Book reviews—comptes rendus

Themes in Political History—Thèmes en histoire politique

Peter BLICKLE ed., Resistance, Representation and Community, Oxford University Press, Origins of the Modern State in Europe, 13th‐18th Centuries Series, Oxford, 1997, 401 pp. ISBN 0–19–820548–1. £50.00.

J. L. MERRITT ed., The Political World of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 1621–1641, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, 307 pp. ISBN 0–521–560–411. £40.00.

Themes in Napoleonic Studies—Etudes sur Napoléon

Malcolm CROOK, Napoleon comes to power: Democracy and Dictatorship in Revolutionary France, 1795–1804, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1998 ISBN 0–7083–1461–9 (hardback) £15.00, ISBN 0–7083–1401–5 (paperback) £7.95.

Christopher PRENDERGAST, Napoleon and History Painting. Antoine‐Jean Gros's La Bataille d'Eylau, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997, xiv + 223 pp., ISBN 0–19–817402–0 £45.00.

Matthew TRUESDELL, Spectacular Politics. Louis‐Napoleon Bonaparte and the Fête Impériale, 1849–1870, Oxford University Press Oxford, 1997, viii + 238 pp., ISBN 0–19–510689‐X £35.00.

Themes in Twentieth‐Century History—Aspects de l'histoire du vingtième siècle

Götz ALY, Macht‐Geist‐Wahn. Kontinuitäten deutschen Denkens, Argon, Berlin, 1997, 220pp., ISBN 3–87024–361–9.

Holger H. HERWIG, The First World War: Germany and Austria‐Hungary 1914–1918, Modern Wars, Arnold, London, 1997, xx + 490 pp. ISBN 0–340–67753–8 (hb), 0–340–57348–1 (pb) £16.99.

Lonnie R. JOHNSON, Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbours, Friends, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, xi + 339 pp., ISBN 0–19–510071–9 (hardback) £27.00. 0–19–510072–7 (paperback) £15.00.

Iwao Peter SANO, One Thousand days in Siberia: The Odyssey of a Japanese‐American POW, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1997, xvii + 210pp., ill., ISBN 0–8032–4262‐X £23.95.

Martin THOMAS, Britain, France and Appeasement: Anglo‐French Relations in the Popular Front Era, Berg, Oxford, 1996, x + 268pp., ISBN 1–85973–192–9 £29.95 and £12.95.     

INVESTMENT RISK AND THE TRANSITION INTO HOMEOWNERSHIP*

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the extent to which house–price uncertainty affects the transition of renter households into homeownership. Using a 14‐year household panel from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics during the years 1984–1997 and measures of the time‐varying risk and return to owner‐occupied housing, we estimate a Cox proportional hazard model of the effect of house–price volatility on the transition into homeownership. Results indicate that house–price uncertainty has a negative and dramatic impact on transitions into homeownership. In addition, we find that the low‐wealth renters are particularly sensitive to house–price risk.     

Biocultural Consequences of Spanish Contact in the Lambayeque Valley Region of Northern Peru: Internal Enamel Micro‐Defects as Indicators of Early Life Stress

The present study utilises dental histological methods to analyse enamel micro‐defects as indicators of early life stress in indigenous Muchik individuals interred at two sites: La Capilla Santa María Magdalena de Eten (CSMME) (n = 15) and La Capilla del Niño Serranito (CNS) (n = 15), both located in the Lambayeque Valley region of northern Peru. Individuals interred at CNS date to the Early Colonial Period (AD 1533–1610), and individuals interred at CSMME date to the Middle/Late Colonial Period (AD 1625–1760), thus permitting comparison of childhood stress events between the Early and Middle/Late Colonial Periods. Results reveal a high prevalence of Wilson bands at both sites, although a lower prevalence at the CSMME was observed in comparison with the CNS. This indicates that, over time, Muchik individuals in this town may have been able to acclimate to life under Spanish oppression. Stress chronologies suggest that early life stress possibly resulted from inadequate and less than desirable food and/or water available for supplemental feeding during early infancy, especially around the ages of 4 and 5 months. Furthermore, results show that individuals with enamel defects in the form of Wilson bands at both the CNS and CSMME had an earlier mean age‐at‐death (9.6 and 4.05 years, respectively) in comparison with those without observed Wilson bands (19.75 and 8.8 years, respectively). These results underscore the importance of not only regional and temporal studies of the biological consequences of Spanish contact in the Americas but also of investigating the relationship between early life stress and adult health and longevity in archaeological populations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Degrees of Engagement: Using Cultural Worldviews to Explain Variations in Public Preferences for Engagement in the Policy Process

Scholars have been studying the concept of public engagement and its role in the policy process for some time. Scholars have argued that understanding the interests and motivations of the public and engaging them in the decision‐making process can lead to better policy designs and, ultimately, better policy outcomes. However, studies of public engagement often assume that people have a desire to get involved in the policy process. This paper tests this key assumption using the case of nuclear facility siting in the United States to ask: what factors influence an individual's stated willingness to want to engage in the policy process? Using data from a national web survey fielded in 2013, we ask the public if and to what extent they would likely engage in the siting process if given the opportunity. Findings indicate that the likelihood of engagement varies rather substantially across individuals. We find that an individual's cultural belief system and existing level of political activity account for some of this variation. These findings suggest that public engagement programs may vary across groups and communities. In other words, the prospects of engagement are likely to appeal to some members of the population and not others.     

‘Tomorrow She Will Reign’: Intimate Power and the Making of a Queen Mother in Rwanda,c.1800–1863

This article explores the relationship between erotic and institutional power through the political biography of the Queen‐Mother (Umugabekazi) Nyiramongi (r. 1845–1863) in Rwanda. Using historical narratives, genealogies, epic poetry and the translated text of royal rituals, this article argues that Nyiramongi used her status as first an object of desire and then as an erotic partner to her husband to manoeuver herself and her family into positions of institutional power. In contrast to previous literature, this article frames women like Nyiramongi as political actors who consciously cultivated their intimate assets to participate in the construction of systems of power, using their status as daughters, wives, lovers, mothers and sisters to exercise indirect power, often leading to positions of institutional and direct power.     

Counter-narratives of coping and becoming: Karen refugee women’s inside/outside figured worlds

The purpose of our research is to understand the socially and culturally constructed architecture within which refugee women produce and negotiate identity. This ethnographic case study discusses findings from data collected through participant observation and informal interviews in two refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. As Karen refugee women described their positionality within and negotiation between the socially constructed Inside and Outside Figured Worlds of the refugee camp, they depict the negotiation of a hybrid Third Space. Created at the intersection of the refugee camp structures that dominate individual agency and the discourses of gender and displacement that influence the social practices of women, this third space is characterized by the response strategies Karen women engage to support individual, family, and community health. Within the transformational spaces that refugee women constructed, the processes of coping and becoming reflected the relationship between structure and agency. Within these intersections a woman could express her resistance to a system that in its design represented a majority she was not a part of. As Karen refugee women moved to redesign their position within these systems, shifts in meaning of cultural norms resulted, inclusive of those that influence or define the role of women.