Contemporary Review articles from November 2003

Contemporary Review archives from November 2003

India and Pakistan ponder a role in Iraq.
November 1, 2003... FOLLOWING the 'liberation' of Iraq, the US was then faced with the task of rebuilding. Things have not proven quite so simple. Iraq was thrown into a state of anarchy. The US Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says fixing the power and water...

The rise and rise of open government.
November 1, 2003... HAVING had its third reading (30/11/2000) the government's Freedom of Information Act has now passed into law. Whether in practice it will be an effective piece of legislation (its full implementation has been delayed until 2005) it is too soon...

Edward Said: the Palestinian intellectual champion.(Obituary)
November 1, 2003... EDWARD W. Said, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and a much sought after lecturer died on 25 September 2003 at the age of 67, in a New York hospital, after a lengthy illness. With his passing, the Arabs,...

Australia's involvement in the Iraq War.
November 1, 2003... AUSTRALIA was the third member of the 'coalition of the willing' in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The operation was conducted with little enthusiasm among the Australian population, and with misgivings from a wide range of people (including from...

Russia reforms its health system to combat AIDS and TB.
November 1, 2003... RUSSIA is reforming its national health care service. The project is part of an enormous internationally supported medical development programme to confront an HIV/AIDS/TB epidemic, which is rapidly growing beyond control across the ruins of...

'The glory of education': one hundred years of the workers' educational association.
November 1, 2003... THE influential historian, R. H. Tawney, was an inspiring lecturer for decades, applying his rigorous views on historical scholarship to classes of ordinary working people. He had a tendency to put a smouldering pipe in his pocket, and to enjoy...

A simple way to save India's babies.
November 1, 2003... COMPLICATIONS of hypothermia--low body temperature--are responsible for the majority of neo-natal deaths (occurring within 28 days of birth) in India, and the condition goes largely unnoticed. Infants at risk include low birthweight...

Harold Pinter--a political playwright?(Critical Essay)
November 1, 2003... HAROLD Pinter's career as a playwright is highly distinguished by anyone's reckoning. Many critics have no reservations in calling him 'our greatest living playwright'. But few would argue that it is on a handful of stage plays, from The...

Even the Parrot.
November 1, 2003... EVEN the Parrot is the title of a little book of precepts for children by Dorothy L. Sayers that I was given as a birthday present by my godfather. As a bachelor, he had no time for children, and since we lived in India a small army of...

The future of Japan Inc.(Reviews)(Japanese Governance: Beyond Japan Inc)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Japanese Governance: Beyond Japan Inc. Jennifer Amyx and Peter Drysdale, editors. Routledge. [pounds sterling]50.00. 208 pages. ISBN 0-415-30469-5. One of the powerbrokers of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, wrote a potent...

A. L. Rowse: diary of a disappointed man.(Reviews)(The Diaries of A. L. Rowse)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Diaries of A. L. Rowse. Richard Ollard, editor. Allen Lane. [pounds sterling]25.00. 462 pages. ISBN 0-71399-572-6. Qualitatively, the diaries by which Leslie Rowse latterly set so optimistic survivalist store--'There might well be a...

Our disordered world.(Reviews)(Global Disorder)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Global Disorder. Robert Harvey. Constable. [pounds sterling]20.00. 476 pages. ISBN 1-84119-629-0. Global Disorder provides an interesting insight into the way in which the elite classes view international politics. The book itself is...

The inspiration for Elgar.(Reviews)(Elgar and Chivalry)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Elgar and Chivalry. Robert Anderson. Elgar Editions. [pounds sterling]24.00. 467 pages. ISBN 0-9537082-5-X. The world premiere on 17 February 1998 of Elgar's Third Symphony, impressively reconstructed by Anthony Payne, to whom the book is...

Bin Laden and before.(Reviews)(An Anatomy of Terror: A History of Terrorism)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... An Anatomy of Terror: A History of Terrorism. Andrew Sinclair. Macmillan. [pounds sterling]18.99. 400 pages. ISBN 0-333-98977-5. The Third Millennium had hardly begun when the world witnessed probably the most spectacular expression of...

Three centuries of piracy.(Reviews)(The Pirate Wars)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Pirate Wars. Peter Earle. Methuen. 273 pages. [pounds sterling]20.00. ISBN 0-413-75880-X. Peter Earle tells us the story of piracy in all its forms in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas and the Indian Ocean over three...

The State of America's Cinema.(Reviews)(American Film and Politics from Reagan to Bush Jr)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... American Film and Politics from Reagan to Bush Jr. Philip John Davies and Paul Wells, editors. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00. 229 pages. ISBN 0-7190-5864-3. Philip John Davies and Paul Wells, in their introduction to...

Signor Marconi and the Invention of Radio.(Reviews)(Signor Marconi's Magic Box: How an Amateur Inventor Defied Scientists and Began the Radio Revolution)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Signor Marconi's Magic Box: How an Amateur Inventor Defied Scientists and Began the Radio Revolution. Gavin Weightman. HarperCollins. [pounds sterling]15.99. 312 pages. ISBN 0-00-713005-8. Gavin Weightman's engaging book on Guglielmo...

The world of paperbacks.(Reviews)
November 1, 2003... SUTTON PUBLISHING has combined J. A. G. Roberts' two-volume history of China into one new volume under the title, The Complete History of China ([pounds sterling]14.99). When first published the two volumes were praised in Contemporary Review...

Fighter Boys: Saving Britain 1940.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Fighter Boys: Saving Britain 1940. Patrick Bishop. HarperCollins. [pounds sterling]20.00. 434 pages. ISBN 0-00-257169-2. The exploits of the 3000-odd RAF pilots and ground crews who fought in the Battle of Britain--Churchill's immortal...

London's War: The Shelter Drawings of Henry Moore.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... London's War: The Shelter Drawings of Henry Moore. Julian Andrews. Lund Humphries. [pounds sterling]25.00 p.b. 144 pages. ISBN 0-85331-844-1. Among the most popular visual pictures of the Second World War are those showing Londoners finding...

Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan.(Reviews)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan. J.A.A. Stockwin. RoutledgeCurzon. [pounds sterling]65.00. 291 pages. ISBN 0-415-15170-8. The author is Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies in the University of Oxford. This Dictionary is based...

Mitigating Conflict: The Role of the NGOs.(Reviews)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Mitigating Conflict: The Role of the NGOs. Henry F. Carey and Oliver P. Richmond, editors. Frank Cass. [pounds sterling]42.50. 191 pages. ISBN 0-7146-5430-2. This collection of eleven essays investigates the role of nongovernmental...

London 1753.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... London 1753. Sheila O'Connell with contributions by Roy Porter, Celina Fox and Ralph Hyde. The British Museum Press. [pounds sterling]24.99 p.b. 272 pages. ISBN 0-7141-2631-4. This title was issued to accompany an exhibition, mainly of prints...

The Death of Rural England: A Social History of the Countryside since 1900.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Death of Rural England: A Social History of the Countryside since 1900. Alun Howkins. Routledge. [pounds sterling]60.00. 256 pages. ISBN 0-415-13884-1. The decline in rural life, due to agricultural depression and emigration to Britain's...

European Politics Today.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... European Politics Today. Patricia Hogwood and Geoffrey K. Roberts. Manchester University Press. [pounds sterling]11.99 p.b. 283 pages. ISBN 0-7190-06669-7. This is a second edition of a title first published in 1997. The book remains an...

The Queen and Us.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Queen and Us. Nigel Nicolson. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]14.99. 149 pages. ISBN 0-297-82940-8. The fiftieth anniversary of the Queen's Coronation was the occasion for a variety of books looking back at the past fifty years. In...

The Collected Letters of A.W.N. Pugin. Volume Two: 1843 to 1845.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Collected Letters of A.W.N. Pugin. Volume Two: 1843 to 1845. Margaret Belcher, editor. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]80.00. 515 pages. ISBN 0-19925586-5. This volume covers some of the most important events of Pugin's short...

United States Hegemony and the Foundations of International Law.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... United States Hegemony and the Foundations of International Law. Michael Byers and Georg Nolte, editors. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]65.00 (US$90.00). 531 pages. ISBN 0-521-81949-0. In the wake of the Anglo-American war to...

The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World 2004.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World 2004. Barry Turner, editor. Palgrave Macmillan. [pounds sterling]75.00. 2072 pages. ISBN 0-333-98097-2. This venerable reference work, now approaching its 140th year of...

The Rise of the Norwegian Parliament.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Rise of the Norwegian Parliament. Hilmar Rommetvedt. Frank Cass. [pounds sterling]39.50. 217 pages. ISBN 0-7146-5286-5. The Norwegian Parliament, or Storting, has played a decisive role in Norway's history from its establishment in 1814 to...

Orwell.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Orwell. Scott Lucas. Haus Publishing. [pounds sterling]8.99. 180 pages. ISBN 1-904341-33-0. Scott Lucas, head of American and Canadian Studies in the University of Birmingham, sets out to demonstrate that George Orwell was not guided by a...

Julia Margaret Cameron: 19th Century Photographer of Genius.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Julia Margaret Cameron: 19th Century Photographer of Genius. Colin Ford. National Portrait Gallery. [pounds sterling]40.00. 212 pages. ISBN 1-85514-506-5. The author of this study, who was the first Director of the National Museum of...

Whistler and His Mother: Secrets of an American Masterpiece. An Unexpected Relationship.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Whistler and His Mother: Secrets of an American Masterpiece. An Unexpected Relationship. Sarah Walden. Gibson Square Books. [pounds sterling]15.99. 242 pages. ISBN 1-903933-28-5. Whistler's Mother: An American Icon. Margaret F. MacDonald,...

The Reformation.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... The Reformation. Patrick Collinson. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]14.99. 210 pages. ISBN 0-1-84212-681-4. This volume is part of Weidenfeld's Universal History series and therefore is limited to 50,000 words. The first two chapters...

Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston. Claire Gervat Century. [pounds sterling]17.99. 306 pages. ISBN 0-7126-1451-6. The lives of eighteenth-century ladies have never ceased to fascinate and in recent years there has been a...

Fire from the Forest: The SAS Brigade in France, 1944.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Fire from the Forest: The SAS Brigade in France, 1944. Roger Ford. Cassell. [pounds sterling]20.00. 308 pages. ISBN 0-304-36335-9. This book sets out to be the definitive history of the SAS Brigade and its work towards the liberation of France....

Eisenhower: Allied Supreme Commander.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Eisenhower: Allied Supreme Commander. Carlo D'Este. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. 848 pages. ISBN 0-304-36604-8. This admirable biographer emulates his subject by trying to be fair to all sides in the many controversies that...

Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East. John Keay. John Murray. [pounds sterling]25.00. 506 pages. ISBN 0-7195-5583-3. This book is concerned with tracing the roots of the present-day troubles affecting what we call the...

Newton's Apple: Isaac Newton and the English Scientific Renaissance.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Newton's Apple: Isaac Newton and the English Scientific Renaissance. Peter Aughton. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]20.00. 216 pages. ISBN 0-297-84321-4. This biography of Isaac Newton, the premature baby born in 1642 as the posthumous...