Iceland : land of the Sagas

David Roberts and Jon Krakauer

Uitg. Harry N. Abrahams, hardcover with duskjacket

ONE OF THE LAST "UNDISCOVERED"
places in Europe, Iceland is often thought to be covered by ice, but in fact is gloriously green. Lush meadows, wildflower fields, and miles of rich tundra cover a landscape of remarkable variety—deep lakes, bubbling hot springs, tumbling waterfalls, snow-capped mountains. Iceland even harbors deep wildernesses, although the entire country is only about the size of the state of Virginia. Among its geological distinctions are more lava than any place on earth (some of it in furious eruption), the largest glacier in Europe (the Vatnajokull), the original waterspout (Geysir is an Icelandic word), and myriad spectacular offshore skerries on whose cliffs nest a great diversity of seabirds, most colorful of which are the puffins.

The human story of Iceland goes back over 11,000 years, and yet nearly every member of the present-day population, which numbers only about a quarter million, relates intimately to the history. Icelanders do so because their language has remained virtually unchanged in the millennium, and because their heritage is told in a treasury of fascinating sagas; legends of real life heroes, trolls, witches, shape-shifters and all manner of supranatural beings.

Both the land and the character of the people come to life in this colorful account. David Roberts' lively text relates many bone-chilling Saga stories, and connects them to the landscape that he and photographer Jon Krakauer walked, climbed, and drove over. Circumnavigating Iceland in summer and winter, they find Grettir's Lift, the cottage-sized boulder that a Saga hero picked up just to prove he could do it; they visit Thingvellir, site of the oldest parliamentary assembly in Europe; and meet the indigenous Icelandic horse that figures so importantly in Njcil's Saga.

Numerous other adventures—including a hazardous winter climb to the summit of one of Iceland's tallest mountains—round out a fascinating introduction to a unique and beautiful land and its stirring history.


About the authors:
DAVID ROBERTS, who grew up in Colorado and was educated at Harvard and the University of Denver, has made a career of mountain climbing, outdoor adventure, and writing. He is the author of four books about climbing and exploration, as well as a biography of the novelist and short story writer, Jean Stafford. With Bradford Washburn, he is author of Abrams' forthcoming book on Mount McKinley, whose Wickersham Wall he climbed in 1963 while still an undergraduate.

JON KRAKAUER, raised in Oregon and educated at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, now lives in Seattle, Washington when he is not traveling the world. A contributing editor of Outside magazine, Krakauer has published photographs and essays in a wide variety of magazines, from Smithsonian to Rolling Stone. A mountain climber since he was eight years old, he was the winner of the American Alpine Club Literary Award in 1986. Eiger Dreams, a voltime of his essays on mountaineering, has recently been published.