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9780295992938

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Reviews

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. Geographical Review 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. Choice

""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."" Choice ""For centuries, Iceland has occupied a peculiar place in the European imagination. It has appeared utterly familiar and proximate on the one hand, while simultaneously exotic and remote on the other. This striking contrast serves as the launching point for Karen Oslund's compelling and richly detailed book, Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture and Storytelling in the North Atlantic. The book offers a historical exploration of how Iceland (as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands) was discursively constructed through the narratives of European travelers, naturalists, scientists, and statesmen from the early eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries."" - Kai Heidemann, H-SAE, December 2012 ""Oslund's comprehensive critical analysis of the narratives and counter-narratives of the gradual evolution of Iceland and the North Atlantic's perceived exoticism ('Europe's last wilderness', 170) 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. Oslund's book encourages us as scholars to make the conceptual journey to the North Atlantic, to recognize that its narratives are created only partially in response to actual experiences there but much more significantly by the political, economic, cultural and academic narratives that predominate among the travellers, native inhabitants and international onlookers who built and continue to build these narratives."" - John D. Shafer, European History Quarterly 2014 Vol. 44(2)

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. Geographical Review 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. Choice For centuries, Iceland has occupied a peculiar place in the European imagination. It has appeared utterly familiar and proximate on the one hand, while simultaneously exotic and remote on the other. This striking contrast serves as the launching point for Karen Oslund's compelling and richly detailed book, Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture and Storytelling in the North Atlantic. The book offers a historical exploration of how Iceland (as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands) was discursively constructed through the narratives of European travelers, naturalists, scientists, and statesmen from the early eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. - Kai Heidemann, H-SAE, December 2012

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. Choice For centuries, Iceland has occupied a peculiar place in the European imagination. It has appeared utterly familiar and proximate on the one hand, while simultaneously exotic and remote on the other. This striking contrast serves as the launching point for Karen Oslund's compelling and richly detailed book, Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture and Storytelling in the North Atlantic. The book offers a historical exploration of how Iceland (as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands) was discursively constructed through the narratives of European travelers, naturalists, scientists, and statesmen from the early eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. - Kai Heidemann, H-SAE, December 2012 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 and should bear in mind that, despite regional focus and fair-to-good maps, it is not a geography text. - Russell Fielding, Geographical Review, Vol 102, No 1, 2012

Author Information

Karen Oslund is assistant professor of world history at Towson University in Maryland.

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