Robert Ferguson Bücher

Ernest Hemingway versuchte so zu schreiben wie er. Henry Miller nannte ihn den "Dickens meiner Generation". Thomas Mann sagte, der Nobelpreis sei nie an einen würdigeren Empfänger gegangen. André Gide hielt ihn für wesentlich besser als Dostojewski, Isaac Bashevis Singer verkündete, die ganze moderne Erzählweise gehe auf ihn zurück. Und doch weiß man über Knut Hamsun meist nur, daß er die Romane "Hunger" und "Segen der Erde" geschrieben hat und daß er mit dem NS-Regime sympathisierte.

Henry Miller, als deutschstämmiger Schneidersohn im Ghetto von Brooklyn aufgewachsen, begann erst als Vierzigjähriger in Paris zu schreiben. Er war 69, als sein erstes Meisterwerk, "Wendekreis des Krebses", in Amerika unzensiert erscheinen konnte. Robert Ferguson legt hier eine sensible, lebendige detaillierte Lebens- und Werkgeschichte Millers vor.

Bob Oz never gives up. Not even when he is suspended for violence on duty. When arms dealer Marco Dante is subjected to an attempted murder, Bob does not let himself be guided by the police chief's guidelines. There is something about Gomez that reminds Bob of the case he would rather forget. In Minnesota, Jo Nesbø sets the action in the American Midwest in 2016. A hard-boiled police novel in the best Nesbø style - from an America that is on the edge of a cliff.

The Scandinavians are regarded as Europe's most tolerant and peace-loving people. So how was it that one of the worst acts of political terror ever witnessed on this continent was committed by a Norwegian - against his fellow countrymen? Scandinavia is the epitome of cool: we fill our homes with cheap but stylish Nordic furniture; we envy their health-giving outdoor lifestyle; we glut ourselves on their crime fiction; even their strangely attractive melancholia seems to express a stoic, common-sensical acceptance of life's many vicissitudes. But how valid is this outsider's view of Scandinavia, and how accurate our picture of life in Scandinavia today? Robert Ferguson digs down through two millennia of history to tell stories of extraordinary events, people and objects - from Norwegian Death Metal to Vidkun Quisling, from Agnetha F�ltskog to Greta Garbo, from Lurpak butter to the Old Norse rune stones - that richly illuminate our understanding of modern Scandinavia, its society, politics, culture and temperament.

For those living outside Scandinavia, the Viking Age effectively began in 793 with an attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne. The attack on Lindisfarne was a characteristically violent harbinger of what was in store for Britain and much of Europe from the Vikings for the next 300 years, until the final destruction of the heathen temple to the Norse gods at Uppsala around 1090. Robert Ferguson is a sure guide across what he calls �the treacherous marches which divide legend from fact in Viking Age history�. His long familiarity with the literary culture of Scandinavia � the eddas, the poetry of the skalds and the sagas � is combined with the latest archaeological discoveries and the evidence of picture-stones, runes, ships and objects scattered all over northern Europe, to make the most convincing modern portrait of the Viking Age in any language. The Hammer and the Cross ranges from Scandinavia itself to Kievan Rus and Byzantium in the east, to Iceland, Greenland and the north American settlements in the west. Beyond its geographical boundaries the book takes us on a journey to a misty region inhabited by Hallfred the Troublesome Poet, Harald Bluetooth, Ragnar Hairy-Breeches, Ivar the Boneless and Eyvind the Plagiarist, in which literature, history and myth dissolve into one another.

FAMILY COMES FIRST. NO MATTER THE COST. 'A 100% buy-today-read-tonight delight' LEE CHILD Nesbo deserves to be crowned the king of all crime thriller writers' Sunday Express 'Nesbo deploys all the key ingredients of a cracking good thriller... effortless' Guardian 'Bracingly and bleakly funny' Telegraph Brothers Carl and Roy Opgard have succeeded in life. Or at least they've had as much success as is possible in a small town like Os, where they've killed their way to the top. Carl manages the swanky spa hotel, while Roy has made ambitious plans for an amusement park. Life's good at the top. But the local sheriff is looking to bring them down. Sheriff Kurt Olsen believes he has new evidence that will prove the brothers' involvement in several past murders - but Carl and Roy are used to covering their tracks, and they're not afraid to get their hands dirty. The body count in Os is about to get even higher. Blood Ties is an explosive suspense novel about family, loyalty, and the lengths someone is willing to go to for both, from crime writing's king of the cliffhanger. [Jo Nesbo, Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, January 2024]

The wooden holiday cabin, or hytte, is a vital aspect of Norwegian life. Robert Ferguson explores its history and significance as a national icon. Characterized by turf roofs and wooden structures, these cabins offer fresh air, tranquility, and the allure of outdoor activities like wood-chopping and hiking in stunning landscapes. In 2016, Ferguson and his wife purchased land in Hardangervidda, where they built their own hytte, fulfilling a dream that had drawn him to Norway from England over thirty years ago. As the cabin takes shape, Ferguson engages in conversations with friends and builders, uncovering the cultural history of modern Norway. He observes the evolving traditions associated with these cabins as Norwegians balance newfound urban wealth with their past as a close-knit, rural community. Additionally, he highlights the enriching relationship between colonial Norwegians and their affluent British neighbors in the 19th and 20th centuries. The British 'salmon-lords' influenced Norwegians' perspectives on their rivers, while English climbers introduced new ideas about their mountains, shaping a unique cultural exchange.