Customer Reviews (1)

Iceland (Cultures of the World)
This book serves as a fine introduction to a great country.In introducing my friends to Iceland I kept checking this out of the library.I kept extending the checkout time for four months because the photographs were so good.The photos capture the normal day-to-day life in Iceland. Don't let the recommended age scare you.Most of those who leafed through this book were adults.I found that not one person was disappointed in it in any way. This book would also serve as a good memory guide after your trip to Iceland. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (6)

review of Ring of Seasons
A little long, and it jumps around in time, and it can go off on tangents, but gives a nice feel for the history of Iceland and it was helpful to read before a trip to Iceland.

A wonderful read
I greatly enjoyed this book.It was fun to read and very interesting from a historical point of view.I'm going to Iceland soon and I feel that I understand the background and culture of the country better than before I read this book.
I highly recommend it !

Not the best.
If you are looking for a well-organized history of Iceland, you probably don't want this one.I get the feeling that the author wants it both ways: to be folksy AND legitimate.It doesn't fly. . . I have read several books on Iceland and this is my least favorite....

A pleasant mixture of culture and history
This book was much more pleasant to read in many ways than most historybooks. It blends history with various cultural aspects such as sausagemaking and other traditional pasttimes and holidays. As a result, it doesquite a bit to soften the sometimes drier moments of history. It is one ofthe few history books I have read that make me feel I would know somethinguseful about a place if I were to travel there. Also, because thehistorical aspect is why I bought the book,I was not to be disappointed,the Cod Wars, the Settlement, Christianization, it is all there along withan especially interesting section onthe first settlement of Greenland. Irecommend this book.

Excellant Research Material
This book is an excellant assortment of history, culture, and personal experience. Each chapter can stand by itself but all the chapters tie in together. The details in this book are amazing. It is great for anyone whois interested in learning more about Iceland and it's rich cultural andhistorical background. Also, for research, it is set up in such a way thatyou can find exactly what information you are looking for quickly. This ismy favorite book about Iceland so far. It was the most well organized andcomprehensive. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Scandinavian Studies, published by Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 543 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Terry G. Lacy. Ring of Seasons: Iceland--Its Culture and History.(Book Review)
Author: Marvin G. Slind
Publication: Scandinavian Studies (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Volume: 74Issue: 2Page: 233(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
In 930, Iceland first established a common law for the island and became an autonomous republic, which lasted until it came under the sovereignty of the Norwegian king nearly three and a half centuries later.This volume is a two-part analysis of that society, known as the Icelandic
"commonwealth" or "Freestate."The first section examines how medieval Icelanders classified and perceived such domains as time, space, kinship, political organization, and cosmology, linking together these various realms to present an integrated picture of the society's world-view.The second
section focuses on the changes that took place during the period in the fields of ecology, demography, religion, property relations, and the law, and explains how and why these changes, interacting with more fundamental social structures and beliefs, undermined--and ultimately destroyed--the
society. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Scandinavian Studies, published by Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study on January 1, 1996. The length of the article is 543 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Hidden Class: Culture and Class in a Maritime Setting, Iceland, 1880-1942. (book reviews)
Author: David Cooperman
Publication: Scandinavian Studies (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1996
Publisher: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Volume: v68Issue: n1Page: p105(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This major survey of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culture demonstrates the remarkable continuity of Icelandic language and culture from medieval to modern times.

• Comprises 29 chapters written by leading scholars in the field
  
• Reflects current debates among Old Norse-Icelandic scholars
  
• Pays attention to previously neglected areas of study, such as the sagas of Icelandic bishops and the fantasy sagas
  
• Looks at the ways Old Norse-Icelandic literature is used by modern writers, artists and film directors, both within and outside Scandinavia
  
• Sets Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature in its wider cultural context

Book Description

Tools of Literacyis a thorough and ground-breaking examination of thirteenth-century skaldic verse or dr3/4ttkvaett , the literary production of Iceland in the thirteenth century, and of the textual culture which nurtured the poets. Nordal demonstrates the connection between thirteenth-century skaldic verse and the formal study of grammatica in schools, and establishes that skaldic verse was treated much like a Nordic equivalent of classic texts. She also reevaluates and reemphasizes the versatility of skaldic verse, and demonstrates the link between Icelandic authors and intellectual currents in Europe at the time. The study systematically links the thirteenth-century poets with leading families and with ecclesiastical and secular learning, and shows that skaldic verse-making was one of the class symbols of the new aristocracy in thirteenth-century Iceland.

In giving a faithful account of verse making in thirteenth-century Iceland, Nordal has developed a database of approximately 1900 entries which serves as a point of reference throughout the book. The book's content is new, its overall coverage unique, and it will certainly be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of comparative literature, comparative mythology, Old Norse/Icelandic literature and language, and medieval studies. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from NZ Business, published by Profile Publishing Ltd. on December 1, 2004. The length of the article is 809 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Exporting prawn rearing technology: a small Taupo company is poised to export its prawn breeding and rearing technology to the world using Iceland as the global gateway. Katherine Edmond reports.(export review)
Author: Katherine Edmond
Publication: NZ Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2004
Publisher: Profile Publishing Ltd.
Volume: 18Issue: 11Page: 46(1)

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Product Description
Introduces and showcases the beautiful city of Reykjavik and the country of Iceland, including its nature, use of natural resources, and the unique harmonious existence of nature and culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Really cool book
A very cool book, piles of graffiti from Iceland, a really great documentary, but the look and layout of the book also makes it perfect for the coffee table. If you like graffiti, street art, graphic design and Reykjavik, Iceland, you will love this book. ... Read more

Book Description
The term 'globalization' has been used to describe the intensification of cross-border flows - whether in the realm of ideas, culture, finance/trade, or human mobility. Like many other vital ideas, such as nationalism and modernization, globalization is fraught with controversy. But no matter where one stands, it is a site of an ongoing intellectual endeavor of definition, interpretation and redefinition - a contested terrain that continues to have profound, if unequal, impact on people's lives around the world. Given the inherent tension between the global and local, this phenomenon is perhaps more accurately explained by the conceptual hybrid 'globalization'. The diverse contributions in this volume are an attempt to come to grips with some of the implications of this process by problematizing and engaging it. It grew out of an interdisciplinary conference on globalization held at the University of Iceland in late autumn 2002 as part of an international research project co-ordinated by GERM (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Mondialisations), involving a large group of academics, universities, and institutions. The volume emphasizes specific aspects of the globalization debate: politics, culture, gender, and language/translation. One focus - articulated among others by Zygmunt Bauman - is on the reconfigurations of political power relationships between the West and the Rest, the 'war on terror' and conflict resolution, whether in the name of peacekeeping, nation-building or identity changes. Another theme involves the problematization of the culture concept, its place in the public domain, and the redefinition of identities as a result of globalization. A third aspect deals with attempts to illuminate how globalization processes may deepen gender, class and race inequalities in the absence of binding rules and collective social responsibility. Finally, the focus is on the changing attitudes toward language/translation in a heavily mediatized and accelerated world. ... Read more

Product Description
These days the written word is coming under a great deal of pressure from visual media. Increasingly we feel we have to refer to films "which everyone knows" or contemporary mass culture in order to explain theories and discuss the pattern of a text. Photography, television and films have taken over a large share of information exchange, education and entertainment. The flow of images reaches us via the ever-changing forms of new technologies and the "medium is the message". But visual media are not merely part of our reality: we talk of a "world wiew" and this reflects the fact that the public space, and therefore our culture, is becoming more visual by the day. This anthology considers literature and visual culture form a number of different perspectives. It provides valuable assistance in the quest for a new understanding of the interplay and fusion of image and text in the modern era, in new yet at the same time well-established forms. ... Read more