Book reviews

Empire and Order. The Concept of Empire, 800–1800 by James Muldoon. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999. Pp.viii + 209. £42.50 (hardback). ISBN 0–333–65013–1.

The Ideological Origins of the British Empire by David Armitage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp.xii + 239. £35.00 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–59081–7; 0–521–78978–8.

England's Maritime Empire: Seapower, Commerce and Policy, 1490–1690 by David Loades. Harlow: Longman, 2000. Pp.xi + 277, maps. £50.00 (hardback); £15.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–582–35622–6; 0–582–35628–8.

Theatre and Empire: Great Britain on the London Stages under James VI and I by Tristan Marshall. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. Pp.viii + 211. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7190–5748–5.

Elusive Empires: Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Valley, 1673–1800 by Eric Hinderaker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997 and 2000. Pp.xii + 293. £45.00 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–56333‐X; 0–521–66345–8.

Indians and Colonists at the Crossroads of Empire: The Albany Congress of 1754 by Timothy J. Shannon. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 263. No price given (hardback). ISBN 0–8014–3657–5

An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. Pp.xviii + 357, maps, tables, illus. $55.00/£41.00 (hardback); $22.50/£17.00 (paperback). ISBN 0–8122–3558–4; 0–8122–1732–2.

A Voyage round the World by George Forster, edited by Nicholas Thomas and Oliver Berghof assisted by Jennifer Newell. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. 2 vols. Pp.xlvii + 860, illus., maps. ISBN 0–8248–2091–6.

General History of the Caribbean, Volume VI: Methodology and Historiography of the Caribbean edited by B.W. Higman. London and Oxford: Unesco Publishing/Macmillan, 1999. Pp.xxii + 948, illus. £45.00 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–72460–7; 0–333–72461–5.

The Cultural Politics of Sugar: Caribbean Slavery and Narratives of Colonialism by Keith A. Sandiford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp.221. £37.50 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–64233–7.

History and Memory in the Age of Enslavement: Becoming Merina in Highland Madagascar, 1770–1822 by Pier M. Larson. Portsmouth, NH, Oxford, and Cape Town: Heinemann, James Currey and David Philip. Pp.xxxii + 414, maps. £40.00 (hardback); £16.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–85255–689–6; 0–85255–639‐X.

West Indians in West Africa, 1808–1880: The African Diaspora in Reverse by Nemata Amelia Blyden. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press, 2000. Pp.xii + 258. $75.00/£50.00 (hardback). ISBN 1–58046–0461.

A Concise History of Australia by Stuart Macintyre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp.xiv + 320, maps, illus. £30.00 (hardback); £10.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–62359–6; 0–521–62577–7.

Ships, Furs, and Sandalwood: A Yankee Trader in Hawai'i, 1823–1825 by Charles H. Hammatt, edited by Sandra Wagner‐Wright. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999. Pp.xxxii + 96. $39.00 (hardback); $18.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–8248–2258–7 (pb).

Mission und Gewalt: Der Umgang christlicher Missionen mit Gewalt und die Ausbreitung des Christentums in Afrika und Asien in der Zeit von 1792 bis 1918/19 (Missionsgeschichtliches Archiv, vol. 6) edited by Ulrich van der Heyden and Jürgen Becher. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000. Pp.557. DM 160,‐ (hardback). ISBN 3–515–07624–7.

Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism by Richard H. Grove. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp.xiv + 540. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–40385–5.

Nature and the Orient: The Environmental History of South and South East Asia edited by Richard H. Grove, Vanita Damodaran, and Satpal Sangwan. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp.xviii + 1,036. £35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–195–63896–4.

Ecology, Climate and Empire: Colonialism and Global Environmental History, 1400–1940 by Richard H. Grove. Knapwell: White Horse Press, 1997. Pp.237. No price given. ISBN 1–874267–18–9 (hb). 1–874267–19–7 (pb).

Weltmacht oder Untergang: Die Weltreichslehre im Zeitalter des Imperialismus by Sönke Neitzel. Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2000. Pp.453. DM 98,‐(paperback). ISBN 3–506–76102–1.

The Shaping of the West Indian Church, 1492–1962 by Arthur Charles Dayfoot. Kingston, Jamaica: University Press of the West Indies, 1999; Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999. Pp.xvii + 360, maps, illus. US$30.00 (paperback); US$49.95 (hardback). ISBN 976–640–061‐X (paperback); 0–8130–1626–6 (hardback).

Making Saints: Religion and the Public Image of the British Army, 1809–1885 by Kenneth E. Hendrickson III. Madison and London: Associated University Presses, 1998. Pp.197. £27.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–8386–3729–9.

Negotiating India in the Nineteenth‐Century Media edited by David Finkelstein and Douglas M. Peers. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.xi + 285. £40.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–333–71146–7.

Cultures of Empire: Colonizers in Britain and the Empire in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A Reader edited by Catherine Hall. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. Pp.x + 390, photographs. £47.00 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–7190–5857–0; 0–7190–5858–9.

Indians in Britain: Anglo‐Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880–1930 by Shompa Lahiri. London: Frank Cass, 1999. Pp.xviii + 249. £42.50 (hardback); £17.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–7146–4986–4; 0–7146–8049–4.

Bausteine eines zukünftigen deutschen Mittelafrika: Deutscher Imperialismus und die portugiesischen Kolonien by Rolf Peter Tschapek. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2000. Pp.475. DM 144,‐ (paperback). ISBN 3–515–07592–5.

The Treasury and British Public Policy, 1906–1959 by G.C. Peden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.xiv + 581. £65.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–820707–7.

Die deutsche Südsee 1884–1914: Ein Handbuch edited by Hermann Joseph Hiery. Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2001. Pp.880. DM 198,‐ (hardback). ISBN 3–506–73912–3.

An Economic History of Malaysia, c. 1800–1990: The Transition to Modern Economic Growth by John H. Drabble. Basingstoke: Macmillan (in association with the Australian National University), Canberra, 2000. Pp.xxiii + 316. £19.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–55300–4.

The Making of Modern Burma by Thant Myint‐U. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp.284. £45.00 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–521–78021–7; 0–521–79914–7.

East African Doctors: A History of the Medical Profession by John Iliffe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.336. £40.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–521–63272–2.

India's Prisoner: A Biography of Edward John Thompson 1886–1946 by Mary Lago. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. Pp.xi + 388, illus. $39.95 (hardback). ISBN 0–8262–1299–9.

Kuwait, 1950–1965: Britain, the al‐Sabah, and Oil by Simon C. Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1999. Pp.167, map, illus. £20.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–19–726197–3

The Business of Decolonization: British Business Strategies in the Gold Coast by Sarah Stockwell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000. Pp.ix + 265. £48.00. ISBN 0–19–820848–0.

Defence and Decolonisation in Southeast Asia: Britain, Malaya and Singapore 1941–68 by Karl Hack. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000. Pp.xiv + 341. £45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–7007–1303–4.

British Documents on the End of Empire, Series A, Volume 4: The Conservative Government and the End of Empire, 1957–64, Parts I and II, edited by Ronald Hyam and Wm. Roger Louis. London: The Stationery Office, 2000. Pp.cix + 825 (Part I); Pp.xxxvii + 811pp (Part II). £80.00 each (hardback). ISBN 011–290578–1 (Part I) and 011–290579‐X (Part II).

Travel Writing and Empire: Postcolonial Theory in Transit edited by Steve Clark. London: Zed Books, 1999. Pp.viii + 264. £45.00 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 1–85649–627–9; 1–85649–628–7.     

The identification of cultivated pearl millet (Pennisetum) amongst plant impressions on pottery from Oued Chebbi (Dhar Oualata,Mauritania)

The majority of the neolithic pottery from Dhar Tichitt and Oualata bears abundant plant impressions on its surface. The present study involves direct examination of these impressions and comparsion with a control series in the laboratory. The criteria for differentiation between impressions made by wild and cultivatedPennisetum are clearly defined. In the pottery from Oued Chebbi (Dhar Oualata), the existence of many many impressions of pearl millet (Pennisetum), including both wild and cultivated strains, is confirmed. It is concluded that the area around Dhar Tichitt and Oualata belongs to a non-centre zone of origin (Harlan 1975) and that,ca 3000 bp, its inhabitants knew how to use cultivated strains in an area where wild strains were also found in some abundance.

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Résumé La céramique néolithique des dhars Tichitt et Oualata présente une abondance d'empreintes végétales en surface. La présente étude—basée sur la lecture directe des empreintes sur la céramique—s'appuye sur une série de référence fabriquée en laboratoire. Les critères de différenciation, dans le genrePennisetum, des empreintes de formes sauvages et de formes cultivées sont clairement précisées. L'existence, dans les céramiques de Oued Chebbi, de nombreuses empreintes de mil du genrePennisetum et, parmi celles-ci, de formes cultivées, est affirmée. Les différentes analyses d'empreintes permettent de penser que le secteure des dhars Tichitt et Oualata appartient à la zone d'origine non-centre définie par J. Harlan (1975) et qu'aux alentours de 3000 ans bp, ses habitants savaient exploiter des formes cultivées dans un cadre où les populations de forme sauvage avaient une certaine abondance.

     

An Enhanced Finite Element Macro-Model for the Realistic Simulation of Localized Cracks in Masonry Structures: A Large-Scale Application

ABSTRACT

Finite element macro-modeling approaches are widely used for the analysis of large-scale masonry structures. Despite their efficiency, they still face two important challenges: the realistic representation of damage and a reasonable independency of the numerical results to the used discretization. In this work, the classical smeared crack approach is enhanced with a crack-tracking algorithm, originating from the analysis of localized cracking in quasi-brittle materials. The proposed algorithm is for the first time applied to a large-scale wall exhibiting multiple shear and flexural cracking. Discussion covers structural aspects, as the response of the structure under different assumptions regarding the floor rigidity, but also numerical issues, commonly overlooked in the simulation of large structures, such the mesh-dependency of the numerical results.     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

Stable isotope evidence for dietary and cultural change over the Holocene at the Sabana de Bogotá region,Northern South America

The Sabana de Bogotá in the northern Andes is an interesting region to investigate temporal patterns of dietary variation because it counts with a vast archeological and osteological record for the last 10,000 years. In this paper, stable isotope data of human archeological bone collagen and apatite were used to study the evolution of diet and major subsistence transformations taking place during the Holocene (～9000–600 cal BP). Paleoenvironmental reconstructions and the isotopic ecology of the Sabana de Bogotá were used as an interpretative baseline. Stable isotope measurements (δ¹³C_col, δ¹³C_ap, δ¹⁵N, and Δ¹³C_col-ap) representing hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, and agriculturalists (N = 134 individuals) were analyzed by using bivariate, regressional, and discriminant statistical techniques. Results show that early Holocene hunter-gatherers (9000–7000 cal BP) consumed mostly C₃ vegetal resources locally available. In contrast, animal protein was less important. Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers (6000–4500 cal BP) continued with the food foraging pattern observed in the earlier counterparts and presented a slight increase in C₃ animal protein intake. During the initial late Holocene ca. 4000 cal BP, important shifts in subsistence strategies occurred when populations presented a trend toward mixed C₃/C₄ diets, and by ca. 3500 cal BP, there is a clear signal of C₄ crops (i.e., maize) consumption concomitant with the introduction of ceramic technology. During the final late Holocene (last 2000 cal years BP), intensive agriculture was adopted and humans presented relatively diverse diets integrated by C₄ and C₃ crops, C₃-C₄ feeding animals, and freshwater resources. Such dietary change coincides with an increase in sociopolitical complexity, population size, and a general decline in health.     

Austro–Hungarian refugee soldiers in China

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the problem of the Austro–Hungarian prisoners of war in World War I who were captured by the Russian Army and who then escaped from Siberian detention camps and ultimately found asylum in China. The Tianjin German Relief Fund (Tientsin Hilfsaktion) was a leading nongovernmental charitable organization that provided aid for these captives and refugees. It operated successfully in China until that country’s decision to join the war on the side of the Allied Powers forced the organization to close. A local network of German and Austro–Hungarian civilian middlemen also helped the refugee soldiers passing through, and the Chinese authorities set up camps in Manchuria for these soldiers, where they were interned until their repatriation after the war. This paper also introduces some individual cases to show how certain Austro–Hungarian POWs attempted to deal with their life in China. The author argues that China had a role and agency in World War I, that the refugee soldier question was the last episode of the nineteenth-century-style Concert of Europe, and that the POWs had a role and agency in shaping their own destinies.