Contemporary Review articles from May 2005

Contemporary Review archives from May 2005

No election debates please, we're British.
May 1, 2005... IN October 2004 The Guardian reported that 62.5 million Americans had tuned in for the first of the three debates to be televised as part of that year's presidential election campaign. Steve Anderson, creative director of Mentorn TV, argued...

Reporting on the workings of Britain's government.(Hutton and Butler: Lifting the Lid on the Workings of Power)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... IN July 2004 the British Academy assembled a panel of distinguished public commentators--William Twining, Peter Hennessy and Onora O'Neill--to consider the outcome of Lord Hutton's inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr...

Identity cards in Britain.
May 1, 2005... IN the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, politicians in countries around the world dug up old proposals for the introduction of Identity Cards. They have a long history in continental countries, but have rarely been used in...

Crimes and Cultures: a view from the right.(Cultures and Crimes: Policing in Four Nations)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Civitas is an 'Institute for the Study of Civil Society', a title that could mean anything; but its web-site demonstrates that its publications, at least, are fairly right-wing efforts devoted to matters such as health, education, public...

Chechnya: the achilles heel of Russia--part two.
May 1, 2005... Editor's Note: In last month's issue Dr Alec Rasizade explained the historic hostilities between Chechnya and Russia and now he analyses the struggle between them, up to the recent death of Aslan Maskhadov, the leader of the Chechen resistance....

King Gyanendra and democracy in Nepal.
May 1, 2005... ON 1 February 2005, King Gyanendra of Nepal usurped all executive powers of State through a proclamation of a State of Emergency in the country that has been precipitously descending into bloody chaos since his anointment as king following the...

French colonialism and its proconsuls.(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... DR Singer and Professor Langdon have given us an important and timely book (Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire. Barnett Singer and John Langdon. University of Wisconsin Press. [pounds sterling]29.95/US$ 45.00....

Late Caravaggio at the National Gallery.(Caravaggio: the Final Years, London National Gallery)(Biography)
May 1, 2005... THE London National Gallery has shown admirable enterprise in launching its latest exhibition, Caravaggio: the Final Years, a modest but stalwart sequel to the Royal Academy's monumental achievement of 2001, The Genius of Rome. Among the...

Creating the new Japan.(Japan's Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the Twenty-First Century)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Japan's Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the Twenty-First Century. Jeff Kingston. Routledge Curzon. [pounds sterling]21.99 p.b. xvi + 358 pages. ISBN 0-415-27483-4. Amongst many contemporary commentators on Japan's...

The future for US-European security.(Redefining Transatlantic Security Relations: The Challenge of Change)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Redefining Transatlantic Security Relations: The Challenge of Change. Dieter Mahncke, Wyn Rees and Wayne C. Thompson. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00. vii + 242 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6210-1. Since the terrorist attacks of...

Giles Radice on Labour, 1980-2001.(Diaries 1980-2001: From Political Disaster to Election Triumph)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Diaries 1980-2001: From Political Disaster to Election Triumph. Giles Radice. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xii + 564 pages. ISBN 0-297-84900-X. The 1980s were a lean time for Labour Party political diarists. After the...

Remembering Nelson.(Nelson: Britannia's God of War)(Nelson: A Dream of Glory)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Nelson: Britannia's God of War. Andrew Lambert. Faber and Faber. [pounds sterling]20.00. xxviii +446 pages. ISBN 0-571-21222-0. Nelson: A Dream of Glory. John Sugden. Jonathan Cape. [pounds sterling]25.00. 752 pages. ISBN 0-224-06097-X. ...

Scottish history on the margins.(Curious Scotland: Tales from a Hidden History)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Curious Scotland: Tales from a Hidden History. George Rosie. Granta Books. [pounds sterling]14.99. xi +244 pages. ISBN 1-86207-533-6. Not all George Rosie's 'tales' have been all that well hidden up till now. Some, like the good qualities...

New and noteworthy.(books)
May 1, 2005... Last February GRANTA BOOKS launched a new series of short introductions or guides to the works of those who have influenced man's development. As Simon Critchley, the series editor, put it, the books are not biographies or summations of famous...

The world of paperbacks.(book releases)
May 1, 2005... Newly released titles from VINTAGE begin this month's column because the company is reissuing the novels of two of the last century's greatest writers, Graham Greene and William Faulkner. The works of Graham Greene that have been reprinted in...

Auschwitz: A History.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Auschwitz: A History. Sybille Steinbacher (Shaun Whiteside, translator). Penguin Books. [pounds sterling]6.99 p.b. viii + 168 pages. ISBN 0-141-02142-X. This brief account by Prof. Steinbacher was first published in Germany last year and has...

The Cambridge Companion to Elgar.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Cambridge Companion to Elgar. Daniel M. Grimley and Julian Rushtonl, editors. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]50.00 (US$70.00). xix + 253 pages. ISBN 0-521-82623-3. The aim of this collection is to give readers 'a framework...

Massacre of the Innocents: The Crofton Diaries, Ypres 1914-1915.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Massacre of the Innocents: The Crofton Diaries, Ypres 1914-1915. Gavin Roynon, editor. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]19.99. xxv + 286 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3739-4. Several studies have appeared in recent years of the role of the 'old army'...

Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses. Mark Curtis. Vintage. [pounds sterling]7.99 p.b. vi + 377 pages. ISBN 0-099-46972-3. This Vintage original is by the Director of The World Development Movement. His aim is 'to uncover the reality...

Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter. Bevis Hillier. John Murray. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxi + 746 pages. ISBN 0-7195-6495-6. In this third and final volume of Mr Hillier's magisterial life we are reminded that Sir John Betjeman was above all a...

Tractarians and the 'Condition of England': The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Tractarians and the 'Condition of England': The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement. S.A. Skinner. Clarendon Press, Oxford. [pounds sterling]55.00. x + 330 pages. ISBN 0-19-927323-5. This is a study of the attitudes towards...

Tail-End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War 1944-45.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Tail-End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War 1944-45. John Nichol and Tony Rennell. Viking. [pounds sterling]18.99. xxiii + 470 pages. ISBN 0-670-91456-8. This title is by the same two authors who wrote The Last Escape, a deeply moving...

A Brief History of Painting.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... A Brief History of Painting. Roy Bolton. Robinson. [pounds sterling]9.99 p.n. xix + 300 pages. ISBN 1-84119-957-5. This latest number in the 'Brief History' series is an introduction to the history of painting. In eight chapters the author, who...

Relocating England.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Relocating England. P.W. Preston. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]12.99. viii + 223 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6935-1. Academics follow fashion as much as dressmakers and beginning in the 1990s with devolution for Scotland and Wales,...

The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Final Gamble.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Final Gamble. Patrick Delaforce. Pearson Longman. [pounds sterling]19.99. xii + 360 pages. ISBN 0-582-78493-X. The author, himself a R.H.A. troop leader in the war, describes Hitler's attempt to re-take Antwerp...

Cyprus: The Search for a Solution.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Cyprus: The Search for a Solution. David Hannay. I.B. Tauris. [pounds sterling]25.00. x + 256 pages. ISBN 1-85043-665-7. As H.M. Government's special representative for Cyprus, Lord Hannay has had years of experience as part of the...

Panorama of the Classical World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Panorama of the Classical World. Nigel Spivey and Michael Squire. Thames & Hudson. [pounds sterling]29.95. 368 pages. ISBN 0-500-51185-3. It is seldom that a publisher can combine a beautifully illustrated book--in this case 590 illustrations...

Franklin and Winston: A Portrait of a Friendship.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Franklin and Winston: A Portrait of a Friendship. Jon Meacham. Granta Books. [pounds sterling]25.00. xx + 490 pages. ISBN 1-86207-715-0. This book, first published in the U.S., is 'a portrait of... the most fascinating friendship of modern...

Animals, Politics and Morality.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Animals, Politics and Morality. Robert Garner. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]14.99 p.b. x + 285 pages. ISBN 0-7190-6621-2. This is a second edition of a title first published in 1993 and, as the author says, there have been...

The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society, and Culture in Britain.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society, and Culture in Britain. Bernard Porter. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]25.00. xxii + 475 pages. ISBN 0-19-820854-5. Imperial history is a growth area, indeed, it is now fashionable,...

Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Reality and Imagination.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement: Reality and Imagination. Judith B. Tankard. Harry N. Abrams. [pounds sterling]29.95. 216 pages. ISBN 0-8109-4965-2. The Arts and Crafts movement is remembered for its houses, cottages, furniture, fabrics...

Big Ben: The Bell, The Clock and The Tower.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Big Ben: The Bell, The Clock and The Tower. Peter MacDonald. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]14.99. xix + 249 pages. ISBN 0-7509-3827-7. Few clocks and clock towers have become so famous as the 'Great Clock' of Westminster Palace or 'Big...

True to the Letter: 800 Years of Remarkable Correspondence, Documents and Autographs.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... True to the Letter: 800 Years of Remarkable Correspondence, Documents and Autographs. Pedro Correa do Lago. Thames & Hudson. [pounds sterling]29.95. 288 pages. ISBN 0-500-51206-X. Mr do Lago is President of Brazil's National Library and, as...

Spies of the Kaiser: German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Spies of the Kaiser: German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War. Thomas Boghardt. Palgrave-Macmillan. [pounds sterling]50.00. xiv + 224 pages. ISBN 1-4039-3248-4. During the Great War, 'spymania' was a constant feature...

Christianity: A Very Short Introduction.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Christianity: A Very Short Introduction. Linda Woodhead. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]6.99. vi + 168 pages. ISBN 0-19-280322-0. To introduce the Christian religion in 168 pages is a sizable undertaking. Miss Woodhead does so by...

Stalin: A Biography.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Stalin: A Biography. Robert Service. Macmillan. [pounds sterling]25.00. xviii + 715 pages. ISBN 0-333-72627-8. The author is well known for his biography of Lenin and for his general histories of modern Russia. In this biography he followed the...

The Royal Navy since 1815: A New Short History.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Royal Navy since 1815: A New Short History. Eric J. Grove. Palgrave-Macmillan. [pounds sterling]49.50. x + 300 pages. ISBN 0-333-72125-X. This history makes use of recent research into British naval history and is designed to 'synthesize...

The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology. David Bagchi and David C. Steinmetz, editors. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]45.99 (US$70.00). x + 289 pages. ISBN 0-521-77662-7. This collection of seventeen essays seeks to give...

Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East. Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde and Nikolaus Pevsner. Yale University Press. [pounds sterling]29.95. xx + 748 pages. ISBN 0-300-10583-5. This latest volume in the Buildings of England series is a revision...

The Presidents: The Transformation of the American Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... The Presidents: The Transformation of the American Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Stephen Graubard. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]30.00. xv + 928 pages. ISBN 0-713-99618-8. This was published last year in the U.S. as...

G.F. Watts: The Last Great Victorian.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... G.F. Watts: The Last Great Victorian. Veronica Franklin Gould. Yale University Press. [pounds sterling]40.00. xiv + 458 pages. ISBN 0-300-10577-0. As curator of the centenary exhibition, The Vision of G.F. Watts and as the editor of his...

Turpines Story: A Middle English Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Turpines Story: A Middle English Translation of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle. Stephen H.A. Shepherd, editor. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]50.00. 1xiii + 105 pages. ISBN 0-19-722325-7. This edition, published for the Early English...

Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World. David Bodanis. Little, Brown. [pounds sterling]14.99. vii + 298 pages. ISBN 0-316-86182-0. This study, first published in the U.S., is concerned with man's investigation into...

Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt. Nicholas Roe. Pimlico. [pounds sterling]14.99 p.b. xix + 428 pages. ISBN 0-7126-0224-0. By 'first life' the author means Hunt's life up to Shelley's death in 1822, the years before he wrote some of his...

Mary Wollstonecraft: A New Genus.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Mary Wollstonecraft: A New Genus. Lyndall Gordon. Little, Brown. [pounds sterling]25.00. xiii + 562 pages. ISBN 0-316-72866-7. In the pantheon of feminist heroines none stands higher than Mary Wollstonecraft, famous for her 1792 book,...