An American in Iceland
An Account of its Scenery, People, and History, with a Description of its Millennial Celebration in August 1874; With Notes on the Orkney, Shetland and Faroe Islands, and the Eruption of 1875

An American zoologist, physiologist and naturalist's 1876 account of his travels through the Scottish islands and to Iceland.

Samuel Kneeland (Author)

9781108049726, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2012

368 pages, 20 b/w illus. 1 map 70 music examples
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

Samuel Kneeland (1821–88), educated at Harvard and in Paris as a doctor, served as an army surgeon during the American Civil War. After the war, he returned to lecturing on physiology, and expanded his academic interests to zoology and to natural history in general. His expedition to Iceland was fuelled by a fascination with volcanoes, volcanic islands and the flora and fauna that abounded on them, but Kneeland was as much a cultural and historical tourist as a scientist, enjoying the millennial celebration of the first settlement by Norwegians, the spectacle of geyser eruptions, and the Norse history and traditions of the Icelanders. This 1876 work offers a chronological account of his party's travels through the Scottish islands and around Iceland, bringing a very individual touch to a description of the country, its culture and its outstanding landscapes.

1. The Orkney Islands
2. The Shetland Islands
3. The Faroe Islands
4. Off for Iceland
5. Celebration at Reykjavik
6. Physical characters of Iceland
7. The valley of Thingvalla
8. The celebration at Thingvalla
9. Route to the geysers
10. In the valley of the geysers
11. The old Norsemen
12. The people of Iceland
13. Political history of Iceland
14. Discovery of America
15. Literature of Iceland
16. Volcanic history of Iceland
17. Geology and mineralogy
18. Icelanders in America
19. The future of Iceland
20. Useful information
Notes.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]