In 1700, ten sparsely settled colonies clung precariously to the Atlantic coast of the vast American continent, each far more firmly attached to the Old World by ties of politics, economy, and culture than they were to each other. By 1800, sixteen states, united by a common government, were poised exploit the seemingly endless resources of a new and independent nation. Throughout this century of enormous changes and challenges, one factor had remained constant: no single description captured the majority of the new country's inhabitants; no one lifestyle was embraced by a "typical American." Rich or poor, urban or rural, male or female, young or old, native-born or immigrant, northerner or southerner, slave or free, white or of color—the mixture of these characteristics and a host of others within each individual determined the shape and opportunities of everyday life. Americans of the eighteenth century were in the end, as they had been in the beginning, as "various as their land."

The Anthropology of Iceland presents the first perspectives on Icelandic anthropology from both Icelandic and foreign anthropologists. The thirteen essays in this volume are divided into four themes: ideology and action; kinship and gender; culture, class, and ethnicity; and the Commonwealth period of circa 930 to 1220, which saw the flowering of sagas. Insider and outsider viewpoints on such topics as the Icelandic women's movement, the transformation of the fishing industry, the idea of mystical power in modern Iceland, and archaeological research in Iceland merge to form an international, comparative discourse.

Individually and collectively, by bringing the insights of anthropology to bear on Iceland, the native and foreign authors of this volume carry Iceland into the realm of modern anthropology, advancing our understanding of the island's people and the practice of anthropology.