Book reviews

Teny S. Reynolds and Stephen H. Cutcliffe, Eds. Technology and the West: A Historical Anthology from Technology and Culture (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp. 461.

Jon Agar. Science and Spectacle: The Work ofjodrell Bank in Post‐War British Culture. Harwood, 1998. pp. Xx+260. IIIus., Index., Bibliog.

David Nye. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998), pp. xii + 331.     

An Efficiency of Scarcity: Using Food to Increase the Productivity of Soviet Prisoners of War in the Mines of the Third Reich

During World War II, Heinrich Kraut, of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Labor Physiology, studied the effect of diet on work productivity in Soviet prisoners of war under heavy forced labor in the coalmines of the Ruhr. Kraut’s work illustrates an efficiency of scarcity, in which the elements of control and intervention often associated with efficiency efforts were not available. His efforts to improve productivity left unaddressed the violence and squalor amid which the prisoners lived and worked, despite his recognition that such conditions negatively affected work performance; his studies thus illustrate the primacy of National Socialist racial ideology even in labor practices crucial to war production. Kraut used technical and specialized knowledge to accommodate the brutal and inhuman labor practices of the Third Reich.     

Senate Retirements and Progressive Ambition among House Members in 1996

In this article we examine the decisions made by the 85 United States representatives from the 13 states from which United States senators were retiring in 1996 and by the 137 representatives from states holding Senate elections in which incumbents were seeking reelection. We use these data to examine individual-level decision making in order to reassess the conventional wisdom on progressive ambition of House members. Using a decision calculus derived from previous studies, we are able to understand the decisions made by all but a handful of the representatives under study. These findings should prove useful in predicting which representatives will exhibit progressive ambition in the future.     

German Christmas and the Christmas- Tree

LETTERATURA POPOLARE ITALIANA. By GIANFRANCO D'ARONCO. Casa Editrice Patron, Bologna. 1970. Pp. 141. L. 1800. Reviewed by Stewart F. Sanderson.

BARI MITO. By LUIGI SADA, CARLO SCORCIA AND VICENZO VALENTE. Japigia Editrice, Bari. 1970. Reviewed by Stewart F. Sanderson.

RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF MAGIC. STUDIES IN POPULAR BELIEFS IN SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND. By KEITH THOMAS. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1971 £8 Reviewed by K. M. Briggs.

BRETON FOLKTALES. By RUTH E. K. MEUSS. RUSSIAN FOLKTALES. By E. C. ELSTOB and R. BARBER. CHINESE FOLKTALES. By E. OSERS. PERSIAN FOLKTALES. By A. KURTI. G. Bell and Sons. Pp. 215, 213, 215, 216. £1.30 each. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

THE TRISTAN LEGEND. A STUDY IN SOURCES. By Sigmund Eisner. Pp. 190. Northwestern University Press; 1969, Evanston, Illinois. Reviewed by Mary Williams.     

Linking the 1940 U.S. Census with modern data

Abstract

The U.S. Census Bureau has created a set of linkable census, survey, and administrative records that provides longitudinal data on the American population across the past eight decades. While these files include modern decennial censuses, Census Bureau surveys, and administrative records files from other federal agencies, the long time span is only possible with the addition of the complete count 1940 Census microdata. In this paper, we discuss the development of this linked data infrastructure and provide an overview of the record linkage techniques used. We primarily focus on the techniques used to produce a beta version of a linkable 1940 Census microdata file and discuss the potential to further document and extend the infrastructure.     

Mobility and the diversity of Early Neolithic lives: Isotopic evidence from skeletons

Isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from early Neolithic skeletons in southern Germany adds diversity to the picture of the Neolithic transition in central Europe, which has often been described as a wholesale shift in diet and technology. Over the past decade, these isotopic studies have suggested some degree of immigration from nearby indigenous groups, as well as social differences within early Neolithic communities that correlate with immigration patterns. In general, there emerges pattern a pattern of patrilocal kinship that is consistent with independent genetic evidence, and anthropologically consistent with the potential identification of Neolithic ‘nuclear families’; and finally, specialisation of subsistence activities, such as livestock herding and cultivating, probably along hereditary lines.     

Composite projectiles and hafting technologies at Ohalo II (23 ka,Israel): analyses of impact fractures,morphometric characteristics and adhesive remains on microlithic tools

This study focuses on the correlation between the production of backed microliths in the Levant during the late Upper Palaeolithic and their use as side elements of composite projectile weapons. The investigation is based on assemblage sample of microliths from Ohalo II, a 23,000 years old submerged campsite, and involves analyses of diagnostic impact fractures, location of adhesive remains and morpho-metric characteristics of the tools. Two distinct adhesive materials have been also analyzed, and the preliminary results indicate the use of both calcareous and organic substances.     

Gouk stones and other cuckoo place-names: prehistoric cult sites

ABSTRACT

The common cuckoo was a pre-Christian symbol of male fertility across Eurasia, associated with several European fertility goddesses. Some standing-stones are named after it as cuckoo (coucou is Old-French) or gowk (Anglo-Saxon). Gouk and cuckoo stones can only have been so named from the fifth and eleventh centuries respectively but at least one stone was erected in the third millennium BC. It was not known if the naming was recent or if the stones had been associated with the cuckoo since prehistory and through subsequent language transitions. Previous authors thought some cuckoo place-names were places of seasonal ritual associated with specific natural and cultural features. Traditional toponymic methods cannot test these hypotheses being temporally limited by linguistic and textual constraints. A wider study of all known cuckoo place-names in Britain was undertaken using cartographic and statistical analysis independent of language transitions and textual evidence. Several natural and cultural features were very statistically significantly associated with both cuckoo stones and other cuckoo place-names indicating the association with the bird originated in prehistory. GIS geoprocessing also confirmed that early Roman structures were very significantly associated with cuckoo place-names indicating that they were cult-centres targeted for psychological advantage during the conquest period.