If early explorers are an interest of yours, then this book is a good fit. The author opens the book with some tales of early Norse exploration in Iceland and Greenland and some sagas of voyages further west. Then he begins to describe the ships, clothes, implements and some history of the Norse. This is essential to understanding how he determines how far south the Norse went in the north of North America. He then goes back to the Norse sagas and discoveries of artifacts in locations of eastern Canada. By these he is able to prove just how far south the Norse went in their journeys and how long they stayed. A map in one of the final chapters is very helpful.
In addition, the author covers a number of the many hoaxes---and exposes the problems, often with some humor---others perpetrated about Norsemen going much farther then they did.
In one chapter---which I basically just scanned---the author discusses how the Norse pronunciation of "Vin" might have led people to think one Norse explorer called the new land "Vineland" for its grapes, rather then "Vinland" for its meadows. Since he is a professor of Scandinavian and Germanic languages this was important to him, but not enough for me to read a long discussion of it, despite it's importance.
One interesting note... We are all taught in school Virginia Dare was the first English child born in the Americas, when in 1587 she was born at the Roanoke Colony (the lost colony), in what is now North Carolina. On page 93 the author recounts the birth of Snorri, a boy, born to Gudlid, the wife of Thorfinn Thordarson, a merchant. Snorri was the first white child born in the Americas, sometime about 1000 A.D. A year or so later, Snorri's family returned to Greenland.
Finally, and despite how much I admire Scandinavians and their history, I finished the book with a deep feeling of thankfulness I not one of them, as my name is simple to write and easy to pronounce. Sometimes I think the reason so many famous Scandinavian personages are referred to by their nicknames is due to their true names. A good example is "Erik the Red" was actually Erik Thorvaldsson. And we won't even discuss Thordur Magnusson, Thorfinn Thordarson or Olaf Tryggvason... :-)
In addition, the author covers a number of the many hoaxes---and exposes the problems, often with some humor---others perpetrated about Norsemen going much farther then they did.
In one chapter---which I basically just scanned---the author discusses how the Norse pronunciation of "Vin" might have led people to think one Norse explorer called the new land "Vineland" for its grapes, rather then "Vinland" for its meadows. Since he is a professor of Scandinavian and Germanic languages this was important to him, but not enough for me to read a long discussion of it, despite it's importance.
One interesting note... We are all taught in school Virginia Dare was the first English child born in the Americas, when in 1587 she was born at the Roanoke Colony (the lost colony), in what is now North Carolina. On page 93 the author recounts the birth of Snorri, a boy, born to Gudlid, the wife of Thorfinn Thordarson, a merchant. Snorri was the first white child born in the Americas, sometime about 1000 A.D. A year or so later, Snorri's family returned to Greenland.
Finally, and despite how much I admire Scandinavians and their history, I finished the book with a deep feeling of thankfulness I not one of them, as my name is simple to write and easy to pronounce. Sometimes I think the reason so many famous Scandinavian personages are referred to by their nicknames is due to their true names. A good example is "Erik the Red" was actually Erik Thorvaldsson. And we won't even discuss Thordur Magnusson, Thorfinn Thordarson or Olaf Tryggvason... :-)
