{"product_id":"books-bloodtaking-and-peacemaking-by-william-ian-miller","title":"Bloodtaking and Peacemaking","description":"Dubbed by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e as one of the most sought-after legal academics in the county, William Ian Miller presents the arcane worlds of the Old Norse studies in a way sure to attract the interest of a wide range of readers. \u003ci\u003eBloodtaking and Peacemaking\u003c\/i\u003e delves beneath the chaos and brutality of the Norse world to discover a complex interplay of ordering and disordering impulses. Miller's unique and engaging readings of ancient Iceland's sagas and extensive legal code reconstruct and illuminate the society that produced them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePeople in the saga world negotiated a maze of violent possibility, with strategies that frequently put life and limb in the balance. But there was a paradox in striking the balance--one could not get even without going one better. Miller shows how blood vengeance, law, and peacemaking were inextricably bound together in the feuding process. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book offers fascinating insights into the politics of a stateless society, its methods of social control, and the role that a uniquely sophisticated and self-conscious law played in the construction of Icelandic society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIlluminating.--Rory McTurk, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn impressive achievement in ethnohistory; it is an amalgam of historical research with legal and anthropological interpretation. What is more, and rarer, is that it is a pleasure to read due to the inclusion of narrative case material from the sagas themselves.--Dan Bauer, \u003ci\u003eJournal of Interdisciplinary History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53509123801361,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780226526799.jpg?v=1778156568","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/books-bloodtaking-and-peacemaking-by-william-ian-miller","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}