Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
The information age: economy, society and culture. Volume II: the power of identity Manuel Castells
Regions of risk: a geographical introduction to disasters Kenneth Hewitt
Global hydrology: processes, resources and environmental management J A A Jones
Recent developments in spatial analysis M M Fischer and A Getis (eds)
Climate-change mitigation and European land-use policies W N Adger, D Pettenella and M Whitby (eds)     

BOOK REVIEW

Book reviewed in this article:
Industrial Location and Public Policy , edited by Henry W. Herzog, Jr. and Alan M. Schlottmann.
Deindustrialization and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of the United States , edited by Lloyd Rodwin and Hidehiko Sazanami.
Industrial Change and Regional Economic Transformation: The Experience of Western Europe , edited by Lloyd Rodwin and Hidehiko Sazanami.
Multicriteria Evaluation in Physical Planning , by Peter Nijkamp, Piet Rietveld, and Henk Voogd.
The Timber Bubble that Burst: Government Policy and the Bailout of 1984 , by Joe P. Mattey.
The Power of Geography How Territory Shapes Social Life , edited by Jennifer Wolch and Michael Dear.
From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938–1980 , by Bruce J. Schulman.
The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom , edited by Ronald J. Johnston and Vince Gardiner.
London:A New Metropolitan Geography , edited by Keith Hoggart and David R. Green.
Development Dilemmas in Rural Thailand , by Philip Hirsch.
The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition in Asia , edited by Norton Ginsburg, Bruce Koppel, and T. G. McGee.
The Shek Kip Mei Syndrome: Economic Development and Public Housing in Hong Kong and Singapore , by Manuel Castells, Lee Goh, and R. Yin-Wang Kwok.     

Ought one to marry? Manuel II Palaiologos' point of view

Abstract

Manuel II Palaiologos wrote his text on marriage and its ethical aspects between 1394 and 1397. At that time he was newly married and his wife had already given birth to their firstborn, John VIII. The text is presented in the form of a dialogue between the emperor Manuel and his mother, the dowager empress Helena Kantakouzene, wife of John V Palaiologos. An unusual case in dynastic policy, Manuel II was a bachelor until his forties. Fortunate circumstances caused him to inherit the throne after the death of his elder brother, Andronikos IV, in 1385, but he himself was not yet married and thus had no legitimate successor. His nephew, John VII, was his long-standing rival. The intention of the author of the dialogue was, without doubt, to show how important inheritance was for the imperial family. The text of the dialogue was subsequently corrected by the emperor himself; the revised version is dated to between 1417 and 1425. This article argues that the text was revised in order to encourage Manuel's own son, John, to marry and have successors.     

The three last years of Manuel II Palaeologus' reign between two stroke attacks: aphasia or not?

The authors attempt to solve the enigma about the possible aphasia of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus (1391-1425) in the 3-year period between his first and his second and fatal stroke. The texts of historians and chroniclers reveal that Manuel remained semi-paralyzed at bed and his motor disability alienated him from the state affairs and condemned him to isolation from all embassies and contact with others, except his family. Only the funeral oration of the Bishop Bessarion raises the suspicion of a speechless emperor. All testimonies referring to this infirmity are examined.     

The man behind the syndrome: Sigvald Refsum

The authors attempt to solve the enigma about the possible aphasia of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus (1391–1425) in the 3-year period between his first and his second and fatal stroke. The texts of historians and chroniclers reveal that Manuel remained semi-paralyzed at bed and his motor disability alienated him from the state affairs and condemned him to isolation from all embassies and contact with others, except his family. Only the funeral oration of the Bishop Bessarion raises the suspicion of a speechless emperor. All testimonies referring to this infirmity are examined.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article:
The Geography of Class Struggle Industry and Labour: Class Struggle at Work and Monopoly Capitalism
Castells on Economic Crisis The Economic Crisis and American Society by Manuel Castells
Geograf ia Radical Anglosajona Geografia Radical Anglosajona, Documents D'Analisi Metodologic en Geografia     

Between Byzantium and Jerusalem? The principality of Antioch,Renaud of Châtillon,and the penance of Mamistra in 1158

In the summer of 1158, Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of Byzantium, brought a large force into Cilicia to quell Armenian resistance and to seek retribution for an attack launched on the Byzantine island of Cyprus by Renaud of Châtillon, prince of Antioch. In haste, Renaud came to the city of Mamistra, and performed a humiliating penance before agreeing to imperial overlordship. Historians have long conceived of this act as one forced on Renaud by Manuel and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, and as marking the creation of a political condominium, which divided Antioch between these two rulers. This article seeks to challenge the established opinion by drawing attention to the diplomatic skill demonstrated by the Antiochenes, and the independence with which they pursued and secured close and favourable ties to Byzantium.     

Cases of stroke on the throne of Byzantium

The authors describe the fatal illnesses of three Byzantine emperors, Alexander, Michael IX Palaeologus and Manuel II Palaeologus, who may have died of a stroke. From the texts of Byzantine historians and the indications of chroniclers, it was found that Alexander died of a stroke (possibly cerebral hemorrhage); Michael IX Palaeologus died of what seems to have been the same disease and the the last of these emperors, Manuel II Palaeologus, of hemiplegia. This paper provides the opportunity to see how the non-medical texts of historians and chroniclers adopt and express the scientific Byzantine terminology of the medical writers of the period, which is used differently today.     

Reviews/Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
Managing Canada's Renewable Resources , edited by R alph R. K rueger and B ruce M itchell
Canada's Natural Environment: Essays in Applied Geography , by G.R. M c B oyle and E. S ommerville
Muskeg and the Northern Environment in Canada , edited by N.W. R adforth and CO. B rawner
Natural Resource Revenues: A Test of Federalism , edited by A nthony S cott
The Practical Application of Economic Incentives to the Control of Pollution: The Case of British Columbia , edited by J ames B. S tephenson
Public Land Ownership: Frameworks for Evaluation , edited by D alton K ehoe et al., D.C. Heath     

BOOK REVIEWS

Property Taxes and House Values: The Theory and Estimation of Intrajurisdictional Property Tax Capitalization , by John Yinger, Howard S. Bloom, Axel Borsch-Supan, and Helen F. Ladd.
Spatial Price Theory of Imperfect Competition , by Hiroshi Ohta.
Advanced Spatial Statistics , by Daniel A. Griffith.
Regional Economic Development: Essays in Honour of François Perroux , edited by Benjamin Higgins and Donald J. Savoie.
Recent Advances in Regional Economic Modelling , edited by Frank Harrigan and Peter McGregor.
State Policy Choices: The Wisconsin Experience , edited by Sheldon Danziger and John F. Witte.
Resource Development and Environmental Issues: Opportunities and Constraints in the Hunter Region, New South Wales , edited by A. J. Jakeman, P. K. Parker, J. Formby, and D. G. Day.
The Urbanization of the Third World , edited by Josef Gugler.
Indonesia: The Transmigration Program in Perspective , by the World Bank.
The Economic Geography of China , edited by Sun Jingzhi.     

Reviews/Comptes Rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
The Cycle of Erosion in Different Climates , by P ierre B irot and translated by C. Ian Jackson and Keith M. Clayton
Canada's Changing Geography , edited by R. Louis G entilcore
Landform Studies from Australia and New Guinea , edited by J. N. J ennings and J. A. M abbutt
Africa in Transition , edited by B. W. H odder and D. R. H arris
Readings in Economic Geography , edited by H oward G. R oepke     

Foreign Languages in the Elementary Schools of Richmond,Virginia

The medieval hunt and hunting manuals have been studied by historians as sources for the history of medieval science and geography, and for their insights into the daily lives of the elite societies that practiced hunting as a ritualized sport. This article examines two medieval hunting manuals, Juan Manuel’s Libro de la caza, and the Libro de la montería, commissioned by King Alfonso XI of Castile, and King Alfonso X’s law code, the Siete partidas, for their rhetorical and ideological portrayals of hunting and falconry as expressions of aristocratic power and sovereignty over the natural world. The article concludes with a study of an imagined debate between the merits of falconry and hunting with hounds in the Libro de la caza and Libro de la montería that sheds light on Juan Manuel and Alfonso’s competing views on nobility, informed by the political history of war and rebellion that shaped the lives of both men.     

REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS

Field and Theory: Lectures in Geocryology, edited by Michael Church and Olav Slaymaker
Environmental Impact Assessment: The Canadian Experience edited by J.B.R. WHITNEY and V.W. MACLAREN
New Directions in Environmental Impact Assessment in Canada edited by V.W. MACLAREN and J.B.R. WHITNEY
Ecology, Impact Assessment and Environmental Planning by WALTER E. WESTMAN, John Wiley and Sons
The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China by VACLAV SMIL, M.E. SHARP
Forging a Consensus: Historical Essays on Toronto edited by VICTOR L. RUSSELL
Toronto to 1918: An Illustrated History by J.M.S. CARELESS
Toronto since 1918: An Illustrated History by JAMES T. LEMON
Too Many, Too Long: Sudan's Twenty-Year Refugee Dilemma by JOHN R. ROGGE
North of 50°: An Atlas of Far Northern Ontario by J.E.J. FAHLGREN and GEOFFREY MATTHEWS
Progress in Industrial Geography edited by MICHAEL PACIONE
Production, Work, Territory: The Geographical Anatomy of Industrial Capitalism edited by ALLEN J. SCOTT and MICHAEL STORPER     

REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS

Maps with the News: The Development of American Journalistic Cartography by mark monmonier
Labour, Environment and Industrial Change edited by g.j.r. LINCE and G.A. van der knaap
Revitalizing the Waterfront: International Dimensions of Dockland Development edited by b.s. hoyle
ROBERT J. MCCALLA St. Mary's University The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasília by james holston
The Sugar Cane Industry: An Historical Geography from its Origins to 1914 by j.h. galloway
Hispanic Lands and Peoples: Selected Writings of James J. Parsons edited by william m. denevan
Towns and Urban Society in Early Nineteenth Century Hungary by vera bácskai, Akadémiai Kiadó
Theory and Practice in British and Hungarian Geography edited by paul a. compton and márton pécsi, Akadémiai Kiadó
Contemporary Essays in Austrian and Hungarian Geography edited by elisabeth lichtenberger and márton pécsi, Akadémiai Kiadó
Land Evaluation Studies in Hungary edited by dénes lóczy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Urban Dynamics: Designing an Integrated Model , edited by Cristoforo S. Bertuglia, Giorgio Leonardi, and Alan G. Wilson.
Spatial Choices and Processes , edited by Manfred M. Fischer, Peter Nijkamp, and Yorgos Y. Papageorgiou.
Housing Markets and Housing Institutions: An International Comparison , edited by Björn Hârsman and John M. Quigley.
Services and Metropolitan Development: International Perspectives , edited by Peter W. Daniels.
Regional Innovation and Decentralization: High Tech Industry and Government Policy , edited by Ulrich Hilpert.
Making a Middle Landscape , by Peter G. Rowe.
Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World , by Sharon Zukin.
Geographic Dimensions of United States Social Policy , edited by Janet E. Kodras and John Paul Jones III.
Thirst for Growth Water Agencies as Hidden Government in California , by Robert Gottlieb and Margaret Fitz Simmons.
Regional and Sectoral Development in Mexico as Alternatives to Migration , edited by Sergio Dim-Briquets and Sidney Weintraub.
The High-Tech Potential: Economic Development in Rural America , by Amy K. Glasmeier.     

REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS

Book reviewed in this article:
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900: by ALFRED w. CROSBY
North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent: edited by ROBERT D. MITCHELL and PAUL A. GROVES
Defi au développement régional: territorialité et changement social au Nicaragua sandiniste: par JUAN-LUIS KLEIN
Ethnomedical Systems in Africa: Patterns of Traditional Medicine in Rural and Urban Kenya: by CHARLES M. GOOD
The Geography of Urban Transportation edited by SUSAN HANSON.
High Tech America edited by ANN MARKUSEN, PETER HALL, and AMY CLASMEIER, Allen and Unwin.
Steel City: Hamilton and Region edited by MICHAEL J. DEAR, JOHN J. DRAKE, and LLOYD G. REEDS.
Art and Cartography: Six Historical Essays edited by DAVID WOODWARD.
The Savannas: Biogeography and Geobotany by MONICA M. COLE.     

The Cosmic Symbolism of the Cross and the Emperor in Ptochoprodromos,Poem IV.

Abstract

This article comments on the symbolic imagery concerning the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in Ptochoprodomos, Poem IV and on the ideology on which that imagery is based, with references to the parallels provided by certain representations in Byzantine art.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
New Directions in Spatial Econometrics , edited by Luc Anselin and Raymond J.G.M. Florax.
Urban Travel Demand Modeling: From Individual Choices to General Equilibrium , by Norbert Oppenheim.
The Economic Growth of Singapore: Trade and Development in the Twentieth Century , by W. G. Huff.
Water in the Arab World: Perspectives and Prognoses , edited by Peter Rogers and Peter Lydon.
China Deconstructs: Politics, Trade and Regionalism , edited by David S. G. Goodman and Gerald Segal.
Technological Change, Economic Development and Space , edited by Cristoforo S. Bertuglia, Manfred M. Fischer, and Giorgio Preto.
Local and Regional Development During the 1990s Transition in Eastern Europe , edited by Markku Tykkyliiinen.
Territorial Competition in an Integrating Europe , edited by Paul Cheshire and Ian Gordon.
State Per-Capita Income Change Since 1950 Sharecropping's Collapse and Other Causes of Convergence , by Leonard F. Wheat and William H. Crown.     

Reviews

The Pacific in transition: geographical perspectives on adaptation and change, edited by H. C. Brookfield Urbanization in Australia: The Postwar Experience edited by I. H. Burnley The Making of Rural Australia, and Urban and Industrial Australia edited by J. M. Powell Urban Development in Melbourne: Aspects of the Post-War Experience Business Activities in three Melbourne suburbs by Lyndsay Neilson Public Authorities and Development in Melbourne by John C. Piebett