Contemporary Review articles from January 2005

Contemporary Review archives from January 2005

India's new government and its economic outlook.
January 1, 2005... THE economic policies and actions of the new Indian government, which came into office following its election victory last May, will be driven by political objectives that are probably as crystal clear as those that any government has ever had...

The Afghan drug trade finances terrorists.
January 1, 2005... THE countries most harmed by a renewed flood of heroin exports from the war-torn, fertile poppy fields of Afghanistan are mounting a robust defensive response. The West has raised its military and financial commitment to Afghan security. But it...

Landmines--the best hope for peace.
January 1, 2005... THE 1997 Ottawa Convention banned the use and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, 135 nations have signed the convention, including the United Kingdom; we have also ratified it, and supported the convention's aims as they became official United...

The role of foreign election observers in Nigeria.
January 1, 2005... THE discussion of foreign electoral observers is relatively new in political studies but the practice of observation, although new in politics itself, is now widespread. Indeed there were even some observers in the US Presidential election last...

Argentina's soaring crime rate.
January 1, 2005... THESE days Argentines not only have to cope with their economic malaise but also what they see as its most worrying by-product: a violent crime wave that has swept the country and encouraged some to take the law into their own hands. The...

From Ireland to Norway.
January 1, 2005... THERE was a leading article in a newspaper some time ago describing the plight of many Irish people who went to work in Britain in the fifties. The article described the predicament of many of those now elderly, poor people, and the disgraceful...

Britain's traffic problems and car-sharing.
January 1, 2005... WHEN it comes to Britain's multifarious transport problems, technological advancement is both culprit and potential saviour. It was technology that brought us the car, but it is making amends with high fuel-efficiency cars, the electric Smart...

Protecting the ancient alleys of Beijing.
January 1, 2005... AS the modernisation of Beijing gathers pace, more and more of its unique ancient alleys (hutongs) and the adjoining four-sided enclosed courtyards that comprise them (siheyuan), in which traditionally most urban Chinese have used to live, are...

The green baize door: social identity in Wodehouse; Part two.
January 1, 2005... P.G. Wodehouse has been said to have invented the 'upper class twit', an expression which would have surprised him. His heroes--if that is the word--include not only the Woosters, Fotheringay-Phippses, Twistleton-Twistletons, Fink-Nottles,...

Art notes: a deferred gift to the London National Gallery.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The seascapes of Claude-Joseph Vernet are second only to those of Claude in the poetic glow of their exposition of light and water. A Calm at Sunset and A Shipwreck in a Tempest, painted as a pair in 1773, are not among his supreme works but...

The new American empire examined.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. Niall Ferguson. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]20.00. 400 pages. ISBN 0-713-99770-2. The unprecedented power and influence that the United States has enjoyed in world politics since the end...

Fascism analysed.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Anatomy of Fascism. Robert O. Paxton. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]20.00. xii + 321 pages. ISBN 0-713-99720-6. The twentieth century is sometimes described as the century of the 'isms'. Indeed, a great part of the last century saw the...

Kermode on Shakespeare.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Age of Shakespeare. Frank Kermode. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]12.99. iii + 194 pages. ISBN 0-297-84881-X. This is an Old Master's retrospective. Frank Kermode returns to a scene he has graced on many occasions, and offers a...

Changing the Foreign Office.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The New Mandarins. How British Foreign Policy Works. John Dickie. I.B. Taurus. [pounds sterling]18.95. ix + 254 pages. ISBN 1-86064-978-5. To many British people, the idea of a mandarin or senior civil servant will forever be associated...

Stephen Spender and his world.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Stephen Spender: the Authorized Biography. John Sutherland. Viking. [pounds sterling]25.00x + 627 pages. ISBN 0-670-88303-4. Spender is a difficult subject for even such an experienced hand as Professor Sutherland. Success came early with...

A stimulating insight into St. Paul.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Paul: His Story. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]16.99 xvi + 259 pages. ISBN 0-19-926653-0 Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, a Dominican and the New Testament professor at the Ecole Biblique et Archaelogique...

New and noteworthy.
January 1, 2005... This month's column is mainly concerned with literary titles. From HARPERCOLLINS we have the second volume of C.S. Lewis Collected Letters. Volume II Books, Broadcasts and War 1931-1949 ([pounds sterling]35.00) edited by Walter Hooper. Mr...

The world of paperbacks.
January 1, 2005... Among new titles from OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS we have the paperback edition of Austin Woolrych's Britain in Revolution 1625-1660 ([pounds sterling]14.99) which was highly praised on its hardback publication. It covers an extraordinary period in...

Unhappy Reactionary: The Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-Under-Lyne, 1822-50.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Unhappy Reactionary: The Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-Under-Lyne, 1822-50. Richard A. Gaunt, editor. The Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamshire Archives, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham, NG2 1AG. [pounds sterling]19.95....

Shakespeare Minus 'Theory'.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Shakespeare Minus 'Theory'. Tom McAlindon. Ashgate. [pounds sterling]45.00. xii + 198 pages. ISBN 0-7546-3981-9. In this collection of nine essays (of which five have already appeared in various academic journals) Prof. McAlindon sets out to...

Empire Families: Britons and Late Imperial India.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Empire Families: Britons and Late Imperial India. Elizabeth Buettner. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]30.00. xiv + 310 pages. ISBN 0-19-924907-5. The author's aim is to explore the 'links between transience and the creation of...

The Prince's Mistress: A Life of Mary Robinson.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Prince's Mistress: A Life of Mary Robinson. Hester Davenport. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. xiv + 274 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3227-9. To the author, Mary Robinson's role as the Prince of Wales' mistress has obscured her other...

Ceaseless Turmoil: Diaries, 1988-1992.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Ceaseless Turmoil: Diaries, 1988-1992. James Lees-Milne. Michael Bloch, editor. John Murray. [pounds sterling]25.00. xiii + 354 pages. ISBN 0-7195-6578-2. In this, the eleventh and penultimate volume of one of the most celebrated diaries of the...

A New History of Western Philosophy. Volume I: Ancient Philosophy.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... A New History of Western Philosophy. Volume I: Ancient Philosophy. Anthony Kenny, Clarendon Press, Oxford. [pounds sterling]17.99. xxi + 341 pages. ISBN 0-19-875273-3. The first volume in this new series begins with a lucid discussion of the...

Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945. Mark N. Franklin et al. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00 (US$65.00). xv + 277 pages. ISBN 0-521-83364-7. This incisive study is...

European Union Enlargement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... European Union Enlargement. Neill Nugent, editor. Palgrave Macmillan. [pounds sterling]52.50. xvi + 312 pages. ISBN 1-4039-1352-8. The recent expansion in the number of countries within the EU has laid the foundation, perhaps, for a different...

Across the Great Divide: Robert Stuart and the Discovery of the Oregon Trail.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Across the Great Divide: Robert Stuart and the Discovery of the Oregon Trail. Laton McCartney. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. viii + 307 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3740-8. This title, which was first published by Free Press in the U.S.,...

Letters from the Bay of Islands: The Story of Marianne Williams.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Letters from the Bay of Islands: The Story of Marianne Williams. Caroline Fitzgerald, editor. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. xviii + 270 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3696-7. The growth of the British Empire is never more fascinating than...

Winston's Folly: Imperialism and the Creation of Modern Iraq.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Winston's Folly: Imperialism and the Creation of Modern Iraq. Christopher Catherwood. Constable. [pounds sterling]12.99. 268 pages. ISBN 1-84119-939-7. This book was first published in the U.S. It examines Churchill's role as Colonial Secretary...

Shakespeare's Religious Allusiveness: Its Play and Tolerance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Shakespeare's Religious Allusiveness: Its Play and Tolerance. Maurice Hunt. Ashgate. [pounds sterling]40.00. xv + 148 pages. ISBN 0-7546-3954-1. The subject of Shake-speare's religion has become a popular academic subject in recent years. In...

Augustus: Godfather of Europe.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Augustus: Godfather of Europe. Richard Holland. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. xv + 303 pages. ISBN 0-7509-2910-3. The history of Julius Caesar's adopted son and heir, Gaius Octavius or, to us, Octavian or, better still, Augustus is...

Lost Libraries: the Destruction of Great Book Collections since Antiquity.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Lost Libraries: the Destruction of Great Book Collections since Antiquity. James Raven, editor. Palgrave Macmillan. [pounds sterling]50.00. xiii + 294 pages. ISBN 1-4039-21199-9. Libraries have been one of the bases of our civilisation from its...

Herbert Butterfield: Historian as Dissenter.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Herbert Butterfield: Historian as Dissenter. C.T. McIntire. Yale University Press. [pounds sterling]30.00. xxv + 499 pages. ISBN 0-300-09807-3. Herbert Butterfield is, perhaps, best remembered for his book, The Whig Interpretation of History...

Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World. Justin Marozzi. HarperCollins. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxiv + 449 pages. ISBN 0-00-711611-X. The world's most famous Mongul conqueror, Temur (1336?-1405), became the stuff of legends in...

The Local History Companion.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Local History Companion. Stephen Friar. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]25.00. vi + 506 pages. ISBN 0-7509-2722-4. Sutton has made something of a name for itself in the field of local history. This guide, which was rightly praised on...

The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany. S.P. Mackenzie. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]20.00. xvii + 446 pages. ISBN 0-19-926210-1. Those growing up after 1945 have been fed a continuous diet of...

History Play: The Lives and Afterlife of Christopher Marlowe.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... History Play: The Lives and Afterlife of Christopher Marlowe. Rodney Bolt. Harper-Collins. [pounds sterling]17.99. 416 pages. ISBN 0-00-712123-7. The death of the dramatist, Christopher Marlowe, in a tavern brawl in Deptford, is part of our...

Eichmann: His Life and Crimes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Eichmann: His Life and Crimes. David Cesarani. William Heinemann. [pounds sterling]20.00. v + 458 pages. ISBN 0-434-01056-1. To Prof. Cesarani Eichman is 'an icon of the twentieth century... a metonym for the entire history of the Nazi...

The Turks Today.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Turks Today. Andrew Mango. John Murray. [pounds sterling]20.00. xii + 292 pages. ISBN 0-7195-6229-5. This book follows the author's biography of Ataturk and carries on where that ended. Turkey is governed by 'an inadequate administration...

The Great War: Perspectives on the First World War.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Great War: Perspectives on the First World War. Robert Cowley, editor. Pimlico. [pounds sterling]14.00. xvi + 509 pages. ISBN 1-8441-3419-9. The twenty-eight articles in this collection first appeared in the U.S. in MHQ: The Quarterly...

Pepys's Later Diaries.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Pepys's Later Diaries. C.S. Knighton, editor. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. xxiv + 232 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3656-8. Although Pepys stopped keeping his diary in May 1669 he did keep diary notes about special events in his life. This...

The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641-1760.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641-1760. Toby Barnard. Palgrave Macmillan. [pounds sterling]17.99 p.b. vi + 205 pages. ISBN 0-333-61077-6. This volume in Palgrave's British History in Perspective series, seeks to explain how in this 119-year period...

The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955. John Colville. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xiii + 738 pages. ISBN 0-297-84758-9. Apart from a brief spell in the RAF, John Colville, later Sir John, spent the war years...

The Old Contemptibles: The British Expeditionary Force, 1914.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Old Contemptibles: The British Expeditionary Force, 1914. Robin Neillands. John Murray. 20.00. xxi + 362 pages. ISBN 0-7195-5646-5. This book concentrates on the army first sent to France in 1914, allegedly dismissed by the Kaiser as...

The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. Richard Overy. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]25.00. xl + 849 pages. ISBN 0-713-99309-X. Parallel biographies are not new but parallel histories of dictatorships are. This brilliant and...

Close Up: An Actor Telling Tales.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Close Up: An Actor Telling Tales. John Fraser. Oberon Books. [pounds sterling]21.00. viii + 294 pages. ISBN 1-84002-457-7. The chief merit of this memoir lies in the early chapters in which the author, born on a council estate in Glasgow,...

Those Other Eagles: A Tribute to the British, Commonwealth and Free European Fighter Pilots who Claimed between Two and Four Victories in Aerial Combat, 1939-1982.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Those Other Eagles: A Tribute to the British, Commonwealth and Free European Fighter Pilots who Claimed between Two and Four Victories in Aerial Combat, 1939-1982. Christopher Shores. Grub Street. [pounds sterling]50.00. 768 pages. ISBN...

UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack. Penguin Ireland. [pounds sterling]12.99. vii + 430 pages. ISBN 1-844-8802-6. The authors, both British journalists, have already written about the UVF and here they turn...

The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World. Brian M. Fagan, editor. Thames & Hudson. [pounds sterling]24.95. 304 pages. ISBN 0p-500-05130-5. The term, 'ancient world' here means 'all periods of human history and all parts of the world'...