Thoughts thought while preparing to go to church for the meeting last night:
“Looks like rain. I’d better wear my trenchcoat.
“If I wear the trenchcoat, I’ll have to wear a tie.
“You cannot wear a trenchcoat without a tie. If you do, you look like a pervert hanging around a playground, not the International Man of Intrigue you bought the coat to resemble.”
Dave Lull sent me this link to a Reason article by Jonathan Rauch which explains Honor Cultures (one of my current obsessions) pretty clearly.
Since you’re interested in honor cultures, I wonder if you’ve read Tacitus’ Germania, or Tribes of Germany. I was reading it the other day and enjoyed it. It talks about, among other things, how they took their women with them into battle, so as to have with them a reminder of the consequences of losing.
Here is an online translation: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/tacitus-germanygord.html
Yes, I have read GERMANIA, although it was quite a few years ago. I remember it as a very interesting narrative, full of suggestive ideas for the student of the Vikings.