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A remote island with a rich and ancient literature. A land of hot springs and volcanoes. A country with an extraordinary history, a challenging geography and a vibrant contemporary culture. A land of ice.
In Ring of Seasons, Terry Lacy--an American who has lived in Iceland for twenty-four years-- brings both the perspective of the outsider and the familiar eye of the long-term resident to this delightful exploration of all facets of Iceland, past and present. She conveys her story with a skillful interlacing of history, religion, politics, and culture to paint a vivid picture of the way Icelanders live today as members of a wealthy society still very dependent upon nature--from a reliance on her icy waters to support an international fishing industry to a watchful cohabitation with the volcanoes that both destroy villages and create new islands.
This is a book for all who have been charmed by reading the Norse sagas, for all those intrigued by the country that can claim the oldest living democracy. It is an excellent introduction for anyone planning to visit Iceland and a delightful read for all those who do their exploration from the comfort of an armchair.
Terry G. Lacy is an American currently residing in Reykjavik, Iceland.
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Customer Reviews (6)

review of Ring of Seasons
A little long, and it jumps around in time, and it can go off on tangents, but gives a nice feel for the history of Iceland and it was helpful to read before a trip to Iceland.

A wonderful read
I greatly enjoyed this book.It was fun to read and very interesting from a historical point of view.I'm going to Iceland soon and I feel that I understand the background and culture of the country better than before I read this book.
I highly recommend it !

Not the best.
If you are looking for a well-organized history of Iceland, you probably don't want this one.I get the feeling that the author wants it both ways: to be folksy AND legitimate.It doesn't fly. . . I have read several books on Iceland and this is my least favorite....

A pleasant mixture of culture and history
This book was much more pleasant to read in many ways than most historybooks. It blends history with various cultural aspects such as sausagemaking and other traditional pasttimes and holidays. As a result, it doesquite a bit to soften the sometimes drier moments of history. It is one ofthe few history books I have read that make me feel I would know somethinguseful about a place if I were to travel there. Also, because thehistorical aspect is why I bought the book,I was not to be disappointed,the Cod Wars, the Settlement, Christianization, it is all there along withan especially interesting section onthe first settlement of Greenland. Irecommend this book.

Excellant Research Material
This book is an excellant assortment of history, culture, and personal experience. Each chapter can stand by itself but all the chapters tie in together. The details in this book are amazing. It is great for anyone whois interested in learning more about Iceland and it's rich cultural andhistorical background. Also, for research, it is set up in such a way thatyou can find exactly what information you are looking for quickly. This ismy favorite book about Iceland so far. It was the most well organized andcomprehensive. ... Read more

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This is an unusual and revealing travel book that explores the musical roots of Iceland. Waking Up in Iceland is a wonderfully entertaining, honest, and informative book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Enjoyable if outdated
This book reads not unlike Chuck Klosterman's offerings....being a sort of diary-journalistic approach to a topic. There are a fair amount of spelling errors which surprised me (and I can read both American and British spellings without having the UK spellings tick off my internal spell check) but aside from that the book is great. However, be warned that it is quite outdated and record shops and bars mentioned in it are no longer around, or go under different names now.

The Best
"Paul Sullivan's WAKING UP IN ICELAND is The Best, and Most Important, book on Iceland ever written ever published. As a student and appreciator of Iceland's majestic nature and magical culture, past and present, I tip my hat in gratitude to Paul Sullivan and Sanctuary Publishing. I hope the people, and government, of Iceland will do everything possible to let the world know about WAKING UP IN ICELAND. I will do all I can to spread the word about this brilliant book."
Ron Whitehead, may 21, 2003, Kentucky

A fun and interesting reading
I am big fan of Sigurros and Björk and it was intersting to read about the roots of their music in Iceland. It was a easy and enjoyable reading ... Read more

Product Description
In 930, Iceland first established a common law for the island and became an autonomous republic, which lasted until it came under the sovereignty of the Norwegian king nearly three and a half centuries later.This volume is a two-part analysis of that society, known as the Icelandic "commonwealth" or "Freestate."The first section examines how medieval Icelanders classified and perceived such domains as time, space, kinship, political organization, and cosmology, linking together these various realms to present an integrated picture of the society's world-view.The second section focuses on the changes that took place during the period in the fields of ecology, demography, religion, property relations, and the law, and explains how and why these changes, interacting with more fundamental social structures and beliefs, undermined--and ultimately destroyed--the society. ... Read more

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Describes this island of fire and ice which is located in the North Atlantic and which is today populated sparsely by descendants of Viking settlers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Iceland (Cultures of the World)
This book serves as a fine introduction to a great country.In introducing my friends to Iceland I kept checking this out of the library.I kept extending the checkout time for four months because the photographs were so good.The photos capture the normal day-to-day life in Iceland. Don't let the recommended age scare you.Most of those who leafed through this book were adults.I found that not one person was disappointed in it in any way. This book would also serve as a good memory guide after your trip to Iceland. ... Read more

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Icelanders are the national group or ethnic group of Iceland descended primarily from Norsemen of Scandinavia and Celts. Historical and DNA records indicate that about 20% of those who settled in Iceland were from Britain and Ireland and 80% were from Scandinavia. On 17 June 1944, when an Icelandic republic was founded the Icelanders became independent from the Danish monarchy. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheran is the predominant religious belief. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Scandinavian Studies, published by Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 543 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Terry G. Lacy. Ring of Seasons: Iceland--Its Culture and History.(Book Review)
Author: Marvin G. Slind
Publication: Scandinavian Studies (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Volume: 74Issue: 2Page: 233(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 602 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The culture of Iceland is rich and varied as well as being known for its literary heritage which stems from authors from the 12th to 14th centuries. Other Icelandic traditional arts include weaving, silver crafting, and wood carving. The Reykjavík area has several professional theatres, a symphony orchestra, an opera, and a large amount of art galleries, bookstores, cinemas, and museums. There are also four active folk dance ensemble in Iceland. Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world, and a love of literature, art, chess, and other intellectual pursuits is widespread. Icelanders generally have a traditional liberal Nordic outlook, similar to other Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden. Yet, an important key to understanding Icelanders and their culture (and which differentiates them from the majority of their contemporary Nordic peoples) is the high importance they place on the traits of independence and self-sufficiency. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Scandinavian Studies, published by Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study on January 1, 1996. The length of the article is 543 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Hidden Class: Culture and Class in a Maritime Setting, Iceland, 1880-1942. (book reviews)
Author: David Cooperman
Publication: Scandinavian Studies (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1996
Publisher: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Volume: v68Issue: n1Page: p105(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Tools of Literacyis a thorough and ground-breaking examination of thirteenth-century skaldic verse or dróttkvætt, the literary production of Iceland in the thirteenth century, and of the textual culture which nurtured the poets. Nordal demonstrates the connection between thirteenth-century skaldic verse and the formal study of grammatica in schools, and establishes that skaldic verse was treated much like a Nordic equivalent of classic texts. She also reevaluates and reemphasizes the versatility of skaldic verse, and demonstrates the link between Icelandic authors and intellectual currents in Europe at the time. The study systematically links the thirteenth-century poets with leading families and with ecclesiastical and secular learning, and shows that skaldic verse-making was one of the class symbols of the new aristocracy in thirteenth-century Iceland.

In giving a faithful account of verse making in thirteenth-century Iceland, Nordal has developed a database of approximately 1900 entries which serves as a point of reference throughout the book. The book's content is new, its overall coverage unique, and it will certainly be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of comparative literature, comparative mythology, Old Norse/Icelandic literature and language, and medieval studies.

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The term 'globalization' has been used to describe the intensification of cross-border flows - whether in the realm of ideas, culture, finance/trade, or human mobility. Like many other vital ideas, such as nationalism and modernization, globalization is fraught with controversy. But no matter where one stands, it is a site of an ongoing intellectual endeavor of definition, interpretation and redefinition - a contested terrain that continues to have profound, if unequal, impact on people's lives around the world. Given the inherent tension between the global and local, this phenomenon is perhaps more accurately explained by the conceptual hybrid 'globalization'. The diverse contributions in this volume are an attempt to come to grips with some of the implications of this process by problematizing and engaging it. It grew out of an interdisciplinary conference on globalization held at the University of Iceland in late autumn 2002 as part of an international research project co-ordinated by GERM (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Mondialisations), involving a large group of academics, universities, and institutions. The volume emphasizes specific aspects of the globalization debate: politics, culture, gender, and language/translation. One focus - articulated among others by Zygmunt Bauman - is on the reconfigurations of political power relationships between the West and the Rest, the 'war on terror' and conflict resolution, whether in the name of peacekeeping, nation-building or identity changes. Another theme involves the problematization of the culture concept, its place in the public domain, and the redefinition of identities as a result of globalization. A third aspect deals with attempts to illuminate how globalization processes may deepen gender, class and race inequalities in the absence of binding rules and collective social responsibility. Finally, the focus is on the changing attitudes toward language/translation in a heavily mediatized and accelerated world. ... Read more