The Mystery of Courage (earlier recommended by JMA) and Eye for an Eye (now recommended by me) cover related areas - courage and payback.

Bill Miller (now teaching at Michigan Law) was raised in Green Bay WI, is a Packers fan, and knows West Side Green Bay bar culture. He probably would fit in at our Pub Monte Carlo. Initially, I was uncomfortable with his dual PhD and JD from Yale; but that was put right by this informal piece on his book "Losing It", Michigan Law: Author Interview with Prof. Bill Miller (Youtube, 5 min). Besides providing a taste of Miller, this is a good video for older dogs to watch - humorously or seriously.

Eye for an Eye (Google ebook @ $12.00) is a book on moral, political and legal philosophy, written in an easy, non-legalistic manner. Its footnotes and bibliography credential it as a serious work. As its title says, this is an analysis of my favorite: retribution (as well as the associated concepts of reprobation and specific deterrence, although Miller doesn't name them exactly that).

Miller is an acknowledged academic expert in Icelandic feuds and their sagas. Eye for an Eye more generally focuses on societies based on honor and talion - the latter being "payback" for a "gift".

The "gift" may be:

positive - you save my life; I owe you the value of a life (a true exchange means I have to save your life, even if I lose mine).

negative - you kill my brother, rape my sister; I "owe" you "payback", where "payback" might literally be a "motherf**k" ! (my words; not exactly his).

Physical and moral courage may enter into payback; but negative payback, especially, may involve outright deceit and perfidy. The payback "victim", who may not have been one of the initial direct "giftgivers", may end up dead without knowing why he was whacked, or that he was about to be whacked. It's usually important to let the "public" know why he was whacked (reprobation); and important to prevent future "gifts" by the whackee (specific deterrence).

The problem is how to keep the process from escalating. My example: you steal my cows; I'll burn down your barn - with your extended family within it. To solve that problem, a society needs "oddmen" (moderators with community clout) to keep the retribution within bounds. E.g., while our inner cities have an honor code ("don't disrespect me"), the community doesn't have elders with clout over the young warriors who do the feuding. In a well-regulated "oddmen" community, an "unevenman" (who won't play by the rules) ends up isolated, ostracized or whacked.

That's the basic idea of "Eye" (addressed in the last couple of minutes of Miller's lecture, below).

Miller has a lecture on Youtube (1hr 10min), which generally covers many of the ideas in his many books and articles. He is best when he deviates from the prepared script; as in the last 10 min of the lecture. Earlier in the lecture, he deals with the Story of the Levite and His Concubine; but unfortunately didn't have time to cover the Battle of Gibeah, which was the result of the Levite's revenge for the rape and murder of his concubine.

The Levite's tale is based on a "surrender" situation, in the face of bad odds for survival. It certainly has blood, sex and violence in both the "gift" and the "payback".

Regards

Mike