Echoes of the Ancient World Series, published by Galahad Books, 1980, hardcover, A4 sized, index, 128 pages, condition: as new.
The land of Thule: pre-Viking Scandinavia
The dragon ships: the great age of Viking expansion
Hammer and cross: the coming of the new religion
The great void: creation and doom in the Viking cosmology
Odin, the all-father: lord of the gallows and lord of the slain
Storm and harvest: Thor, Frey, Freyja: gods of the earth and sky
Loki and Baldur: the father of lies and the shining god
Choosers of the slain: Valkyries and the spirits of the otherworld
The way to Hel: death and its after-life
Sacred stones: Norsemen at worship
The heroic ethic: the legend of Sigurd and the code of the warrior.
The author, Magnussen, "The Norse ideal was a man of open, generous disposition, a man imbued with qualities of compassion and kindness, not ruthless but firm and fair, even tempered but capable of passion, physically accomplished and strong in a fight, but not a bully. Such was the ideal man of honour. But when the die was cast, when circumstances and cruel fate drew him into a situation which he could not avoid without losing honour, when he was agonizingly trapped between duty and emotion, there was no running away. If he had to kill, he killed, and if he had to die, he died well, like Hogni, laughing at death itself.