Abstract
Gaskins critiques the literary work, Njal's Saga, with a particular emphasis on the network perspective where the distributed nature of authority in the society is portrayed in the sagas. The network model begins from the relatively closed, dispersed groupings of settlement families, then proceeds through alliance-building by exploiting the strength of weak ties, and finally moves to a struggle for dominance. Throughout the pattern of development, networks represent the importance of being connected--replacing the social model of rugged individualism.