against the prevailing westerly winds of these latitudes, I might add as a geographer.) In his assessment of the two sagas Helge Ingstad is basically in agreement with those of Carl Sauer and Erik Wahlgren, though both have strongly disagreed with his contention that the Newfoundland structures are the ruins of Leif Eriksson's houses. The site might have been an outpost occupied for a few years at this strategic location by a group of Norse unrecorded by any extant saga, about four-fifths of the saga material having in any case been irretrievably lost. (See my reviews of the Sauer and Wahlgren books by clicking on the above link).
Be that as it may, this Newfoundland site the Ingstads uncovered has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that Norse did in fact reach North America a thousand years ago, which had been doubted in many quarters prior to that discovery. For that alone they deserve all the enormous credit they have received. And in this lucidly written final work they describe many aspects of Norse exploration and activities in the region with original and illuminating insights.
One reviewer has criticized Ingstad's analysis of the origins of the two Vinland sagas as too derisive of other views and too long. He may have a point, but...? For instance, Ingstad's discussion of the question of whether the Greenlanders' Saga derives directly from a Greenlandic written source preserved in Iceland -- and whether Erik's Saga might be a major Icelandic rewriting of it -- may strike the uninitiated as a self-serving nitpick. But this issue is key to resolving the differences between the two sagas and may go a long way toward explaining the confusion so evident in the descriptions of Erik's Saga regarding such matters as Karlsefni's search for Vinland. Greenlanders were obviously much closer to the events. Carl Sauer in "Northern Mists" (see my review) had also come to a similar conclusion: "The Greenlanders' Saga has continuity, clarity, and for the most part credible description." "[It] in my opinion is the more credible as to sensible course and sequence of voyages and matter-of-fact description of event and place."
By the way, the people we are dealing with were not "Vikings" as the title proclaims, nor does Ingstad use the word in the text except briefly and correctly as a European historical antecedent, never as applied to Iceland, Greenland or Vinland; but it seems we're stuck with it; publishers love the term in titles as it catches the public eye and helps with sales.
For those truly interested in the subject.......2002-10-18
I would have liked to have given this book 2.5 stars, right in the middle, because I really think it's a so-so book. But since the choice was 2 or 3 and 2 was too low, 3 stars it is.
There is certainly a good deal of history and scholarship shown here, and for those such as myself who have an interest in the subject but lay no claim to expertise, much to be gained.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that some academic scores were being settled. Helge Ingstad, who wrote most of the first parts of the book (with his wife, Anne Stine Ingstad, doing the part about the actual L'Anse aux Meadows dig), spends too much time deriding viewpoints alternate to his own. Since it was his line of reasoning that lead to the discovery of the L'Anse aux Meadows site, it seems that focusing on his own arguments should have been enough.
Apparently, though, it wasn't. A major part of the book consists of summaries and analyses of two sagas telling different stories of the Vikings in Greenland and their exploration of North America. One, Erik's Saga, is a ripping good yarn that apparently had been the version favored by scholars. Ingstad makes a convincing argument that the other, The Groenlendinga Saga, is more historically reliable. But he does it at such length (about 1/3 the book) and in such language that the argument comes across as personal as much as academic, as a means of taking pokes at those on the other side of the issue. For example, The Groenlendinga Saga is a "plain, straightforward narrative" of "generally authentic nature," while Erik's Saga is by turns "improbable," "fiction" influenced by fables, "cannot be correct," "more than a little suspect," "incredible," and so on and so on.
The description of the actual dig had a different problem: It was too much "we found this and then under this thick a layer we found this and then we found...." I truly wished for a greater context, more explanation of why a find was significant beyond the fact of proving Viking habitation. A number of times she refers to the depth of a strata though which they dug to find something. Was that significant? How? Why? What does it mean?
The thing is, the book appears to be intended for a general (non-expert) audience. But at times I felt I had either walked into the middle of a scholarly debate or was reading a simplified field report. The result is, it's neither fish nor fowl, which is why I wanted to give it 2.5 stars.
Oh, one final complaint: The quality of photographic reproduction in the book is by and large awful. It gives every indication of being taken from computer printouts of digital photographs, with all the attendant loss of fine detail.
I'd say if you're really interested in the subject, give it a whirl. If your interest is more casual, skip it.
A "must" for Viking history buffs.......2001-03-19
In The Viking Discovery Of America, Helge and Anne Ingstad relate the fascinating and informative story of the excavation of a Norse settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and what this archaeological survey mean for our understanding of Viking explorations of the Western Hemisphere. With a meticulous scholarship, the Ingstads united the Viking sagas of discovery with engaging details about shipbuilding, navigation, culture, and lifestyle. The Viking Discovery Of America combines scholarly detective work with ground breaking archaeological confirmations to overturn centuries of historical assumptions and documenting Viking contact with the New World centuries before Christopher Columbus. The Viking Discovery Of America is an enthusiastically recommended addition to academic and community library collections, as well as a "must" for Viking history buffs and New World archaeology students.
Average customer rating:
- A Modern Saga Masterpiece
- Weak, do not buy
- An Epic Saga
- Unproblematic as boys adventure; defensible for adults, too
- Excellent novel
|
The King of Vinland's Saga
Stuart W. Mirsky
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Norse & Icelandic Sagas
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland
-
The Long Ships
-
Sworn Brother: The Heroes of the North Live On (Viking Trilogy)
-
King's Man (Viking Trilogy)
-
Odinn's Child (Viking Trilogy)
ASIN: 0738801518 |
Book Description
This historical adventure sweeps back to a time when bold men hazarded rough and unknown seas in search of treasure and glory. The orphaned grandson of Leif Eiriksson, seeks his due overseas, despite the opposition of his unforgiving kinsmen.
Customer Reviews:
A Modern Saga Masterpiece.......2007-07-15
This is a great read for anyone seeking an authentic saga-style tale of adventure or those wanting a great page-turning read. Those familiar with the original Icelandic Sagas will appreciate & enjoy the efforts of Mr. Mirsky. For the most part, he remains true to the original manner of story-telling used by the original saga writers. Though his tale is original, it has the same feel & atmosphere as those told around the turf fires 1000 years ago. The novel follows a group of Norsemen to the New World & the conflict that ensues when their Iron Age culture comes into contact with the Native American Stone Age culture.
Weak, do not buy.......2006-11-13
Really not engaging. Want to read something better? Try Guy gavriel Kay's recent book Last Kingdom, or Bernard Cornwell's recent books on Alfred the Great. Or better yet, find the Deepest Sea, by Charles Barnitz. Those books are amazing.
An Epic Saga.......2006-07-14
This is a great piece of historical fiction, making you feel as if you were there. This book's originality is refreshing, Mirsky captures the writing style of the old Norse Saga's. The only thing that sets this apart from the Norse Saga's is the amount of detail Mirsky uses.
Unproblematic as boys adventure; defensible for adults, too.......2006-06-20
Stuart Mirsky's 1998 historical novel, THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA, is an attractive book for children and young people who wish to probe North America's earliest known contacts with Europeans, Norsemen, in the 11th Century. It is the tale of a young, disinherited hero, Sigtrygg Thorgilsson, fictional grandson of the great explorer Leif Eriksson. He sails with companions to the maritime region of today's Canada, wages successful war with Skraelings (stone age Indians), loves and is loved by both a Skraeling and a Norse woman, proclaims himself King of Vinland and in the end is defeated by fate.
THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA is a very fine boys adventure book. But can the novel also be profitably read by today's adults, brought up on the complexities of Walter Scott, F.M. Dostoievsky, Henry James and Graham Greene?
Some problems for today's adult readers:
--the novel's length (637 pages) in proportion to its straightforward, not very complicated, linear plot;
--its narrator who is either embedded in King Sigtrygg's psyche or is rarely more than a few hundred feet away;
--the primitive, childish, plodding personalities and the motives of its leading characters and
--almost indiscernible Christian influences.
Some solutions:
--The author is a sophisticated student of history and literature. What he writes and how he writes is therefore deliberately chosen. A by-product of the novel's length is its pervasive sense that time moves very, very slowly in Norse Greenland and Vinland. One day is much like another. The sun is long in setting. Life can be very boring when one is not slaughtering large numbers of Skraelings or dueling with peers.
--Since the narrator is rarely more than a few feet from the hero, the reader is never given a God's eye "big picture" of history or of what is going on more broadly in the New World. Despite its length, THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA does not imitate Sir Walter Scott by providing loving, generous details of, e.g., navigation, flora and fauna, the feel of rivers, dress and on and on beyond what the plot strictly demands. There is vivid ad hoc description of storms and combat terrains, but it is not asides, sudden shifts from what is going on in one camp to another, analyses of character or digressions that make this tale so long. The author is making a point.
--There is no man or woman of great brilliance or insight among the cast of characters, no Alexander or Caesar. Not much book learning, either. Perhaps not even literacy a couple of centuries after Charlemagne. What wisdom and far-sightedness there is (and there is not an over-supply) comes solely from experience or perhaps from genetics and society as well. The oldest character, a one-eyed swordsman, is therefore the wisest; but even he mistakes his man at the end and allows himself to be treacherously speared in the back. Perhaps that is the way things really were in Vinland.
--Where is 11th Century Christianity? One "heroine" eventually becomes a nun on Iceland. There is talk of Christianity's monogamy being superior to Skraeling polygamy (but precious little resistance to local pagan custom by King Sigtrygg and his Norse followers). Could Christianity really have been so weak in the environment of a hero whose grandfather Leif was a Christian convert?
For every objection to this or that feature of the narrative, there is a plausible answer. Even for well read adults THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA can be gripping. Its slow pace, the basic denseness of all its characters, their primitive emotions, their pagan fatalism: all this is part of a bygone, barely researched world and its atmosphere which the author deliberately creates. The novel is provocative. It rewards reading and discussing.
-OOO-
Excellent novel.......2006-03-12
Mirsky has written a saga that should and might have been written along with many of the other classics of Icelandic literature. It is a superb telling of the first colonization of the New World by the 'Vikings', using the 'saga voice' a style typical of these tales, but somewhat modernized and made much more accessible to the modern reader, without losing any of the narrative power of the ancient form. It's simply a good read. Mirsky has deft hand with character and description, both. Even through the saga style, which can feel removed at times, the author makes us care about his characters' choices and fates, and see the vast landscapes that set this story. This is a powerful tale, and would make one heck of a movie. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
|
Strange Footprints on the Land: Vikings in America
Constance H. Frick Irwin
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Teens
| Subjects
| Books
| Audiobooks
| Authors, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Health, Mind & Body
| History & Historical Fiction
| Horror
| Literature & Fiction
| Manga
| Mysteries
| Reference
| Religion & Spirituality
| School & Sports
| Science & Technology
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Series
| Social Issues
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Teen Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0060227737 |
Average customer rating:
- Charming, wonderful.
- Absolutely Fantastic!
- Harald's Adventures in Vinland
- A waste of time
- Not just for the Viking enthusiast
|
985 The Discovery of America
Brian Cherry
Manufacturer: QuickWorks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 192854701X |
Book Description
This account of the Norwegian's first discovery and colonization of America is based upon the translation of Harold the Younger's journal. Discovered just 200 years ago, Harald's journal revealed the exploits and foibles of a clumsy and menacing, yet endearing, boy who grew up to be the only living survivor of Bjarni Herjolfsson's not so legendary voyage to America in 985 and the Vikings' botched attempt at colonization. Part history, part poetic license, this novel is pure delight to those who appreciate a good medieval story.
Customer Reviews:
Charming, wonderful........2003-06-04
Delightful story. So nice to read about those crazy Norskis.
Thanks for this book, Brian Cherry!
Absolutely Fantastic!.......2001-02-28
After receiving my copy of 985 I took it home curled up on the couch and started reading. I could not put this book down! Each page reached inside me and pulled me closer to the characters.
Relating to the main character of this book is so easy. You can invision his stunts and actions in your mind. Brian Cherry does a beautiful job weaving together the titillating tales and the infatuation I have with the discovery of America.
His ability to pull the reader into the life of his character is a gift told with vitality and verve. I lived, loved, anguished and triumphed with Harald.
I recomend this book as a good read for anyone, young or old.
Harald's Adventures in Vinland.......2000-11-16
This is the story of a young boy who stows away on the ship of a family friend because he wants to have adventure. The reader is led thru Harald's life by Harald, himself, and one gets to experience vicariously what it was like to colonize a new land in the time of the Vikings.
The writing style is very easy going, and would be enjoyable for any age reader... from adolescent to adult. I found the research to be well done, and the story flowed very well. All in all, I enjoyed the book very much & look forward to seeing new endeavors by the author.
A waste of time.......2000-11-09
This book is a real turkey. It seemed to me it was written for a 12 year old. Very poor research and no plot. Actually, I did not finish the book but the first two thirds is terrible.
Not just for the Viking enthusiast.......2000-10-30
WOW!! What a great story. Brian Cherry is Brilliant in his , scrupulous, faithfully exhaustive account of Haraold, the Younger. His journey takes us inside the cut throat life of a young Norwegian boy who's only true quest is to become a man and find his way into Madam Grunnhilde's brothel. Cherry's extraordinarily entertaining humor makes this a truly difficult book to put down. I wait with great anticipation for the next great works by Mr.Cherry.
Average customer rating:
|
Amos De Los Mares / Lords of the Sea: Los Vikingos Exploran El Atlantico Norte/the Vikings Explore the North Atlantic (Historia Grafica/Graphic History (Graphic Novels) (Spanish))
Allison Lassieur
Manufacturer: Capstone Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Exploration & Discovery
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Scandinavia
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Infantil y juvenil
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
No ficción
| Infantil y juvenil
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
4 a 8 años
| Infantil y juvenil
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| General
| Libros con Dibujos
9 a 12 años
| Infantil y juvenil
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| General
| Series
Exploración y Descubrimiento
| Historia e Historia Ficticia
| Infantil y juvenil
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
Europa
| Historia
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| Alemania
| Antigua
| España
| Europa Oriental
| Francia
| General
| Grecia
| Inglaterra
| Irlanda
| Italia
| Portugal
No-Ficción
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| Automotriz
| Ciencias Sociales
| Crimen y Criminales
| Educación
| Estudios de la Mujer
| Feriados
| Filosofía
| Gobierno
| Hechos Verídicos
| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
| Política
| Sucesos de Actualidad
| Transportación
ASIN: 0736866205 |
Average customer rating:
|
Anasazi and the Viking
A. Tanner Smith
Manufacturer: Sunstone Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
jp-unknown2
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0865341524 |
![Drakkars sur l'Amazone: [les Vikings de l'Amerique precolombienne] (Realisme fantastique)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/211F6XYZD5L.jpg)
Average customer rating:
|
Drakkars sur l'Amazone: [les Vikings de l'Amerique precolombienne] (Realisme fantastique)
Jacques de Mahieu
Manufacturer: Copernic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Brazil
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| 21st Century
| African Americans
| Civil War
| Colonial Period
| General
| Revolution & Founding
| State & Local
French
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
History
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All French Books
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 2859840028 |
Books:
- Weight Watchers New 365 Day Menu Cookbook: Complete Meals for Every Day of the Year
- Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism
- Without Reservation: The Making of America's Most Powerful Indian Tribe and Foxwoods, the World's Largest Casino
- World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction
- 1776
- 1776
- Ain't No Rag: Feeedom, Family and the Flag
- All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
- American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History in the Colonial British Atlantic World (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)
- Angels Fall
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The New Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index - the Dietary Solution for
- Jackson Rule
- Advances in Comparative & Environmental Physiology: Advances in Comparative and Environmental Ph
- Chemical Thermodynamics of Compounds and Complexes of U, Np, Pu, Am, Tc, Se, Ni and Zr With Selected
- Figure Drawing for Fashion Design
- History: Fiction or Science
- Everything Corgi: Wit and Wisdom for Lovers of Cardis and Pems
- America's Favorite Art Instructor Bob Ross' New Joy of Painting
- Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green
- Secondary phloem of Calycanthaceae,
Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map
The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, ca. A.D. 1000-1500
The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America (Penguin Classics)
The Kensington Runestone: Approaching a Research Question Holistically
