Reviews and book notes

Henderson, Paul, Parliament and Politics in Australia, Heinemann Educational Australia, Melbourne, 1978, pp. 260 + vii. $5.95.

Charles P. Ridley, China's Scientific Policies: Implications for International Cooperation, AEI—Hoover Policy Studies 1976, pp. 92. US$3.00.

Peter Wilenski, The Delivery of Health Services in the: People's Republic of China, International Development Research Centre, published ANU Press 1977, pp. 59. $4.50.

Stephen Andors, China's Industrial Revolution, New York, Pantheon Books; London, Martin Robertson & Co., 1977.

Taketsugu Tsurutani, Political Change in Japan, New York, Longman (aDavid McKay), 1977. £12.50 cloth, $6.95 paper.

P. R. Chippendale and Paula V. Wilkes, Accountability in Education, University of Queensland Press, 1977, pp. 205. $13.50.

G. Duncan (ed.), Critical Essays in Australian Politics, Melbourne, Edward Arnold, 1978, pp. 252. $11.50.

P. J. Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, Croom Helm Ltd., August, 1978. $32.95.

Theodore Zeldin, France 1848–1945, Vol. II, Intellect, Taste and Anxiety, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977.

David Kemp, Society and Electoral Behaviour in Australia, St Lucia, Queensland University Press, 1978.

Colin Tatz, Race Politics in Australia; Aborigines Politics and Law, Armidale, The University of New England Publishing Unit, 1979, pp. vi + 118. $1.75 paper.     

Sagax animo: Jonas of Bobbio and the verse epitaph of Pope Honorius

The verse epitaph of Pope Honorius (625–38) inscribed at St Peter’s in Rome and the eulogy of the same pope that Jonas of Bobbio included in his Vita Columbani et discipuli eius (composed 639–42) share language and expressions sufficient to demonstrate that Jonas must have been familiar with Honorius’ epitaph at the time he composed the Vita’s obituary. This fact has implications for both Jonas’ biography and his literary methods. It also raises the possibility that Jonas was the author of the (otherwise anonymous) epitaph. Close reading of the Vatican epitaph highlights not only the epigram’s literary ambition and background but also identifies other correspondences with the lexical and poetic inclinations of Jonas. In turn, these observations undercut pessimism about the literary milieu of seventh-century Rome and Italy.     

Other ways to examine the finances behind the birth of Classical Greece

Although the birth of Classical Greece is often attributed to the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes (508/507 BCE), the achievement of an economically minded government under the Peisistratid tyrant Hippias (527–510 BCE) potentially paved the way by advancing Athenian silver for exportation in international trade. It is proposed here that new silver technology, which initiated the transition from acquiring silver from ‘dry’ silver ores to silver-bearing lead ores, was introduced to Greece during the time of the Peisistratids (561–510 BCE). Massive exploitation of silver-bearing lead ores at Laurion in Attica, which later financed the construction of a war navy, appears evident in the lead pollution records of Greenland ice, lead isotopic analyses of sixth-century BCE Attic silver coins and late Iron Age Levantine hacksilver, and is reflected in the numbers of lead votive figurines at sanctuaries in Sparta. Against the backdrop of the threat of war with Persia and an imminent Spartan invasion which resulted in the overthrow of Hippias (510 BCE), it is considered that a political transition occurred because Greece was both geologically and politically disposed to adopt this labour-intensive silver technology which helped to initiate, fund and protect the radical social experiment that became known as Classical Greece.     

Geographic aspects of genocide: a comparison of Bosnia and Rwanda

The study of genocide requires a geographic approach that looks at how genocidal actions are purposefully planned to target specific groups and areas, methodically implemented through expulsions and murder, and politically intertwined with popular aspirations of territorial nationalism. A geographic focus is used here to discuss the concept of genocide, its recurrence in the twentieth century, its formulation under international law, and its eruption in Bosnia and Rwanda. In this comparative approach, geography-linked concepts such as Lebensraum , territorial nationalism, forced migration, and ethnic cleansing are used to explain the production of genocide and its consequences.     

Death in the line of duty: late medieval burials at the site of Lepenski Vir,Serbia

Four late medieval burials were excavated at the site of Lepenski Vir in the Iron Gates Gorge, Serbia. One of the individuals, Lepenski Vir 62, exhibits evidence of a sharp‐force trauma on the left parietal, consistent with a combat wound. None of the other contemporaneous individuals show any evidence of trauma or other pathology on the few preserved bones. We argue that the skeletons belong to soldiers involved in the border warfare on the Danube which was quite common at the end of the 14^th and the first half of the 15^th century between Serbian, Hungarian and Turkish forces. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.