Even after twenty years, the tight-knit Ontario community of Long Point County remains haunted by the tragic Lake Erie shipwreck that took place just off its coast in 1852. Several of its survivors still live among them even now, having been adopted into local families after washing ashore. Even the sunken wreckage of the ship itself had changed lives, and not for the better—most notably that of one of its most promising young men, drawn by the dangerous lure of its rumoured treasures. Still, no one in town had been more affected by the tragedy than local historian Becky McCormack. She’d dedicated the past two decades of her life to intensive research in the hopes of uncovering, at last, the identities of each person who’d been lost on that horrible day and ensuring that none would remain unmourned or forgotten, whether buried namelessly in the local cemetery or lost to Lake Erie’s unforgiving waters. No longer young by anybody’s standards, and with dementia beginning to sink its claws into her once razor-sharp mind, Becky’s family and friends can now only hope that she’ll finish her life’s work before it’s too late, attaining the closure and peace she’s sought on behalf of others for so long. And in doing so ... finally reclaim her own.

'Threat Talk' exposes how US and Chinese scientists and policy-makers have understood and responded to the problem of internet addiction in their societies. Is the internet good or bad for society? American analysts like Lessig and Zittrain suggest that the internet is inherently liberating and positive for society, while Morozov and Sageman warn that the internet poses risks to citizens and societies. Using a comparative framework to illustrate how the two states differ in their assessments of the risks to citizens posed by the introduction of new technology, Mary Manjikian compellingly argues that both 'risk' and 'disease' are ideas which are understood differently at different historic periods and in different cultures. Her culturalist approach claims that the internet is neither inherently helpful, nor inherently threatening. Rather, its role and the dangers it poses may be understood differently by different societies. Is the internet good or bad for society? The answer, it appears, is 'it depends'.

The Avaldsnes Royal Manor project explores early kingship in Northern Europe, spanning the period c. AD–1320 AD. The principal case is the Norwegian kingdom and the core site is Avaldsnes near Haugesund, Western Norway. 9th–10th century skaldic poems as well as 13th century sagas implies that Avaldsnes was the principal Viking Age royal manor. The site has produced numerous exquisite gravefinds from the Roman period onwards. Among them are the third century Flaghaug grave and two ship graves from the late 8th century. Also, the Oseberg ship, excavated near Oslo, is now proven to have been built c. 820 near Avaldsnes. The Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, excavated the Avaldsnes settlement in 2011–12. A team of 23 scholars from prominent academic institutions, including the University of Cambridge and University College London, participate in the research. This first of two volumes contains their results regarding the manor and its setting on the island of Kǫrmt by the Norðvegr, the sheltered sailing route along the West-Scandinavian coast. Together, the chapters produce a detailed 1000-years’ history of a complex central-place area, its monuments and buildings, its activities and functions, its blooming and fading, and eventually its downfall in the 14th century.

A detailed case study of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Britain. The book studies the particular development of a new religious movement within the context of Britain, and issues relating to minority religions' place within a multicultural but still hegemonically Christian society.