69e17e5d-f5d5-4f37-ae1e-08e450710dbbTrueNewShipIcelandAmazonLargeBooksreviewrank33513360897335325http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Medieval-Iceland-Jeff-Janoda/dp/0897335325%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0897335325254635http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DDFF2GKGL._SL75_.jpg7548http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DDFF2GKGL._SL160_.jpg160102http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DDFF2GKGL.jpg500319Jeff JanodaHardcover813.697808973353241300897335325Academy Chicago PublishersEnglishEnglishEnglish8502650USD$26.50Academy Chicago Publishers1359Book2005-04-15Academy Chicago PublishersAcademy Chicago Publishers1305501654USD$16.541525USD$15.251170011ATVPDKIKX0DERhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/home.html?seller=ATVPDKIKX0DERNewnewQlVzYoZKYlPdKC0MWbtUuY2A%2BUEyBEAaVtlMste4b4VTNRL2V3euM8ChOSGOsIQAgHqDXR9nUcXdzqx1QgHoFdWeZ%2BnMSfWa1935USD$19.35Usually ships in 24 hours5.012308973353255222008-03-10

Masterful Writing

Janoda's retelling of a classic saga is unlikely to become a bestseller given its esoteric subject matter, but that is truly a great shame as evolved readers of any stripe will surely delight in the author's wonderful skills. <br /> <br />Saga is about a very small community in Iceland around 965 CE, and for an historical novel, comparatively little happens--there are no grand battles, epic journeys, allusions to well-known historical events, or famous personages. The cast is limited to a dozen or so main characters and the pace of events might fairly be considered glacial. Yet for all that, the story is oddly, almost paradoxically compelling. Somehow the sparseness of the material, the humble (even dreary) circumstances within which the story unfolds, and Janoda's supremely economical--even frugal--use of language are all superbly suited to the tale and imbue it with a veracity and vigor that mere research can never match. <br /> <br />Like one of his humble farmer characters, Janoda painstakingly tends the unpromising soil and climate of his setting and scratches out of it a miraculous harvest of which which we lucky readers are the beneficiaries--a quirky masterpiece that transcends the seeming limitations of its subject to yield a tale that is by turns suspenseful, moving, shocking, and utterly convincing.08973353255112007-09-27

great piece of modern nordic historical fiction

Great way to bring life to this saga. Read this book more than a year ago (twice) and it still sticks. Great great stuff. Let's have more!08973353255332007-05-30

THE BEST Historical Fiction I've Read!

This is one of those books that you get so into while you're reading that you don't want it to end. Janoda has fleshed out a portion of the Eyrbyggja Saga, giving depth and dimension to the Snorri Gothi, Arnkel Gothi, and Thorbrand factions feuding, scheming, betraying and killing for possession of two farmsteads and a precious birch forest on a peninsula in 10th century western Iceland. The saga has everything a Norse and medieval history buff would want, including some really "creepy" stuff with a vengeful ghost and dark elves who live in the shadows and feed off the evil the Norse perpetrate. <br /> <br />Janoda's prose is fluid and effortless, and he writes as a master storyteller. I HOPE HE WRITES ANOTHER BOOK LIKE THIS ONE ON ANOTHER OF THE SAGAS! <br /> <br />Highest Recommendation08973353255452006-02-17

As bracing as a gust of wind across a Tundra

I bought this, based on the reviews here as I was looking for a good Midgard-themed book to read. <br /> <br />It's a great first novel and I hope the author dips into this setting again for the next one. <br /> <br />A fine tale of the harsh Icelandic life and of betrayal and passion. Any fans of this genre should indeed give this one a try. <br /> <br />Couldn't fault any of it. Good stuff.08973353255232006-02-01

Very Strong Story Telling!

This is an awsome story and a very good read. It bounces around a bit but still worth every penny!Based on medieval Norse legend, Saga is a novel of enormous power, one of those rare historical fictions which the reader knows is authentic in its evocation of another time and place. We meet Arnkel, the fierce Norse chieftain of Swan's fjord who has sworn to recapture the lands his bitter, ageing father has sold off, robbing his son of his inheritance. Arnkel feuds with his neighbours, exploits the desires of his closest supporter for another man's wife and hires assassins to carry out his will. Arnkel schemes against Snorri, a rival chieftain; their claims against each other are taken to 'the Thing', the country's tribal council, where clans meet to celebrate as well as to settle disputes. The land is stalked by evil - whispering elves are everywhere - and violence is a constant threat: neighbour distrusts neighbour and no one knows where or when death will strike. The difficult reality of life is always in the foreground; one can virtually see and feel the harsh beauty of the land, the passions and the rivalries of the clansmen and women. This unique novel makes medieval Iceland come alive: its rituals, the role of the supernatural, the enormous influence of law. Saga is a novel never to be forgotten.0330426737033042675303304267450595659446000612609X297517Fairy Tales10134Genre Fiction17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10163Family Saga10134Genre Fiction17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10177Historical10134Genre Fiction17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10279Norse & Icelandic Sagas10248Poetry17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books12615Folklore12599Mythology10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books297521Sagas12599Mythology10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books12617General12599Mythology10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713392011General AAS10125General17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713365011General AAS17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books16201Historical16190Fantasy25Science Fiction & Fantasy1000Subjects283155Books394181011Hardcover394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011Refinements283155BooksNHH1XQUBS4X8Fantasy, history, science-fiction015101440Xhttp://www.amazon.com/Far-Traveler-Voyages-Viking-Woman/dp/015101440X%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D015101440X165596http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519twKjO9KL._SL75_.jpg7550http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519twKjO9KL._SL160_.jpg160107http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519twKjO9KL.jpg500333Nancy Marie BrownHardcover970.0130929780151014408130015101440XHarcourtEnglishEnglishEnglish9402500USD$25.00Harcourt1320Book2007-10-09HarcourtHarcourt120650498USD$4.98208USD$2.082500USD$25.0024203011ATVPDKIKX0DERhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/home.html?seller=ATVPDKIKX0DERNewnew3N0SsFmqCU7KtZtqT6YtQD2lAjf6n2Kj518bpKrXerpXWVXXnqeF1mMnT52VogPU7EoMeGXJBpSzBLsf95EIkQ%3D%3D1500USD$15.00Usually ships in 24 hours5.0113015101440X5002008-06-10

Spellbinding

Fascinating!! <br /> <br />I only wish more photos, diagrams and website links and/or information (on those specific archeological discoveries and digs) would have been provided, so that we could have researched it a bit more, and tracked any furhter progress. <br /> <br />The listings of the incredible array of artifacts found in these archeoligical digs would have also benefited by some drawings and photos. <br /> <br />That being said, this is a wonderful book that brings the action to life -- I can almost see the ship rise and fall with the waves. The natives (skraalings) and the landscape of the new world is rendered in vivid word pictures. The descriptions of the Viking farms in Greenland and the hazardous trips sometimes needed to be made to reach those farms, gives me a sense of the tremendous resiliency and resourcefulness of those heroic people way back then. <br /> <br />Exceptional -- but would definitely benefit from photos, diagrams, links, -- even a rendering of what Gudrid may have looked like.015101440X5112008-03-11

A Superb History

This is an extraordinary acheivement. The author follows the character of Gudrid throughout her journeys through in Viking world of the late 900s and early 1000s and, along the way, paints a vivid picture of life at that time. The writing is engaging and apparently effortless, but the research that supports it is massive, as described in 35 pages of footnotes and references at the end of the book. The author's passion is clear throughout, and further evidenced by her having worked as a volunteer archaeologist one summer in Iceland to excavate Gudrid's home. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the Vikings.015101440X4112008-02-11

The Far Traveler

This book enlightens a period of history not well known to date. It is very interesting reading, especially for anyone with Scandinavian roots. The research the lies behing this work is remarkable. I highly recommend this book.015101440X4002008-01-31

The real hero isn't Gudrun, it's modern archaeology

Brown gives us a lot of interesting information about Gudrun's life and times in "The Far Traveller." But what is even more interesting is her description of being on archaeological digs in Iceland, describing what archaeologists have to do to torture more information out of the physical remains of the past. Brown's focus on what archaeology has contributed to our knowledge of the Vikings, as well as archaeology's limitations, make this a more fascinating read than the account of what we think we know about Gudrun could have done. 015101440X5662007-12-29

Fascinating, solid

I am just a general reader who happens to enjoy well-written history. I've never read much at all about the Vikings but the NY Times review of THE FAR TRAVELER was enticing and I was not let down by its promise. Nancy Marie Brown has reached back to a place and people obscured by time, doing a decent job of erasing some of the fog and cold desolation that obscure the Dark Ages and Medieval Epoch in Iceland and Greenland. She also succeeds in revealing a lot about contemporary archaeological practice and thought. <br /> <br />Brown turns first to the Sagas, the 10th and 11th century tales of Vikings, for inspiration. Though embroidered, the Sagas, written down some generations later, are regarded as holding historical memories. Brown focuses on one woman who appears in both the Eirik the Red and Greenland Sagas as her guide, Gudrid, who traveled from Iceland to Greenland to Vinland, back to Iceland and remarkably, in later age, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her son Snorri was very likely the first European child born on North American soil, circa 1005. Her personal story reveals much about religion, economics, gender relations, values, world view and other aspects of her culture. Born late in the 10th century AD, she witnessed the spread of Christianity and the fading of the violent marauding male economy as the domestic textile industry spun by women on the farm began to reposition Iceland in the world trade scene. Brown travels to all of the places Gudrid did, reads scholarship on her topic and participates in archaeological digs and recreation of weaving studios. <br /> <br />The digs at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, have been reported on before, but Brown brings a fresh fascination to them in the context of Gudrid's life. She provides strong descriptive passages of the places she visits and there is one map in the front of the book. It would have been nice, however, to have had some illustrations. I would also like to have known a little more about Brown's own context and interest in this subject. <br /> <br /> <br /><DIV><DIV><DIV>Five hundred years before Columbus, a Viking woman named Gudrid sailed off the edge of the known world. She landed in the New World and lived there for three years, giving birth to a baby before sailing home. Or so the Icelandic sagas say. Even after archaeologists found a Viking longhouse in Newfoundland, no one believed that the details of Gudrid’s story were true. Then, in 2001, a team of scientists discovered what may have been this pioneering woman’s last house, buried under a hay field in Iceland, just where the sagas suggested it could be. Joining scientists experimenting with cutting-edge technology and the latest archaeological techniques, and tracing Gudrid’s steps on land and in the sagas, Nancy Marie Brown reconstructs a life that spanned—and expanded—the bounds of the then-known world. She also sheds new light on the society that gave rise to a woman even more extraordinary than legend has painted her and illuminates the reasons for its collapse. </P></DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR> </DIV></DIV>140007880603124270851400033535045122499X039333364745Bargain Books2452Arts & Photography13819741Audiobooks2458Biography2459Business & Investing537584Calendars2460Children2475Computers & Internet2476Cooking, Food & Wine67702Film712385011General AAS882684Greeting Cards & Accessories2484Health, Mind & Body2487History2492Home & Garden2497Humor, Comics & Pop Culture2498Literature & Fiction2501Mysteries & Thrillers2505Nonfiction2512Parenting & Families2513Reference2514Religion & Spirituality2503Romance2515Science & Nature2504Science Fiction & Fantasy2516Sports16303581Teens2524Travel251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books491414Europe468230History468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712989011General AAS468230History468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books491450Archaeology468214Social Sciences465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books713011011General AAS468214Social Sciences465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712982011General AAS465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books713014011General AAS319654011Qualifying Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books2374Scandinavian2365Ethnic & National2Biographies & Memoirs1000Subjects283155Books2445Women2437Specific Groups2Biographies & Memoirs1000Subjects283155Books300961Travel2Biographies & Memoirs1000Subjects283155Books4835Greenland4808Americas9History1000Subjects283155Books4957Iceland4935Europe9History1000Subjects283155Books15812231Scandinavia4935Europe9History1000Subjects283155Books15812191Social History4987Historical Study9History1000Subjects283155Books5040Medieval5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books5039General5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books713323011General AAS5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books713290011General AAS9History1000Subjects283155Books16004351General11242Archaeology11232Social Sciences53Nonfiction1000Subjects283155Books713496011General AAS11242Archaeology11232Social Sciences53Nonfiction1000Subjects283155Books16968Iceland16917Europe27Travel1000Subjects283155Books394181011Hardcover394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011Refinements283155Books2913621066http://www.amazon.com/History-Fiction-Science-Chronology/dp/2913621066%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D2913621066419144http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JYM1ZQN5L._SL75_.jpg7557http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JYM1ZQN5L._SL160_.jpg160121http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JYM1ZQN5L.jpg500377Anatoly FomenkoPaperback90997829136210601342913621066Delamere Resources LLCEnglishEnglishEnglish9132345USD$23.45Delamere Resources LLC1560Book2005-06Delamere Resources LLCDelamere Resources LLC2437012149USD$21.491795USD$17.951380011ATVPDKIKX0DERhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/home.html?seller=ATVPDKIKX0DERNewnewj7q3J1aDW2SVSvwcl6f8qYVdsXRM0qaHAYsG%2Byv%2Fbk4954oLC9c8Kq0drTiDBLyU1Hn5rSNbGfzQ2lEYUmmpJ2D%2BGIq36Apt2345USD$23.45Usually ships in 24 hours5.09229136210665442007-10-23

Had History really been tampered with? Summing it up!

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3A80YKC8W7UEE">Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3A80YKC8W7UEE</a> New Chronology is a theory validated by astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient manuscripts that asserts: that Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th centuries. Human civilization is barely 1000 years old! <br /> <br />New Chronology complies with the most rigid scientific standards: <br /> <br />- It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know; <br />- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion; <br />- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically; <br /> <br />New Chronology goes by the following basic axioms: <br />- Chronology is the basis of history; <br />- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible; <br />- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history are fantasy and hoax; <br />- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process; <br />- The closer in time is a given manuscript to the events described the less distortions it contains; <br />- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources. <br /> <br />Fomenko asserts: There was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by over two centuries of yoke and slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a trilingual state with Arabic and Turkic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that official Russian history is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scholars brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs. Their ascension to the throne was the result of conspiracy, so they charged these imported historians with the mission of making Romanov's reign look legitimate. <br /> <br />Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate Godunov rulers and the ambitious Romanov upstarts. <br /> <br />As Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, he successfully removes a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one: the Ancient Rome: the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the 14th century A. D., the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece. <br /> <br />The Ancient Egypt: the pyramids of Giza become dated to the 11th to 14th century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less. The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the 11th to 15th century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone, like enormous Dendera horoscope that hangs in main entrance to the Louvre museum in Paris. <br /> <br />He was the first one to decipher and date unambiguously all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. <br /> <br />English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the book "History: Fiction or Science?" portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben. <br /> <br />Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such ancient history. Period. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the 17th 18th century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them otherwise. <br /> <br />Islam with all its key figures appears as late as 15th-16th century A. D. as a branch of proto-Christianity. This is amply illustrated by imagery of Prophet Mahomet, archangel Gabriel, Heaven and Hell of this period. In today's Islam all imagery of the things living is taboo. <br /> <br />Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th 17th century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a proto Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian!) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant. <br /> <br /> <br />The history of religions according to Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the 11th century and Jesus Christ ), Bacchic Christianity (11th to 12th century, before and after Jesus Christ), Jesus Christ Christianity (12th to 14th century) and its subsequent mutations (15th to 17th) into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.. <br /> <br />Saint Augustine was quite prescient when he said: "be wary of mathematicians,.. particularly when they speak the truth." <br /> <br />Henry Ford once said: "History is more or less bunk!" <br /> <br />Prominent mathematician Anatoly Fomenko not only proved it for a fact, but as true scientist tried to upgrade it into a rocket science. <br /> <br />This book will change your perception of History forever! <br />What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance? <br />What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages? <br />What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD? <br />Sounds Unbelievable? <br />Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician. <br />Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science. <br />29136210665222007-06-21

Check and see

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries. 29136210665882007-03-22

Suprise! Suprise!

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.2913621066527282006-02-05

Prescient St Augustine?

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts: <br /> <br />a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics; <br /> <br />b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history; <br /> <br />c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date. <br /> <br />Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole: <br /> <br />It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know. <br /> <br />- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion. <br /> <br />- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically. <br /> <br />Fomenko goes by the following axioms: <br /> <br />- Chronology is the basis of history; <br /> <br />- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible; <br /> <br />- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history; <br /> <br />- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process; <br /> <br />- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains; <br /> <br />- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources. <br /> <br />Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels? <br /> <br />The Russians: <br /> <br />Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia. <br /> <br />The Westerners: <br /> <br />Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben. <br /> <br />The Chinese: <br /> <br />Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up. <br /> <br />The Arabs: <br /> <br />Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant. <br /> <br />The Divinity: <br /> <br />Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on. <br /> <br />According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D. <br /> <br />St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth." <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />2913621066414152005-09-08

Something of a disappointment

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers. <br /> <br />However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events: <br /> <br />- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane; <br />- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!); <br />- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history; <br />- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto. <br /> <br />I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings. <br /> <br />The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal. <br /> <br />It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes? <br /> <br />Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all. <br /> <br />Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited). <br />`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the “Antiquity” and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by “Pope Gregory Hildebrand” was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.29136210582913621082291362110409737576040676976581518510History1862Fashion1Arts & Photography1000Subjects283155Books4988Historiography4987Historical Study9History1000Subjects283155Books5040Medieval5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books5039General5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books713323011General AAS5035World9History1000Subjects283155Books713290011General AAS9History1000Subjects283155Books10401Chinese10399Classics17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10233Medieval10225Movements & Periods10204History & Criticism17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10262German10248Poetry17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10284Russian10248Poetry17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10296Spanish10248Poetry17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books11749Mythology & Folklore11713Encyclopedias21Reference1000Subjects283155Books172809Historical Jesus172807Jesus12290Christianity22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books12697Controversial Knowledge12779Religious Studies22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books12785History12779Religious Studies22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books12504General22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books400272011Paperback394184011Mass Market401237011Trade394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011Refinements283155BooksR2869I5LPMGIYIGothsR21XAMCIPPCU1FLynn's List- Easter Reading for Fun, not seriousRXM9MNU6YZXPZAmazing Alternate History Reading!RAEL2DX2YEQ89World War II ReadingR2PQO1OK57T1YEgnosticR3RBO3937KXU46Books about the Fall of the Berlin WallR1FQWT6PD7ZHX9Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison?R2SQ0Y8CHF81E4A Reason To Paint #2014118020Xhttp://www.amazon.com/Gunnars-Daughter-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/014118020X%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D014118020X168988http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AY9RCN6VL._SL75_.jpg7548http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AY9RCN6VL._SL160_.jpg160103http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AY9RCN6VL.jpg475305Sigrid UndsetPaperbackSherrill HarbisonArthur G. Chater839.82372978014118020560014118020XPenguin ClassicsNorwegianEnglishEnglish7701500USD$15.00Penguin Classics1208Book1998-04-01Penguin ClassicsPenguin Classics35500862USD$8.62496USD$4.963000USD$30.0030161011ATVPDKIKX0DERhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/home.html?seller=ATVPDKIKX0DERNewnewuo2fZd1yFAHF8jeHL%2FATbLRqcY%2BAd4DxRNskidzgvo7QuZ%2FkVwrOCwJMPUFexXGBBKuvPhb7RD%2BnzoTEr0ICzQ%3D%3D1020USD$10.20Usually ships in 24 hours5.092014118020X5002008-11-16

Sparser than her later works but fascinating just the same

This is a much sparser version of her work than her later novel Kristin Lavransdatter. It gives much less detail and characterization so you might find it dry in comparison. I'm glad I read it but I didn't like it nearly as much as I'd anticipated based on her later writing. 014118020X5222007-07-15

a MUST-READ for a book club

This novella should fit comfortably beside the plays of Sophocles or Aeschylus or the tragedies of Shakespeare. Don't let that intimidate you: it's more accessible than all of them, and a perfect book for a book club. It's the story of a man who commits a despicable act of violence in his immaturity, against a woman who must live with the consequences all her life - as must he. Questions of justice, repentance, mercy, and forgiveness are raised - and left to readers to answer as best we can. Undset's portrayals of the characters maximize the difficulties of these questions and the discussions which readers will be craving after finishing this fine book. I picked it up to see if I like Undset enough to commit to 1000 pages of Kristen Lavransdatter. I have since picked up that meganovel - and find it, so far, less engaging by far than Gunnar's Daughter, which deserves one of the highest places in the canon of Western literature.014118020X510112006-08-01

The more things change. . . .

In writing Gunnar's Daughter, Sigrid Undset had two aims: to show that the struggles of the human person against himself, others, and nature have no history; and to reveal a pagan past as it actually was--cruel and bloody in contrast to the growing Christian faith it encountered. In both cases, she succeeded brilliantly. <br /> <br />Take the first case. You often hear yammering from certain quarters that it is possible for human beings to progress as a society beyond their passions. Myopic nonsense! The characters of Gunnar's Daughter hurt themselves and others, and love as much as they hate, with exactly the same capacity as anyone today. An honest reader will realize that we are no better at heart than the men (and woman) whose stories are told here--but also that we are no worse. What we have hated and loved and yearned for, men and women have always hated and loved and yearned for. In reading this you realize for the first time that you can actually appreciate your ancestors as living men and women, and not as faceless DNA donors. <br /> <br />In the second case, in Undset's time--the early 20th century--there was then as now the movement to glorify the pre-Christian past, the sort of naivety only possible from the safety of the Christianized world. Undset was rightly disturbed by this movement, and in Gunnar's Daughter she draws the picture of bloody, violent, might-makes-right world--and better yet, shows the redeeming effect of Christianity as it makes its way into Scandinavia. Contrast Vigdis' exposure of her healthy but unwanted infant--an unremarkable event in her time, even if, as Undset shows, one not done without lingering sorrow--with the later refusal of Viga-Lyot to expose his deformed and sickly baby expressly because, as he states, he is a Christian, and will not hear of it. This is of even more interest in our day, when the growing nonChristian influence on our society has led us full circle to a time when once again the unwanted baby is done away with--Undset's picture was more prescient than she knew. <br /> <br />All in all, a haunting and true book.014118020X523272000-12-24

A Very Fine Example of the Saga as Modern Novel

In this case of medieval date rape and the grim consequences which follow hard upon it, Sigrid Undset created a wonderfully literate experience using the saga "voice". Although I detected slippages in tone, here and there, and felt the ending too contrived and overwrought to be pure saga, I was still swept along by this book, finishing it in a single sitting. It is short, yes, but also a very compelling narrative as it details the tribulations of two would-be lovers who are yet too proud and self-willed for their own good or for the society in which they find themselves. As with the typical viking hero, Viga-Ljot is overly confident of his own charms and impatient of results. And Vigdis, the maid he has set his heart on, is no less aloof and overbearing in her own way than that historical figure, Sigrid the Haughty, who so angered King Olaf Tryggvesson that he slapped her in the midst of their courtship and thereby sealed his doom. Viga-Ljot does much worse in this tale and his fate is thus forever bound up with a woman who cannot forget or forgive him. Like Gudrun Osvif's daughter in Laxdaela Saga, Vigdis bides her time and nurses her pain but, in the end, that pain is not assuaged by the actions she takes, for it is ultimately destructive to everyone it touches. <br /> <br />A good example of the saga form in modern literature indeed, and yet, despite the finely tuned prose of this novel, capturing the nuances and understatement of the saga voice with masterly strokes, there is an underlying stridency here, an almost emotional overreaching which is not, itself, true to the saga form. In some ways this book is too modern and its author's sensibility, at this juncture in her career, almost too young and unseasoned. Undset seems to be reaching for the tragic denouement of the Greek classics to end her tautly told tale rather than content herself with the flatly understated and finely nuanced wrap-up more appropriate to the saga form. But this Greek-like ending left me much colder than the drily tossed-off afterthought of a true saga might have done. And yet, for all that, Undset has here given us one of the better modern novels done in saga form. My hat is off to her. <br /> <br />By the way, for another really fine novel based on the old sagas, one, in fact, that I think outdoes even this one, try SAGA: A NOVEL OF MEDIEVAL ICELAND by contemporary Canadian author Jeff Janoda. Many have tried to evoke the sagas in modern prose but few have done it as well as he has. Janoda has written a contemporary novel that does genuine justice to its original source, Eyrbyggja Saga, while not succumbing to the overwrought sensibility which mars GUNNAR'S DAUGHTER at the end. If you like fiction grounded in the old Norse saga literature, then Janoda's book should be your very next stop. <br /> <br />SWM <br />author of The King of Vinland's Saga014118020X516522000-09-04

Same old same old

Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson; five stars aren't enough to reflect the masterpieces that they all wrote, and, in the case of Gustafsson, are still writing. Read all their books and grow a lifetime in a couple of years.<p> I suppose that anything that sells books makes it to the top of the page, although I appreciate that the first review I read about this book was straightforward, unbiased and sans agenda. I have been reading the great writers of the world since I learned to read. I began to explore the works of Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson, etc., thirty years ago and it irks me no end that the works of a Scandinavian writer like Undset, who lived in a time when women had all the rights in the world, should be referenced by your commentator from Brattleboro, VT as womens fiction. If she has read "The Master of Hestviken" or "Kristen Lavransdatter", then she must have missed all the suffering endured by the men and women. Great works of creativity do not address personal agendas. They are wrought from the soul. Lagerlofs' "Saga of Gosta Berling", another masterpiece, explores the same moral questions with a male protagonist. I say to you, dear lady from Vermont, that feminism is dead; we are all feminine and masculine regardless of our plumbing, and the last GREAT female poet, Sylvia Plath, lived the pain of that polarity until it killed her. Shame on you Amazon.com for using divisiveness and the promulgation of hatred, fear, and misunderstanding to make a buck. Publish this!!More than a decade before writing Kristin Lavransdatter, the trilogy about fourteenth-century Norway that won her the Nobel Prize, Sigrid Undset published Gunnar's Daughter, a brief, swiftly moving tale about a more violent period of her country's history, the Saga Age. Set in Norway and Iceland at the beginning of the eleventh century, Gunnar's Daughter is the story of the beautiful, spoiled Vigdis Gunnarsdatter, who is casually raped by the man she had wanted to love. A woman of courage and intelligence, Vigdis is toughened by adversity. Alone she raises the child conceived in violence, repeatedly defending her autonomy in a world governed by men. Alone she rebuilds her life and restores her family's honor -- until an unremitting social code propels her to take the action that again destroys her happiness. First published in 1909, Gunnar's Daughter was in part a response to the rise of nationalism and Norway's search for a national identity in its Viking past. But unlike most of the Viking-inspired art of its period, Gunnar's Daughter is not a historical romance. It is a skillful conversation between two historical moments about questions as troublesome in Undset's own time -- and in ours -- as they were in the Saga Age: rape and revenge, civil and domestic violence, a troubled marriages, and children made victims of their parents' problems.01430391640679752730158642050X067975554301411812813151751Norwegian3198801More Languages3118571Foreign Language Books251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books713386011General AAS10399Classics17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books16260781Norwegian16260431More Languages16260301Foreign Language Fiction17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10177Historical10134Genre Fiction17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books16004551General10016British10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713407011General AAS10016British10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10436Scandinavian10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10127Classics10125General17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713392011General AAS10125General17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713365011General AAS17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books400272011Paperback394184011Mass Market401237011Trade394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011Refinements283155BooksR3J9XX6E81VWOMBest Books Read 2005: Fiction2TLGH2LT3B3UPBooks for those Not interestes in Convention3QM7S55ZTX48LLife Considerd2BR24NHL5WH01Passion14Z793TWWDVCPThe Armchair Medievalist0198111843http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Old-Norse-E-Gordon/dp/0198111843%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0198111843536693http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tPG5xTe5L._SL75_.jpg7549http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tPG5xTe5L._SL160_.jpg160105http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tPG5xTe5L.jpg500327E. V. GordonPaperbackA. R. Taylor439.68642197801981118491140198111843Oxford University Press, USAEnglishEnglishEnglish7408500USD$85.00Oxford University Press, USA1496Book1981-07-23Oxford University Press, USAOxford University Press, USA1084766191USD$61.914449USD$44.4917100011ATVPDKIKX0DERhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/home.html?seller=ATVPDKIKX0DERNewnew7bJAwGvIDy3AFfkDOiEg97bY%2BFQNPeTsKmK5vQEnx6MCNME0mtEUjFU0n%2BYsJsQh%2Fp%2BCaObcPpUcBNOG9O6ULg%3D%3D6800USD$68.00Usually ships in 24 hours5.07201981118435002008-10-13

An Introduction to Old Norse

As essential to students of Old Norse as Mitchell is to students of Old English. A wonderful starting place, but not for novices. 0198111843515162004-06-29

A venerable classic--learn the language by your bootstraps

It seems like this book has been around forever. It was first published in 1927 and for many years was the only English language resource for learning Old Icelandic. But that didn't mean that Gordon made the process easy. There are no basic lessons of the "Helgi is a Viking. See Helgi loot" type that you normally expect to find in an introductory language text. On the contrary, Gordon provides the grammar and vocabulary all right--at the end of the book--but it's up to the user to apply them to the wide selection of classic Norse literature that he's included. It's not an impossible way to learn the language, but it can be confusing at first. Those who have a background in Old English will find it easier going because of the similarities between the two languages. <p>Gordon was the text my class used many years ago when I took Old Norse in grad school. I still remember my professor pointing out all its inaccuracies and criticizing the author. Nonetheless, between Gordon, Zoega's dictionary (now available online), and a xerox of "Gunnlaug's Saga," we muddled through. Learning a language by parsing each word is tedious, but it does give one a sense of accomplishment.<p>In addition to the grammar and literary selections, Gordon contains a lengthy historical introduction to Old Norse literature. It's out-of-date by now, but still a good place to start. As for the selections themselves, they provide a fairly broad overview. "Hrafnkel's Saga," a gem of a character study, is given in its entirety. There are selections from Snorri and from the Vinland sagas, among other pieces. The only complaint that I have is that Gordon is a little light on the poetry. The humorous "Thrymskvida" (sorry about the spelling) and "The Waking of Angantyr," an eerie little piece not included in the standard eddic canon, are the major poems. <p>Whether or not you use Gordon as your primary grammar, its selection of litearture makes it a worthy companion for the student of Old Icelandic. My copy is now battered and missing its spine, but it still has a place on my bookshelf.01981118435382003-12-31

yay!

Man, this book was something I'd been searching for. I am one of the self taught speakers of Old Icelandic, and it's not like there is a whole lot of Runic inscriptions to be translated in Richmond Virginia. Rather then allowing my Old Icelandic skills to sit their and gather dust on a shelf in my skull, I now have something to read!0198111843454542001-08-03

Good, but here's another idea...

This is a very nice book and the one we used in my Old Norse class at BYU, and the selections are all very good, very interesting. However, I agree with the reviewer that this is, despite the title, hardly the best introdruction to the language.<p>What I recommend is this: Get yourself Stefán Einarsson's fine book, "Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary", which is set up in lessons for the beginner and which you can get real cheap here at Amazon. That book is modern Icelandic, so the readings aren't about Egill Skallagrímsson or Snorri's Edda, but not only is the Old Norse spirit very much alive in modern Iceland (and all the people very familiar with the old stories), but the language has changed extraordinarily little in the last thousand years (very very minor things), so that if you learn modern Icelandic even reasonably well (which you will from Einarsson), you can easily pick up the sagas with no problem.<p>Then, when you've finished with his book, you can get Gordon, which will be much more enjoyable then. Alternatively, you can get the texts of lots of the sagas online from Icelandic sites and get hardcopy English versions here at Amazon to use as "ponies". (Hrafnkels saga is a good one to start with, or Snorra Edda.) Good luck!0198111843541412000-12-25

But not for beginners

Please don't send away 30 dollars thinking that this book is going to teach you to read Old Norse / Old Icelandic. If you're hoping for a basic grammar, with graded lessons, you're going to be disappointed. This is an excellent work, an indispensable work, but it's a reader for those who have already learned the basics of Old Icelandic.<p>After a brief introduction to Scandinavian history, the Viking expansion, and saga literature, the author gives about 160 pages of West Norse, normalized into classical Icelandic. Most of the selections are from the sagas, and they are well annotated, and a full vocabulary is included in the back of the book. There is also a section on what he calls "East Norse" (the Old Norse particular to Denmark, Norway and Sweden), and a small section dealing with the language of the runic inscriptions. <p>There is a 40 or 50 page section where he presents the grammar, but it's more along the lines of an outline of the grammar. It's sufficient for someone who already has a good knowledge of Old English, OHG, or Gothic, but my hat's off to anyone with the determination to acquire a reading knowledge of the language from this grammatical sketch alone.<p>There's the rub: where DO you get the introduction to Old Icelandic that will enable you to use this book with benefit? The superb learning grammar "Old Icelandic: an Introductory Course" by Valfells and Cathey is out of print. Kenneth Chapman wrote "Graded Readings and Exercises in Old Icelandic" about 35 years ago, but that's disappeared as well. Until either of those works is reprinted, or a new introduction is written, it's going to be tough.<p>But none of this is meant to take anything away from Gordon's work; it's a wonderful, scholarly work. Problem is, you really do need to have something of a background before you use it.08018635700071418962014100003114051527290802065481502876General265046Journals265040Accessories504358Formats251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712990011General AAS468236Literature468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books491438Christianity468234Religious Studies468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712994011General AAS468234Religious Studies468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712988011General AAS684261011Foreign Languages468206Humanities465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books712982011General AAS465600New & Used Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books713014011General AAS319654011Qualifying Textbooks251254011Custom Stores44258011Specialty Stores283155Books10404Medieval10399Classics17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books10213General10207Criticism & Theory10204History & Criticism17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books713399011General AAS10207Criticism & Theory10204History & Criticism17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books9944Literary Theory9928History & Criticism9822United States10311World Literature17Literature & Fiction1000Subjects283155Books15959331Germanic Languages11811Instruction11773Foreign Languages21Reference1000Subjects283155Books11853Scandinavian11811Instruction11773Foreign Languages21Reference1000Subjects283155Books725798General11773Foreign Languages21Reference1000Subjects283155Books713597011General AAS11773Foreign Languages21Reference1000Subjects283155Books11986Linguistics11970Words & Language21Reference1000Subjects283155Books12006Study & Teaching11970Words & Language21Reference1000Subjects283155Books12458General12449Theology12290Christianity22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books713643011General AAS12449Theology12290Christianity22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books12504General22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books713609011General AAS22Religion & Spirituality1000Subjects283155Books400272011Paperback394184011Mass Market401237011Trade394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011Refinements283155Books1FA72SQCA4OH6Understanding the Icelandic and Norse Sagas2EM30F6UKZNG9Iceland3SZ3H6U2FNC3JNorthernnessEV7I3B6C1TG7My Favorite Norse's Language Books And Music8RLAC6FBLQL8Read Poetry in the Original: Old Norse3OTEW57YGDKL7Grammars for Indo-European Languages2PVZRW9XLN5QSIndo-European Linguistics - my libraryZ09SX5M5XIG9Essential Asatru, Heathen, & Forn SidR Booklist3EYF2DK5VGI3EIntroduction to Germanic Linguistics1843431017http://www.amazon.com/Jar-City-Arnaldur-Indridason/dp/1843431017%3FSubscriptionId%3D05ERXYTS89KFGEPQR5G2%26tag%3Dthebookrevi0b-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D18434310173333826http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410S5FEPWHL._SL75_.jpg7548http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410S5FEPWHL._SL160_.jpg160103http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410S5FEPWHL.jpg475306Arnaldur IndridasonPaperback839.69349781843431015Import941843431017The Harvill PressIcelandicEnglishEnglish898The Harvill Press224Book2004The Harvill PressThe Harvill Press846061514USD$15.1420000USD$200.000810005.06218434310175002008-10-15

Terrific thriller!

I have just discovered this author and have read all that is presently available in english-wonderful reading!!!!18434310174112008-09-25

Death in Reykjavik

The sombre fall weather in Iceland can have a depressing influence on the people of Reykjavik. Even when it is not raining, the clouds are hanging deep over the city and the short days of light are preparing for an even darker winter. Arnaldur Indridason depicts the atmosphere brilliantly. A bleak, yet not uncommon environment for excellent thrillers. In Iceland, crime is usually straightforward, the motive evident and the case quickly resolved, muses Inspector Erlendur Sveinnson of the local police. He is of the brooding, morose kind, fitting well with the climate. Everybody knows somebody who is known to you - the geography of the island leads to these interconnections. However, when called to an apparent murder of 69 year-old Holberg, the pattern does not appear to fit. There doesn't seem to be a motive - nothing was stolen, for example. Did the victim know his attacker? Ponderous Erlendur has an eye for detail and that skill leads him down some unexpected paths in the hunt for the killer. Holberg also is not the quiet solitary retiree his neighbours think he is - a nasty past comes to light as Erlendur's perseveres, even when faced with opposition by his colleagues, should show results. The case requires digging deep into the past of the various victims that come to light. Secrets are buried deep in this close-knit society. <br /> <br />"Tainted Blood", Indridason's the first translated English novel, initially published under the title "Jar City", is an excellent introduction into Icelandic crime fiction. Erlendur's personality is very well developed. Similarities with his Swedish detective colleague Kurt Wallender (by Henning Mankell) come easily to mind. Both are complex and tested by personal as well as professional challenges. The social environment of the investigators, the victims and the villains is craftily portrayed. The title of the reissued book is unfortunate however, as it does provide a clue to one element in the dramatic story early on. Despite that, the tension is kept to the unpredictable end. [Friederike Knabe] <br /> <br />18434310175002008-07-02

Same book as Jar City

I wish they wouldn't publish the same book by two different names. I love this author's books, they're so different than american writers. 1843431017565652007-06-05

Jar City under a different name

It would have been good to know that "Tainted Blood" was actually the novel "Jar City" before I purchased it and realized the confusion after 2 pages. 1843431017510102005-11-03

Fair Warning re Title change

Much as I enjoyed this book, I would like to give fair warning that it was published as "Jar City" before being retitled for this paperback edition. I wish publishing houses wouldn't do this as it is very misleading.0099494140B001F0RA160312358717B001FOR65C184343301X10466General10457Mystery18Mystery & Thrillers1000Subjects283155Books605116General18Mystery & Thrillers1000Subjects283155Books713437011General AAS18Mystery & Thrillers1000Subjects283155Books400272011Paperback394184011Mass Market401237011Trade394174011Binding (binding)388186011Refinements283155Books618083011Printed Books618072011Format (feature_browse-bin)388186011