Mr. Tornöe has recently shown (Early American History: Norsemen Before Columbus) how the sagas of the Norse discovery of America can be interpreted as factual reports of historical events. In this presents volume Mr. Tornöe provides further support for his views by considering the theories o fauthors who have based their views on various degrees of scepticism regarding the validity of the saga accounts. Mr. Tornöe`s positive conclusion about the sagas, and his conviction that firsthand knowledge og North America persisted and was widely recognized for many centuries, provide a basis for believing that Columbus actually knew about North America before setting out on his ‘accidental’ discovery of it; not onlyt hat, but there is good reason to think that Columbus himself had in fact participated in a Portuguese-Scandinavian expedition which went to search for the Northwest Passage.