Book reviews—Comptes rendus

Early Europe—L'Europe antique

Maurice SARTRE, L'Asie Mineure et l'Anatolie d'Alexandre à Dioclétien (IVe siècle av. JC—IIIe siècle op. JC), Annand Colin, Collection U, Paris, 1995.

Peter KINGSLEY, Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic Empedocles and Pythagorean tradition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, ix + 422 p., ISBN 0–19–814988–3.

Central and eastern Europe—L'Europe centrale et orientate

Catharina LIS, Jan LUCASSEN & Hugo SOLY eds, Before the Unions: wage earners and collective action in Europe 1300–1850, Cambridge University Press, International Review of History Supplements, Cambridge, 1994,194 p., ISBN 0–521–47954–1.

M.S. ANDERSON, The War of the Austrian Succession, 1740–1748, Longman, London & New York, 1995, xi + 248 p., ISBN 0–582–05951–8.

C.W. INGRAO, ed., State and Society in Early Modern Austria, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1994, xvi + 339 p., ISBN 1–55753–047–5.

P.W. SCHROEDER, The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994, xxii + 894 p,. ISBN 0–19–822119–3.

David E. BARCLAY, Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840–1861, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995, 335 p., ISBN 0–19–820430–2 (German ed., Anarchie und guter Wille. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. und die preussische Monarchic, trartsl. by Marion Müller, Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1995, 535 p., ISBN 3–88680–463–1).

Jörg BABEROWSKI, Autokratie und Justiz. Zum Verhältnis von Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Rückständigkeit im ausgehenden Zarenreieh 1864–1914, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt/M. (Veröffentlichungen des Max‐Planck‐Instituts für Europälsche Rechtsgeschichte, Ius Commune. Sonderhefte, Srudien zur Europäischen Rechtsgeschichte 78), 1996, xi + 845 p., ISBN 3465028325.

La vision de Ian Kershaw sur le pouvoir d'Hitler sur les Allemands. Deux ouvrages novateurs sur le nazisme traduits en français

Ian KERSHAW, L‘opinion allemande sous le nazisme: Bavière 1933–1945, CNRS‐Editions, collection “Histoire du XXe siècle”, Paris, 1995, 160 p.

Ian KERSHAW, Hitler: essai sur le charisme en politique, traduit de l'anglais par Jacqueline Carnaux, Gallimard, collection “NRF essais”, Paris, 1995, 240 p.

The idea of ‘Mitteleuropa’

Joseph ROTHSCHILD, Return to Diversity: a political history of East Central Europe since World War II, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1993, 299 p., ISBN 0–19–507382–7.

Peter STIRK, ed., Mitteleuropa. History and prospects, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1994, 176 p., ISBN 0–7486–0449–9.

Europe since 1945—L ‘Europe depute 1945

Geoffrey BEST, Law and War since 1945, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994, xiv + 434 p., ISBN 0198219911.

Anne‐Marie DURANTON‐CRABOL, L'Europe de l'extrême droite de 1945 à nos jours, Editions Complexe, Paris, 1991. 222 p.

Themes in cultural history—Etudes d'histoire culturelle

Mario MIEGGE, Il sogno del re di Babilonia, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1995, 210 p., ISBN 88–07–10178‐S.

Reba N. SOFTER, Discipline and Power: the university, history, and the making of an English elite, 1870–1930, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1994, viii + 308 p., ISBN 0–8047–2383–4.

Robert WOHL, A Passion for Wings: aviation and the western imagination, 1908–1918, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1994, vii + 320 p., ISBN 0300057784.     

Skeletal correlates of human behavior in the americas

A review of recent anthropological research deriving behavioral inferences from analyses of human skeletal remains focuses on interpretations of diet, social organization, population structure and migration, activities, activity levels and occupation, and warfare, violence, and death in the prehistoric and historic Americas. Critical evaluation of these inferences shows that some of them suffer from inadequate supporting evidence, lack of consideration of alternative hypotheses, or absence of clear methods for deriving and testing these inferences. Overall, however, the potential for behavioral reconstruction from skeletal analysis is great. Behaviors leaving more direct effects on bone such as dietary preference, warfare, and some activities produced the most secure inferences when derived from populational samples and supported by supplementary evidence. Human skeletal remains represent important resources for the reconstruction of behavior.     

ANOMALOUS CARBON-13 VALUES FOR FIBRE TEMPER IN CERAMICS*

Ceramic vessels from Later Stone Age sites in the Seacow river valley, South Africa, were heavily tempered with C4 grasses. However, most δ¹³C values of the temper fall between the known δ¹³C ranges for C4 and C3 grasses. Among possible C3 additives that could skew the signal, ground bone, animal dung, alpine grass, Karoo scrub ash, and humic acid contamination are eliminated. The sherd surfaces yield fatty chars with C3-like values. Although these are not enough to account for all the skewing, they represent only the final cooking event. They were preceded by many such events in which fat was absorbed into the C4 grass then charred to soot by later periods in the fire. Thus organic carbon with the isotope composition of the fat built up while the vessel remained in use.     

X-RAY FLUORESCENCE AND DENSITY MEASUREMENTS ON SURFACE-TREATED ROMAN SILVER COINS*

Some 630 Roman silver coins excavated at Augusta Raurica (Switzerland) have been analysed by non-destructive X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the density and the weight have been determined. The measured average density of plated and massive depletion-silvered coins is lower than the density calculated from the chemical composition, whereas massive coins display equal values for both of the densities. Based on experimental X-ray investigations of modern silver (tempering, acid treatment, production of corrosion layers), the nature of corrosion products on silver, their impact on surface analysis, and aspects of wearing-off by circulation are briefly discussed.     

AIDS in Africa: a perspective on the epidemic

Issues surrounding the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Africa are summarized. Subjects considered include the disease's origins, proportion of the population infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS, the problems in caring for children orphaned by the disease, innovations in drug treatments discovered by African scientists, the spread among women, and the difficulties inherent in incorporating Western-based policy and aid provisions into the African context.     

HOW MANY POTS MAKE FIVE?—AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF POTTERY QUANTIFICATION

This paper reviews the ways in which assemblages of pottery have been quantified throughout the twentieth century, and the use to which such data have been put. The values of various ways of quantifying pottery are compared, and a theoretical basis for the comparison of assemblages is described. Finally, the practical steps that need to be taken to make best use of the theory are set out.