The History of Iceland [Paperback]

Gunnar Karlsson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816635897
• ISBN-13: 978-0816635894
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > History > Europe > Iceland

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brownish, Dry, Shrivelled Statistician, July 21, 2001

By 

James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History of Iceland (Paperback)

Icelandic history is divided into three epochs: (1) the Saga Period, from the beginnings of settlement to the surrender of sovereignty in 1262; (2) the Colonial Period, under the thumb of first Norway and then Denmark, during which Iceland almost disappears from the world stage; and (3) the Period of Independence, from approximately 1809 to the present. In his HISTORY, Gunnar Karlsson adds a fourth epoch: the 20th century.

Thanks to the great Icelandic sagas of the 13th Century, we know a great deal about the first period. (Some of the excitement comes across in Magnus Magnusson's little gem of a book entitled ICELAND SAGA.) Then, once Iceland lost her sovereignty in hopes of putting an end to strife between conflicting factions, she seemingly disappeared from history. Except, unfortunately, as a victim of catacylsmic volcanic eruptions, smallpox, plague, and an uncaring Danish administration.

The 19th Century saw a simultaneous enlightenment in Denmark's stewardship of Iceland and a growingly successful independence movement among Icelanders. Between the two World Wars, Iceland became an independent state of some promise and no longer the Albania of the North Atlantic.

There are several approaches to chronicling such an unusual history. Karlsson takes a heavily economically and statistically oriented approach, such that one cringes at the profusion of percent signs and dates and neat little tables. Suddenly, the author will abruptly switch gears and drop into a personal mode: "Most important of these wield yielders was the Iceland moss ... a lichen that grows on inland heaths. It looks extremely unappetizing -- brownish and dry, like a shrivelled piece of skin.... I personally salivate when I think about it cooked in milk."

Another time, he interjects: "I myself did not live in a turf house for longer than a month and was unfortunately too young to remember much about it. But in my youth ... I sometimes visied such houses, which were dry, warm, clean, and reasonably bright."

One wishes to encounter this reminiscing Gunnar Karlsson more frequently than the brownish, dry, shrivelled statistician that he so often resembles. A more anecdotal approach would have livened this book up considerably, relegating most of the economic facts to out-of-the-way footnotes. I would like to have met the Icelander at various stages of his country's history, but Karlsson restrains himself from introducing him. More's the pity, because Karlsson obviously knows his subject well.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Introduction, April 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The History of Iceland (Paperback)

Gunnar Karlsson's book is a great introduction to Icelandic history. It is wonderful for the curious reader. However, as a scholarly work, it is lacking in precise details. In comparison to Knut Gjerset's History of Iceland, it is an easier read but with less information. While Karlsson touches upon a vareity of topics, he does not delve into them at great depth. However, this book would be great to find a topic that the reader would like to research or learn more about just because the nature of the book gives such a broad overview.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to Iceland, April 28, 2006

By 

M. North (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The History of Iceland (Paperback)

A very readable history of Iceland, though it might have a few too many details and numbers for some people (not me). He does not over-romanticize Iceland and actually challenges a lot of myths that Icelanders have about their own history. I read the book just before I went to Iceland, and it made my experience a lot more enjoyable.