Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of

Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers
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From the author of A Venetian Affair and Lucia comes a charming odyssey in the path of the mysterious Zen brothers, who explored parts of the New World a century before Columbus, and became both a source of scandal and a cause cÃ©lÃ¨bre among geographers in the following centuries.

This delightful journey begins with Andrea di Robilantâ€™s serendipitous discovery of a travel narrative published in Venice in 1558 by the Renaissance statesman NicolÃ² Zen: the text and its fascinating nautical map re-created the travels of two of the authorâ€™s ancestors, brothers who explored the North Atlantic in the 1380s and 1390s. Di Robilant set out to discover why later, in the nineteenth century, the Zensâ€™ account came under attack as one of the greatest frauds in geographical history. Was their mapâ€”and even their journeyâ€”partially or perhaps entirely faked?

In Irresistible North the author follows the Zensâ€™ route from the Faeroes to Shetland to Iceland and Greenland, greeted by characters who help unravel the enigmas in the Zensâ€™ account. The medieval world comes to life as di Robilant guides us through a landscape enlivened by the ghosts of power-hungry earls and bishops of the old Norwegian realm and magical tales of hot springs and smoking mountains. In this rich tellingâ€”an original work of history and a travel book in oneâ€”the magnetism of the north draws us in as powerfully as it drew the Zen brothers more than six centuries ago.
Country USA
Manufacturer Knopf
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2011-05-24
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9780307269850

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Knopf
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2011-05-24
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9780307269850

Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers

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