Reviews

Douglas Crimp, On the Museum's Ruins (with photographs by Louise Lawler), Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1993. xx + 348 pp., 110 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–03209–0. £24.95.

Clarissa Campbell Orr (ed.), Women in the Victorian Art World, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995. xiv + 208 pp., 1 fig., 29 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4123–6. £14.99.

Diana Ketcham, Le Désert de Retz, Cambridge, Mass. & London: The MIT Press, 1994. vii + 135 pp., 99 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–11186–1. £35.95.

Anthony & Patricia Wylson, Theme Parks, Leisure Centres, Zoos and Aquaria, London: Longman, 1994. 183 pp., 107 figs., 109 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–582–099285. £60.00.

David Lambert, Peter Goodchild, & Judith Roberts, Researching a Garden's History: A Guide to Documentary and Published Sources, Reigate: Landscape Design Trust, in association with Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, 1995. 28 pp. 12 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–9518377–0–2. £6.00.

Mike Sixsmith (ed.), Touring Exhibitions: The Touring Exhibitions Group's Manual of Good Practice, Oxford: Butterworth‐Heinemann, 1995. xviii + 237 pp., ISBN 0–7506–2518‐x. £35.00.

Richard Harrison (ed.), Manual of Heritage Management, Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann and the Association of Independent Museums, 1994. xiii + 425 pp. ISBN 0–7506–0822–6. £65.00.

J. M. Fladmark (ed.), Sharing the Earth : Local Identity in Global Culture, London: Donhead, 1995. xviii + 381 pp., 70 b. & w. illus. ISBN 1–873394–19–5. £37.00.

Gary Edson and David Dean, The Handbook for Museums, London and New York: Routledge, 1994. xvi + 302 pp. ISBN 0–415–09952–8. £27.50.

Michael Wheeler (ed.), Ruskin and Environment: The Storm‐Cloud of the Nineteenth Century, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995. x + 202 pp., 7 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4377–8. £40.00.

M. D. Anderson, History and Imagery in British Churches, London: John Murray, [1971], 1995. xxiv + 291 pp., 1 map, 18 figs., 93 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7195–5414–4. £15.99.

Chris Brooks & Andrew Saint (eds.), The Victorian Church. Architecture and Society, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995. xii + 228 pp., 82 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4020–5. £16.99.

M. Christine Boyer, The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments, Cambridge, Mass., and London: The MIT Press, 1994. xii + 560 pp., 65 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–02371–7. £34.95.

John Glasson, Kerry Godfrey, Brian Goodey, Helen Absalom, & Jan Van der Borg, Towards Visitor Impact Management, Aldershot: Avebury, 1995. xii + 189 pp. ISBN 1–85972–054–4. £35.00.

Ann Bermingham & John Brewer (eds.), The Consumption of Culture 1600–1800. Image, Object, Text, London & New York: Routledge, 1995. xvi + 548 pp., 111 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–415–12135–5. £120.00.

B. W. Clapp An Environmental History of Britain since the Industrial Revolution, London and New York: Longman, 1994. 268 pp., 2 maps, 12 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–582–22626–0. £12.99.

Eilean Hooper‐Greenhill, Museum, Media, Message, London and New York: Routledge, 1995. xvi + 299 pp., 23 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–415–11672–4. £40.00.

A. Davey, B. Heath, D. Hodges, M. Ketchin & R. Milne, The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses: A Maintenance Manual for Edinburgh New Town, Oxford: Butterworth, 4th ed., 1995. xxviii + 291 pp., 100 b. & w. illus. and 100 figs. ISBN 0–7506–1860–4. £40.00.

Philip Rahtz, English Heritage Book of Glastonbury, London: Batsford & English Heritage, 1993. 144 pp., 97 figs., ISBN 0–7134–6865–3. £14.99.     

“What do people do all day”

U. S. Department of Transportation. Final Environmental Impact Assessment for Darien Gap Highway from Tocumen, Panama, to Rio Leon, Colombia. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Department of Transportation, 1974. xvii + 203 pp. Tables, figures, and appendices. (Available gratis from USDOT.)

Kurt Finsterbusch. A Methodology for Analyzing Social Impacts of Public Policies. Vienna, Virginia: Braddock, Dunn, and McDonald, 1975. ix + 52 pp. Tables, illustrations, and appendices. (Availablegratis from BDM, Inc., 1920 Aline Avenue, Vienna, Virginia 22180.)     

Neutral Competence and Political Responsiveness: An Uneasy Relationship

This essay examines the popular argument that a culture of nonpartisan objectivity within the career bureaucracy can effectively serve the interests of presidents and other political executives. A close reading of the literature reveals that neutral competence has become an ambiguous concept. Moreover, evidence drawn from recent studies of OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and from the bureaucratic politics literature more generally suggests that it may not be realistic to expect that civil servants can be nonpartisan and still satisfy the president's need for responsiveness. Although neutral competence is a highly relevant doctrine in some administrative contexts, it is difficult to reconcile with the goal of political responsiveness in areas where bureaucrats are called upon to exercise political discretion.     

The risk society at work in the Sydney 'Tar Ponds'

This paper explores the implications of environmental contamination on the perceived health impacts, effects on daily life and coping mechanisms of residents living near the Tar Ponds in Sydney, Nova Scotia. The site contains over 700,000 tonnes of contaminated sediments and is considered one of the most contaminated commercial–industrial sites in Canada [Canadian British Consultants Limited (CBCL) and Conestoga Rovers and Associates (CRA) 1999 Phase 1 Site Assessment: Muggah Creek Watershed, Sydney, Nova Scotia]. Resident fears regarding perceived health risks, as well as other concerns related to property values and the viability of the local economy have been reinforced by distrust of government and of science. These concerns have been sustained by clean-up delays. In response, many residents have engaged in forms of activism as a prominent form of coping, while several residents have kept well-informed and sought social support. These findings indicate that the process of remediation and site clean-up must be sensitive to local context.     

Effects of residential exposure to steel mills and coking works on birth weight and preterm births among residents of Sydney, Nova Scotia

The Sydney Tar Ponds in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, have been referred to as the most contaminated industrial site in the country. Area residents, aware of the contamination for close to 25 years, are very concerned about their health: past, present and future. In particular, they are concerned about cancer; this is followed closely by reproductive health concerns. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of birth weight and preterm birth among residents living in proximity to an industrial site contaminated with a mix of industrial wastes arising from a former steel mill and coking works (the Tar Ponds) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. A telephone survey was administered to 500 randomly selected women living in proximity to the site to document reproductive histories. The respondents reported 904 live birth pregnancies occurring in Sydney. The mean birth weight reported for live birth pregnancies was 3,391 g (standard deviation: 570). The reported prevalence of preterm births was 7 percent. Linear regression analyses showed a reduction in birth weight of approximately 85 g among residents in a zone estimated to have higher levels of deposition of airborne effluent from the site. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed a decrease in the risk of preterm birth as residential distance from the site increased (odds ratio 0.65, 95 percent confidence interval 0.42, 0.98). These data suggest that community exposure to industrial contaminants had some, but little, impact on reported birth weights in this sample of respondents. The apparent increase in risk for preterm births suggests further investigation may be warranted, particularly in light of community concerns. Follow‐up investigations using validated birth records and more sensitive measures of environmental exposure could be used to confirm the findings and further explore the intra‐urban variation in health outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of ongoing clean‐up efforts in Sydney.     

Race,Gender, and Communications in Natural Disasters

We examine public attitudes toward vulnerability and evacuation in hurricane natural disasters. Using the results of an opinion survey in a coastal, New England state, we find important differences in how men and women, and Whites and minorities perceive natural disasters. Race, gender, and geographic proximity to the coast affect how vulnerable people believe their residence is to a major hurricane, while government officials and media reporting telling people to evacuate influence evacuation decisions. In order to avoid future breakdowns, governments need to understand the different information processing approaches of various groups of people.     

Campgrounds as service hubs for the marginally housed

The service hub concept is strongly associated with deprived areas of North American inner cities, where agglomerations of low‐cost housing and service providers form a space of survival for marginalised populations. In this paper, we contend that service hubs can take other forms, including as small‐scale sites of housing and service provision, informally networked across an urban region. We develop this argument with reference to suburban campgrounds in Auckland, New Zealand—a city experiencing a severe housing affordability crisis. Both individually and collectively, campgrounds enable vulnerable households, as well as tourists, to inhabit an increasingly exclusionary urban environment. Drawing on interviews with 24 resident campers and eight managers, we highlight the role of campgrounds in supporting residents through the provision of informal housing and on‐site services. This provision also benefits the facilities' owners and managers, by creating a year‐round rental income stream. We find that campgrounds are critically important for those whose lives are rendered precarious by the housing market.     

Ethno-geochemical and Phytolith Studies of Activity Related Patterns: A Case Study from Al Ma’tan,Jordan

ABSTRACT

Understanding Neolithic sites in southwest Asia is often difficult because of the lack of preservation of organic remains and the effects of various taphonomic processes that alter the original record. Here, we use an ethnographic approach to test the potential of using plant phytoliths and geochemistry to aid our interpretation of southwest Asian Neolithic sites. Our study of a recently abandoned stone and mud constructed village in Jordan, shows that for certain activity types, phytoliths and geochemistry can help distinguish different construction methods and functions, particularly for burnt areas, animal use areas and where there has been the addition of a specific construction material. For features constructed from the same source materials distinctions are more problematic. Geochemical and phytolith proxies were individually effective in distinguishing activity areas and construction materials, but signals were diminished when the statistical analysis was run on both forms of evidence combined. It is therefore recommended that the data from plant phytolith and geochemical analyses are subject to separate statistical tests and that the two sets of results are used in combination to interpret archaeological sites and their uses.     

Duelling Ecclesiologies: 1640s Religious Independency in Katherine Chidley's Separatism vs. Thomas Edwards's Presbyterianism

The broader clash between Charles I and Parliament that became the English Civil Wars was reflected in the narrower battlefront of ecclesiology. With the collapse of censorship, Katherine Chidley's separatism, already formed by the 1620s, achieved an audience in 1641 with her first publication which, ironically, championed the less radical position (and newly coined term) of Independency. Her publication was in response to Thomas Edwards who was striving to ensure Presbyterianism became the new established church. The tension between the two demonstrates the continuity between Elizabethan Brownism and mid‐seventeenth‐century English separatism, the complexity of the relationship between Independency and separatism, and the rivalry between Presbyterians and Independents/separatists for legitimacy and predominance. The Chidley–Edwards duel sheds light on the multiple conflicts of the day when the magnitude of the stakes involved were captured succinctly in the previous monarch's maxim: “No bishop, no king, no nobility.” The new position of Independency emerges more clearly through their debate.