78 REVIEWS

a similar canoeing accident. The deaths of Grinnell's sons
have no connection with the events of the 1950s barrenlands
trip, but, as one might well imagine, those deaths three
decades later did give Grinnell pause to rethink his own
earlier experience.

This much is history, one might say, and should have
no bearing on our evaluation of the artistry of the book. But
it is the realization of Grinnell's 40-year struggle to tell this
story of growth — and the loss that always accompanies
growth — that forges the undeniable emotional link be-
tween author and reader. Writing the book had, no doubt,
a crucial therapeutic effect on Grinnell. And while A death
on the barrens adheres to few of those classical unities
Aristotle lauded in Greek tragedy, the bond of humanity
any reader must feel through Grinnell's troubled effort to
share his loss creates a great deal of empathy in the reader.
I am indeed a more complete person for having read this
book, and one wonders if a book can ever achieve a higher
end. (Richard C. Davis, Department of English, Univer-
sity of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary,
Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.)

THE FROZEN ECHO: GREENLAND AND THE
EXPLORATION OF NORTH AMERICA, ca AD
1000-1500. Kirsten A. Seaver. 1996. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, xviii + 407 p, illustrated, hard cover.
ISBN 0-8047-2514-4. £40.00.

It must be stated straightaway that this work is a major
achievement. The author has tackled difficult questions
concerning the nature of Norse settlement in Greenland.
She has also examined the relationships between those
settlements and the exploration and exploitation of North
America and of the North Atlantic by other Europeans,
most notably the English and Portuguese. A central
question is, of course, what was the cause, or what were the
causes, that led to the extinction of the Greenland colo-
nies?

The author uses a kaleidoscopic variety of sources, and
approaches the questions she has set for herself from the
point of view of different disciplines. The sources include
historical texts, many in Scandinavian languages, and also
the results of archaeological and cartographical studies.
The book is divided into two parts. Firstly, there is a
detailed study of North Atlantic exploration by the Norse,
with an exhaustive analysis of the economic, social, and
ecclesiastical conditions of the Greenland colonies. This
is followed by an examination of the official and unofficial
maritime efforts in the North Atlantic by, for example, the
Bristol merchants and of the impact of these on Greenland.
The author's central conclusion relating to the fate of the
Greenland colonists is that:

...both circumstantial evidence and common sense
suggest that the Greenlanders, who had so clearly taken
active part in the North Atlantic economic community
throughout the fifteenth century, had remained oppor-
tunists to the end and joined the early-sixteenth-cen-
tury European surge toward North America.
As noted, the range and breadth of the author's sources

are breath-taking and the sheer diligence with which she
has tackled them is an example to all who undertake
historical study. Each of her chapters is a comprehensive
analysis of its subject, and they inter-relate well. The
totality of the work is a very impressive contribution on a
difficult topic.

However, the book is, in some respects, poorly written.
The author, in her acknowledgements, comments on the
input of her editor, and one feels that the work would have
had a more consistent style if the editing had been either
more or less rigorous. In places, the author's approach is
journalistic, and the uneasy juxtaposition of styles makes
for uneven reading. Some of the writing is unfortunate.
The first sentence of the acknowledgements — 'It is a truth
universally acknowledged that anyone writing a book
must be in need of a supportive spouse' — caused this
reviewer to wince. One may wonder if the author is aware
that Jane Austen was in fact single! Other examples are:
'The cresting wave of European exploration slammed onto
the shores of the Americas' (page 254), and the comment
that John Cabot 'would try to go Columbus one better'
(page 265).

A further deficiency is the illustrations. The maps are
adequate as far as they go, but it seems curious that the
overall map of the North Atlantic, relevant to the entire
argument of the book, is less than half a page in size and is
relegated to page 215. The maps of the Greenland settle-
ments are excellent, but the reproductions of contempo-
rary maps and charts are on so reduced a scale as to make
them of little use. The photographs of areas in the Green-
land settlements, in particular those on pages 10 and 20,
give little useful support to the text. Those of archaelogical
relics are much better and have been carefully selected.

To sum up, a worthy effort, and one that will be
required reading for those with specialised interests in the
period and area. However, with a more even style and
consistent editing, a better book could have been pro-
duced, which might have served the needs both of special-
ists and of the more general reader. Sadly, this is not the
book to do this. (Ian R. Stone, Tartu University, Ulikooli
18, Tartu, Estonia.)

TO THE ARCTIC BY CANOE 1819-1821: THE
JOURNAL AND PAINTINGS OF ROBERT HOOD,
MIDSHIPMAN WITH FRANKLIN. C. Stuart Houston
(Editor). 1995. Montreal, Kingston, London, Buffalo:
McGill-Queen's University Press, xxxvi + 217 p, illus-
trated, soft cover. ISBN 0-7735-1222-5. £13.95.

ARCTIC ORDEAL: THE JOURNAL OF JOHN
RICHARDSON, SURGEON-NATURALIST WITH
FRANKLIN, 1820-1822. C. Stuart Houston (Editor).
1995. Montreal, Kingston, London, Buffalo: McGill-
Queen's University Press, xxxiv + 349 p, illustrated, soft
cover. ISBN 0-7735-1223-3. £13.95.

Unquestionably one of the most significant exploring
efforts of the nineteenth century was the Arctic Land
Expedition of 1819-1822, under the command of Lieuten-
ant John Franklin. Not only was it the first expedition to