Climate and energy. Work/life balance. Mining taxes. Progress on policy issues like these is essential, and yet they have become subject to the most rancorous partisanship, the precipitation of culture wars, and have brought down governments. It is impossible to make any progress without major political upheaval. Or so it seems in Australia. Yet Nordic countries have taken a 'ja, we can' approach to these and other issues such as independent foreign policy, prison reform, gender equality, retraining for workforce participation and media diversity. Their experience shows that progress in these areas is not only possible, but can be achieved while increasing prosperity and community wellbeing. The Nordic Edge explores policies adopted by Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland and the exciting possibilities they provide to overcome Australia's seemingly intractable problems. Leading Australian and Nordic thinkers and policy practitioners, including Sweden's recent Foreign Minister, outline proven approaches to help Australia become a fairer, happier, wealthier and more environmentally responsible country. Re-enter Australia's policy debates with optimism, new ideas and a Nordic edge. Contributors: Professor Andrew Scott; Rod Campbell; Dr Richard Denniss; Matt Grudnoff; Tom Swann; former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström; Dr Lenita Freidenvall; Professor Marian Sawer; James Fleming; Richie Merzian; Dan Cass; Audrey Quicke; Ebony Bennett; Dr Maria Rae; and Associate Professor Anna Eriksson, with a foreword by Ben Oquist.

"The first in-depth presentation of the Nordic landscapes to be published in nearly twenty years. “Norden” -- the region along the northern edge of Europe bordered by Russia and the Baltic nations to the east and by North America to the west -- is a particularly fruitful site for the examination of the ever-evolving meaning of landscape and region as place. Contributors to this work reveal how Norden’s regions and people have been defined by and against the dominant culture of Europe while at the same time their landscapes and cultures have shaped and inspired Europe’s ways of life. Together, the essays provide a much-needed picture of this culturally rich and geographically varied part of the world."--pub. desc.

The project Nordic Ways is a book of short insightful essays written by distinguished authors from all five countries representing a broad spectrum of Nordic life. The project features an impressive and august array of nearly 50 authors representing all five Nordic countries. The ultimate goal is to provide a long-term platform for what it means to be Nordic in business, as environmental stewards, in the arts, culture, innovation, education and in commitment to democratic values. There is growing interest in the United States in Nordic societies and attention being paid to Nordic solutions: cutting edge innovation in technology and design, arts, culture, liberal democratic values, including gender equality and a free press, environmental responsibility, and economic success achieved on a global level in partnership with employees. Today, with a U.S. Presidential campaign marked by widespread dissatisfaction among the electorate, it is abundantly clear that Nordic Ways can guide this new and increasingly important dialogue.

Official book of Knutpunkt 2014. Published in conjunc- tion with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a defining moment in Nordic art. From the cozy domestic landscapes of Carl Larsson to Edvard Munch's darkly beautiful The Scream, the diverse artwork of the period mirrored shifting literary and intellectual pursuits in their attempts to broaden the cultural conversation to incorporate the identities and traditions of the region. Through more than two hundred paintings, Nordic Art tells the story of this important period. In conversation with both Scandinavian culture and the contemporary art of the time, turn-of-the-century artists developed distinctly Nordic interpretations of realism, impressionism, and symbolism. The book focuses on the transitions between these forms of expression, as well as the impact of Nordic art on mainstream European art. Featuring works by well-known artists, including Carl Larsson, Edvard Munch, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and Vilhelm Hammershøi, the book also introduces artists from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland whose contributions, though crucial, may be less familiar to international audiences. With Nordic Art, David Jackson offers the first comprehensive look at this critical period of cultural development in the Nordic countries and the extraordinary art that arose during this time.

From a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America

Many contemporary environmental risks and global environmental changes occurring today are unprecedented in the history of human life on earth. However, the images and narratives through which humans relate to these phenomena are built on existing cultural tropes and narrative models. Cultural, social, and historical contexts strongly influence how we construct images and narratives of nature and the environment. It is therefore highly important to study such narratives in works of literature, film, and other forms of cultural expression in relation to the specific circumstances from which they arise. Nordic Narratives of Nature and the Environment is the first English language anthology that presents ecocritical research on northern European literatures and cultures. The contributors examine specifically Nordic narratives of nature and the environment, with a focus on the cultures and literatures of the modern northern European countries Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, including Sápmi, which is the land traditionally inhabited by the indigenous Sami people. Covering northern European literatures and cultures over a period of more than two centuries, this anthology provides substantial insights into both old and new narratives of nature and the environment as well as intertextual relations, the variety of cultural traditions, and current discourses connected to the Nordic environmental imagination. Case studies relating to works of literature, film, and other media shed new light on the role of culture, history and society in the formation of narratives of nature and the environment, and offer a comprehensive and multi-faceted overview of the most recent ecocritical research in Scandinavian studies.