People with history: An update on historical archaeology in the United States

Historical archaeology has expanded greatly in the past decade. This essay discusses some of the trends and themes that have become important in historical archaeology in the United States since 1982. The first section briefly assesses the field. The second discusses capitalism as one theme that may serve to unify research. Cross-cultural research, integrative analyses, and the concepts of power and ideology are central to this theme. The third section is a brief case study concerning the historic Cherokee. The conclusion comments on the institutional state of historical archaeology.     

Book reviews

Gender and the Built Environment: Emancipation in Planning, Housing and Mobility in Europe. L. Ottes, E. Poventud, M. van Schendelen and G. Segond von Banchet (Eds), Assen, Van Gorcum, 1995, 298 pp, pb, ISBN 9 0232 3027 2 (no stated price)

Baltic Europe in the Perspective of Global Change. Antoni Kuklinski (Ed.), Warsaw, Oficyna Naukowa, 1995, 517 pp, pb, ISBN 83 85505 27 X (no stated price)

Trading Industries—Trading Regions. H. Noponen, J. Graham and A. R. Markusen (Eds), London/New York, The Guildford Press, 1993, x + 310 pp, £16.99 pb, ISBM 0 89862 753 2

Competitive Cities: Succeeding in the Global Economy. H. Duffy, London, Spon, 1995, 190 pp, £24.99 hb, ISBN 0 419 19840 7

De l'atelier au territoire: Le travail en quête d'espace (From workshop to territory: labour looking for new spaces). Thérèse Evette and François Lautier (Eds), Paris, L'Harmattan, 1994, 248 pp, £15.00 pb, ISBN 2 7384 3159 3     

Between Disagreement and Consensus: Unravelling the Democratic Paradox

The idea of a rational consensus has become an increasingly controversial dimension of recent democratic theory as radical democratic theorists have challenged the ways in which liberal democracies deal with political disagreement and contestation. As a result, several theorists within the liberal tradition have attempted to incorporate models of dissent in their democratic arguments but this paper contends that they tend to result in forms of majoritarianism or proceduralism which reflect the original limitations that inspired the radical democratic critique. A more useful approach is one that recognises that contestation is inherent to democratic politics and understands that the paradox of democracy is the need to embrace the impossibility of establishing rational consensus in democratic practice.