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May 14, 2021 In “Violence and Risk in Medieval Iceland: This Spattered Isle,” Oren Falk, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, considers the medieval Icelandic sagas as case studies in the violence general to the human experience, arguing that violence, “both perennial and contemporary,” serves as a technique for dealing with uncertainty. Book cover: Violence and Risk in Medieval Iceland “I invite readers to consider the history of violence in medieval Iceland, a corner of the historical imagination both remote and, paradoxically, familiar as a déjà vu,” Falk writes. “A tiny country on the verge of the Arctic Circle, condescendingly described during the Cold War as the world’s largest aircraft carrier, Iceland was as remote from the hubs of cultural hegemony during the Middle Ages as it is today. ....