The Farfarers

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

@GingerAntics Here‘s an excerpt From Wikipedia about the author. Apparently his 1950s books have been really subject to criticism. Here‘s what it says about this one. He seems to be an unapologetic environmentalist, not a historian, even though he very much relies on the historical record. I don‘t think there‘s any doubt it‘s speculative. He regularly asserts his own opinion.

GingerAntics That does answer a few things I was curious about him. It does make me question his claims and second guess reading this strange book. 5y

Texreader @GingerAntics Yes by all means don‘t go into this one unknowingly. I‘m actually enjoying it more now. Early history is so speculative and I like to hear well-reasoned differences of opinions. 5y

Melissa_J Mowat is definitely not a historian. He‘s just a writer, mostly of books related to Canada‘s North. I know he wrote a number of books based on his own experiences. One of his kids books (fiction) remains a favourite of mine to this day

Lost in the Barrens

GingerAntics I guess going in knowing it‘s questionable and controversial changes how one reads this sort of thing. I just hope this doesn‘t fall into the hands of climate change deniers, so they can be stupid and say “look it‘s happened before and it‘s okay to keep totally screwing up the planet.” 5y

36 likes4 comments

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

If true, the 8th century sounds remarkably like the melting we are experiencing now. The author claims this temperate weather helped ancient Brits to continue to move westerly toward North America away from the marauding Vikings.

GingerAntics Does his argument seem plausible? 5y

Texreader @GingerAntics It seems he got some of his information from contemporary sources. He quotes one historian from 820 about the navigable waters. 5y

GingerAntics Hm that‘s interesting then...why aren‘t all scientists looking at these sources then? 5y

See All 9 Comments

Texreader @GingerAntics Not even sure this author is still alive. He was a naturist/conservationist who traveled to these places and worked closely with archeologists on developing his ideas. Seems pretty credible. 5y

GingerAntics I don‘t think this would ever make me stop thinking we need to respect our natural resources like we used to (the people he‘s talking about certainly respected the land and sea the fed them in ways most of us just don‘t), but it seems to give a different outlook or prognosis to the situation we‘re currently in. 5y

Texreader @GingerAntics Actually the societies that he‘s writing about were not so kind to nature. They routinely wiped out walrus populations for their ivory and then just kept moving west to find more “tuskers”. I couldn‘t even read one of the chapters it was so gruesome. 🙁 He points out they had maneuverability during some of this time because of the temperate climate where normally ice would have prevented their travels. 5y

GingerAntics Hm. Interesting. I guess greed comes in every time period, really. When I get my hands on a copy of this, I‘ll have to keep an eye out for the really gruesome chapter. Eek. 5y

Texreader @GingerAntics It was like chapter 2! I almost bailed. I didn‘t get the significance either until much later. Same with the very very deep history that seems to have nothing to do with North American history. It‘s a very different sort of book. Published in 1998. Author died in 2014. Wikipedia calls him an environmentalist. Hmm. Interesting 5y

GingerAntics So they don‘t list him as an historian? 5y

44 likes1 stack add9 comments

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

I knew Vikings took slaves. But according to this book, & the sources it cites, slaves were the Vikings‘ primary commodity.

“The commercial ascendency of Dublin under Viking masters was largely due to its importance as a slave market. By the latter part of the ninth century Dublin had become the hub of a Scandinavian slave trade stretching from Iceland to the Near East. Slaves from the British Isles commanded premium prices on the Continent...”

46 likes1 stack add

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

Foreshadowing the future Viking invasions of Britain: “It‘s as well they stick to their own coasts. I would not like to see them come to ours.”

Of course, I always enjoy descriptions of Norwegians to see if my Norwegian husband compares (shhh, don‘t tell him): “their contempt for strangers could be deadly.” 🤣

55 likes

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

This book, allegedly a new history on North America, is giving us instead a very very long detailed deep history of Britain peopled by the Celts, Romans, and presumably soon the Picts, etc, etc. Here Tacitus is recounting Agricola‘s assault on the British Isles. Will we ever get to North America? Will I make it to that point? I suppose only time will tell, but this is not what I expected.

47 likes

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

I‘ve been making a point to learn new words when I read, especially after reading about JRR Tolkien, whose biography was chock full of words I did not know. So now to this book, I‘ve never come across this word before: hyperborean

Do you know the definition without looking it up, or is it just me?

cathysaid Former English professor here, and I have no idea! “Hyper” I know, but not “borean.” Interesting...🤔 Having now researched, I never would have guessed correctly! (edited) 5y

mrsmarch From the name of Boreas, the god of the north wind! Classics major here, we know bizarre stuff 😂 5y

43 likes2 comments

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat

I started this nonfiction ebook yesterday, which already has a number of photos making it even more interesting. I‘ve only seen photos or graphics in one other ebook. I love that I don‘t have to buy the book to get the “extras.”

50 likes

Texreader

The Farfarers: A New History of North America | Farley Mowat