'Why is your axe bloody?'

William Ian Miller is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively on the bloodfeud, especially as it is manifested in saga Iceland. Previous works include Bloodtaking and Peacemaking (1990), Eye for an Eye (2006), Audun and the Polar Bear (2008). He has also written about emotions, mostly unpleasant ones involving self-assessment, and various vices and virtues. Thus his books: The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), The Mystery of Courage (2000), Humiliation (1993), Faking It (2003), and most recently Losing It (2011) about the loss of mental acuity that comes with age, which includes a non-negligible share of saga matter and some from biblical Israel too. He is also Honorary Professor of history at the University of St. Andrews, and has been a visiting professor over the years at Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Bergen, and Tel Aviv.

• Heather O'Donoghue: ForewordPrefaceIntroductionNjála's Unity Problem and the Very BeginningMarriage Formation and DissolutionMaking a SceneLooking Forward: Njal's PrescienceBergthora vs. Hallgerd, Part I, the theoryBergthora vs. Hallgerd, Part II, some factsOtkel vs. GunnarGunnar vs. the Thrihyrning peopleThe Two Thorgeirs and Death of GunnarRevenge for GunnarThe Atlantic Interlude and HrappSetting up ThrainA Tale of Two HoskuldsConversion and the Genius of the LawValgard the Wise and Hoskuld's BloodSkarphedin Ascendans, Flosi's Ninth NightsThe BurningPreparation for the next AlthingThe Trial of Flosi and the BattleKari and FriendsHow Not To End a Saga UnlessA Conclusion: Justice and ExitsWorks Cited

[This] very readable and stimulating book opens our minds to the world of the sagas, the minds of their characters, and of Njáls saga in particular, and leaves us admiring a thrilling reading in which the professor of law engages us with the saga more successfully than many a literary critic.