Book reviews

Abraham Ben‐Zvi, Decade of Transition: Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the Origins of the American‐Israeli Alliance. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Pp. 218, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 0 23111 262 9 HB, 0 23111 263 7 PB.

Kenneth W. Stein, Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin, and the Quest for Arab‐Israeli Peace. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. Pp. xix + 324, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 041592 154 6 HB.

Antonio Donno (ed.), Ombre di guerra fredda. Gli Stati Uniti nel Medio Oriente durante gli anni di Eisenhower, 1953–1961. Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1998. Pp. 754, bibliography, notes. ISBN 8 88114 584 7 HB.

Raanan Rein, In the Shadow of the Holocaust and the Inquisition: Israel's Relations with Francoist Spain. Trans. Martha Grenzebach. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp. 278, Notes, sources, bibliography, index. ISBN 0 71464 796 9 HB, 0 71464 351 3 PB.

Alan Dowty, The Jewish State: A Century Later. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 2001. Pp. xiv + 337, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 0 52020 941 9 PB.

Daniel Gavron, The Kibbutz: Awakening from Utopia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. Pp xvi + 295, glossary, selected bibliography, index. ISBN 0 84769 526 3 HB.

Nahum Karlinsky, Citrus Blossoms: Jewish Entrepreneurship in Palestine, 1890–1939. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2000. Pp. 1 + 315, bibliography, indices. ISBN 9 65493 089 7 HB.

Yaacov N. Goldstein, From Fighters to Soldiers: How the Israeli Defense Forces Began. Brighton, UK, and Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press, 1998. Pp. ix + 302, forward by Yoav Gelber, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 1 90221 001 8 HB, 1 90221 002 6 PB.     

Sentimental Capitalism in Contemporary India: Art,Heritage, and Development in Ahmedabad,Gujarat

Using a critical cultural politics approach and deploying the concept of sentimental capitalism, this article problematizes the burgeoning creative economy discourse while analyzing spaces of art and heritage production in Ahmedabad, India. I situate the Cotton Exchange exhibit (April 2013) in an erstwhile mill in recent histories of mill closures, genocide, creative economy initiatives and development aspirations of revitalizing degraded space. I argue that in remaking place, art mobilizes sentiments—here, nostalgia and hope—while erasing violence and inequality. Sentimental capitalism is at work in the exhibition by mobilizing artisans as entrepreneurial agents not victims of capitalism; constructing art's aura of grassroots participation and artisanal empowerment while obscuring displacement and exploitation; and fostering cult‐like regard for art's intrinsic and instrumental value as non‐profit and its capacity to engender opportunity, recognition, and even property. While another spatial politics is possible, in Ahmedabad today, art is being mobilized to obscure dispossession and exploitation in the name of urban revitalization and heritage production.     

Simulation of Shake Table Tests on Out-of-Plane Masonry Buildings. Part (V): Discrete Element Approach

ABSTRACT

The analysis of the shaking table test of a 3-wall stone masonry structure performed with a discrete element model is presented. The numerical model, created with the code 3DEC, employed a rigid block representation and a Mohr-Coulomb joint model. Joint stiffness calibration to match the experimental natural frequencies is discussed, as well as the boundary conditions to simulate the shake table. Comparisons are made with the measured displacements at key locations, and the modes of deformation and fracture of the walls. The DEM model was able to reproduce important features of the shaking table tests. The experimental deformation and near collapse patterns were clearly identifiable in the numerical simulations, which produced displacements within the observed orders of magnitude, for the various levels of excitation.     

COVID-19: THE ‘INVISIBLE ENEMY’ AND CONTINGENT RACISM: Reflections of an Italian anthropologist conducting fieldwork in Greece

In this article, the author provides a narrative of her experience as an Italian undertaking fieldwork in Greece while the epidemic was in full swing. She reflects on representations of ‘the invisible enemy’: an empty category, she claims, which has been contingently filled and morally loaded, resting on pre-existing categories, such as stereotypical representations of nations. The invisibility of ‘the enemy’ has in fact been rendered visible through what she refers to as contingent racism; this includes the ubiquitous and hence powerful use of irony and satire at the expense of China and Italy, but also expands to the use of banal and convenient tropes of accusation and derision among European Union member states, bringing back to the fore the North-South divide and its power imbalances. The author suggests that the Covid-19 crisis has ultimately provoked a veritable epidemic of contingent racism on multiple levels by stirring stereotypes and cultural prejudices which are rooted in time and rapidly renewed; its effect is all but contingent, and likely to accompany us far beyond the Covid-19 crisis itself.     

Seismic vulnerability assessment methodology for slender masonry structures

ABSTRACT

Slender masonry structures such as towers, minarets, chimneys, and Pagoda temples can be characterized by their distinguished architectural characteristics, age of construction, and original function, but their comparable geometric and structural ratios yield to the definition of an autonomous structural type. These structures constitute a part of the architectural and cultural heritage. Their protection against earthquakes is of great importance. This concern arises from the strong damage or complete loss suffered by these structures during past earthquakes. Seismic vulnerability assessment is an issue of most importance at present time and is a concept widely used in works related to the protection of buildings. However, there is few research works carried out on developing the seismic vulnerability assessment tools for such structures.

This article presents a new method for assessing the seismic vulnerability of slender masonry structures based on vulnerability index evaluation method. The calculated vulnerability index can then be used to estimate structural damage after a specified intensity of a seismic event. Here, 12 parameters are defined to evaluate the vulnerability index for slender masonry structures. Implementation of this methodology is carried out in different types of slender masonry structures to develop vulnerability curves for these structure types.     

Site Effects Analyses in the Old City Center of Trieste (NE Italy) Using Accelerometric Data

The influence of local geology and soil conditions on the intensity and the amplification of ground shaking are well known. Part of the old city center of Trieste is built on the site of a former salina, placed at a river mouth and is characterized by soft sediments several tens of meters thick. A new accelerometric station has been recently installed in a historical building, in order to analyse earthquake-induced site amplifications. This station has recorded five regional earthquakes and the related records are compared to those obtained at a nearby bedrock-installed accelerometeric station. Fourier and response spectra for all components are computed and both the H/V ratio and the reference station techniques are used to assess site effects. Noise measurements performed in the historical building, where the accelerometer is located, confirm these results. Relevant amplifications are detected in the frequency range of 2–4 Hz, particularly important for the type of buildings present in this part of the city.     

Simplified Macro-Model for Infill Masonry Panels

In structural analyses, masonry infill walls are commonly considered to be non structural elements. However, the response of reinforced concrete buildings to earthquake loads can be substantially affected by the influence of infill walls. In this article, an improved numerical model for the simulation of the behavior of masonry infill walls subjected to earthquake loads is proposed and analyzed. First, the proposed model is presented. This is an upgrading of the equivalent bi-diagonal compression strut model, commonly used for the nonlinear behavior of infill masonry panels subjected to cyclic loads. Second, the main results of the calibration analyses obtained with two series of experimental tests are presented and discussed: one on a single frame with one story and one bay tested at the LNEC Laboratory; and the second, on a full-scale four story and three-bay frame tested at the ELSA laboratory.