A lively and absorbing description of the development of the Icelandic nation from the settlement more than eleven hundred years ago and up to the present day. In concise and highly informative accounts, written with the general reader in mind, the book charts the glories and achievements of the Republic and Saga Age; the bitter and bloody civil war which led to humiliation and suffering under colonial rule; and the nationalist awakening which has created a thriving modern republic with deep attachment to its unique past.