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The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics) Paperback – July 29, 2008

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 381 ratings

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The bestselling saga of Eirik the Red, Leif the Lucky, and the first American explorers

The all-time bestselling of the sagas in Penguin Classics,
The Vinland Sagas are published here in a vibrant new translation. Consisting of The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga, they chronicle the adventures of Eirik the Red and his son, Leif Eirikson, who explored North America 500 years before Columbus. Famous for being the first-ever descriptions of North America, and written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik's son Leif the Lucky's perilous voyages to explore it.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
"All the Little Raindrops: A Novel" by Mia Sheridan for $10.39
The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Magnus Magnusson is an Icelander who has been resident in Scotland for most of his life, and is well-known for his presentation of the BBC's Mastermind. He is also chairman of the Scottish National Heritage. He studied English and Old Icelandic at Oxford University.

Hermann Palsson studied Icelandic at the University of Iceland and Celtic at University College, Dublin. Formerly Professor of Icelandic at the University of Edinburgh and General Editor of the New Saga Library, he has written many books on the history and literature of medieval Iceland. He died in 2003.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; unknown edition (July 29, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140447768
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140447767
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 0.33 x 7.79 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 381 ratings

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
381 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and useful for students of Norse culture and pre-Columbian America. They find it easy to read with clear explanations, maps, illustrations, and a glossary. The book provides travel directions and blends history with local legends, making it an historical masterpiece.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

9 customers mention "Value for money"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a good value for money. They say it's useful for students of Norse culture and pre-Columbian America. They also mention it's a clean, well-made edition that arrived in great condition.

"...A very useful book for students of Norse culture and pre-Columbian America." Read more

"...few decades ago, was adequate, but this new edition is well worth having an extra copy around...." Read more

"Great little book. I thought the Saga's were longer than what is in the book." Read more

"Very interesting. I am loking forward to using this book in my Viking 2291 History class the Spring semester. Easy to read." Read more

6 customers mention "Readable"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read with clear explanations, maps, illustrations, and a glossary. They appreciate the informative introduction and notes by Gisli Sigurdsson. The Vinland Sagas is well-translated with helpful maps and notes. Overall, customers find the book interesting and accessible.

"...introduction by Gisli Sigurdsson, contains maps, illustrations, and a glossary, and examination of Norse ships, farms, and legal structures...." Read more

"...European settlers, this edition of the Vinland Sagas, with its strong translation and good supplementary material, is the one to have...." Read more

"...They seem edited to be dry, documentary, summary and absent any of the kinds of drama and entertainment that would keep pagans, adult or children..." Read more

"...Now I get to reading the sagas in one volume. The translation is readable but some times confusing that many names has "Thor..." in it...." Read more

4 customers mention "Map content"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the maps and notes in the book. They mention it contains helpful maps, illustrations, and a glossary. The book provides local legends and enough facts to transmit travel directions. While academically interesting, some readers feel the exploration is too sanitized.

"...Kurz and edited with notes and introduction by Gisli Sigurdsson, contains maps, illustrations, and a glossary, and examination of Norse ships, farms..." Read more

"...of some accessible and generally interesting introduction and very helpful maps and notes by Gisli Sigurdsson and the Sagas of The Greenlanders and..." Read more

"...Amazing their ability to navigate in such a treacherous ocean. Wish more evidence found to substantiate their landings in North America." Read more

"...The maps are a great help to understanding the sagas." Read more

3 customers mention "Historical accuracy"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the historical accuracy of the book. They find it a historical masterpiece that blends history, local legends, and facts to create great tales that are now proven true.

"...My notion of the importance of sagas is that they combine history, local legends and perhaps enough facts to transmit travel directions to the..." Read more

"...great tales that are now proven to be true" Read more

"Historical masterpiece..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2017
    This book actually consists of two Icelandic sagas, "The Saga of the Greenlanders" and "The Saga of Erik the Red," which offer tantalizing and all too brief accounts of one of the most intriguing events in history--the exploration and attempted colonization of North America (in this case basically the Canadian Maritime Provinces) by Norsemen (Vikings) half a millennium before Columbus. The Vikings today are best known as looters and marauders, but they were also intrepid explorers, enterprising merchants, and hardworking farmers who succeeded in carving out long-term colonies in Greenland (which lasted until the sixteenth century) and Iceland (which still exists). They did not succeed in Vinland, largely because the hostile "Skraelings" (Native Americans) were too numerous and too powerful. Remember, folks, this was before the invention of gunpowder. They were also plagued by internal dissensions and the machinations of one truly evil woman, Leif Ericsson's half-sister Freydir Eriksdottir. The sagas were written down some three centuries after the events narrated therein, and must not be regarded as sober history, based as they are on oral traditions combining myth, legend, and solid fact. They have the directness of the Bible and the objectivity of Homer, and like the Bible and Homer much time is taken up by confusing genealogies and polysyllabic names that are hard to keep track of (a key to Icelandic pronunciation would have been nice). Though the tone is largely objective, there is a subtle evangelical spin to the narratives: the sympathetic characters are mostly Christians, while the unsympathetic characters are largely pagan. Also, one cannot help noticing that the pagan characters usually come to bad ends. This Penguin Classic version, translated by Keneva Kurz and edited with notes and introduction by Gisli Sigurdsson, contains maps, illustrations, and a glossary, and examination of Norse ships, farms, and legal structures. A very useful book for students of Norse culture and pre-Columbian America.
    19 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2008
    This is the second edition of The Vinland Sagas that I've purchased from the Penguin Classics series. The first, published a few decades ago, was adequate, but this new edition is well worth having an extra copy around. These translations, by Keneva Kunz, are fast-paced, clear, and easy to read.

    The two sagas included here are The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Eirik the Red. Both tell of the Norse discovery of and attempts (there were more than one) to settle in North America. They differ in focus and emphasis, but tell essentially the same stories. First, Eirik the Red settled himself in Greenland. Then, when Norse sailors were blown off course and sighted more land even farther west, Eirik's son Leif decided to check it out for himself. Leif, later known as "the Lucky" after rescuing wrecked sailors, discovered a land where wild grapes and "self-sown wheat" grew and named it Vinland. He and others explored up and down the coast of Canada and New England, perhaps as far south as Manhattan. They settled in several places all along the coast and even traded with the natives. Then things turned sour.

    The Vikings, many are shocked to learn, actually fought wars with the Indians. Of course, the Norse settlers won handily in every engagement, but the fighting was enough to convince them that the sheer numbers of the natives would eventually wear them down, and after several years of exploration, settlement, and farming, they packed up and returned to Iceland and Greenland. But Vinland was never forgotten.

    The book is short, and the sagas even shorter--the two combined take up only 48 pages in this edition. But the book is rounded out with an informative--if sometimes dry--introduction and notes by Gisli Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson mentions several instances from later records in which people were said to have sailed to Vinland, including a man cutting lumber who returned from his trip and a bishop who did not. Also included are illustrations and diagrams of Icelandic farms and Norse ships that have been lifted from the Sagas of Icelanders collection.

    Perhaps the most helpful appendix in the book is the map section. There are six pages of maps and a two-page table setting out scholars' guesses on the locations of places in the sagas. For example, is Vinland actually Newfoundland? Or perhaps Prince Edward Island? The maps themselves are labeled according to Sigurdsson's suggestions, which certainly helps while reading the sagas.

    But even if you aren't going to look at the introduction or back matter, the sagas themselves are well worth reading. And of course, if you are interested in learning more about Leif the Lucky and the New World's first European settlers, this edition of the Vinland Sagas, with its strong translation and good supplementary material, is the one to have.

    Highly recommended.
    59 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Lise Noel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Read it
    Reviewed in Canada on October 22, 2024
    The sagas as a whole are packed full of information and great adventure. I have read many for these very reasons and also because they give us a picture of medieval Northern Europe that we don’t know well.
  • Mrs Jennifer M Burgon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Added info to their holiday
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2024
  • Jürgen Kübler
    5.0 out of 5 stars Übersichtlich gut zu lesen
    Reviewed in Germany on September 27, 2024
    War schnell da - Gefällt mir
  • MIGUEL RIVERA
    5.0 out of 5 stars Where is Vinland?
    Reviewed in Mexico on April 19, 2020
    Lo compre para mi clase de literatura medieval, aunque ya conocía algunas bases, este libro incluye mapas, cronología de hechos, resumen y genealogía. Prosa en inglés bastante respetable. Libro generalmente corto. Me encantó.
  • Galland5
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Ivinland Sagas
    Reviewed in Italy on September 7, 2020
    Tutto quello che si può dire ,senza troppi fronzoli, è che questo insieme di raccontivaletto il lentamente cercando di capire quanto leggiamo. Tutto va fatto senza fretta apprezzando e valutando ogni resoconto.
    In fondo a questo libro ho trovato altri due titoli e un breve riassunto di ognuno. Penso comprerò anche quelli.
    Galland5