THE VIKING SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA

Frederick Pohl, an amateur archaeologist has, for the past twenty years, been among those enemies of Columbus Day who insist that Leif Erickson discovered America. Most of these stalwarts of the Viking explorer back up their theories with bone dry treatises carefully matching up the Viking's description of their voyages, contained in the sagas, with the bays and capes of the North American coastline. Considering the irregularity of the coast, that always leaves plenty of room for one more theory but very little basis for real proof. Pohl has done his fair share of map-reading and he enlivens his argument considerably -- as well as making it more convincing -- by including a description of his ""digs"" at the places be thinks the Vikings landed in New England. At one site, he discovers mooring stones which he claims the Vikings used. But the best part of the story is still the one the Vikings themselves tell, and Pohl's translation of the sagas, which is the last section of the book, retains their unpretentious character.