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The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, ca. A.D. 1000-1500 | 
| Author: Kirsten Seaver
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $18.00
You Save: $11.95 (40%)
New (13) Used (13) from $15.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 537988
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 428
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0804731616
Dewey Decimal Number: 970
EAN: 9780804731614
ASIN: 0804731616
Publication Date: December 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Using new archaeological, scientific, and documentary information this book confronts head-on many of the unanswered questions about early exploration and colonization along the shores of the Davis Strait.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Well Researched and Well Written July 4, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a very well-written intellectual piece tracing Greenland colonies from establishment, to explorations of North America, and subsequently, their disappearance.
The author portrays a history of over five centuries and has made discoveries that other researchers have missed. The author's conclusions are solid, however rather than sticking to solely historical facts, she speculates slightly on political issues. Nevertheless, the bulk of the book is thoroughly researched and well presented. An interesting read and a great way to learn some history as it is a book that is difficult to put down once you start.
The Norse in Greenland May 29, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Author Seaver seems to have ramsacked the archives of Iceland and Norway to compile a thorough history of five centuries of Norse settlement in Greenland, including the famous and ill-fated Norse effort to establish a colony in North America about 1000 AD. There are enough Olafs and Sigrids here to people Lake Wobegone. The author is apparently Scandinavian -- or speaks Icelandic and medieval Norwegian -- and is thus able to dig deeper than most authors on this topic. She presents her findings in dry professorial prose that may tell some readers more than they really want to know about the internal politics of the North Atlantic back in medieval times.
The great mystery is, of course, why did the Norse colonies in Greenland disappear and when? A worsening climate, Innuit attacks, inbreeding, and isolation have all been cited as reasons. I won't reveal the author's conclusion except to say that she theorizes the Norse survived longer in Greenland -- perhaps after 1500 -- than most scholars believe. The most interesting and original part of the book for me was her examination of the important role of traders and cod fisherman from the English port of Bristol in the exploration of the North Atlantic in the 15th century. She makes a good case that these sailors might have reached the New World a few years before Columbus -- but like good fishermen everywhere kept their favorite fishing holes secret.
All in all, this is a well-researched scholarly history with just enough learned speculation to keep a history and exploration buff reading on. It's the kind of book that -- if you're really, really a fanatic -- you could read a second time and benefit from many small points you missed on the first reading.
Smallchief
A great "whodunit" regarding the lost Greenland colonies. September 5, 1998
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
Was it the Thule Eskimos attacking the Norse Greenland colonies which cause these groups of hardy descendants of Vikings to fall off the map of the North Atlantic after 1408? Was it changes in climate that caused them to move? Where then did they go? Was it the fishing vessels of unfriendly foreign powers or neglect from the homeland which cause these settlements to fail? This well-written scholarly work is difficult to put down as it traces the Greenland colonies from their establishment through their explorations of North America until their existance was "forgotten" by the Western World. Drawing on the latest works in archeology, medieval studies, and related scientific fields, this book provides illuminating insight into a unique culture on the edge of the known world and its final destiny.
An excellent and up-to-date work on a fascinating story April 1, 1998
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
The story of Norse Greenland, the settlement at the end of the earth, and its disappearance, has fascinated scholars and laypeople for 500 years. Kirsten Seaver has produced the best and most readable work on the subject in 50 years, incorporating the large amount of very recent study being done in the field with acute insight and a clear narrative. (Although it means there is not much point in me writing my book on the subject :( )
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