Book reviews

The Siege of Mosul and Ottoman‐Persian Relations 1718–1743. By Robert W. Olson. Indiana University Publications: Uralic and Altaic Series, Volume 124, 1975. xviii + 237 pp. $16.

Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamsah of Nizami. By Peter J. Chelkowski (with an Essay by Priscella P. Soucek). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. 117 pp. $15.00.

Politics and Petroleum: The Middle East and the United States. By James A. Bill and Robert W. Stookey. Brunswick: King's Court Communications, Inc., 1975. 190 pp.

Vis and Ramin. Translated from the Persian of Fakhr ud‐Din Gurgani by George Morrison. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1972. xix + 357 pp.     

FAMILY IMPACT ANALYSIS: CONCEPTS AND METHODOLOGIES*

A brief introduction to the background, current concerns, and methodologies of Family Impact Analysis is presented. The concept of Family Impact Analysis will be delineated by a discussion of the background of Family Impact Analysis, its particular timeliness now, the relationship of Family Impact Analysis to other policy or program analyses, the nature of potential policy impacts on families, and different research strategies appropriate for Family Impact Analysis. The basic elements of a step-by-step methodology for engaging in family impact analysis is briefly outlined. These steps include: 1) identification of the policy for analysis; 2) identification of family impacts of concern; 3) specification of the relationship between policy components and hypothesized family impacts; 4) design and implementation of the research; 5) analysis of findings; and 6) evaluation of and presentation of findings. The current state of the art regarding family impact analysis as a methodology will be reviewed, and recommendations for further development and utilization of this methodology will be offered.     

Policy Diffusion and Strategies for Promoting Policy Change: Evidence From California Local Gun Control Ordinances

Recent research efforts on policy innovation and diffusion largely have focused upon policymaking at the state government level. In this article we seek to develop an understanding of the ways momentum for policy change can be generated among receptive local governments. We use gun control policymaking within California to illustrate how local government characteristics, the presence of regional associations, and the establishment of interest groups may lead to policy development and diffusion. We also identify linkages between interest groups, focusing events, and the successful use of a new image of gun violence as a public health problem, yielding insights into strategies that may be used successfully to promote policy change.     

Undue Hardship and Reasonable Accommodation: The View From the Court

Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits employment discrimination against disabled people. This article provides an overview of how the courts have interpreted the duty to accommodate an individual with a disability, focusing on the concepts of "reasonable accommodation" and "undue hardship."     

“Doing” Agency: Introductory Remarks on Methodology

As a theory of social reproduction, agency provides an attractive framework for understanding how material culture relates to everyday social action, to long-standing cultural institutions, and to wholesale culture change. What remains under-explored in archaeology is the question of how to proceed in linking observable material patterning to the agency of ancient social reproduction and how to understand the role of material culture in this dynamic process. This introduction (to this and the next issue of JAMT (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory)) explores why there is a need for archaeology to develop explicitly articulated “middle range interpretive methodologies” that are appropriate for agency-oriented research in the past.     

BC省左手安详，右手喧嚣

BC省是个简称，要记住其全称还是件很费脑筋的事一不列颠哥伦比亚省（British Columbia）。BC省面积不小，可北边借大一片土地几乎无人居住，反倒是温哥华岛周边的几个城市：温哥华、维多利亚和惠斯勒成了全省的精华。这三个地方距离不算远且各有特色，温哥华的悠闲惬意，维多利亚的古朴风情，惠斯勒的现代个性，都是值得一住再住的好地方。如果时间有限，各自分配两天给这几个遇然有别的城市吧，左手安详，右手喧嚣，这样的时空转换，只要几个小时就能神奇完成。