Book reviews

Australian politics

Cora Vellekoop Baldock, Volunteers in Welfare (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990) pp.xii + 171. $19.95 ISBN 0 04 442213 X.

Hugh V. Emy and Andrew Linklater (eds.), New Horizons in Politics: Essays with an Australian Focus (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990) pp.vii+207. $17.95 ISBN 0 04 442269 5.

P. Hay, R. Eckersley and G. Holloway, Environmental Politics in Australia and New Zealand (Hobart: University of Tasmania, 1989) pp.200. $n.p. ISBN 0 85901 405 3.

Peter Larmour (ed.) The Greening of Government: The Impact of the Labor/Green Accord on Government in Tasmania (Hobart: Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration, 1990) pp.iv + 74. $12.00.

Ian McAllister, Malcolm Mackerras, Alvaro Ascui and Susan Moss Australian Political Facts (Longman Cheshire, 1990) pp.x + 234. $12.99 ISBN 0 582 71258 0.

John Summers, Dennis Woodward and Andrew Parkin (eds.), Government, Politics and Power in Australia (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 4th edition, 1990) pp.375. $n.p. 0 582 86843 2.

Comparative and international politics

Archie Brown (ed.), Political Leadership in the Soviet Union (London: Macmillan, 1989) pp.xi + 245. $14.99 ISBN 0 333 41343 1.

Henry P. Frei, Japan's Southward Advance and Australia—from the sixteenth century to World War II (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1991) pp.xvii + 303. $34.95 ISBN 0 522 843921.

Manuel Antonio Garreton, The Chilean Political Process (Translated by Sharron Kellum and Gilbert W. Merkx) (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989) pp.xix + 220. $39.95 ISBN 0 04 497069 2.

Timothy Garton Ash, We The People, The Revolution of ‘89, Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin & Prague (Cambridge: Granta Books, 1990) pp.156. $12.99 ISBN 0 14 014023 9.

Misha Glenny, The Rebirth of History: Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy (London: Penguin, 1990) pp.xiii + 245. $14.99 ISBN 0 14 014394 7.

Dennis Gilbert, Sandinistas: the party and the revolution (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988, paperback edition, 1990) pp.xii + 238. $29.95 ISBN 1 55786 072 6.

Dennis Kavanagh and Peter Morris, Consensus Politics from Attlee to Thatcher (Basil Blackwell, 1989) pp.ix + 137. £6.95 ISBN 0 631 16566 5.

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Affairs 1990. (Southeast Asian Studies, 1990) pp.x + 395. $US37.00 ISBN 0377 5437.

David Lane, Soviet Society under Perestroika (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990) pp.xv + 401. $34.95 ISBN 0 04 445167 9.

Ralph Miliband, Divided Societies: Class Struggle in Contemporary Capitalism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989) pp.x + 277. $n.p. ISBN 0–19827535–8.

J.D.B. Miller and John Vincent (eds.), Order and Violence: Hedley Bull and International Relations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) pp.viii + 220. $55.00 ISBN 0 19 827555 2.

Peter Riddell, The Thatcher Decade: How Britain has changed during the 1980s (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989) pp.x + 236. $39.50 ISBN 631 16274 7.

Carlyle A. Thayer, War by Other Means: National Liberation and Revolution in Vietnam 1954–1960 (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1989) pp.xxx + 256. $19.95 ISBN 0 04 370187 6.

Malcolm Waters, Class and Stratification: Arrangements for Socioeconomic Inequality Under Capitalism (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1990) pp.ix + 199. $n.p. ISBN 0 582 86833 5.

Political theory and methodology

Rodney Barker, Political Legitimacy and the Stale (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 990) pp. 216. $62.50 ISBN 0 19 827495 5.

John Braithwaite and Philip Pettit, Not Just Deserts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) pp.viii + 229. $65.00 ISBN 0 19 824233 6.

David Gauthier, Moral Dealing: Contract, Ethics, and Reason (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990). pp.377. $14.95 ISBN 0 8014 2431 3.

G.T. Kaplan and C.S. Kessler (eds.), Hannah Arendt (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1989) pp.xi + 178. $16.95 ISBN 0 04 920109 3.

David W. Lovell, Marx's Proletariat: The Making of a Myth (N.Y.: Routledge, 1988) pp.261. $27.59 ISBN 0–415–00116–1.

Schmidtz, David. The Limits of Government: An Essay on the Public Goods Argument (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991) pp.xviii + 197. $21.00 ISBN 0 81 330871 2.

Michael Thompson, Richard Ellis, Aaron Wildavsky, Cultural Theory (Boulder, San Francisco and Oxford: Westview Press, 1990) pp.xiv + 296. $49.95 ISBN 0 8133 7863 X.     

Reviews

Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age, HOWARD B. CLARKE, M#AAAIRE NI MHAONAIGH & RAGHNALL #AAO FL#AAOINN (eds), 1998, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp.468, ISBN 1.85182.235.6, £25.00 (hb)

The Making of Ireland, From Ancient Times to the Present, JAMES LYDON, 1998, London and New York, Routledge, pp.425, ISBN 0.415.01348.8, £14.99 (pb)

Pathways to Ulster's Past: Sources and Resources for Local Studies, PETER COLLINS, 1998, Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University, pp.xi + 158, ISBN 0.85389.693.3, £6–50 (pb)

If The Irish Ran The World: Montserrat, 1630–1730, DONAL HARMAN AKENSON, 1997, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, pp.273, ISBN 0.85323.952.5, £29.95 (hb); ISBN 0.5232.962.2, £14.95 (pb)

Propagating the Word of Irish Dissent 1650–1800, K. HERLIHY (ed.), 1998, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp.137, ISBN 1.85182.411.1, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85182.412.X, £11.99 (pb)

Ireland Since 1690: A Concise History, ROY DOUGLAS, LIAM HARTE & JIM O'HARA, 1999, Belfast, Blackstaff Press, pp. 247, ISBN 0–85640–645–7, £8.99 (pb)

Ireland: Towards New Identities?, KARL‐HEINZ WESTARP & MICHAEL BOSS (eds), 1998, Denmark, Aarhus University Press [Dolphin Series: 29, General Editor Tim Caudery], pp. 180, ISBN 87.7288.380.4, £14.95 (pb)

The Bellews of Mount Bellew: A Catholic Gentry Family in Eighteenth‐Century Ireland, KAREN J. HARVEY, 1998, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp.218, ISBN 1.85182.351.4, £30.00 (hb)

Henry Flood: Patriots and Politics in Eighteenth‐Century Ireland, JAMES KELLY, 1998, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp.486, ISBN 1.85182.365.4, £39.50 (hb)

Counties of South Ulster 1834–8: Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Volume 40, ANG#AAELIQUE DAY & PATRICK MCWILLIAMS (eds), 1998, Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast, pp. 200, ISBN 0.85389.661.5, £8.75 (pb)

Famine Diary, BRENDAN #AAO CATHAOIR, 1999, Dublin, Irish Academic Press, pp. xix + 201, ISBN 0.7165.2655.7, £18.95 (hb)

Famine, Land and Politics: British Government and Irish Society 1843–50 PETER GRAY, 1999 Dublin, Irish Academic Press pp. ix +384, ISBN 0.7165.2564.X, £39.50, US$57.50 (hb)

The Great Shame: A Story of the Irish in the Old World and the New, THOMAS KENEALLY, 1998, London, Chatto and Windus, pp.xvii +732, ISBN 0.091.83736.7, £25.00 (hb)

Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War, WALTER MCDONALD, 1919; TOM GARVIN (ed.), 1998, Dublin, University College Dublin Press, pp. 140, ISBN 1.900621.18.5, £9.95 (pb)

The Victory of Sinn Fein, P. S. O'HEGARTY, 1924; TOM GARVTN (ed.), 1998, Dublin, University College Dublin Press, pp. 164, ISBN 1.900621.17.7, £10.95 (pb)

Dividing Ireland: World War I And Partition, THOMAS HENNESSEY, 1998, London, Routledge, pp.280, ISBN 0.415.19880.1, £16.99 (pb)

Location and Dislocation in Contemporary Irish Society: Emigration and Irish Identities, JIM MACLAUGHLIN (ed.), 1997, Cork, Cork University Press, pp.354, ISBN. 1.85918.054X, £45.00 (hb); ISBN.1.85918.055.8, £15.95 (pb)

John Hume and the SDLP: Impact and Survival in Northern Ireland, GERARD MURRAY, 1998, Dublin, Irish Academic Press, pp.328, ISBN 0.7165.2644.1, IR£27.57 (hb)

Battling for Peace, RICHARD NEEDHAM, 1999, Belfast, Blackstaff Press, pp. 344, ISBN 0.85640.654.6, £12.99 (pb)

Talking to the Dead: A Study of Irish Funerary Traditions, NINA WITOSZEK & PAT SHEERAN, 1998, Amsterdam, Rodopi, Costerus New Series 117, pp. 182, ISBN 9.789042.00531.0, £19.50 (pb)

Robert Shipboy Mac Adam: his life and Gaelic proverb collection, A. J. HUGHES, 1998, Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies, pp. 240, ISBN 0.85399.698.4, £9.95 (pb)

Irish Popular Culture, 1650–1850, JAMES S. DONNELLY, JR. & KERBY A. MILLER (eds), 1998, Dublin, Irish Academic Press, pp.284, ISBN 0.7165.2551.8, £32.50 (hb)

The Present Lasts a Long Time: Essays in Cultural Politics, FRANCIS MULHERN, 1998, Cork, Cork University Press, pp.203, ISBN 1.85918.225.9, £14.95 (pb)

Media Audiences in Ireland: Power and Cultural Identity, MARY J. KELLY & BARBARA O'CONNOR (eds), 1997, Dublin, University College Dublin, pp.288, ISBN 1.900621.09.6, £13.50 (pb)

Ireland and Cultural Theory: The Mechanics of Authenticity, COLIN GRAHAM & RICHARD KIRKLAND (eds), 1999 Basingstoke, Macmillan, pp. 249, ISBN 0–333–67597–5, £16.99 (pb)

The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual, ALEXEI KONDRATIEV, 1998, Cork, Collins Press, pp.263, ISBN 1.898256.42.X, £12.99 (pb)

Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland, JOSEPH FALAKY NAGY, 1997, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp.356, ISBN 1.85182303.4, £35.00 (hb)

Margaret Aylward 1810–1889: Lady of Charity, Sister of Faith, JACINTA PRUNTY, 1999, Dublin, Four Courts Press, pp. 192, ISBN 1.85182.438.3, £14.95 (pb)

Poets and Politics: Reaction and Continuity in Irish Poetry, 1558–1625, MARC CABALL, 1998, Cork, Field Day Monographs/Cork University Press, Series Editor, Seamus Deane, pp.232, ISBN 1.85918.162.7, £16.95 (pb)

The Anglo‐Irish Novel and the Big House, VERA KREILKAMP, 1998, Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Press, pp.289, ISBN 0.8156.2752.1, US$44.95 (hb)

Irish Encounters: Poetry, Politics and Prose since 1S80, ALAN MARSHALL & NEIL SAMMELLS (eds), 1998, Bath, Sulis Press, pp. 199, ISBN 0.9526856.3.9, £35.00 (hb); ISBN 0.9526856.4.7, £13.95 (pb)

Red‐Headed Rebel: Susan L. Mitchell, Poet and Mystic of the Irish Cultural Renaissance, HILARY PYLE, 1998, Dublin, Woodfield Press, pp.248, ISBN 0.9528453.7.7, £12.50 (pb)

The Harlem and Irish Renaissances: Language, Identity and Representation, TRACY MISHKIN, 1998, Gainsville, FL, University Press of Florida, pp. 127, ISBN 0.8130.1611.8, US$49.95 (hp)

Advertising and Commodity Culture in Joyce, GARRY LEONARD, 1998, Gainesville, FL, University Press of Florida, pp.252, ISBN 0–8130–1632–0, US849.95 (hb)

Joyce, Joyceans and the Rhetoric of Citation, ELOISE KNOWLTON, 1998, Gainesville, FL, University Press of Florida, pp.x+ 135, ISBN 0.8130.1610‐X, £39.95 (hb)

Theatre of Shadows: Samuel Beckett's Drama, 1956–1976, ROSEMARY POUNTNEY, 1998, Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe, pp.309, ISBN 0.86140.407.6, £12.95 (pb)

The Unappeasable Host: Studies in Irish Identities, ROBERT TRACY, 1998, Dublin, University College Dublin Press, pp.288, ISBN 1.900621.06.1, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 1.900621.07.X, £15.95 (pb)

Mistaken Identities: Poetry and Northern Ireland, PETER MCDONALD, 1997, Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. ix + 226, ISBN 0.19.818422.0, £35.00 (hb)

Folklore and the Fantastic in Twelve Modern Irish Novels, MARGUERITE QUINTELLI‐NEARY, 1997, Westport, CT and London, Greenwood Press, pp. 166, ISBN 0.313.30490.4, £39.50 (hb)

Contemporary Irish Literature: Transforming Tradition, CHRISTINA HUNT MAHONY, 1998, New York, St Martin's Press, pp.299, ISBN 0.312.15871.8, US$55.00 (hb); ISBN 0.312.21901.6, US$18.95 (pb)

Selected Plays of Micheál mac Liammóir, JOHN BARRETT (ed.), 1998, Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe; Washington, DC, Catholic University of America Press, pp.319, ISBN 0.86140.154.9, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 0.86140.155.7, £9.95 (pb)

Selected Plays: T. C. Murray, RICHARD ALLEN CAVE, 1998, Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe, pp. 274, ISBN 0.86140.142.5, £30.00 (hb)

Selected Plays: M. J. Molloy, ROBERT O'DRISCOLL, 1998, Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe, pp.394, ISBN 0.86140.148.4, £35.00 (hb);, ISBN 0.86140.149.2, £9.93 (pb)

Sacrilege, BRENDAN CLEARY, 1998, Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne, Bloodaxe Books, pp. 96, ISBN 1.85224.460.7, £7.95 (pb), Snakeskin Stilettos, MOYRA DONALDSON, 1998, Belfast, Lagan Press, pp. 78, ISBN 1.8736.8725.7, £5.95 (pb.)

The Things that Were, AUBREY DILLON‐MALONE, 1998, Dublin, Ashfield Press, pp. 256, ISBN 1.901658.090.0, £7.99 (pb)

Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable, MICHAEL FOLEY, 1998, Belfast, The Black Staff Press, pp. 306, ISBN 0.85640.626.0, £8.99 (pb)

Re/Dressing Cathleen: Contemporary Works from Irish Women Artists, JENNIFER GRINNELL & ALSTON CONLEY (eds), 1997, Boston, McMuIlen Museum of Art, Boston College and Cork, Cork University Press, pp. 144, ISBN 0.9640153.8.2, £14.95 (pb)

Contemporary Irish Cinema Cineaste Supplement, vol. xxiv, nos. 2–3, March 1999, New York, pp. 23–76, ISSN 25274.79078, US$6.00     

Unmaking ‘the middle ages’

The idea of ‘the middle ages’ developed only gradually, out of the attack on the Augustinian view of history, which had dominated thought for nearly a thousand years. Petrarch and the Italian humanists began this attack, claiming a new, third age had begun with the recent revival of culture and the arts. The religious upheavals of the sixteenth century helped produce the idea of a ‘middle age’ in religion too. The terms used for this period varied, until medium aevum and its equivalents became accepted, in the late seventeenth century. The idea of ‘the middle ages’ reached its fullest expression in the eighteenth century, with Voltaire, and eventually became part of the institutions of academic history. Traditional usage should not continue to be accepted. If historians see no general pattern in history, they must abondon terms like ‘medieval’, which presuppose such a pattern. A new theory of history may emerge in the future, and will no longer describe ‘the middle ages’ by a name which implies a barbaric interlude. This will enable ‘medievalists’ to produce a truer picture of their period.