The coastal landslides of Shetland

Little is known of hard-rock coastal landsliding in Scotland. We identify 128 individual coastal landslides or landslide complexes >50 m wide along the coasts of Shetland. Most are apparently translational slides characterized by headscarps, displaced blocks and/or debris runout, but 13 deep-seated failures with tension cracks up to 200 m inland from cliff crests were also identified. Thirty-one sites exhibit evidence of at least localized recent activity. Landslide distribution is primarily determined by the distribution of coastal cliffs >30 m high, and they are preferentially developed on metasedimentary rocks. Analysis of 16 landslides on Fetlar (NE Shetland) indicates that most are translational dip-slip failures; 3 represent deep-seated failures and several exhibit active frontal erosion attributable to basal sapping by storm waves. As these landslides terminate in shallow water, failure was probably initiated when rising sea level resulted in footslope erosion and upslope propagation of instability, causing downslope displacement of landslide blocks on upper slopes. ¹⁰Be exposure dating of two headscarps yielded ages of 4.8?±?0.2 ka and 4.4?±?0.2 ka, consistent with the onset of footslope erosion as sea level rose. Our results suggest that landslides have played a hitherto undocumented but important role in retreat of cliffed coastlines in Scotland.     

Book reviews

The Grand Strategy of Philip II by Geoffrey Parker. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp.xx + 446, illus. £25.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–300–07540–5.

Milton and the Imperial Vision edited by Balachandra Rajan and Elizabeth Sauer. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1999. Pp.vi + 376. £49.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–8207–0303–6.

If the Irish Ran the World: Montserrat, 1630–1730 by Donald Harman Akenson. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, distributed in Britain by Liverpool University Press, 1997. Pp.x+273. £29.95 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 085323–952–5; 985323–962–2.

Pleasure and Guilt on the Grand Tour: Travel Writing and Imaginative Geography 1600–1830 by Chloe Chard. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 278. £45.00 (hardback); £16.00 (paperback). ISBN 0–7190–4804–4; 0–7190–4805–2.

Sir Robert Chambers: Law, Literature and Empire in the Age of Johnson by Thomas M. Curley. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. Pp.xxii + 698, illus. £69.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–299–15150–6.

The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume II: The Eighteenth Century edited by P.J. Marshall. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp.xxi + 639. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–820563–5.

Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams edited by Alan Frost and Jane Samson. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 334, illus. £29.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–522–84791–9.

The Search for the North West Passage by Ann Savours. London: Chatham Publishing, 1999. Pp.x + 342, maps, illus. £25.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–86176–059–0.

Earl Bathurst and the British Empire 1762–1834 by Neville Thompson. Barnsley, Yorkshire: Leo Cooper, 1999. Pp.xii + 308. £25.00 (hardback), ISBN 0–85052–650–0.

Imperial Cities: Landscape, Display and Identity edited by Felix Driver and David Gilbert. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Pp.xvii + 283, illus. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7190–5413–3.

Work and Community among West African Migrant Workers since the Nineteenth Century by Diane Frost. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 278. £32.00 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 085323–523–6; 0853222–533–3.

Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso: Traditions in the Making by John Cowley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 293, illus. £37.50 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–48138–4; 0–521–65389–4.

Steel, Ships and Men: Cammell Laird, 1824–1993 by Kenneth Warren. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1998. Pp.xiv + 313, maps and illus. £29.95 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–85323–912–6; 0–85323–992–3.

Embassies in the East: The Story of the British Embassies in Japan, China and Korea from 1859 to the Present by J.E. Hoare. Richmond: Curzon, 1999. Pp.xvi + 238, illus. £40.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7007–0512–0.

The New Cambridge History of India, IV.2: Women in Modern India by Geraldine Forbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 and 1999. Pp.xix + 290. £35.00 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–26812–5; 0–521–65377–0

Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914 by Bruce Vandervort. London: UCL Press, 1998. Pp.xviii + 274, maps. £45.00 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 1–85728–486–0; 1–85728–487–9.

Disease and Empire: The Health of European Troops in the Conquest of Africa by Philip D. Curtin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xiii + 256. £45.00 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–59169–4; 0–521–59835–4.

Frontiers of Medicine in the Anglo‐Egyptian Sudan 1899–1940 by Heather Bell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. Pp.xvi + 261, maps. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–820749–2.

The South African War 1899–1902 by Bill Nasson. London: Arnold, 1999. Pp.xvi + 304, maps. £45.00 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–340–74154–6; 0–340–61427–7.

Managing the South African War, 1899–1902: Politicians v. Generals by Keith Terrance Surridge. Woodbridge: Boydell Press for the Royal Historical Society, 1998. Pp.ix + 205, maps. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 086193–238–2.

Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape by K.S. Inglis, assisted by Jan Brazier. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 522, illus. $49.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–522–84572–8.

Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters, 1914–18 selected and edited by David Omissi. Pp.xx + 382, illus., maps. £40.00 (hardback); £17.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–75144–2; 0–333–75145–0.

Mandates and Empire: The League of Nations and Africa, 1914–1931 by Michael D. Callahan. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 297, map. £55.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–902210–23–9.

Writing West Indian Histories by B.W. Higman. Basingstoke: Macmillan, Warwick University Caribbean Studies, 1999. Pp.xiv + 298. £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–73296–0.

Uganda's Katikoro in England by Ham Mukasa with notes and introduction by Simon Gikandi. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998. Pp.xvii + 211, maps. £40.00 (hardback), £13.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–7190–4898–2; 0–7190–5437–0.

Imperialism, Race and Resistance: Africa and Britain, 1919–1945 by Barbara Bush. London: Routledge, 1999. Pp.xviii + 394, illus. £17.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–415–15973–3.

Alan Lennox‐Boyd: A Biography by Philip Murphy. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1999. Pp.xi + 276, illus. £24.50 (hardback). ISBN 1–86064–406–6.

A History of Selangor (1766–1939) by J.M. Gullick. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1998. Pp.vi + 220. Paperback (no price given). ISBN 967–9948–10–2.

The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya by T. N. Harper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 417. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–59040‐X.

Isle of Discord: Nationalism, Imperialism and the Making of the Cyprus Problem by Yiannis D. Stefanidis. London: Hurst, 1999. Pp.xi + 315. £40.00. ISBN 1–85065–415–8.

Free Trade, Free World: The Advent of GATT by Thomas W. Zeiler. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 288. $39.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–8078–2458–5.

Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1999. Pp.xxviii + 529. £21.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–520–21511–7.

Militarism in India: The Army and Civil Society in Consensus by Apurba Kundu. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998. Pp.viii + 230, maps, tables. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–86064–318–3.

Freedom, Trauma, Continuities: Northern India and Independence edited by D.A. Low and Howard Brasted. New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 1998. Pp.237. £35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7619–9225–1.

Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India by Gyan Prakash. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 304. $49.50/£31.00 (hardback), $17.95/£11.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–691–00452–8; 0–691–00453–6.

Refashioning Futures: Criticism after Postcoloniality by David Scott. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1999. Pp.233. $49.50/£29.95 (hardback); $16.95/£10.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–691–00485–4; 0–691–00486–2.     

Howard's way? Public opinion as an influence on Australia's engagement with Asia, 1996–2007

Using the typology developed by Douglas Foyle, this article argues that John Howard behaved as a ‘pragmatist’ in dealing with situations where public opinion was relevant to Australia's engagement with Asia. Howard adhered to his own views on the relevant issues while attempting to lead public opinion in the direction he believed desirable. During the 1996–2007 period the most relevant issues relating to the impact of public opinion on Australia's Asian engagement were Australia's relations with Indonesia and Asian immigration. In the case of Australian–Indonesian relations the Howard government had to deal with various situations where an activated public opinion threatened to undermine the long term Australian approach that gave primacy to Indonesian concerns. Political leadership entailed developing a response that the government believed to be appropriate to Australia's long term objectives, while also attempting to persuade the public that this was the case. In the second instance policy developed in a more ‘deliberative’ context: Howard modified his earlier stance that was critical of Asian immigration, but continued to adhere to a strongly ‘integrationist’ position. This position was consistent with both his own views and his perception of public attitudes on the matter.     

Characterization of bricks and tiles from the 17th-century brick Chapel,St. Mary's City,Maryland

The brick Chapel at St. Mary's City, Maryland, built around 1667, would have been an impressive structure on a colonial frontier where all the other buildings were built only of wood. While the building is no longer extant, the bricks remaining in the buried foundations hold information about the technologies and materials used by brickmakers in the 17th-century Chesapeake region. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and petrographic analysis of thin sections were used to compare the Chapel bricks and other 17th-century bricks and tiles from several Chesapeake contexts to locally available clay sources. While the composition of the Chapel bricks is generally consistent with that of clays available in southern Maryland, these historic materials could not be linked to any one deposit, and may reflect the mixing of clays from multiple sources. In contrast, building materials from other 17th-century buildings at St. Mary's City could be more precisely “matched” to specific local clay deposits. This paper reports on our initial investigations toward understanding the technology of the Chapel bricks and their relationship to other bricks from St. Mary's City.