Contemporary Review articles from July 2003

Contemporary Review archives from July 2003

Scotland's Parliament: more fringe than festival.
July 1, 2003... THE Scottish Parliament and its Labour-Liberal coalition Executive both got a less than resounding vote of confidence on May Day at the end of their first four-year term. After a campaign which inspired little emotion or excitement, only half...

The United States, Iraq, and international relations; part two: a pyrrhic victory?
July 1, 2003... LAST month's article sought to explore the historical context in which the Iraq crisis of 2002-3 developed and to consider the legality of the subsequent US-British military operation. The immediate consequences of that operation for Iraq...

Iraq: policing tile peace.
July 1, 2003... IT took less than a month for the US-led coalition to achieve military supremacy in Iraq. After 21 days, although political and military leaders decided not to declare victory, it was quite clear that no serious threat could be directed against...

Touring Papua New Guinea.
July 1, 2003... THE badge gave admission to the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show, but this is no ordinary August show. For over an hour the audience, on tiered wooden seating, watched more than 50 tribal groups enter the vast showground and take their places. Each...

Pissarro in London.
July 1, 2003... IT would have done something to civilise the new and much hyped Modern Tate Gallery on the South Bank if the exhibition, Pissarro in London, had been held there, but it is being mounted at the National Gallery with a scholarship and coherence...

What did you say? Remembered words.
July 1, 2003... ONE afternoon when we were eight or nine, still of an age when curiosity can over-ride kindness, my friend John McGuinness and I spent longer than we should have done proving that his dog was word-deaf. Ho was a boisterously friendly Irish...

Michel houellebecq: French novelist for our times.
July 1, 2003... THE controversial French writer Michel Houellebecq has probably initiated more acres of newsprint than any other writer, living or dead. In the process, he has been hailed as a prescient genius and dismissed as a rabid extremist, but almost...

Churchill and the Making of His Legend. (Reviews).(Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend Since 1945)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend Since 1945. John Ramsden. HarperCollins. [pounds sterling]25.00. 652 pages. ISBN 0-00-257034-3. Winston Churchill's reputation has proved remarkably resilient to revision. Being voted...

'IL Papa Buono': A New Life of Pope John XXII. (Reviews).(Pope John XXIII)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Pope John XXIII. Thomas Cahill. Weideafeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling] 14.99. 275 pages. ISBN 0-297-82939-4. John XXIII was Pope for less than five years in the middle of the last century, yet his influence was inversely proportionate to...

The Enigmatic Sir James Brooke. (Reviews).(White Rajah)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... White Rajah. Nigel Barley. Little, Brown. [pounds]16.99. 262 pages. ISBN 0-316-85920-6. This involving book deals with the enigmatic Sir James Brooke, self-styled Rajah of Sarawak, then an unprepossessing region in Borneo. Enigma surrounds...

Fay Weldon's Candid Autobiography. (Reviews).(Auto Da Fay)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Auto Da Fay. Fay Weldon. Flamingo-HarperCollins. [pounds]15.99. 366 pages. ISBN 0-00-710992-X. Fay Weldon has never flinched from controversy and dissent: in fact she quite enjoys it. Not only has she written markedly direct and...

The South Sea Bubble - George i's Enron. (Reviews).(A Very English Deceit: The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble and the First Great Financial Scandal)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... A Very English Deceit: The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble and the First Great Financial Scandal. Malcolm Balen. Fourth Estate. [pounds]17.99. 260 pages. ISBN 1-84115-552-7. The South Sea Company, originally a trading enterprise to...

Scotland's Diaspora. (Reviews).(Adventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Adventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus. Marjory Harper. Profile Books. [pounds sterling]25.00. 422 pages. ISBN 1-86197-304-7. A Scottish inclination to emigration was evident when Dr Johnson claimed that 'the noblest prospect...

Ireland's War for Independence. (Reviews).(The Irish War of Independence)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Irish War of Independence. Michael Hopkinson. Gill & Macmillan. [euro]29.99.274 pages. ISBN 0-7171-3010-X. The modern literature on 1916 is vast in poetry and prose. Likewise there are several studies, including the acclaimed Green...

The War Poets. (Reviews).(Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War. Jon Stallworthy. Constable. [pounds sterling]14.99. 192 pages. ISBN 1-84119-635-5. On first appearances, this volume looks rather like a 'coffee-table' publication. The...

New and noteworthy. (Review).
July 1, 2003... CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS continues its series of companions with The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir ([pounds sterling45.00]) edited by Prof. Claudia Card of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This collection of fourteen essays...

The world of paperbacks.
July 1, 2003... OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS has recently published a wide range of history paperbacks. In chronological order these include Prof. J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz's Tire Decline and Fall of the Roman City ([pounds sterling]25.00), a fascinating study of...

Love & Dirt: The Marriage of Arthur Munby & Hannah Cullwick. (Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Love & Dirt: The Marriage of Arthur Munby & Hannah Cullwick. Diane Atkinson. Macmillan. [pound sterling]15.99. 365 pages. ISBN 0-333-78071-X. Ever since the publication of Arthur Munby's will in 1910, the story of his secret marriage to a...

The National Army Museum Book of the Zulu War. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The National Army Museum Book of the Zulu War. Ian Knight. Sidgwick & Jackson. [pound sterling]30.00. 294 pages. ISBN 0-283-07327-6. Of all the colonial wars fought in Queen Victoria's reign, the Zulu War of 1879 is the most remembered. In the...

Unfolding the South: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers and Artists in Italy. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Unfolding the South: Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers and Artists in Italy. Alison Chapman and Jane Stabler, editors. Manchester University Press. [pound sterling]15.99 p.b. 246 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6130-X. The effect of Italy on male...

Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin. (Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin. Frances Harris. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]25.00. 330 pages. ISBN 0-19-925257-2. John Evelyn's relationship with the young Margaret Godolphin (nee...

George III King and Politicians 1760-1770. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... George III King and Politicians 1760-1770. Peter D.G. Thomas. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00. 262 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6428-7. The author is the last research student supervised by Sir Lewis Namier and he uses Namier's famous...

A Spoilt Boy. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... A Spoilt Boy. Frederic Raphael. Orion. [pounds sterling]14.99. 291 pages. ISBN 0-75285-584-0. The publication of memoirs by highly successful writers in which they tell readers how miserable was their childhood is no new genre. One has only to...

The Crusades: A History of Armed Pilgrimage and Holy War. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The Crusades: A History of Armed Pilgrimage and Holy War. Geoffrey Hindley. Constable. [pounds sterling]18.99. 300 pages. ISBN 1-84119-597-9. When, in the days following September 11th, politicians in the U.S. and U.K. first used the term,...

Central Park: An American Masterpiece. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Central Park: An American Masterpiece. Sara Cedar Miller. Harry N. Abrams. [pounds sterling]30.00. 255 pages. ISBN 0-8109-3946-0. New York City's great park, which may be said to date from 1853, is, the author claims, 'the most important work...

Julia Margaret Cameron: Pioneer Photographer. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Julia Margaret Cameron: Pioneer Photographer. Joy Melville. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]12.99. 130 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3229-5. Julia Cameron was a product of the Raj. She was born in Calcutta in 1815 and, after schooling in England and...

Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence, 1942-1947. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence, 1942-1947. Julian Lewis. Frank Cass. [pounds sterling]30.00. Second Edition. 475 pages. ISBN 0-7146-5399-3. This study was first published in 1988 but was based on...

Female Imperialism and National Identity: Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Female Imperialism and National Identity: Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. Katie Pickles. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00. 209 pages. ISBN 07 190-6390-6. Canada's Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire was the largest...

Prince of Europe: The Life of Charles Joseph de Ligne (1735-1814). (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Prince of Europe: The Life of Charles Joseph de Ligne (1735-1814). Philip Mansel. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. 338 pages. ISBN 1-84212-731-4. The author already has a formidable reputation for elegantly written books on French...

Dreaming of Damascus: Arab Voices from a Region in Turmoil. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Dreaming of Damascus: Arab Voices from a Region in Turmoil. Stephen Glain. John Murray. [pounds sterling]20.00. 306 pages. ISBN 0-7195-5543-4. This book was published in the early days of the Iraqi War and therefore has an extra timeliness. The...

The Dark Heart of Italy. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The Dark Heart of Italy. Tobias Jones. Faber and Faber. [pounds sterling]16.99. 266 pages. ISBN 0-571-20582-8. The author of this book, an expatriate Briton now living in Italy, set out to write a study of those bits of Italian life and history...

British Cinema of the 1950s: A Celebration. (Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... British Cinema of the 1950s: A Celebration. Ian Mackillop and Neil Sinyard, editors. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00. 236 pages. ISBN 0-71906488-0. Half of the twenty short essays presented here began life as lectures given...

Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II. (Contemporary Review).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II. Paul Doherty. Constable. [pounds sterling]17.99. 262 pages. ISBN 1-84119-301-1. Edward II was King from 1307 to his 'abdication' in 1326, To generations of schoolboys the most memorable aspects of...

The United States Congress. (Contemporary Review).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The United States Congress. Ross M. English. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]40.00. 177 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6308-6. The United States' federal legislature is one of the world's most powerful legislative bodies, arguably the most...