"Wasteland with Words" helped me make sense of the Icelandic people's progression from early settlement to the Viking and saga eras, through the extended Middle Ages' slow modernization to the rapid development following World War II. I feel like I came to know a few of the Icelanders whose autobiographical writings are featured, the most memorable of them having written in the nineteenth century. I appreciated the personalized approach, and some chapters, especially those dealing with children and death, had quite the emotional impact. I came to admire the people who stoically struggled through such unforgiving times and environmental factors. At times, though, the writing felt a bit tedious and some themes and characteristics of the Icelanders seemed to have been needlessly repeated over a number of chapters. I was also a bit surprised by the tone of the closing chapter, which deals with the 2008 financial crisis. While most of the blame is appropriately placed on the politicians and business leaders that promoted and arrogantly flaunted the financial prowess of the tiny nation leading up to the crash, Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon's psychoanalysis suggests an inferiority complex that compels the Icelanders to push themselves to perform so well on the global financial stage that the outcome can only be failure and ruin. This may all be historically accurate, but I felt some disconnect between the stoic, survivalist nationalists that seemed to encompass most of this book and the overly confident, consumerist, apparently afflicted citizenry of the last chapter whose latent sense of inferiority led the country to the financial brink. The gap between the Icelanders of old, featured in most of the book, was not quite adequately linked (logically and emotionally) to the Icelanders discussed in the last chapter or two. Nevertheless, I felt connected to many of the people featured in these pages and I enjoyed the unique perspective offered by the book's scattered and numerous autobiographical vignettes. The book fueled my fascination with this tiny North Atlantic nation and its amazing people, and I hope more books of this kind are published in the future. ( )

The book offers a social history of Iceland from the 18th century to the present, told through the words of Iceland's peasant citizens taken from their journals, letters, autobiographies, and chronicles. The material is riveting and heart-rending, especially that from the dark era of poverty and despair in the 19th century.

The book surprised me in another way - it's one of those rarities, a history book that is a compelling read. It was hard to put it down, turn out the light, and go to sleep. My interest flagged only near the end, when, presumably, there was less folk material available to be quoted.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Iceland's history and culture, regardless of which historical period. ( )