Description
Book SynopsisDetails how this marginalized region has gradually become part of modern Europe
Trade Review". . . compelling and richly detailed . . ."
-- Kai Heidemann * H-SAE *
"Oslund’s comprehensive critical analysis of the narratives and counter-narratives of the gradual evolution of Iceland and the North Atlantic’s perceived exoticism into a regulated, normalized part of ‘our’ world is a valuable contribution to the fields of environmental, cultural and linguistic history, and to Scandinavian scholarship in general."
-- John D. Shafer * European History Quarterly *
"The narrative moves swiftly and elegantly over unusual grounds. . . . The final chapter discusses two present-day controversies . . . Oslund argues convincingly that in both these controversies stories that travelers had written in the 18th and 19th centuries . . . were retold. In doing so she also demonstrates the present day relevance of studying how Iceland has been imagined in the past."
-- Arne Kaijser * Technology and Culture *
"The book is well written and detailed. . . . The outcome is a mental journey in the vast and varying region of the North Atlantic, which brings forward surprisingly many details, even for someone raised and living in Iceland."
-- Helga Ogmundardottir * H-Environment *
"One should read this book for its history of ideas and perceptions and its grasp of the tensions that exist and have existed at cultural frontiers . . ."
-- Russell Fielding * Geographical Review *
"The book is sure to be of interest to those studying Iceland and the North Atlantic's culture and environmental history and those interested in the European understanding of that region. Summing Up: Recommended."
* Choice *
Table of ContentsMaps
Foreword by William Cronon
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Imagining Iceland: Narrating the North
1. Icelandic Landscapes: Natural Histories and National Histories
2. Nordic by Nature: Classifying and Controlling Flora and Fauna in Iceland
3. Mastering the World's Edges: Technology, Tools, and Material Culture in the North Atlantic
4. Translating and Converting: Language and Religion in Greenland
5. Reading Backward: Language and the Sagas in the Faroe Islands
Epilogue. Whales and Men: Contested Scientific Ethics and Cultural Politics in the North Atlantic
Notes
Bibliography
Index
