William Ian (Bill) Miller

Thomas G. Long Professor of Law, Emeritus (since 2021)
University of Michigan Law School
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-763-9014; Fax: 734-763-9375
Email: wimiller@umich.edu



Areas of Interest: Icelandic Sagas; Medieval History;
Social and Political Theory; Emotions; Vices and Virtues.

with Toby (d. 2017), my hair much whiter now
Bill Miller and Toby



Outrageous Forture cover
Hrafnkel ro the Ambiguities
Outrageous Fortune: Gloomy Reflection on Luck and Life (Oxford University Press, 2021)

Hrafnkel or the Ambiguities: Hard Cases, Hard Choices (Oxford University Press, 2017)






Why is Your Axe Bloody? Losing It "Why is your axe bloody?": A Reading of Njáls saga  (Oxford University Press, 2014)


Losing It, in which an aging professor laments his shrinking brain, which he flatters himself formerly did him noble service: a plaint, tragi-comical, historical, vengeful, sometimes satirical and thankful in six parts, if his memory does yet serve (Yale University Press, 2011); see the reviews in the New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Macleans magazine (Canada), and Times Higher Education; also the Chicago Tribune and Inside Higher Ed. Macleans named it to their list of top ten non-fiction books of 2011; and the Chicago Tribune named it one of the best books of the year. An interview is available here.


Audun and the Polar Bear: Luck, Law, and Largesse in a Medieval Tale of Risky Business (Brill, 2008). PDF version.


Eye for an Eye (Cambridge University Press, 2006); see interview in Salon.


Faking It (Cambridge University Press, 2003)


The Mystery of Courage (Harvard University Press, 2000)


The Anatomy of Disgust (Harvard University Press, 1997). (Chosen best book in sociology/anthropology by the Association of American Publishers, 1997.)


Humiliation (Cornell University Press, 1993)


Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland (University of Chicago Press, 1990)

 
Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland (with T. Andersson; Stanford University Press, 1989) 

My CV.
Audun and the Polar Bear Eye for an Eye

Faking It Courage
Disgust
Humiliation
Bloodtaking and
              Peacemaking
Law and Literature
              in Medieval Iceland