The Malham Pipe: A Reassessment of Its Context,Dating and Significance

The Malham Pipe is a musical instrument formed from the tibia of a sheep, and was discovered in 1950 among artefacts revealed during the excavation of a Bronze Age burial mound at Seaty Hill on Malham Moor in the Yorkshire Dales. On the basis of associated finds the pipe was dated originally to the Iron Age, and in a study published in 1952 the musical properties of the pipe were examined physically at a level of detail that set a benchmark for the characterization of other such objects discovered subsequently. However, in the intervening period the dating of the pipe has been questioned. In this paper, following a detailed reappraisal of the Seaty Hill finds and dating evidence, including burial practice and settlement remains in the locality, and their wider historical context, we have concluded that the Malham Pipe is of post-Roman date. We believe, therefore, that although the Malham Pipe may no longer be claimed to be the earliest known duct flute found in the British Isles, nevertheless it appears to be the first recorded bone flute found in a post-Roman (Anglo-Saxon) burial context.     

The Ancient Origins of Medieval Fields: A Reassessment

This article questions the suggestions that have been made by a number of archaeologists and landscape historians concerning the Roman and prehistoric origins of large tracts of the medieval rural landscape in lowland England. It suggests that arguments for large-scale continuity of field systems, mainly based on the evidence of excavations and topographic analysis, are flawed because they fail to take fully into account the topographic contexts, and the practical functions, of field boundaries. When these matters are given due weight, much of the evidence cited in support of ‘continuity’ instead appears to suggest a significant degree of discontinuity, at least in terms of systems of land division, between Roman Britain and medieval England.     

The Political Importance of Provincial Newspapers, 1903-1945: The Rowntrees and the Liberal Press

This article argues that the political importance of provincialnewspapers run by the Rowntree family in the Liberal cause declinedbetween 1903 and 1945. This decline is identified in changingattitudes to the funding of newspapers, and in the reasons forthose changes. Before the Second World War the Rowntrees consideredsubsidies to provincial newspapers vital, to keep the pressat the forefront of partisan campaigning, until at last it beganto pay its way. Yet such newspapers' eventually strong financescontrasted with their political weakness, as they appeared helplessto prevent the Liberal Party's electoral decline. After 1945the Rowntrees, in contrast to their earlier strategy, no longerconsidered the funding of newspapers a priority. Instead, theytargeted money directly at the strengthening of the LiberalParty, both in Parliament and in the party organization, insteadof at the press. This switch of strategy was the earliest exampleof a wider Liberal emphasis, from the 1940s, on improving parliamentaryrecruitment and party organization. The fading political importanceof the Rowntrees' newspapers and of the wider Liberal presswould lead to loss-making Liberal papers closing, while survivingones ceased to support the Liberal Party. Instead, the Liberalscame to depend on television and community politics.     

A Political Explanation of Policy Selection: The Case of Urban School Reform

Amid the torrent of reform activity in urban school systems, some proposals fare better than others. The traditional technocratic presumption is that reforms are chosen for their educational merit. I suggest that, to the contrary, institutional incentives encourage urban policymakers to emphasize symbolic appeal. Data from a 1995 study of 57 urban districts are used to compare the fate of two school reforms. The more symbolically attractive reform was supported, proposed, and enacted much more widely, although neither research nor observer responses suggested its superiority.     

The Continuing Puzzle of Committee Outliers: A Methodological Reassessment

Crovitz, L. Gordon, and Jeremy A. Rabkin, eds., The Fettered Presidency. Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1989. Pp. xx, 335; $14.95 softbound.

Jones, Gordon S., and John A. Marini, eds., The Imperial Congress. New York: Pharos Books, 1988. Pp. xi, 366; $24.95.

Reedy, George E., The Twilight of the Presidency: From Johnson to Reagan. New York: New American Library, 1987. Pp. 200; $4.50 softbound.

Seligman, Lester G., and Cary R. Covington, The Coalitional Presidency. Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1989. Pp. 191; $25.00 hardbound; $11.95 softbound.     

Folk Religion in a Calvinist Context: Hungarian Models and Scottish Examples

GEORGES DUMÉZIL. Mythes et Dieux des Germains. Essai d'interprétation comparative. Librairie Ernest Leroux. Paris, 1939. Reviewed by R. A. Williams

HISTORY OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, PETERSHAM, SURREY. By CHARLES D. WARREN. Pp. 168 + xii. Sidgwick &; Jackson. 1938. 7s. 6d. Reviewed by M. M. Banks.

MORE WEST HIGHLAND TALES. Vol. I. Transcribed and translated by John G. Mackay. Pp. xxxix + 540. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London. 1940. 25s. Reviewed by Mary Macleod Banks.

ESSAYS IN POLYNESIAN ETHNOLOGY. By ROBERT W. WILLIAMSON. Edited by Ralph Piddington, with an analysis of recent studies in Polynesian History by the Editor. Cambridge University Press, 1939. 25s. net. Reviewed by Beatrice Blackwood.

LA VIE DE L'ENFANT EN CHINE, Etude de Folklore, par M. et Mme. Yang Kun. No. 4, Petite Collection “Chine-France” de l'Ami, Revue Mensuelle, Yenching, Pékin, 1939. Reviewed by E. D. Edwards.

FOLK-SONGS OF ROANOKE AND THE ALBEMARLE. By Louis W. CHAPPELL. The Ballad Press, Morgantown, W. Va. 1939. Reviewed by A. G. Gilchrist.     

浙路风潮再反思——光复会计划失败的原因

光复会计划在浙路风潮中之所以失败,一是由于绅商的两重性及清政府各级官员的自救之策弱化了朝野冲突;二是光复会本身的“异端性“及革命处于低潮、对下层民众缺乏深入细致的宣传组织工作、与立宪派较量的力度不够;三是中下层民众斗争的焦点集中在“认购路股“的方式上,及农民的相对漠然态度、宁波帮工人的特殊性、股金来源涉及面不广等因素使其计划缺乏广泛而彻底的群众基础.     

The Indigenous Land Corporation's First Land Management Policy: Reconciling National Policy with the Contingencies of Local Context

The Indigenous Land Corporation was established to acquire lands for Indigenous peoples who were unlikely to benefit from recognition of native title. The Corporation is also charged with assisting Indigenous peoples manage their lands. The First Land Management Policy of the Indigenous Land Corporation is examined, and the strengths as well as the omissions and flaws of this initial policy approach to land management are noted. Ways to improve the assistance that the Corporation provides to Indigenous landowners in the management of their lands are proposed. The paper suggests that the Corporation's approach to land management needs to resolve the demands of a national policy mandate with the contingencies of local context.     

The Anglican Understanding of Nazism 1933-1945: Placing the Church of England's Response to the Holocaust in Context

This article seeks to revise the understanding of the Churchof England's response to the Holocaust by placing it in thecontext of the Anglican understanding of the Nazi state as awhole. Exploring these perceptions from 1933, it is argued thatthe Anglican community consistently understood Nazism as primarilyan anti-Christian force, which in turn prevented the churchfrom understanding the import of Nazi anti-semitism. In doingso, this article illuminates both the understanding of Europeanpolitics within the Church of England up to and including theSecond World War and, as a contribution to the study of bystandersto the Holocaust, further explains British reactions to themurder of the European Jews.     

The Collaboration of Intellectuals and Politicians in the Postwar Reconstruction: A Reassessment

The reconstruction that followed the Second World War is remembered as a golden period of Australian policy-making, during which the foundations of the modern nation-state were laid. Studies of the Labor governments led by John Curtin and Ben Chifley portray an unusually close and productive collaboration between political leaders and their policy advisers in the Department of Post-War Reconstruction. However, close examination of policy development during the reconstruction era suggests that the notion of a ‘blessed conjuncture of reason and politics’, in the words of H. C. Coombs, masks significant disagreements between Labor politicians and policy experts. Using the development of the full employment and housing policies as examples, this article shows that the relationship between Labor leaders and bureaucrats was not as symbiotic as is commonly supposed. This reassessment allows for a more accurate understanding of the achievements of the postwar reconstruction and the historical relationship between political leaders and public servants.     

Developing Exclusion: The Case of the 1961 Land Reform in Colombia

The modern project of rural development has been seen as one of increasing incorporation, control and rationalization of territory by the state. Evidence from the formulation of the Colombian land reform policy of 1961 gives more nuance to this general conceptualization. Those places where the state intervened through large‐scale resettlement programmes conceived within the framework of Cold War development are the same places where war and the drug economy — the most serious threats to the state itself — took root and grew. This article examines this contradiction. It interrogates the idea of modern development as a project that necessarily brings subjects and territories into the realm of state control. It also attempts to provide a counterweight to arguments about the territorialization of the war in Colombia being the outcome of state inaction and lack of development.