MINES, HOMES, AND HALLS: PLACE AND IDENTITY AS A GOLD MINER IN ROSSLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1898–1901

This paper explores the lived-in world of gold miners in Rossland, British Columbia. By 1898 Rossland had become the site of highly capitalized industrial mining operations. It will be argued that the experienced world of the employees of these mines went beyond the workplace to include other routinely frequented 'locales.' These locales can be demonstrated to be important to identification as a miner: the mines were part of a common work experience; the home, whether in single-family dwelling or a boarding-house room, reflected the realities of tenuous wage work in a frontier town; and the saloons and union hall provided spaces where opinions and ideologies could be freely articulated and shared. A key concept will be that of 'biography formation' which embeds identity, assumptions, and values in specific time-space settings.
Cet article examine le vécu des mineurs de l'or á Rossland en Colombie-Britannique. En 1898 Rossland était un emplacement des opérations d'industrie á capital élevé. Nous démontrons que l'expérience du monde des employés de ces mines comprenait non seulement le lieu de travail mais d'autres lieux souvent fréquentés. Nous discuterons comment ces lieux sont importants pour l'identité du mineur: les mines faisaient partie d'une expérience de travail commune; le foyer, soit une maison á famille unique soit une chambre en pension, reflétait les réalités d'un travail á salaire discontinu dans une ville frontière; et les saloons et la salle d'ouvriers syndiqués étaient des endroits où on pouvait s'exprimer et partager franchement ses opinions et ses idéologies. Un concept essentiel dans cet article est la formation biographique qui englobe l'identité, les suppositions et les valeurs d'un cadre de temps et d'espace précis.     

Party Politics and the Provincial Press in Early Twentieth Century England: The Case of the South West

Based on the evidence of Devon and Cornwall, politicians continuedto regard the provincial press as highly influential in determiningtheir readers' party political affiliations well into the twentiethcentury. Until at least 1914, many of the leading local andregional newspapers were owned by prominent local politicians.After 1918, especially following the amalgamation of the twomain Conservative and Liberal papers, local politicians feltkeenly their lack of a reliable source of press support. Thecost of funding a party political newspaper became too highfor all but the richest politicians. Moreover, the status ofthe provincial press was increasingly undermined by improvedrail communications, allowing the national press to competeeven in farthest Cornwall. The wireless also reduced the importanceof the provincial press from the late 1920s. The real political influence of the provincial press is impossibleto assess with any certainty. Newspapermen believed that, despitethe often substantial expenditure by politicians, a stronglyparty political paper was more likely to alienate non-partisanreaders, leading to neither political nor commerical success.Modern research also suggests that partisan newspapers are probablyonly partially successful, doing more to reinforce their readers'existing opinions than to convert non-believers. ^*I am grateful to the University of Reading Library for permissionto quote from the Lord and Lady Astory papers, and to the WesternMorning News for permission to quote from their records, whichare deposited at the West Devon County Record Office.     

A war in search of a rationale

The recent publications of memoirs by former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith have reopened the debate over the origins of the Iraq War. Both men—who were widely blamed for the ‘intelligence failure’ on weapons of mass destruction and the exaggerated connection between Al‐Qaeda and Iraq—purport to set the record straight about what really happened inside the Bush administration during the run‐up to the war. Yet, both men have actually produced books marked by a strange combination of self‐pity and disingenuousness. This article looks at their attempts at self‐justification in light of the growing evidence that the decision to invade was made in mid‐2002; if true, their arguments that they were participating in a genuine policy debate rather than a search for a rationale become problematic. Rather than exculpating themselves, their memoirs instead serve as damning indictments of both men, showing how Tenet and Feith enabled the President's decision to wage war on Iraq as a matter of choice rather than necessity.     

Economic Restructuring and Regional Change in Australia

This paper examines geographical dimensions of the actual and potential impacts of economic restructuring on individual regions in Australia from the perspective of the jobs and services that support people and families. Four examples are discussed: The discussion raises four sets of concerns for the future: potential social dislocation in rural and remote communities; the erosion of the employment and service bases of those same communities; the vulnerability of sections of society, especially women and disadvantaged ethnic groups; and the imprecision involved in disentangling webs of cross subsidy and community service obligations in Australia.

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