Montesquieu's Shadow: Debating reform in the Austrian Netherlands

Arthur Ruppin was the central figure in the Zionist colonization project in Palestine-Land of Israel in the decades preceded the establishment of the state of Israel. Ruppin's immense contribution gave him in Zionist historiography the title of ‘The Father of Jewish settlement in Palestine.’ Nevertheless, in spite of the title ‘Father’, Zionist historiography actually treats him as a ‘Zionist clerk,’ diminishing his role to an apolitical expert on bureaucracy and the economy. Exploring the reasons for his ambiguous position in Zionist historiography and memory, the historical account in the following article reveals how formative were his activities not only in the establishment of the bureaucratic field of the Yishuv (pre-state of Israel), but also in producing and disseminating the modern Hebrew identity models, consequently the article analyzes the relation of these models to the German-social Darwinist perceptions and practices, which shaped Ruppin's cultural identity, weltanschauung and actions.     

Reviews

Populism and Feminism in Iran: Women's Struggle in a Male‐Defined Revolutionary Movement ,Haideh Moghissi, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994, 217 pp., $59.95.

La Beauté menacée: anthropologie des maladies de la peau en Iran , Niloufar Jozani, Tehran: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran, 1994, 317 pp., illustrations, tables, Bibliography, Index.

Iranian Cities: Formation and Development ,Masoud Kheirabadi, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991, xiv + 132 pp., illustrations, glossary, and appendixes.

Faith and Freedom ,ed. Mahnaz Afkhami, Syracuse: Syracuse Univ. Press, 1995.

Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan ,Patricia Berger and Terese Tse Bartholomew, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995, 340 pp., 310 illustrations, 237 in color, $60.00.

Mongol Jewelry ,Martha Boyer, Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995, 278 pp., 200 illustrations, 90 in color, $50.00.

Frühe iranische Moscheen vom Beginn des Islam bis zur Zeit sal?ūqischer Herrschaft ,Barbara Finster [Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Tehran: Archäologische Mitteliungen aus Iran, Erganzungsband 19] Berlin: Dietrich Riemer, 1994, 319 pp., 1 map, 149 figures, 48 plates, Bibliography, Index.

Khomeini's Forgotten Sons: The Story of Iran's Boy Soldiers ,Ian Brown, London: Grey Seal Books, 1990, viii + 190 pp.

Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass ,Leonardo Alishan, New York: Ashod Press, 1991, xvi + 77 pp., $7.50.

Persico‐Kurdica: Études d'ethnomusicologie, de dialectologie, d'histoire et de religion (parues dans les années 1964–1978), Mohammad Mokri, Louvain: Peeters, 1995, lv + 505 pp.

Padyavand ,ed. Amnon Netzer, Judeo‐Iranian and Jewish Studies Series, vol. 1, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1996, xxvi + 143 English + 367 Persian.

The Throne Carrier of God: The Life and Thought of ‘Ala'; ad‐Dawla as‐Simnani ,Jamal J. Elias, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, xvi + 255 pp., $ 16.95.

The History of al‐Tabari ,vol. XXXIII: Storm and Stress along the Northern Frontiers of the ^cAbbasid Caliphate ,trans, and annot. C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies and Bibliotheca Persica, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy ,Daniel Pipes, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996, xii + 404 pp.

The History of al‐Tabari , vol. XII: The Battle of al‐Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine , trans. Yohanan Friedmann, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, xxii + 237 pp.

La Region d'Arak et de Hamadan: cartes et documents ethnographiques , Hélène Desmet‐Gregoire and Patrice Fontaine, with the collaboration of Mohammad ^cAli Ahmadian and Abolqasem Taheri, Studia Iranica, Cahier 6, association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, Leuven: Teeters, 1988.

Myth and Mobilization in Revolutionary Iran: The Use of the Friday Congregational Sermon , Haggay Ram, Washington, D.C.: The American University Press, 1994, xiii + 250 pp., $59.00 cloth.