The Mormon Historical Demography Project

Abstract

This article describes the background and reconstruction of the Belgian 1961 census sample file. Recently, a complete codebook for the sample file has been drawn up, and the representativeness of the sample has been evaluated as accurate, except for the loss of cases that occurred for three Belgian subregions. With the addition of the 1961 census sample, cross-sectional microdata from the five successive population censuses since that year, covering a broad range of topics, are now available to the research community. The reconstruction of the 1961 census sample was part of the activities of the HISSTAT project, which is currently being run by a consortium of research institutions in Belgium to bring together cross-sectional aggregated data since 1800, aggregated longitudinal data since 1880, and cross-sectional microdata since 1961, all covering the entire country.     

Edward Gibbon and the Roman Empire

MARTIN GILBERT. Second World War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989. Pp. xix, 846.

BARRIE and FRANCIS PITT. The Chronological Atlas of World War II. London: Macmillan, 1989. Pp. xi, 178.

CORRELLI BARNETT, ed. Hitler's Generals. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989. Pp. xix, 497.

GEOFFREY ROBERTS. The Unholy Alliance: Stalin's Pact with Hitler. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989. Pp. xviii, 296.

VICTOR SUVOROV. Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?, trans. Thomas B. Beattie. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1990. Pp. xvii, 364.

ROY DOUGLAS. The World War 1939–1943: The Cartoonists' Vision. London and New York: Routledge, 1990. Pp. xii, 300.

PAUL FUSSELL. Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Pp. x, 330.     

New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.     

17th century Huron village life: insights from the copper-based metals of the Ball site,southern Ontario,Canada

Copper-based metal artifacts from the Ball site, a late 16th – early 17th century Huron (Wendat) village in southern Ontario that doubled in size during its estimated 20-year existence, were analysed by INAA. The goal was to assess the number of kettles that had reached the village, explore the chronology of their arrival and examine patterns in their discard within the site. Our results suggest that about two to three dozen European copper, red brass, and yellow brass kettles may have reached the village during its occupation; that copper kettles may have been traded to the inhabitants of the village before brass kettles; that the new inhabitants may have brought some kettles with them; and that differences in the discarding of copper and brass pieces inside and outside longhouses indicate that yellow brass was possibly of lower value than red copper.     

Public opinion and policy responsiveness: the case of same-sex marriage in Australia

This article examines congruence between public opinion and politicians’ positions on same-sex marriage in the Australian House of Representatives from 2012 to 2016. In contrast median voter theorem and other office-motivated frameworks, Australian federal politicians have largely ignored majority opinion, which has been supportive of same-sex marriage for a decade. Using a unique dataset (n?=?601,550) of voter preferences collected during the 2013 federal election, and collated Hansard and media data, we compare public opinion on same-sex marriage with politicians’ public positions. We find a status quo bias, suggesting the influence of special interest groups in this policy area. Yet, we also find parliamentarians are responsive to public opinion once it reaches a critical level, and that very low opposition to same-sex marriage in an electorate predicts policy support from its MP, which varies by party and over time.