The Eternal Quest for a Place in the Sun

Books reviewed:
Alessandro Brogi, A Question of Self-Esteem: The United States and the Cold War Choices in France and Italy , 1944 – 1958 (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002). 336 pp. $99.95 (cloth).
Jeffrey Glen Giauque, G rand Designs and Visions of Unity: The Atlantic Powers and the Reorganization of Western Europe , 1955 – 1963 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002). 344 pp. Notes, index. $49.95 (cloth), $19.95 (paper).     

Book reviews

Books reviewed:
Nigel Baker and Richard Holt, Urban Growth and the Medieval Church: Gloucester and Worcester.
Ann Christys, Christians in al-Andalus (711–1000).
Nicholas Everett, Literacy in Lombard Italy, c.568–774.
Guy Halsall, Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450–900.
Richard J. Kelly, The Blickling Homilies: Edition and Translation.
Penny MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords.
Lawrence Nees, Early Medieval Art.     

"That Admirable Italian Gentleman": The View from America (and from Italy)

Review in this Article
David F. Schmitz. The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922–1940 . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. x + 273 pp     

A Study of the Role of Regionalization in the Generation of Aggregation Error in Regional Input –Output Models

Although the need for aggregation in input –output modelling has diminished with the increases in computing power, an alarming number of regional studies continue to use the procedure. The rationales for doing so typically are grounded in data problems at the regional level. As a result many regional analysts use aggregated national input –output models and trade –adjust them at this aggregated level. In this paper, we point out why this approach can be inappropriate. We do so by noting that it creates a possible source of model misapplication (i.e., a direct effect could appear for a sector where one does not exist) and also by finding that a large amount of error (on the order of 100 percent) can be induced into the impact results as a result of improper aggregation. In simulations, we find that average aggregation error tends to peak at 81 sectors after rising from 492 to 365 sectors. Perversely, error then diminishes somewhat as the model size decreases further to 11 and 6 sectors. We also find that while region – and sector –specific attributes influence aggregation error in a statistically significantly manner, their influence on the amount of error generally does not appear to be large.     

Book Reviews

Book reviews in this article:
From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World. By Michael Grant.
Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire, A.D. 312–460. By E.D. Hunt.
Sporfs in the Western World. By William J. Baker.
The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World, 1606–1661. By Jonathan I. Israel.
War and Society zn Rmolutionay Europe, 1770–1870. By Geoffrey Best.
English Zionists and British Jews: The Communal Politics of Anglo-Jewry, 1895–1920. By Stuart A. Cohen.
The Republic in the Village: The People of the French Revolution to the Second Republic. By Maurice Agulhon.
The Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. By Warren B. Morris, Jr.
From Italy to San Francisco: The Immigrant Experience. By Dino Cinel.
Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. By Mary Frances Beny and John W. Blassingame
The Northern Frontier of New Spain. By Peter Gerhard.
Government and Society in Central America, 1680–1840. By Miles L. Wortman.
The Black Man in Slazgeiy and Freedom in Colonial Brazil. By A. J. R. Russell-Wood.
A Functional Past: The Uses of History in Nineteenth Century Chile. By Allen Woll.     

Regional Wage Rigidity: The European Union and United States Compared

In recent years it has been pointed out that regional unemployment disparities are much more entrenched across member states of the European Union (E.U.) than they are in the U.S. A 'conventional wisdom' has emerged to the effect that this difference is due in part to the greater degree of wage rigidity in E.U. regions. In this paper we explore this issue by estimating short run and long run real wage (in)flexibility for the regions in five core E.U. countries (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) and for the U.S. states for the period 1976–1994. We find that real wage (in)flexibility varies across regions both in the E.U. and the U.S., but that, on average, regional wages are no less flexible in E.U. core regions than in U.S. states. The paper also examines some of the possible correlates ofregional variations in wage (in)flexibility.     

Technology and geographical imaginations: representing aviation in 1930s Italy

This paper examines the geographical imaginations associated with aviation in fascist Italy, focusing on the representation of flight on the one hand, and on the other hand the role of propaganda flights organized by the regime in the 1930s. The representation and use of aviation in interwar Italy is explored in light of the concept of technological legitimation, based on an understanding of technological practice as a political and ideological instrument. Aviation, as one of the new subjects of artistic representations of the modern era, was grasped by avant-garde and modern movements in the early twentieth century. In turn, representations of aviation were used by Mussolini's regime, which considered it a key to national development and modernization, materially as well as in the representational sphere. Propaganda flights in 1930s Italy were organized by the Ministry of Aeronautics and local aero clubs, and were an expression of the politicized use of aviation, both in terms of representations of technology and the aviator, and the exploitation of flight's public potential for the construction of fascist spectacle.     

New AMS Dates from the Lambourn Long Barrow and the Question of the Earliest Neolithic in Sourthern England: Repacking the Neolithic Package?

This paper reassesses the chronological status of the Lambourn long barrow, which has provided one of the earliest dates from a mortuary monument in Britain. Three new AMS dates on short-lived material indicate that the construction and primary use phase of the monument lies within the period 3760–3645 cal BC, and that the earlier estimate obtained on charcoal (4555–3780 cal BC) is likely subject to the old wood effect, or is residual. This is followed by a consideration of the implications of the new dates in the context of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, the timing of which remains poorly understood. It is argued that the evidence is increasingly pointing to a more rapid neolithization process, and that this had implications for the mechanisms involved.     

Reviews

Book review in this Article
J. G. G ager : Kingdom and Community: The Social World of Early Christianity (Prentice-Hall Studies in Religion Series).
M arcel C hicoteau : Glanures au Viale Manzoni.
E. R udolph D aniel : The Franciscan Concept of Mission in the High Middle Ages.
A shley C larke and P hilip R ylands (eds): Restoring Venice: the Church of the Madonna Dell'Orto.
A. T. Y arwood : Samuel Marsden: The Great Survivor.
J. D. B ollen : Australian Baptists: A Religious Minority.
R ichard E ly : Unto God and Caesar: Religious Issues in the Emerging Commonwealth, 1891–1906.
J. N. M olony : The Emergence of Political Catholicism in Italy: Partito Popolare 1919–1926.
B ryan R. W ilson : Magic and the Millennium: A Sociological Study of Religious Movements among Tribal and Third-World Peoples.
V ictor C. H ayes (ed.): Australian Essays in World Religions, Adelaide, The Australian Association for the Study of Religions     

Beyond Characterisation. Polished Stone Exchange in the Western Mediterranean 5500–2000 BC

Using new provenance studies on stone implements from the Valencia region of Spain between 5500–2000 BC, we show not only the large scale of some exchange systems, but also consider how, and why, tastes and fashions are co-ordinated over much of the Western Mediterranean. The study considers the processes of raw material substitution underlying the observed patterns. These processes operate for a wide range of lithic materials, including rare minerals like variscite and fossil shells for ornaments. Simple gravity models of distribution and exchange predominate at all periods. Our study extends from Portugal to Italy, and indicates that a system of shared symbolic values, of axeheads, beads and bracelets, was in operation. The discussion concludes that consumption patterns were centred on these values rather than functional categories of tools or prestige items.     

'WHY THEY CAME'; THE COLONIZATION OF THE COAST OF WESTERN SWEDEN AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIATION

Summary.   In this paper we will bring into view new aspects of Late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic research on the west coast of Sweden. In doing so, we make use of oceanography and tidal modelling, in conjunction with basic research in the fields of archaeology and palynology. The focus of research concerns the Hensbacka culture group in central Bohuslän, a group of hunter-gatherers which visited the area between c.10,300–9300 bp (10,200/10,000–8500 cal BC). Recent investigations indicate that the frequency of Hensbacka sites in the archipelago of central Bohuslän, which at that time had a total land area of c.500 sq km, might well represent the highest site density area in northern Europe during a c.1000-year period of time at the close of the Late Glacial and beginning of the early Post Glacial. In the pages that follow, we will discuss how, and why, this 'seasonal colonization' was possible.     

Fish Processing in Italy and Sicily During Antiquity

The aim of this paper is to present a short overview of the production and trade in marine resources in Italy and Sicily during Antiquity. As the results of this research have already been published in detail elsewhere, the aim of this short contribution is to summarise the most important data and to highlight some of the research questions that remain unsolved. The paper follows a chronological order, from the pre-Roman period to the 2nd century AD, as well as a geographical one, starting with Sicily, moving on to Magna Grecia in what is now southern Italy and then moving on to the rest of Italy. A major consideration, highlighted here, is that in many cases we are dealing with data from old excavations and precise archaeological information is rarely available.     

Geography: a different sort of discipline?

Debate continues about the inter-relationships between human and physical geography and their different research and publication practices. Relatively little data about these are available, however. Using an analysis of all publications submitted by UK geographers to the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, this paper identifies a substantial difference between human and physical geographers in their publication strategies. Most physical geographers place their research papers in specialized inter-disciplinary journals and make relatively little use of geography outlets: most human geographers, on the other hand, publish in geography journals. Comparisons with other disciplines – in the earth and environmental and social sciences respectively – also identify differences between geographers and their peers. The overall conclusion is that, with regard to research and publication at least, UK geography cannot be presented as a single academic community with strong internal ties, but rather as a conglomerate of separate communities writing for different audiences.     

Exercise of royal power in early medieval Europe: the case of Otto the Great 936–73

Current scholarly orthodoxy holds that the German kingdom under the Ottonians ( c. 919–1024) did not possess an administration, much less an administrative system that relied heavily upon the 'written word'. It is the contention of this essay that the exercise of royal power under Otto the Great (936–73) relied intrinsically on a substantial royal administrative system that made very considerable use of documents, particularly for the storage of crucial information about royal resources. The focus of this study is on Otto I's use of this written information to exercise royal power in the context of confiscating and requisitioning property from both laymen and ecclesiastical institutions.     

A TIME OF CHANGE: THE IRON AGE TO ROMAN MONETARY TRANSITION IN EAST ANGLIA

Summary. The majority of Icenian coin hoards have traditionally been dated to the historical events of the Boudican revolt. This paper removes that link and examines the material using classical numismatic methods to show that far from all being of one date they represent a series of depositions throughout the period of the client kingdom: AD 43–60/1. It also demonstrates the gradual increase in use of Roman coins within that kingdom alongside the local Iron Age series.     

Permeability of the continental crust: dynamic variations inferred from seismicity and metamorphism

The variation of permeability with depth can be probed indirectly by various means, including hydrologic models that use geothermal data as constraints and the progress of metamorphic reactions driven by fluid flow. Geothermal and metamorphic data combine to indicate that mean permeability ( k ) of tectonically active continental crust decreases with depth ( z ) according to log  k  ≈ −14–3.2 log  z , where k is in m² and z in km. Other independently derived, crustal-scale k – z relations are generally similar to this power-law curve. Yet there is also substantial evidence for local-to-regional-scale, transient, permeability-generation events that entail permeabilities much higher than these mean k – z relations would suggest. Compilation of such data yields a fit to these elevated, transient values of log  k  ≈ −11.5–3.2 log  z , suggesting a functional form similar to that of tectonically active crust, but shifted to higher permeability at a given depth. In addition, it seems possible that, in the absence of active prograde metamorphism, permeability in the deeper crust will decay toward values below the mean k – z curves. Several lines of evidence suggest geologically rapid (years to 10³ years) decay of high-permeability transients toward background values. Crustal-scale k – z curves may reflect a dynamic competition between permeability creation by processes such as fluid sourcing and rock failure, and permeability destruction by processes such as compaction, hydrothermal alteration, and retrograde metamorphism.     

THE DATING OF RELIEF-PATTERNED FLUE-TILES

The use of relief-patterned flue-tiles in Roman Britain falls into three main periods: c. 75–90, c. 120–25, and c. 155–75. The assignment of particular dies to each of these periods is examined. The nature of the industry and the specialised functions of particular types of tiles are discussed within the chronological framework. An appendix deals with the sequence of tiletypes used at Fishbourne and a chronological difficulty involving Fishbourne and the Chichester thermae.     

Scenarios for the digital age: Convergence,personalization, exclusion

The new media system that has emerged worldwide since the early 1990s is characterized by increasing use of digital technologies in every area and convergence between once distinct media. In Italy there have been a number of national variations on this global pattern: relative weakness of state regulation, a move away from the dominance of the system by 'generalist' television, a high rate of cellular phone use and a slower than average growth of Internet use. As far as consumption is concerned, the most common categories used to describe the emergent system—personalization of media, increased individual choice and mobility—do manage to capture some important aspects, in Italy as elsewhere, but they obscure others, notably the structural constraints limiting individual choice, the formation of new media microcommunities and, conversely, the exclusion of particular groups of citizens from full participation in the new system.     

REVIEWING THE BRITISH LATE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC: NEW EVIDENCE FOR CHRONOLOGICAL PATTERNING IN THE LATEGLACIAL RECORD

Summary. Variation in Lateglacial lithic assemblages has led some researchers to sub-divide the British Later Upper Palaeolithic into two or more typologically distinct phases (Campbell 1977; Jacobi 1988). Until now, however, the chronological relationships between the different phases have been difficult to demonstrate. In this paper we present new dating evidence for two distinct blade technologies of Lateglacial type found in southwest Britain. The first corresponds to the 'Creswellian'(as defined by Jacobi 1991; Jacobi and Roberts 1992), and is dated to the earlier part of the Lateglacial Interstadial (c. 13–12,000 years BP); the second technology compares with European Federmessergruppen assemblages (literally, 'penknife group' industries, as described in Schwabedissen 1954) of the 'forested' phase of the Interstadial (c. 12–11,000 years BP). In addition to presenting the new dates, this paper explores the implications of treating the technologies as separate entities and puts forward preliminary ideas on differences in raw material use and other human subsistence behaviour.