45
Noteworthy Books Received by the Journal of the North Atlantic, Vol. 3, 2010
Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological
Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire.
Patricia A. McAnany and Norman Yoffee
(Editors). 2009. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK. 390 pp. USD 29.99, softcover. ISBN
9780521733663. Questioning Collapse challenges
those scholars and popular writers who advance the
thesis that societies—past and present—collapse because
of behavior that destroyed their environments
or because of overpopulation. In a series of highly
accessible and closely argued essays, a team of internationally
recognized scholars bring history and
context to bear in their radically different analyses of
iconic events, such as the deforestation of Easter Island,
the cessation of the Norse colony in Greenland,
the faltering of nineteenth-century China, the migration
of ancestral peoples away from Chaco Canyon
in the American southwest, the crisis and resilience
of Lowland Maya kingship, and other societies that
purportedly “collapsed”. Collectively, these essays
demonstrate that resilience in the face of societal crises,
rather than collapse, is the leitmotif of the human
story from the earliest civilizations to the present.
Scrutinizing the notion that Euro-American colonial
triumphs were an accident of geography, Questioning
Collapse also critically examines the complex
historical relationship between race and political labels
of societal “success” and “failure”.
Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values,
Governance. W. Neil Adger, Irene Lorenzoni,
and Karen L. O’Brien (Editors). 2008. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK. 532 pp. USD
45, softcover. ISBN 97805211825153. Adapting to
climate change is a critical problem facing humanity.
This involves reconsidering our lifestyles, and
is linked to our actions as individuals, societies, and
governments. This book presents the latest science
and social science research on whether the world can
adapt to climate change. Written by experts, both
academics and practitioners, it examines the risks to
ecosystems, demonstrating how values, culture and
the constraining forces of governance act as barriers
to action. As a state-of-the-art review of science and
a holistic assessment of adaptation options, it is essential
reading for those concerned with responses to
climate change, especially researchers, policymakers,
practitioners, and graduate students. Signifi cant features
include historical, contemporary, and future insights
into adaptation to climate change; coverage of
adaptation issues from different perspectives: climate
science, hydrology, engineering, ecology, economics,
human geography, anthropology, and political science;
and contributions from leading researchers and
practitioners from around the world.
Hofsta›ir: Excavations of a Viking Age Feasting
Hall in North-Eastern Iceland. Gavin Lucas
(Editor). 2009. Institute of Archaeology, Reykjavík,
Iceland. 464 pp. USD 48 (plus shipping), softcover.
ISBN 9789979994602. The long-awaited publication
of the Institute’s excavations of the Viking settlement
of Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit is now available. An
international group of 45 archaeologists provide an
in-depth and detailed analysis and interpretation of
the 1992-2002 investigations of this classic site. This
comprehensive monograph begins with a introduction
detailing the background to the project and the
research aims and methods. Subsequent chapters provide
an indepth presentation of the fi ndings organized
as: the paleoenvironment of the site during the Viking
Age and the Early Medieval Period, the structural
sequence, the archaeofauna, the artefactual material,
the plant remains, the organization and management
of the land, and the settlement period. At almost 500
pages with over 200 illustrations, the volume represents
a landmark in Icelandic archaeology and will
set a new standard for excavation monographs. The
monograph is in English with an extended Icelandic
summary.
The Archaeology of Medieval Europe. Volume 1:
Eighth to Twelfth Centuries AD. James Graham-
Campbell and Magdalena Valor (Editors). 2008.
Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, Denmark. 479 pp.
EUR 60.95 (includes 25% VAT), softcover. ISBN
9788779342903. The two volumes of The Archaeology
of Medieval Europe together comprise the fi rst
complete account of Medeival archaeology across the
Continent. Archaeologists from academic institutions
in fi fteen countries have collaborated to produce the
fi rst of these two books comprising fi fteen thematic
chapters. The book starts out with an overview of current
research and teaching approaches, frameworks,
and methodoligies. Subsequent chapters focus on
peoples and environments, rural settlement, urban
settlement, housing culture, food, technology, craft,
and industry, material culture and daily life, travel
and transport, trade and exchange, fortifi cations, the
display of secular power, religions, religious buildings,
and life, death, and memory. Every chapter
features a number of “box-texts” by specialist contributors
highlighting sites or themes of particular
importance. The text is comprehensively illustrated
with color and b/w images, line drawings, and maps.
The Viking World. Stefan Brink and Neil Price
(Editors). 2008. Taylor and Francis Group Boca Raton,
FL, USA. 717 pp. USD 240, hardcover. ISBN
9780415333153. Filling a gap in the literature for an
academically oriented volume on the Viking period,
46 Journal of the North Atlantic Volume 3
core anthropological questions. Contributors explore
a wide range of themes, such as our understanding
of those processes which transform the environment,
and the evolution of the cultural mind. This text addresses
anthropological issues of general interest,
from biology to refl exivity and helps to develop the
productive relationship between ethnobiology and
anthropology.
The Munsee Indians: A History. Robert S. Grumet.
2009. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,
OK, USA. 464 pp. USD 45, hardcover. ISBN
9780806140629. The Indian sale of Manhattan is one
of the world’s most cherished legends. Few people
know that the Indians who made the fabled sale were
Munsees whose ancestral homeland lay between the
lower Hudson and upper Delaware river valleys. The
story of the Munsee people has long lain unnoticed
in broader histories of the Delaware Nation. Now,
The Munsee Indians deftly interweaves a mass of
archaeological, anthropological, and archival source
material to resurrect the lost history of this forgotten
people, from their earliest contacts with Europeans to
their fi nal expulsion just before the American Revolution.
Anthropologist Robert S. Grumet rescues from
obscurity Mattano, Tackapousha, Mamanuchqua, and
other Munsee sachems whose infl uence on Dutch
and British settlers helped shape the course of early
American history in the mid-Atlantic heartland. He
looks past the legendary sale of Manhattan to show
for the fi rst time how Munsee leaders forestalled
land-hungry colonists by selling small tracts whose
vaguely worded and bounded titles kept courts
busy—and settlers out—for more than 150 years.
Ravaged by disease, war, and alcohol, the Munsees
fi nally emigrated to reservations in Wisconsin, Oklahoma,
and Ontario, where most of their descendants
still live today. Coinciding with the four hundredth
anniversary of Hudson’s voyage to the river that bears
his name, this book shows how Indians and settlers
struggled, in land deals and other transactions, to
reconcile cultural ideals with political realities. The
result is the most authoritative treatment of the Munsee
experience—one that restores this people to their
place in history.
Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Systems: A
Global Perspective. Torben C. Rick and Jon M.
Erlandson (Editors). 2008. University of California
Press, Berkeley, CA, USA. 336 pp. USD 65, hardcover.
ISBN 9780520253438. Archaeological data
now show that relatively intense human adaptations
to coastal environments developed much earlier than
once believed—more than 125,000 years ago. With
our oceans and marine fi sheries currently in a state
of crisis, coastal archaeological sites contain a wealth
of data that can shed light on the history of human
this unique book is a one-stop authoritative introduction
to all the latest research in the fi eld. Bringing
together today’s leading scholars, both established
seniors and younger, cutting-edge academics, Stefan
Brink and Neil Price have constructed the fi rst single
work to gather innovative research from a spectrum
of disciplines (including archaeology, history, philology,
comparative religion, numismatics and cultural
geography) to create the most comprehensive Viking
Age book of its kind ever attempted. Consisting of
longer articles providing overviews of important
themes, supported by shorter papers focusing on
material of particular interest, this comprehensive
volume covers such wide-ranging topics as social
institutions, spatial issues, the Viking Age economy,
warfare, beliefs, language, voyages, and links with
medieval and Christian Europe. This original work,
specifi cally oriented towards a university audience
and the educated public, will have a self-evident place
as an undergraduate course book and will be a standard
work of reference for all those in the fi eld.
Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New
Pragmatism, Second Edition. Robert W. Preucel
and Stephen A. Mrozowski (Editors). 2010. Wiley-
Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, USA. 664 pp. USD 54.95,
softcover. ISBN 9781405158534. The second edition
of Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The
New Pragmatism, has been thoroughly updated and
revised, and features top scholars who redefi ne the
theoretical and political agendas of the fi eld, and
challenge the usual distinctions between time, space,
processes, and people. This text defi nes the relevance
of archaeology and the social sciences more generally
to the modern world, challenges the traditional
boundaries between prehistoric and historical archaeologies,
examines the infl uence of American pragmatism
on archaeology, and discusses how archaeology
articulates such contemporary topics and issues as
landscape and natures; agency, meaning and practice;
sexuality, embodiment and personhood; race, class,
and ethnicity; materiality, memory, and historical silence;
colonialism, nationalism, and empire; heritage,
patrimony, and social justice; media, museums, and
publics. This second edition offers 32 new chapters
by leading archaeologists and cultural anthropologists.
Ethnobiology and the Science of Humankind. Roy
Ellen (Editor). 2006. Blackwell Publishing, Hoboken,
NJ, USA. 176 pp. USD 39.95, softcover. ISBN
9781405145893. Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute Special Issue Book Series, this
landmark volume assesses the contribution of recent
work in ethnobiology to anthropological thought. It
considers the ways in which the subject matter and
methodologies of ethnobiological research address
2010 Noteworthy Books 47
teenth- and eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Randall
vividly portrays this French Protestant diaspora
through the lives of three fi gures: Gabriel Bernon,
who led a Huguenot exodus to Massachusetts and
moved among the commercial elite; Ezéchiel Carré, a
Camisard who infl uenced Cotton Mather’s theology;
and Elie Neau, a Camisard-infl uenced writer and escaped
galley slave who established North America’s
fi rst school for blacks. Like other French Protestants,
these men were adaptable in their religious views, a
quality Randall points out as quintessentially American.
In anthropological terms they acted as code shifters
who manipulated multiple cultures. While this
malleability ensured that French Protestant culture
would not survive in externally recognizable terms in
the Americas, Randall shows that the culture’s impact
was nonetheless considerable.
Passamaquody Ceremonial Songs: Aesthetics and
Survival. Ann Morrison Spinney. 2009. University
of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA, USA. 272 pp.
USD 65, hardcover. ISBN 9781558497184. Based
on extensive research across several disciplines, this
book examines the songs and dances involved in
public ceremonies of the Wabanaki Confederacy, a
coalition of fi ve Algonquian First Nations that fi gured
importantly in the political history of New England
and the Maritimes from the seventeenth century on.
Ethnomusicologist Ann Morrison Spinney analyzes
these ceremonial performances as they have been
maintained in one of those nations, the Passamaquoddy
community of Maine. She compares historical accounts
with forms that have persisted to the present,
showing how versions of the same songs, dances, and
ritual speeches have continued to play a vital role
in Passamaquoddy culture over time. A particular
focus of the study is the annual Sipayik Indian Day,
a public presentation of the dances associated with
the protocols of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Spinney
interprets these practices using melodic analysis
and cultural contextual frameworks, drawing on a
variety of sources, including written documents,
sound and video recordings, interviews with singers,
dancers, and other cultural practitioners, and her
own fi eldwork observations. Her research shows that
Passamaquoddy techniques of song composition and
performance parallel both the structure of the Passamaquoddy
language and the political organizations
that these ceremonies support.
exploitation of marine ecosystems. In eleven case
studies from the Americas, Pacifi c Islands, North Sea,
Caribbean, Europe, and Africa, leading researchers
working in coastal areas around the world cover diverse
marine ecosystems, reaching into deep history
to discover how humans interacted with and impacted
these aquatic environments and shedding new light
on our understanding of contemporary environmental
problems.
Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vínland
Map. Kristen A. Seaver. 2004. Stanford University
Press, Palo Alto, CA, USA. 480 pp. USD 27.95, softcover.
ISBN 9780804749633. The “Vínland Map”
fi rst surfaced on the antiquarian market in 1957 and
the map’s authenticity has been hotly debated ever
since—in controversies ranging from the anomalous
composition of the ink and the map’s lack of provenance
to a plethora of historical and cartographical
riddles. Maps, Myths, and Men is the fi rst work to
address the full range of this debate. Focusing closely
on what the map in fact shows, the book contains a
critique of the 1965 work The Vinland Map and the
Tartar Relation; scrutinizes the marketing strategies
used in 1957; and covers many aspects of the map that
demonstrate it is a modern fake, such as literary evidence
and several scientifi c ink analyses performed
between 1967 and 2002. The author explains a number
of the riddles and provides evidence for both
the identity of the mapmaker and the source of the
parchment used, and she applies current knowledge
of medieval Norse culture and exploration to counter
widespread misinformation about Norse voyages to
North America and about the Norse world picture.
From a Far Country: Camisards and Huguenots
in the Atlantic World. Catherine Randall. 2009.
University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, USA. 192
pp. USD 44.95, softcover. ISBN 9780820333908.
In From a Far Country, Catharine Randall examines
Huguenots and their less-known cousins the Camisards,
offering a fresh perspective on the important
role these French Protestants played in settling the
New World. The Camisard religion was marked by
more ecstatic expression than that of the Huguenots,
not unlike differences between Pentecostals and Protestants.
Both groups were persecuted and emigrated
in large numbers, becoming participants in the broad
circulation of ideas that characterized the seven-
The Journal of the North Atlantic welcomes submissions of review copies of books that publishers or authors would
like to recommend to the journal’s readership and are relevant to the journal’s mission of publishing information
about the peo ples of the North Atlantic, their ex pan sion into the region over time, and their in ter ac tions with
their chang ing environments. Accompanying short, descriptive summaries of the text are also welcome.