In Search of First Contact


Book Description

A radically new interpretation of two medieval Icelandic tales, known as the Vinland sagas, considering what the they reveal about native peoples, and how they contribute to the debate about whether Leif Eiriksson or Christopher Columbus should be credited as the first "discoverer" of America.




Vinland Saga


Book Description

WITHIN THE KING’S GRASP As Canute plots to become ruler of the entire Danish world, Thorfinn’s only ambition is to see a harvest profitable enough to buy his own life back. But the fates of prince and slave will come together once again, as Canute plans to seize Ketil Farm from its kindhearted master. What sinister tricks does the have up his sleeve, and could they dash Thorfinn’s hopes for freedom? Meanwhile, Einar’s infatuation with Arnheid takes an unexpected turn when her former husband – an escaped slave – barges onto the farm, insisting she run away with him… "A fascinating, violent, and moving story [that’s] firmly among other timeless classics… Seriously, I don’t know how many different ways I can say this manga is worth reading." -Kotaku




Maps, Myths, and Men


Book Description

The "Vínland Map" first surfaced on the antiquarian market in 1957 and the map's authenticity has been hotly debated ever since—in controversies ranging from the anomalous composition of the ink and the map's lack of provenance to a plethora of historical and cartographical riddles. Maps, Myths, and Men is the first work to address the full range of this debate. Focusing closely on what the map in fact shows, the book contains a critique of the 1965 work The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation; scrutinizes the marketing strategies used in 1957; and covers many aspects of the map that demonstrate it is a modern fake, such as literary evidence and several scientific ink analyses performed between 1967 and 2002. The author explains a number of the riddles and provides evidence for both the identity of the mapmaker and the source of the parchment used, and she applies current knowledge of medieval Norse culture and exploration to counter widespread misinformation about Norse voyages to North America and about the Norse world picture.




Vinland Saga 12


Book Description

Sigurd returns home to Iceland to face the horrible Halfdan, but a father and a king can only be as good as his word—a blessing he refuses to bestow to Sigurd without a fight. All the while, Gudrid joins Thorfinn and the crew on their journey to Thorfinn’s childhood home, where Halfdan’s presence looms mightily… However, with some help from fresh faces and promising volunteers, the day the ships set off for Vinland is imminent.




The United States of Vinland


Book Description

"What if the Vikings who settled Greenland and went on to reach North America at the turn of the first millennium had stayed? Eskil, orphaned in war but now a man, is leading his followers across the ocean to found a settlement dedicated to Asgard's gods in the newly discovered lands of the west. There, after tests, adventures and challenges, he will leave a legacy that will grow to become the greatest nation the world has ever seen. Welcome to Norse America." -- Provided by publisher.




Rediscovering Vinland


Book Description

For over 100 years, people have debated where Vinland is located. This book describes what sagas said, where Vikings landed, what interaction they had with Natives, and what legacy they left Indians and early European colonists. Fred Brown uses 33 years of studying Viking accounts of journeys to America, genetic information, archaeological evidence, Old Norse language remnants, and sailing experience to pinpoint yet another Viking incursion in New England. His detective work to find Vinland is brilliant and masterful. "While you and I play golf, Fred Brown spends his off-hours researching our past. After reading about possible areas visited by the Vikings and descriptions of America in Viking legends, in 1976 Fred ventured out by boat using Viking descriptions and archaeological finds in that theorized area. He investigated documents from English settlers in the 1600s about the light-skinned Indians, metal and smelting use by early Indians, odd linguistic similarities to northwestern Europeans, and a peculiar resistance to tuberculosis among Indians, genetically common to Europeans. He concluded, and is not the only researcher to do so, that the Narragansett and Wampanoag Indians of the region encountered by early English settlers were, in fact, descendants of mixed Indian/Viking populations." -Editor, Diane Holloway, Ph.D. .




Vinland Saga


Book Description

The Mighty Laid Low Thanks to his claim by lineage, the attackers surrounding Jomsborg want Thorfinn to be their leader, but it is a mantle he intensely rejects. When the battle for leadership over the powerful Jomsvikings reaches a stalemate, Thorfinn must make a critical decision. With Gudrid held captive within the fortressed city, walking away will not be an option. He must infiltrate Jomsborg to break her out, and the ensuing battle will leave the greatest mercenary force in the North Sea changed forever…




Vinland


Book Description

In his fourth novel, George Mackay Brown takes us to an Orkney torn between its Viking past and its Christian future. Set in the early 11th Century, it tells the story of Ranald Sigmundson, who turns his back on a successful life of political intrigues and battles to design a ship to take him on a journey even greater than the first great voyage of his life, the one to Vinland.




From Iceland to the Americas


Book Description

This volume investigates the reception of a small historical fact with wide-ranging social, cultural and imaginative consequences. Inspired by Leif Eiriksson’s visit to Vinland in about the year 1000, novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, films and video games have all come to reflect rising interest in the medieval Norse and their North American presence. Uniquely in reception studies, From Iceland to the Americas approaches this dynamic between Nordic history and its reception by bringing together international authorities on mythology, language, film and cultural studies, as well as on the literature that has dominated critical reception. Collectively, the chapters not only explore the connections among medieval Iceland and the modern Americas, but also probe why medieval contact has become a modern cultural touchstone.




Sweating Bullets


Book Description

PowerPoint was the first presentation software designed for Macintosh and Windows, received the first venture capital investment ever made by Apple, then became the first significant acquisition ever made by Microsoft, who set up a new Graphics Business Unit in Silicon Valley to develop it further. Now, twenty-five years later, PowerPoint is installed on more than one billion computers, worldwide. In this book, Robert Gaskins (who invented the idea, managed its design and development, and then headed the new Microsoft group) tells the story of its first years, recounting the perils and disasters narrowly evaded as a startup, dissecting the complexities of being the first distant development group in Microsoft, and explaining decisions and insights that enabled PowerPoint to become a lasting success well beyond its original business uses.