A scientific luther

Francis Bacon. By Perez Zagorin (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998) xvi + 286 pp. $29.95, £19.95

Francis Bacon: The History of the Reign of King Henry VII. Edited by Brian Vickers (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 1998) xlv + 284 pp. £40.00 cloth     

The Ethnoarchaeology of Reptile Remains at a Lake Turkana Occupation Site, Kenya

The role of reptiles in hominid hunter–gatherer subsistence in Pleistocene Africa has been largely overlooked. This study examines the reptile component of a modern lake shore camp (site 20) assemblage of low archaeological visibility. Site 20, located on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, has been observed from its creation to burial. The site is an ideal modern analogue for the interpretation of African prehistoric archaeological sites. Patterns of element loss, and patterns of bone modifications, namely burn, cut and slice marks, are examined. From this baseline data, three conclusions are drawn regarding the interpretability of reptile remains found at archaeological lakeside sites: (1) the MNI of crocodile remains at a site is likely to be similar to the original number of individuals which contributed to the deposited assemblage; (2) the MNI estimates of the turtle component will be much less than the original number of individuals in the deposited assemblage; and (3) patterns of bone modifications can be related to hominid food procurement and processing activities.     

PRACTICING THE CULTURAL GREEN ECONOMY: WHERE NOW FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL SCIENCE?

Debates concerning the development of the green economy necessarily focus on “upstream” issues that underpin the re‐structuring of national and regional economies through the lenses of financial, institutional and regulatory change. However, the growing interest in the cultural green economy requires a re‐scaling of debates surrounding the links that occur in complex socio‐technical systems, notably between individual consumers, social units and the architectures of the developing green economy. This necessitates a research and policy agenda that is attentive to both the complexities of such interactions (between structures, processes and practices) and the imperative to foster change in practices within wider society. This article explores the ways in which environmental social scientists have examined and evidenced these issues, arguing that two major barriers still exist for creating adequate understandings and opportunities for change. First, the overt focus on the individual consumer as a unit of measurement and political attention has stifled debate concerning the ways in which environmentally related social practices have developed in association with wider economic contexts. In this way, environmental social scientists have often failed to make the connections between individuals, practices and the economic system. Second, in adopting a largely individualistic perspective, environmental social scientists have tended to focus their attention on incrementalist and narrowly defined views of what ecological citizenship might look like and constitute in the green economy. The article therefore argues that environmental social scientists need to constructively engage in a new inter‐disciplinary dialogue about the role, purpose and ethics of citizen participation in developing and sustaining the green economy in an age of climate change and potential resource scarcity.     

Reviews

Shi^cite Islam: Polity, Ideology, and Creed , Yann Richard, trans. Antonia Nevill, Oxford, U.K. and Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1995, pp. 217, chronology, glossary, bibliography, index.

Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk‐Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281 , Reuven Amitai‐Preiss, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xv + 272 pp.

The Bukharans: A Dynastic, Diplomatic and Commercial History 1550–1702 , Audrey Burton, Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1997, 664 pp.

Cahiers d'Asie Centrale, No. 1/2 (1996): Inde‐Asie centrale. Routes du commerce et des idées , Tashkent: l'Institut Français d'études sur l'Asie centrale/Aix‐en‐Provence: Editions Edisud, 1996, 366 pp.

The Diary of H.M. Shah of Persia during his tour through Europe in A.D. 1873 , trans. from the Persian by J.W. Redhouse, London, 1874, reprinted 1995, with a new introduction by Carole Hillenbrand, Bibliotheca Iranica. Reprint Series No. 2, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, Calif., [xvi] + xi + 427 pp.

Presse und Öffentlichkeit im Nahen Osten , Christoph Herzog, Raoul Motika, and Anja Pistor‐Hatam, eds., Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag, 1995, viii + 183 pp.

The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1910–1956 , Stephanie Cronin, London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1997, 296 pp., 3 appendices.

The Republic of Armenia, Volume III: From London to Sèvres, February‐August, 1920; Volume IV: Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization , Richard Hovannisian, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996, xx + 534 pp., xii + 496 pp.

Majlis va Intikhabat: az Mashrūtah ta Payan‐i Qajar , Mansoureh Ettehadieh (Nezam‐Mafi), Tehran: Nashr‐i Tarikh‐i Iran, 1375/1996–97, 368 pp.

L'Iran au XXe siècle , Jean‐Pierre Digard, Bernard Hourcade, Yann Richard, Paris: Fayard, 1996, 459 pp.

The Shi^cis of Iraq , Yitzhak Nakash, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, xiv + 312 pp., cloth and paperback.

Debating Religion and Politics in Iran: The Political Thought of Abdolkarim Sorush , Valla Vakili, New York, N.Y.: Studies Department, Occasional Paper Series, no. 2, The Council on Foreign Relations, Inc., 1996, 56 pp.

Tanker Wars: The Assault on Merchant Shipping during the Iran‐Iraq Conflict, 1980–1988 , Martin S. Navias and E. R. Horton, London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1996, ix + 244 pp., including appendix, notes, index of ships, and general index. Cloth.

The Turbulent Gulf: People, Politics and Power , 2nd ed., Liesl Graz, London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1992. 311 pp., including notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. Paperback.

The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture , Gülru Necipo?lu, with an essay on the geometry of the muqarnas by Mohammad al‐Asad, Santa Monica: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1995, xiii + 395, plates, plan, bibliography, index, $160.00.

Techniques et ressources en Iran du 7e au 19e siècle , Parviz Mohebbi, Tehran: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran, 1996.

Suppressed Persian: An Anthology of Forbidden Literature , Paul Sprachman, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, lviii + 111 pp., $29.95.     

Path dependence,policy learning and Australian manufacturing since the 1970s

The impending demise of passenger motor vehicle manufacturing in Australia provides a good opportunity to view the trajectory of industry policy since the Whitlam government commenced the process of tariff cuts in 1973. It is argued that industry policy over this period demonstrates the effects of path dependence and a lack of policy learning. In the industry policy context, the path dependence perspective suggests three key factors in explaining policy effects: the importance of initial conditions; the role of cumulative causation in the interaction between policy settings, actors and firms; and the shaping role of networks. While political or electoral factors could, on occasion, generate support for threatened industries, overall, neo-liberal policy ideas guided decision-making. An examination of Australian defence industry, and a comparison of the Australian and New Zealand dairy and milk processing industries reinforces the importance of institutionally shaped path dependency.     

A Fisk patent metallic burial case from Western Missouri: an interdisciplinary and comprehensive effort to reconstruct the history of an early settler of Lexington,Missouri

In 2006 a cast-iron coffin was discovered in an unmarked burial plot in Lexington, Missouri. A multifaceted investigation was conducted to provide historical documentation and possible identification of the individual. The coffin is an early Fisk Patent Metallic Burial Case. Osteological analyses indicate that the skeletal remains belong to a 20 to 30 year old white female who consistently ate an omnivorous diet with significant amounts of C4 plants or seafood. Rib morphology and her burial garments suggest she frequently wore restrictive clothing. No gross skeletal pathological lesions or trauma were observed except for a patch of reactive bone and an atypical pattern of bone remodeling on the visceral surface of the sixth rib. Subsequent bacterial DNA analysis of the ribs and sternum indicate the presence of tuberculosis infection. Although not conclusive, multiple lines of evidence are consistent with the skeletal remains representing Elizabeth (Triplett) Stewart who died in 1854 of pulmonary tuberculosis. This multidisciplinary research significantly contributes to the local history of Lexington, Missouri and provides a likely identification of the deceased individual for the Stewart Family.