Sworn Brother by Tim Severin is the thrilling second volume in the Viking trilogy - an epic adventure in a world full of Norse mythology and bloodthirsty battles. London, 1019: a few months have passed since Thorgils has escaped the clutches of the Irish Church only to find himself at the centre of a capricious love affair with Aelfgifu, wife of Knut the Great, ruler of England, and one of the most powerful men of the Viking empire. A passionate relationship between two unlikely lovers begins to unfold, which forebodes uncontrollable consequences... When Thorgils is finally on the run again, he meets Grettir, an outlaw who is feared by most for his volatile and brooding behaviour. The two men become travel companions and sworn brothers – which binds them together beyond death, but at the gates of Byzantium Thorgils' loyalty is put to the ultimate test . . .

An extensive introduction provides basic information about Russian epics, their historical background, their poetics, the history of their collection, their performance context, and their main interpretations. In addition, their is a short introduction to each song, explaining its plot, allusions, and interpretations. A glossary of common terms and a selected bibliography of studies about the Russian epic in English and Russian are also included in the volume.

Klappentext: All over Asia bankers, gangsters, government officials and intelligence agents interact while organised crime networks threaten the rest of the world. Chinese gangs run Chinatowns all over the United States and Europe; Vietnamese mobsters have taken over the heroin trade to Australia; Russian gangsters thrive in cities througout America and the Japanese yakuza not only influence government and business at home, but chase the yen through Southeast Asia and Hawaii to Australia's Gold Coast. Organised crime is one of the biggest and most complicated issues in the Asia-Pacific today. Both Western and Asian pundits assert that shady deals are an Asian way of life. Some argue that corruption and illicit business ventures - gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking, gun running, oil smuggling - are entrenched parts of the Asian value system. Yet many Asian leaders maintain that their cities are safer than Sydney, Amsterdam, New York and Los Angeles. Bertil Lintner knows this territory well. In Blood Brothers, he takes the reader inside the criminal fraternities of Asia and the Far East, from Russian gangsters and Japan's yakuza to Taiwan's United Bamboo Gang and the Vietnamese Triad. In examining these networks, Lintner seeks to answer the question: How are civil societies all over the world to be protected from the worst excesses of increasingly globalised mobsters? This is investigative journalism at its best and most relevant.