Contemporary Review articles from March 2004

Contemporary Review archives from March 2004

Post-conflict peace-making from Bosnia to Iraq: lessons which should be learnt.
March 1, 2004... FROM 1992 to 1995 I served as Chairman of the Defence Select Committee of the House of Commons, and from 1995 until 1997 I was the Minister of State at the Foreign Office with the responsibility, among others, for Her Majesty's Government's...

Georgia meets the test of its independence.
March 1, 2004... THE recent upheaval in the Republic of Georgia is a compelling story of a nation struggling to cope with the harsh realities of its own independence and the bitter memories of socialism. As tensions mount and tempers flare in this country as it...

The health service in rural Britain.
March 1, 2004... WE live way out in the sticks in Gloucestershire--from choice. The village is two plus miles away from any dwelling and is approached through sylvan lanes; uphill both ways, or so we have always averred. We are, unluckily, on the corner of...

Is the new world order emerging?
March 1, 2004... THE war in Iraq heralds the coming of a new international order. At issue are implications for how the world should be run. The United States is bitterly disappointed with the United Nations and the failure of major powers such as France,...

The Olympics push China into the twenty-first century.
March 1, 2004... AFTER reading for years about the havoc wrought by the Cultural Revolution and the bloody events of Tiananmen Square, I could not believe that it was China. What I saw during my first days in that country was that the progress and the...

Fighting poverty in Cambodia.
March 1, 2004... THE four-wheel drive pickup truck, sporting government campaign posters, rolls into Chung Rouk commune, its loudspeaker crackling into life to alert villagers that the show is about to begin. A pop song blares out the message: 'Increase...

A Victorian entrepreneur.
March 1, 2004... IN these days of the world village, of the global economy, of megabuck deals between multinational conglomerates, of takeovers and asset stripping, when men and women are classified as 'human resources' and 'units of production', management is...

Sir Arnold de Montmorency: protector of Contemporary Review.(Obituary)
March 1, 2004... CONTEMPORARY Review was founded in the middle of the nineteenth century and it still flourishes at the start of the twenty-first. To survive through three centuries and throughout decades of vastly different outlooks on life is a considerable...

The US and International Organisations.(US Hegemony and International Organizations)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... US Hegemony and International Organizations. Rosemary Foot, S. Neil MacFarlane and Michael Mastanduno, editors. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]50.00 ([pounds sterling]18.99 p.b.). 296 pages. ISBN 0-19-926142-3. With the debate...

The Blair regime as seen from the left.(Pretty Straight Guys)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Pretty Straight Guys. Nick Cohen. Faber and Faber. [pounds sterling]14.99. xv + 296 pages. ISBN 0-571-220037-0. The ironic title, Pretty Straight Guys, signals a devastating critique of the Blair Government. This is contemporary history at...

Hitler's man in Dublin.(Herr Hempel at the German Legation in Dublin: 1937-1945)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Herr Hempel at the German Legation in Dublin: 1937-1945. John P. Duggan. Irish Academic Press. [pounds sterling]35.00. 352 pages. ISBN 0-7165-2764-4. The letter of credence dated 22 June 1937 from Hitler to King George VI, tells us...

Nature v. Nurture: an end to the war?(Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human. Matt Ridley. Fourth Estate. [pounds sterling]18.99. 328 pages. ISBN 1-84115-745-7. This is a timely book. Hardly a day goes by without news bulletins featuring at least one...

Orwell--the decent man of the left.(George Orwell)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... George Orwell. Gordon Bowker. Little, Brown. 395 pages. ISBN 0-316-86115-4. All biographers of George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Blair) have to escape somehow from the shadow of Bernard Crick's life of the writer. Not that Crick's...

The Abdication revisited.(The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication. Susan Williams. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]16.99. xxiv + 375 pages. ISBN 0-713-99573-4. The title of this book indicates its approach. The term, 'people's', indicates what might be...

New and noteworthy.(new books from Vintage Trade Books)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... This month's column features literary titles. First, from VINTAGE's much respected guides to 'living texts', the 'Essential Guide to Contemporary Literature' edited by Margaret Reynolds and Jonathan Noakes, we have John Fowles: The Essential...

Cambridge University Press.("The Cambridge Companion to Bertrand Russell" and "The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer")(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS has brought out two more titles in its series of companions: The Cambridge Companion to Bertrand Russell ([pounds sterling]55.00 and US$75.00) edited by Nicholas Griffin. This collection of fifteen essays, prepared by...

Palgrave MacMillan.("Dickens the Journalist" and "In Memoriam')(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... PALGRAVE MACMILLAN has published John M. L. Drew's Dickens the Journalist ([pounds sterling]45.00). Mr Drew's aim is 'to survey the texts which compose the "canon" of Dickens's journalism... and the contexts of their production' and to offer...

Palgrave MacMillan.("Shakespeare, Spenser and the Matter of Britain")(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... PALGRAVE MACMILLAN has brought out a new volume in its series, Early Modern Literature in History: Andrew Hadfield's provocative study, Shakespeare, Spenser and the Matter of Britain ([pounds sterling]45.00). Here Prof. Hadfield uses the...

Tabb House.("Virginia Woolf & Vanessa Bell: Remembering St Ives" )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... From TABB HOUSE, one of the country's smaller, distinguished publishers, we have Virginia Woolf & Vanessa Bell: Remembering St Ives by Marion Dell and Marion Whybrow ([pounds sterling]24.00). St Ives was described by Virginia Woolf as a town on...

Pimlico.(new paperback releases)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... From PIMLICO we have paperback editions of three recently published history titles. The first is Lauro Martines' April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici ([pounds sterling]8.99), a fascinating account of one of the most dramatic...

John Murray.(new book releases)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Three new releases from JOHN MURRAY might make the casual observer think it had become a feminist publishing house. In the event the three women whose lives are described here all led fascinating lives that would attract any biographer. Iris...

Profile Books.(new releases)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... PROFILE BOOKS have brought out Jessica Warner's Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason ([pounds sterling]8.99), a look at one of the country's first 'crazes' and Alan Bennett's Three Stories ([pounds sterling]7.99). These three short...

Picador.(new paperback releases)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... From PICADOR we have paperback editions of The Selected Works of Cyril Connolly edited by his son, Matthew. The first volume is sub-titled The Modern Movement and the second, The Two Natures. The two volumes contain some of Connolly's best...

Robinson.(Robinson Publishing Inc. new release)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ROBINSON has republished in paperback format Robert Harvey's Global Disorder ([pounds sterling]9.99). When reviewed in Contemporary Review it was said that the book offered 'the insights and thoughts of a commentator and practitioner who has...

W. W. Norton.(The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian))(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... New titles from W. W. NORTON include a reprint of The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian) ([pounds sterling]10.99) first published in 1926. This edition has an introduction by Manuel Konroff and the period illustrations are by Witold Gordon....

Yale University Press.(Amanda Vickery's The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS published Amanda Vickery's The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England ([pounds sterling]7.99) in 1998 to widespread acclaim and has now reissued it in its Nota Bene series. Whilst we have known a good deal...

Gibson Square.(A. N. Wilson's Hilaire Belloc)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... GIBSON SQUARE has recently brought out a new edition of A. N. Wilson's Hilaire Belloc ([pounds sterling]9.99) first published in 1984. This biography of the great Catholic controversialist and writer was based on numerous manuscript sources and...

Pan Books.(new titles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... From PAN BOOKS we have a variety of new paperback titles reflecting the wide range of books published by the Macmillan empire. The first is Editor: An Inside Story of Newspapers ([pounds sterling]7.99) by Max Hastings, one time editor of the...

Simon & Schuster's.(The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing True Story of the Royal Collection of Wild Beasts)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... SIMON & SCHUSTER'S Pocket Books' series has recently issued a paperback edition of Daniel Hahn's The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing True Story of the Royal Collection of Wild Beasts ([pounds sterling]7.99), a highly enjoyable account of Britain's...

Granta Books.(Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... GRANTA BOOKS have published Janet Malcolm's Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey ([pounds sterling]8.99), a book that combines travel writing, biographical insights and critical judgement and one that gives a unique insight into the ever popular...

Longman.(The Stuart Age: England 1603-1714, 3rd ed.)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... From LONGMAN we have a new, third edition of Barry Coward's The Stuart Age: England 1603-1714 ([pounds sterling]19.99) which first appeared to high praise in 1980. In his new preface Mr Coward examines the new developments in...

Penguin Books.(The Pity of It All: A Portrait of Jews in Germany 1743-1933)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Finally, from PENGUIN BOOKS we have Amos Elon's The Pity of It All: A Portrait of Jews in Germany 1743-1933 ([pounds sterling]8.99), a wide-ranging survey which will remind a new generation that, ironies of ironies, amongst Europe's Jews, those...

The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War. David Caute. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]30.00. xiv + 788 pages. ISBN 0-19-924908-3. Prof. Caute has set out to write a cultural history of the Cold War...

Fatal Silence.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Fatal Silence. Robert Katz. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]20.00. xxiii + 418 pages. ISBN 0-297-84661-2. This is the author's second book on the plight of Rome's Jews during the Second World War. It was first published in the US as The...

A Short History of French Literature.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... A Short History of French Literature. Sarah Kay, Terence Cave and Malcolm Bowie. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]30.00. xii + 344 pages. ISBN 0-19-815931-5. Writing a short history about such a large topic is not easy. The book is not...

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans. Francis Pryor. HarperCollins. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxxi + 488 pages. ISBN 0-00-712692-1. In part this book has grown our of the author's earlier book, Seahenge and in part on his...

Early Modern French Thought: The Age of Suspicion.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Early Modern French Thought: The Age of Suspicion. Michael Moriarty. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]50.00. 271 pages. ISBN 0-19-926146-6. We now know that Descartes, Pascal and Malebranche were thinking on the cusp of modernity. But...

Cassell's History of English Literature.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Cassell's History of English Literature. Peter Conrad. Cassell. [pounds sterling]30.00. xi + 772 pages. ISBN 0-3304-36610-2. This history was first published in 1985 and the author has taken the opportunity of revising his text by adding a new...

Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas. Richard Bourke. Pimlico. [pounds sterling]10.00. xvii + 462 pages. ISBN 1-8441-3316-8. The author, who was born in Dublin but now teaches in London, discusses Northern Ireland's 'troubles' from the late 1960s...

News and the British World: The Emergence of an Imperial Press System, 1876-1922.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... News and the British World: The Emergence of an Imperial Press System, 1876-1922. Simon J. Potter. Clarendon Press, Oxford. [pounds sterling]50.00. xiv + 246 pages. ISBN 0-19-926512-7. This survey of 'imperial integration' begins with the...

Signs & Wonders: Essays on Literature & Culture.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Signs & Wonders: Essays on Literature & Culture. Marina Warner. Chatto & Windus. [pounds sterling]20.00. xii + 516 pages. ISBN 0-701-17332-7. The author has established herself as a leading historian of modern culture and thought. She is most...

The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine. Andrea Stuart. Macmillan. [pounds sterling]20.00. xiii + 455 pages. ISBN 0-333-73933-7. The author accepts that, with sixty biographies already written about Napoleon's first Empress, hers...

Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings. Pietro C. Marani (A. Lawrence Jenkens, translator). Harry N. Abrams. [pounds sterling]25.00. 384 pages. ISBN 0-8109-9159-4. Prof. Marani, who teaches in Milan's Politecnico, is one of the world's...

Bill Clinton. An American Journey.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Bill Clinton. An American Journey. Great Expectations. Century. Nigel Hamilton. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxiv + 784 pages. ISBN 1-8441-3208-0. This hefty volume, first published in the US, is only the first of a two-volume biography. The author...

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. Deborah Cadbury. Fourth Estate. [pounds sterling]20.00. iii + 376 pages. ISBN 0-00-716304-5. This study, which accompanied a BBC series, celebrates seven of the world's 'most remarkable feats of...

The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. Jussi Hanhimaki and Odd Arne Westad, editors. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]75.00. xvii + 694 pages. ISBN 0-19-820862-6. This valuable and original collection reflects...

By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London. Adrian Tinnis-wood. Jonathan Cape. [pounds sterling]20.00. xix + 330 pages. ISBN 0-224-06226-3. In some ways this book is a natural development from the author's earlier biography...

Colonel Blood: The Man Who Stole the Crown Jewels.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Colonel Blood: The Man Who Stole the Crown Jewels. David C. Hanrahan. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. xii + 212 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3327-5. Colonel Blood earned his place in history in May 1671 when he led a small gang into the Tower...

Robert Emmet: The Making of a Legend.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Robert Emmet: The Making of a Legend. Marianne Elliott. Profile Books. [pounds sterling]20.00. xii + 292 pages. ISBN 1-86197-643-7. Robert Emmet (1778-1803) was the leader of an unsuccessful rebellion against British rule who perished on the...

The Lesser Evil: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... The Lesser Evil: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer. 1945-1959. Martin Chalmers, editor. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xvii + 637 pages. ISBN 1-84212-743-8. The two earlier volumes of these diaries recounted the life of this...

Beneath a Waning Moon: Diaries.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Beneath a Waning Moon: Diaries, 1985-1987. James Lees-Milne. John Murray. [pounds sterling]22.50. xiii + 258 pages. [pounds sterling]22.50. ISBN 07195-6219-8. 'Diaries are useless, because they are written with an eye to publication' said the...