Set in 30,000 B.C.E., Eena is captured by Ka, leader of the clan of Kaan, Alor comes to her rescue, killing Ka and taking Eena as his mate. A mighty hunter, Alor is virtually invincible in battle because of his magic axe. Together Alor and Eena become the legendary Axe Man and Spear Woman. But they can't escape the shadow of Ka...
On a last run, Tor teaches his nephew, Tristal, the Shumai axeman ways, but Tristal must survive deadly encounters, endure a seductive captivity, and suffer enslavement before he masters the axeman's skill. Reprint.
In John R. Dann's thrilling and romantic prehistoric saga, Song of the Axe, the tribe's chieftain was called Grae, after a famous ancestor. Now Dann returns to tell the saga of the wanderings of one prehistoric tribal family over several generations, always led by that famous, original Grae, and by his children. The powerful daughters of River Woman saved young Grae from a flooded river after a volcano erupted and destroyed their tribal home. Then they made him chief, but that's almost the last thing they agree on before the tribe splinters. Grae leads the main group out of Africa ever northward, into central and eastern Europe, always searching for safety and a better life. Challenged by truly monstrous evil tribes, but guided by spirits, they survive. It takes three generations, and three chieftains named Grae, before the tribe comes to rest. Their story is an adventure on the grandest scale, full of dangers, romance, and beguiling mystery in an exotic setting. A rich and complex story told with simplicity, authenticity, and vigor, Song of the Earth is a worthy companion to Song of the Axe.
It is a fool's errand and Tallos knows it, but against his own better judgment and the pleading of his wife, Tallos has committed himself to a voyage north. His lifelong friend's eldest sons are said to have been taken by Northmen, a raiding people ill-reputed for their savagery. The boys are already dead, Tallos knows, and in that dark place of grim reasoning he wishes only to find their corpses quickly so he can fulfill his promise and return to his wife. Instead, he finds something far worse.
Complete set of the thirteen woodcut illustrations used in the 1924 edition of Song of the Broad-axe by Walt Whitman, published by Centaur Press in Philadelphia. Each woodcut is titled and numbered "16". The titles are (as they appear in the book): No.I, Ship struck in storm, Beauty of woodmen, building, the forger, hell of war, The great city, of the best-bodied mothers, the hammers-men, the headsman, solid forest, the liquor-bar, and No.II.
From the moment that he looks down on the ancient gray head of Noah, who is swinging his stone axe, the narrating crow in this unique and remarkable epic knows that these creators called Man are trouble. He senses, too, that the natural order of things is about to change. At a time when so many of us are searching for meaning, Layne Maheu’s debut novel lingers in a masterfully rendered ancient world just long enough to ponder our fears of disaster and to watch as humanity struggles to survive, to understand, and finally to prevail. Recalling both the magical imagination of Richard Adams’s Watership Down and the spiritual richness of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, Song of the Crow is a soaring debut.
Set in 13th-century Norway, The Axe is the first volume in Undset's epic tetralogy, The Master of Hestviken. In it, we meet Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, who were betrothed as children and raised as brother and sister. In the heedlessness of youth, they become lovers, unaware that their ardor will forge the first link in a chain of murder, exile, and disgrace. Undset's novel is also a meticulous re-creation of a world split between pagan codes of retribution and the rigors of Christian piety--a world where law is a fragile new invention and manslaughter is so common that it's punishable by a fine."Undset reproduces medieval Norway in all the rich pageantry of color and form...she can transport us eight centuries and several thousand miles more effectively than most writers can take us into the house next door."--The Nation
"A sweeping, intricate description of Russian cultural history, spanning the pre-Romanov era through six centuries to the reign of Joseph Stalin. Flowing with ease through time and topic — from art to music, literature, philosophy, mythology and more — the book provides readers with an alluring portrayal of Russia’s proud heritage. Its impressive scope and lasting insights have made it a foundational text in Russian studies. In fact, it was this book, more than any other, that captured my imagination and propelled me toward the study of Russia and the Soviet Union." --Condoleezza Rice, The New York Times "A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of Russian cultural and intellectual history from Kievan times to the post-Khruschev era." - Library Journal Includes Illustrations, references, index.