Winner of the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize Winner of the Dionisius A. Agius Book Prize The Wolf King explores how political power was conceptualized, constructed, and wielded in twelfth-century al-Andalus, focusing on the eventful reign of Muhammad ibn Sad ibn Ahmad ibn Mardanīsh (r. 1147–1172). Celebrated in Castilian and Latin sources as el rey lobo/rex lupus and denigrated by Almohad and later Arabic sources as irreligious and disloyal to fellow Muslims because he fought the Almohads and served as vassal to the Castilians, Ibn Mardanīsh ruled a kingdom that at its peak constituted nearly half of al-Andalus and served as an important buffer between the Almohads and the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Through a close examination of contemporary sources across the region, Abigail Krasner Balbale shows that Ibn Mardanīsh's short-lived dynasty was actually an attempt to integrate al-Andalus more closely with the Islamic East—particularly the Abbasid caliphate. At stake in his battles against the Almohads was the very idea of the caliphate in this period, as well as who could define righteous religious authority. The Wolf King makes effective use of chronicles, chancery documents, poetry, architecture, coinage, and artifacts to uncover how Ibn Mardanīsh adapted language and cultural forms from around the Islamic world to assert and consolidate power—and then tracks how these strategies, and the memory of Ibn Mardanīsh more generally, influenced expressions of kingship in subsequent periods.

In From She-Wolf to Martyr, Elizabeth Casteen examines Johanna I of Naples's evolving, problematic reputation and uses it as a lens through which to analyze often-contradictory late-medieval conceptions of rulership, authority, and femininity.

This incisive, provocative, and wide-ranging book casts a critical eye on the representation of Native Americans in the Western film since the genre's beginnings. Armando José Prats shows the ways in which film reflects cultural transformations in the course of America's historical encounter with "the Indian." He also explores the relation between the myth of conquest and American history. Among the films he discusses at length are Northwest Passage, Stagecoach, The Searchers, Hombre, Hondo, Ulzana's Raid, The Last of the Mohicans, and Dances With Wolves.Throughout, Prats emphasizes the irony that the Western seems to be able to represent Native Americans only by rendering them absent. In addition, he points out that Native Americans who appear in Westerns are almost always male; Native women rarely figure into the plot, and are often portrayed by white women rendered "Indian" by narrative necessity. Invisible Natives offers an intriguing view of the possibilities and consequences--as well as the historical sources and cultural origins--of the Western's strategies for evading the actual portrayal of Native Americans.

In the Spring of 2019 Michael Kingswood decided to embark on a Great Challenge, coordinating with one of his writing mentors and committing to sending him a new story every Sunday for a year. Many people attempt this kind of writing challenge. Most fail. Michael crushed it. In the year from April 2019 through April 2020 he wrote at least one story per week, sometimes more than one. In celebration of that victory, SSN Storytelling presents this collection of 52 stories - one for each week of the year. If you enjoy adventure, action, mystery, fantasy, and stories with a sense of wonder, you will love these stories. Pick up Stories From The Great Challenge now. You won't regret it.

"Comedian and actor John Cleese in the role of Ivy League professor at Cornell University, where he is currently professor-at-large. This book includes a selection of talks, essays, and lectures and provides a unique view of Cleese's endless pursuit of intellectual discovery across a range of topics"--

An Icelandic Literary Florilegium, a special issue of New Norse Studies, is a smorgasbord of noteworthy studies and brings together twelve original articles. The various authors examine topics within the field of Old Norse-Icelandic and deal with a variety of literary genres, including the Sagas of Icelanders, kings' sagas, saints' lives, contemporary sagas, skaldic poetry, and post-Reformation compositions in verse and prose. There is no unifying theme, but all articles are written with Professor Úlfar Bragason in mind. Collectively, they present a heartfelt offering to him on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in gratitude for his friendship and scholarly support through many years. This book will be welcomed not only by specialists and scholars in adjacent fields, but also by avid general readers. Contributors: T. M. Andersson, Margaret Clunies Ross, Kate Heslop, Shaun F. D. Hughes, Jón Atli Árnason, Jon Gunnar Jørgensen, Marianne Kalinke, Annette Lassen, John Lindow, Else Mundal, Natalie M. Van Deusen, Andrew Wawn, Kirsten Wolf, Sune Wolf Pulsiano.