Letters

The Legacy of the Vikings

"All along I wrongly thought my ancient ancestors just drank, raped, pillaged and caused fear at the mere mention of their name." CONSTANCE D. DYER Salt Lake City, Utah

Your article on the Vikings, well written and beautifully illustrated [ARCHAEOLOGY, May 8], provided an excellent overview of those early entrepreneurs and their role in the development of civilization. In the past, the blood of the Vikings flowed through the veins of a great many adventurous Americans. This could be the reason we led the world in industry, science and exploration. Viking descendants may yet explore new worlds in space. JAMES L. MONTGOMERY Olympia, Wash.

Of the Norse raiders you wrote, "and while rape and pillage were part of the [Viking] agenda, they were a small part of Norse life." Are we now supposed to think better of the Vikings? Why don't you take a closer look at America's indigenous people? We could also use an update on those who were here when the Vikings supposedly arrived. MARCO PORTALES Bryan, Texas

The Vikings on the cover of TIME? Well, I guess anything not related to Elian Gonzalez will do. CHARLES J. ILARDI New York City

You did a creditable job with a complicated subject, but some statements about the depopulation of the Norse Greenland colony do not represent opinions universally held by those of us actively engaged in this field. You said, "Norse hunting techniques and agriculture were inadequate for survival in [the Little Ice Age's] long chill, and the Vikings never adapted the Inuit's more effective strategies for the cold." If the Norse were that backward, how did they survive for even one generation in their remote new land? Greenland represented a daunting challenge even in its warmest periods. Instead, the Norse managed well for about a half-millennium, maintaining their own culture while adapting to changing fortunes. The arbitrary date, A.D. 1450, given for when the colony ended merely closes doors that need to stay open until we know more. KIRSTEN A. SEAVER Palo Alto, Calif.

The Vikings came to America before Columbus, but they did not enslave the Indians or unleash such diseases as smallpox on the Native Americans or sell their lands. No matter how brutal the Vikings were, they did not come close to matching the exploits of those who came from England and Spain 500 years later. The Europeans took land away from the natives, while the Vikings' purpose was to trade with them. JASON MIRDANIALI Tampa, Fla.

You listed the Norse origins of three days of the week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Actually, the Norse are responsible for four weekday names. There is also Tuesday, named for Tyr (or Tiw in Old English), the war god, guarantor of contracts and treaties. MARLON C. RAYBURN Winnipeg, Man.

There's a strange blend of pride and embarrassment in being descended from the Vikings. As a tourist in Britain, one is reminded of the Norsemen's poor reputation when a guide says, "This church was built in A.D. 750 and sacked by the Danes in the year 800." Some pride can be felt, however, in the fact that the Scandinavian countries have been nonaggressive for the past two centuries. ERIK A. THOMSEN Armonk, N.Y.

Coming to America

Thank you for describing the harsh odyssey of the illegal Chinese immigrant Chen Canting [WORLD, May 1]. Every spoiled rich kid in the U.S. should be forced to read this. Suffering for today's youngsters is not being able to get a sports car. My family and I came to America more than 10 years ago from Korea. My mother works two jobs, as do my brother and I. My father looks after our small business, and all our money goes to pay for school. I wish Chen luck as he tries to stay in the U.S. What we thought would take three to four years to accomplish has taken more than 12. NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST Riverside, Calif.

I used to work near Manhattan's Chinatown when it was small and bilingual. Recently I visited it again and was surprised to see how much it had grown and how no one seemed able to speak English. The newcomers in New York City's Chinatown look tired, run-down and poor. Now I understand why. LEVENTE NAGY Seattle

The enlightening and heartbreaking journey of the Chinese illegal who risked his life to get to our wonderful country was fascinating. I would love to read the entire article aloud to my seventh-grade class, many of whom choose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance with me. They don't realize how lucky they are to be U.S. citizens. I wish Chen could speak to the students at my school. AMY CRIST Biglerville, Pa.

Son of Star Wars

Republican legislators in Washington apparently keep one eye on their defense-contractor sponsors and the other on the heavens. Your story on the U.S. proposal to build a missile-defense system similar to the one proposed by Ronald Reagan [WORLD, May 8] is grand election-year theater, but isn't it more likely that threats from rogue nations will come in the form of terrorist acts inside the U.S.? Wouldn't that be simpler and more cost effective for foreign enemies than building exotic missiles? A thorough look around, rather than techno-stargazing, would make the most sense. DON GLASCOCK Santa Fe, N.M.

Why would anyone oppose a missile-defense system? The accidental launch of a single ICBM is reason enough to proceed with such a timely project. Go for it, America. Protect yourself without delay against all those ballistic weapons pointed at you. And if some countries object, tell them to mind their own business. EDDY A. ELIA Vancouver, B.C.

Sick Man, Recovering

Your article on Tanzania and the World Bank's role there [WORLD, April 24] treated recent poverty figures much too lightly. Household surveys show that there are fewer poor people in Tanzania now than there were 10 years ago. Tanzania, like other African countries, lost half its export markets in the 1970s and '80s, essentially because small farmers were not rewarded enough for their efforts. As a result, they abandoned export crops and grew food mainly for themselves rather than for sale. Since 1995, Tanzanians have been putting this right. But 20 years of lost income cannot be reversed overnight. Certainly Africa's reforms have had painful side effects. But why focus on the chemotherapy rather than the original cancer? JAMES W. ADAMS, COUNTRY DIRECTOR World Bank Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

From Betty Friedan's Ex

Your article "The Friedan Mystique," reporting on Betty Friedan's new memoir Life So Far [BOOKS, May 1], said her "public life took a private toll." What was omitted in your article and her book was the private toll her life took on the people around her. No one can deny that nearly single-handedly Betty Friedan changed the world. That's history. But her rewriting of her personal relationships with her family cannot go unchallenged. She claims in her book to have been abused by me, a charge that your article reported, and I refuted. She was never abused. In fact, she was the abuser. I am so incensed by her false accusations that I have established a website to put the record straight, and I hope those interested in further details will visit it. CARL FRIEDAN Sarasota, Fla.

Make Room for Capitalists

We have witnessed the fall of communism in the past decade. Next we may be seeing the fall of capitalism in the Federal Government's pursuit of Microsoft [NATION, May 8]. I suggest that Bill Gates buy an island or a small country, move his facilities there and create a Hong Kong West, dedicated to free enterprise. Maybe the Federal Government would treat Microsoft better if it were to export to the U.S. My only hope is that the new country would have room for people who know that capitalism is what made this country great. EDWARD M. LANING Oak Hills, Calif.

Microsoft has been very effective at playing catch-up in new markets created by innovators and then using whatever tactics necessary (legal or not) to eliminate competition. Gates likes to paint himself as a techno-genius, but he's actually just the bully who got fat eating the real geniuses' lunches. CHRIS ELLENS Nepean, Ont. Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door--including the trustbusters. D. JEAN HAYES Northampton, Mass.

The Unsinkable Liz

Lance Morrow's wit notwithstanding, his description of Elizabeth Taylor as a "gloriously vulgar principle of unsinkability" [ESSAY, May 8] ignored the great amount of good this flamboyant lady has accomplished during her turbulent life. Without Taylor's name, her style, her money and her dedication, the battle against AIDS--especially during the Reagan years--would have progressed at a much slower pace. LEWRIGHT B. SIKES Antioch, Tenn.

An Elian Treaty?

To us in New Zealand, the Elian Gonzalez affair seems almost like a soap opera [NATION, May 8]. It has drama, sadness and is sometimes comical. But one needs to go back to the beginning to understand the plot: the differences between the U.S. and Cuba. The aborted invasion of Cuba by the U.S. at the Bay of Pigs is long past, and perhaps it is now time for both countries to sort out their problems and move forward. It will take some strong leadership on both sides. But it is possible that the Elian affair could act as the catalyst for a new alliance--the Elian treaty--between Cuba and the U.S. LES BATY Palmerston North, New Zealand

Primping at the Wheel

In the statistics on accident-causing driving habits [INDICATORS, May 8], the survey firm failed to include "Women putting on makeup." When driving down a busy, traffic-clogged street, I am enraged when I pull up behind a slow-moving car driven by a woman who is applying makeup. She can't possibly have her eyes on the road or concentrate on driving while primping and preening in her rearview mirror.

I can understand touching up lipstick while stopped at a light, but putting on mascara while traveling at 30 m.p.h.? I have come across more than one woman doing this in the past month. If it didn't appear in the survey as a prelude to an accident, it will soon. SARA SMITH Los Angeles