The History of Iceland

I so wanted to like this book. We are visiting Iceland in a few weeks and I wanted some background. After reading the Captivating History version of Icelandic history, which was superficial and poorly organized, I looked for something more comprehensive. Reviews of this book were promising. And, in fact, the content is good. The readability is next to impossible. Not due to the author’s style, but because of the terrible transformation to an ebook. Every page is presented twice, once in text, and then again as an image. Frequently the color of the text changes to red. Navigating with hypertext is very frustrating.A real struggle to get anything useful out of it.Too bad.

Lots of facts and laid out well in a good timeline. If you really want to know about Iceland, this book will teach you.

A comprehensive treatment of the history of Iceland in 365 pages. Particularly helpful were the author's very frequent references to points made earlier (or to be made later) in this book. If one needed to go back to refresh one's memory or to go forward and see a specific point treated in more detail, the references simplified the search. His treatment of literature and the arts could be expanded, perhaps at the expense of the detail he provides concerning the political parties and their changing alliances, but this is just a personal preference of mine. Traveling at present (September 2016) in Iceland, I can appreciate even more his detailed treatment of the subject.

We will be visiting Iceland later this year so I wanted to read something about its history. This book tells me EVERYTHING. A bit more detail than I needed, but overall I found it both excellent and interesting. I still can't pronounce most of the names of people and places, but the maps and photos help. I'm sure our visit will be better for having read this book.

Perfect gift for any history enthusiast traveling to Iceland. I purchased this for my husband prior to our travels there, and he loved it.

A very thurough and personable history. Gunnar Karlsson's narative style hints of Icelandic Saga and entertains while conveying the facts to the extent known on a broad range of cultural topics.

My wife is a Viking lover who studies their history and she found this book very interesting with a number of facts she had not seen before. Her critical comment was that the text needed a better proof-reader.

Big fan of this book. Get it.

Very informative about a country that most non-Icelanders know little about. Well written, not too heavy. I would have liked more about more recent times, and more social history, especially post-WW2. I would have liked more discussion of the Cod Wars, which I remember well as a teenager. But it is a useful book to learn something about this enigmatic country.