Wasteland with Words
A Social History of Iceland
'Magnússon narrates a well-timed history of Iceland through the lives of ordinary people and local communities in a pointillist style that evokes a rich heritage. He shows how a localised barter economy, based in fishing and agriculture, became a financial system with a global strategy that fatally overreached itself with embarrassing international political and financial consequences. The dust has yet to settle.' – The Times
'[a] combination of cultural depth and material backwardness is the central message of Sigurdur Gylfi Magnusson’s social history of one of Europe’s smallest and remotest countries . . . This book, drawing on Icelanders’ astonishingly detailed diaries and letters in past centuries, gives the outsider a rare glimpse into the past lives of an extraordinary people.' – Edward Lucas, The EconomistIceland appears to many a country shrouded in mystery and legend, and marked by contradiction: a part of Europe, and yet separated from it by the Atlantic Ocean; seemingly inhospitable, and yet home to more than 300,000 souls.
Wasteland with Words explores the evolution and transformation of Icelandic society and culture, investigating the literary and historical factors that created the rich cultural heritage enjoyed by Icelanders today. Sigurdur Gylfi Magnússon presents a wide-ranging and detailed analysis of the island’s history, examining how a nineteenth-century economy based on the industries of fishing and agriculture – one of the poorest in Europe – grew to become a disproportionately large economic power in the late twentieth century, while retaining its strong sense of cultural identity. The recent economic and political collapse of the country is also assessed, in the light of the historical development of the island. With a focus on the lives of individual Icelanders throughout, the book seeks to chart the vast changes in this country’s history through the impact and effect on the Icelandic people themselves.
Wasteland with Words is a comprehensive study of the island’s social and historical development, from tiny fishing settlements to a global economic power. It will appeal to anyone interested in or studying this most enigmatic of islands, and also to those interested in cultural and social history as a whole.Sigurdur Gylfi Magnússon is the Chair of the Center for Microhistorical Research at the Reykjavik Academy. He is the author of many books, including Microhistory – Conflicting Paths and The History War: Essays and Narratives on Ideology.
234 x 156 mm
272 pages
40 illustrationsHardback
978 1 86189 661 2
March 2010
£25.00
