In this bestseller, Farley Mowat challenges the conventional notion that the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America, offering an unforgettable portrait of the Albans, a race originating from the island now known as Britain. Battered by repeated invasions from their aggressive neighbors–Celt, Roman, and Norse–the Albans fled west. Their search for safety, and for the massive … walrus herds on which their survival depended, eventually took them to the land now known as Newfoundland and Labrador. Skillfully weaving together clues gathered from forty years of research, Mowat presents a fascinating account of a forgotten history.
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Well-researched, reads like an adventure story, and expounds a theory that’s starting to grow in acceptance that the first Europeans to arrive in North America predated the Vikings.
The author presents an interesting hypothesis supported by some evidence, that is, unfortunately, inconclusive by its nature.
An excellent proposal of a novel idea with considerable substantiation
Should be of interest to those who are interested in learning of early European visitors to North America prior to 1000 A.D.
A wild theory that may be totally of the wall, but a very engaging presentation nonetheless.
A well-researched study of pre-Viking exploration of North America. Farley Womat is one of my favorite writers.
Farley Mowat is an excellent writer, and he has some interesting theories, but he relies upon fairly flimsy evidence to support some far-reaching conclusions. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile read if the conclusions are taken with a rather large grain of salt.
This is a well researched alternate historic view of American discovery from what is taught in mainstream history books.
Worth reading. challenges many of my views on early early early North American history…ie who settled her first. Well documented.
Farley Mowat is quite a good writer and an original thinker. His details added to my accumulation of facts about Vikings and the settlement of North America as well as Iceland and Greenland.
I appreciated that he made it very clear when he was “positing” and when recognized authorities do not accept his ideas (as yet). Personally, I accepted most of what he supposes because there is sufficient documented history to make it all plausible, and mostly verifiable. (Such as, the early dates when the Church of Rome was already sending out their priests–documentation exists which blows out of the water some of the “expert opinion”.)
Well written and well researched hypothesis on how Europeans first came to America.
Interesting alternative / speculative history. I like how the author weavs fiction and nonfiction together. Farfarers stands pretty firmly on solid archealogy and history, but uses imagination to take us on adventures into unfamiliar territory.
I have always been intrigued with the stories and voyages of Eric the Red, Lief Erickson and The Viking settlement of Greenland. The author makes the case that the Albans (people of Scottish heritage) were actually responsible for the discovery, settlement and development of Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. Their movitation had been harvesting walrus tusks to satisfy Europe’s hunger for ivory and other products.. Even though Farley Mowat lays out his best evidence, I am not totally convinced of the Farfarers
part of the story.
Mowat is however, much more convincing in his presentation of the Viking portion of the story. Through the use of Viking and Icelandic Sagas and Vatican arcives, he presents a very believable history of the Icelandic and Greenland settlements. This alone makes “Farfarer” a must read for history buffs.
This book is like a well researched text book covering a long period of time. Like 43Ad FORWARD. The Scotch and Irish Islands become inhabited by various peoples who are con conquered and others move in. These people has a tremendous amount of courage. As they are looking for new hunting grounds for commerce or a new home they are always moving West until they reach Canada. Many years before Columbus. True with a lot of research. When he surmises a fact he is very careful to tell you this is what I surmise. This is not a book you sit down and read like a novel. It covers a lot of history and a great period of time. Unless you are young ( am not) your brain can only absorb so much at a time. I wish to retain much of this material so I read it in a week or so and put it off and read something light. Have a greater respect for ancestors who came from this part of the world. Their courage and ingenuity is admirable. Even today with modern technology I don’t think I would conquer my fears and travel the unknown. This is a great writer with a deep commitment to his subject. It must have taken him many yeas to do the in depth research. Should always be a 5 star or maybe 10.
Fascinating perspective on historical aspects of pre-Norse occupation of Iceland, Greenland and northeast Canada. His book has wetted my appetite to explore his hypothesis further.
The Farfarers tells the story of the people who predated the otherwise “earliest” peoples in northern and Western Europe. They were in Iceland and Greenland before the Vikings and were chased out by them. Much of what Farley Mowat writes is conjectural, but it is the best guess of a man with deep knowledge of the waters around Greenland and northern and western Canada. It is a fascinating story and well worth reading.’
This is a very thoughtfully written and researched book which inspires curiosity and a desire to learn more on the subject.
This is a fascinating fleshing out of historical evidence of a people that preceded the Celts in Europe, and possibly were the first Europeans to visit the North American continent
Mr. Mowat writes an interesting postulation that the ancient “Albans” were the Europeans to reach the New World, predating the Vikings by several hundred years. Interesting read.
It did not grab my interest… sorry