Customer Reviews

The History of Iceland

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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.

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.

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.

An excellent presentation of the history of an unique nation. I can see why Iceland is such an unknown in the annals of history. A very fact based presentation of information. A great source of study of a peoples not dependent on commerce, politics or finance.

Nothing much happened! Yes. In this comprehensive review of the history of Iceland, spanning some 1200 years, one is struck by the few numbers of people and the languid pace of events. More broadly, the book can be seen as a history of Scandinavia, with a focus on Iceland.

There is the so-called North Atlantic Empire. Which I suggest that many readers, including myself, had never heard of, before this book. It was the Empire of Norway, and which included Iceland and Greenland. A minor but fascinating chapter in European history.

We see the rise of Icelandic as a separate language, distinct from Norwegian, Swedish or Danish. And above all, there are the fish. To good approximation, Iceland would not exist without the vast fishing grounds so close by.

Then there is the Icelandic parliament, the Althing, which is considered to be perhaps the oldest representative parliament in the world. Predating the House of Common, where the latter likes to call itself the Mother of Parliaments. Sadly, while the book may be correct about the Althing, it has had little influence on world affairs.