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.     

The Arabn influence on Western European cooking

The importance of the spice trade to commercial development in Europe in the later middle ages has long been recognized, although the reasons for the demand for exotic condiments from the East have not been much considered. There seems little evidence to support the idea that spices were used either to mask the taste of rotting or “vulgar” food or as preservatives. There are sources, however, which do provide a basis for the unriddling of the taste for spices. Contained within the recipes of the period is evidence that the style of cooking was adopted from the Arabs, and that the heavy use of spices was but one of a cluster of characteristics of Arab food replicated in Europe. In order to establish the similarities between European and Arabic medieval cookery, a sample of French, Italian, Spanish, Flemish, English, and German texts is drawn upon and compared with the main features of the several Arabic works which have been translated into Spanish, French and English. Underlying the upheaval in the cooking of the élite in Europe from about 1300 was a changed attitude toward eating which was stimulated by the place of food in Moslem theology as represented in depictions of the Garden of Delights, a concept which is explored in its rather wide currency in Europe. I postulate that, intrigued with the sensual pleasures of eating as portrayed in the Garden, Europe began to associate luxurious dining with the food of the Arabs, and thus the passage of what was a strange and alien cuisine was facilitated.     

Beyond structure and agency: Rethinking political identities in Iraq after 2003

This paper examines ethno‐symbolic and instrumental explanations of ethnic and sectarian identities placed within the constructivist turn in the study of political identity, both in the abstract and how they have been deployed to explain the increasing contemporary influence of ethnosectarian mobilisation in Iraq and the wider Middle East. The paper identifies explanatory value in these approaches but finds their focus on either ideational structures or individual rationality too narrow to provide a comprehensive explanation of what happened to political identities in Iraq after 2003. Instead, the paper deploys what can be termed a ‘Bourdieusian method’, in an attempt to get beyond the polarities of structure and agency. It uses Bourdieu's conceptions of political field, principles of vision and division and symbolic violence to understand the influence that de‐Ba'athification, the creation of the Muhasasa Ta'ifia or sectarian apportionment system and national elections had on political identities in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.     

The Cutting Edge of Accumulation: Neoliberal Risk Mitigation,the Baku‐Tbilisi‐Ceyhan Pipeline and its Impact

Abstract: Adopting a historical materialist position, this article looks at new methods deployed to expand processes of accumulation and the impact that this has at different scales. Focusing upon the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline (traversing Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey), the article pays particular attention to the technocratic tools of “social neoliberalism” and corporate social responsibility, which variously incorporate environmental and social impact assessments, community investment programmes and voluntary codes of conduct. While such approaches seek to relegitimise the efforts of capital and its assistants and mitigate their risks, the assessment below details how these approaches actually assist in facilitating an increase in risk for many people. The article begins by looking at the accumulation drive pushing BTC and then provides an account of how new approaches to pipeline governance have both emerged and been incorporated into the project. The article then details what it is that these approaches have actually facilitated at four scales—the local, the national, the regional and the supra‐regional.