Tom Shippey, London Review of Books
"Byock's dissection of selected sagas gives a schema (as one might expect from Iceland) which is unusually neat without being incapable of complexity. . . . The most fascinating parts of Byock's book discuss the ways in which saga characters operate within a system of checks and balances to gain their ends."

C. W. Clark, Choice
"In this stimulating and important work, Byock has succeeded in rehabilitating the Icelandic sagas as important sources for the social and economic history of the Free State (c. 930s to 1262-64). . . . Highly recommended."

Susannah J. Baker, Mid-America Folklore
"Valuable both to historians and to literary scholars."

Book Description
The history of medieval Europe is incomplete if it does not take Iceland into account. Jesse Byock's reassessment of medieval Iceland uses all the available sourcesthe medieval Icelanders' historical writings, extensive saga literature, and intricate lawsto explore the way Iceland's social order functioned.

From the Back Cover
"Byock's book is a tour-de-force of historical argument. He brilliantly reconstructs the inner workings of an intriguing society, not elsewhere to be found in the Western world." (David Herlihy, History Book Club)

About the Author
Jesse L. Byock teaches Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian subjects at the University of California, Los Angeles and is the author of Feud in the Icelandic Saga (1982).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The history of medieval Europe is incomplete if it does not take Iceland into account. Jesse Byock's reassessment of medieval Iceland uses all the available sources￯﾿ﾽthe medieval Icelanders' historical writings, extensive saga literature, and intricate laws￯﾿ﾽto explore the way Iceland's social order functioned.