Robert W. Rix

The scholarly tome is not a "search for" but a "look at" how this particular settlement of Greenland - or rather it vanished Norse settlement - became a cultural memory. This book provides a study of ".. how the memory of Greenland's "lost colony" was transmitted, interpreted and negotiated from the late sixteenth to the early twentieth century." In short, it looks at the Wests fascination and imagination of the Arctic and its peoples; it is a study of European misconceptions, legends, show more folklores; and of how contemporary scholarship fueled the germination of these legends. Rix then examines the cultivation of memories of the past and how they are often driven by national and geographical motivations before considering the "master trope" of the fabled lost settlement. show less

NONFICTION
This volume is the result of incredibly meticulous research complete with understanding of the way in which different European countries vied for the riches they perceived as belonging to the largest island in the world and the indigenous peoples inhabiting all of the frozen North. There are visual reproductions which suffer in the electronic version but all of the books and articles used in the research are fully documented. This is a fantastic resource in itself for scholars and show more aficionados alike. I geek history and Pop was born in Norway, so of course I am biased.
I requested and received an EARC from Cambridge University Press via NetGalley. Thank you! show less