the middle east, asia

drivers to stop after dark (they are too afraid of bandits). Do not expect road signs; people drive on the right, the same side as the steering wheel, which leaves one hand free to hang a rifle out the window and blaze away. And so on, across a continent where vodka does not flow freely until you warm it with something, perhaps burning tires. “I was a normal child,” says a shaman somewhere along the way, “but I only ever played with whirlwinds.” So does this book. Recommended for fans of immersive journalism, and anyone who wants to understand a postSoviet Russia where nothing much matters but drugs and money, and the world is at forty below. DL42

2013-014986

978-3-631-62597-2

Sámi education. Keskitalo, Pigga and Kaarina Määttä, Satu Uusiautti. Peter Lang , ©2013 119 p. $24.95 Keskitalo (teacher training, Sámi U. College, Norway), Määttä (educational psychology) and Uusiautti (both U. of Lapland, Finland) contribute to the understanding of educating indigenous peoples by presenting research results concerning the native people of Europe’s far north. Writing for educators, administrators, and parents of Sámi students, they discuss the roots of Sámi education, Sámi research, special traits of Sámi education, Sámi language teaching, and an eye to the future of Sámi education. The articles have been published in peer-refereed international journals. They are not indexed. DL142

2012-032928

978-0-85745-939-8

Family upheaval; generation, mobility and relatedness among Pakistani migrants in Denmark. Rytter, Mikkel. (EASA series; v.21) Berghahn Books, ©2013 234 p. $75.00 Rytter (culture and society, Aarhus U., Denmark) has been studying the Pakistani population in Denmark since 2001, conducting his first ethnographic interview a few days after the attack in New York on the World Trade Center. Over the years he has conducted research on the effects of Danish policies on Pakistani marriage practices and family life, and on the dynamics of Pakistani migrant families in Denmark. This study incorporates insights from those studies, focusing on Pakistanis who have been living more or less permanently in Denmark since the late 1960s or early 1970s. DP270

2012-048086

978-0-374-10842-7

Franco’s crypt; Spanish culture and memory since 1936. Treglown, Jeremy. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, ©2013 320 p. $30.00 Award-winning British author Treglown takes readers on a journey through Spain to the physical sites and cultural touchstones of the ongoing legacy of the Spanish Civil War, from the recently discovered mass graves of ‘disappeared’ citizens, to the Nationalist memorial where Franco’s remains are buried. In between these two sites of historical memory, the author reclaims the positive cultural legacies of some of the novels, films, visual art, and museum displays produced under Franco’s regime through 1975. DR48

2013-009858

978-3-0343-1152-6

Stagnation and drift in the Western Balkans; the challenges of political, economic and social change. Title main entry. Ed. by Claire Gordon, Marko Kmezic, and Jasmina Opardija. (Interdisciplinary studies on Central and Eastern Europe; v.10) Peter Lang , ©2013 325 p. $101.95 This edited volume is the product of the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans, which is run by the U. of Fribourg, Switzerland, and participates in the support and financing of regional research projects conducted by researchers for Albania, BosniaHerzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, as well as the provision of methodological training and the facilitation of regional and international scholarly cooperation and networking. The 11 contributions presented are thus the product of mostly young social scientists from the region investigating political, social, and economic change in the region. They are organized into sections focusing on the state of democracy in the region; the challenges of state building; youth in transition; and balancing equity, efficacy, and economic viability in social reform. DR280

2012-289155

978-3-631-63460-8

Politics and church in Transylvania 1875-1918. Eppel, Marius. Peter Lang , ©2012 199 p. $48.95 (pa) Orthodox Metropolitan Vasile Mangra was wronged by contemporaries, condemned to oblivion by posterity, and neglected and marginalized by historiography, declares Eppel (population studies, Babes-Bolyai U.,

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Romania). A historian of political life in modern Transylvania, of the Orthodox Church in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and of family life, he seeks to rehabilitate Mangra’s reputation, drawing mostly on new information from the Metropolitan Library in Sibiu. The study contributes to the history of nationalist movements in Eastern Europe during the period. It is not indexed. DR590

2013-013639

978-0-8156-3317-4

Becoming Turkish; nationalist reforms and cultural negotiations in early republican Turkey, 1923-1945. Yilmaz, Hale. (Modern intellectual and political history of the Middle East) Syracuse U. Press, ©2013 328 p. $39.95 Concentrating on the societal aspects of the reform process, Yilmaz (history, Southern Illinois U., Carbondale) examines the nationalization and modernization reforms (known as the Kemalist reforms) in postOttoman Turkey during the period it was ruled by the Republican People’s Party, from 1923, with the formation of the Republic, to 1945, the beginning of multi-party policies with the foundation of the Democrat Party. Rather than focusing on the state perspective or opposition or resistance to these reforms, she considers state-society relations and how everyday people experienced the reforms, how they received and reacted to them, and how their meaning was negotiated between individuals, communities, and the state. Drawing on archival data, oral histories, newspapers and magazines, memoirs, and travelers’ accounts, she examines reforms regarding men’s and women’s clothing, language, and national holidays, and how they were implemented and impacted social and cultural change in major cities and the provinces. The book is based on her dissertation. DR1255

978-3-8329-7806-8

We were gasping for air; [post-]Yugoslav anti-war activism and its legacy. Bilic, Bojan. (Southeast European integration perspectives; v.8) Nomos, ©2012 223 p. $49.00 (pa) Bilic (Central European U., Budapest) examines Yugoslav anti-war enterprises as an alternative history and a knowledge gap in the studies devoted to the wars of the Yugoslav succession. He covers marginalized phenomena, putting the activism in motion, feminist anti-war activism, the anti-war campaign of Croatia, a scale shift of anti-war initiatives, Belgrade women in black, and impacts and meanings of anti-war engagement. There is no index. Distributed in the US by ISBS. DR1313

978-3-8329-7208-0

Resisting the evil; [post-]Yugoslav anti-war contention. Title main entry. Ed. by Bojan Bilic and Vesna Jankovic. (Southeast European integration perspectives; v.7) Nomos, ©2012 287 p. $61.00 (pa) Historians, political scientists, and activists share their perspectives on the wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia during the 1980s and 1990s. Among the topics are Yugoslav supra-nationalism and antinationalism, toward an autoethnography of resisting the wars in the former Yugoslavia, notes of a feminist lesbian in anti-war initiatives, radio stations as spaces for political alternatives during the Yugoslav wars, alternative culture during the siege of Sarajevo, and beyond peacebuilding assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Distributed in the US by ISBS.

THE MIDDLE EAST, ASIA DS32

2013-000554

978-0-415-83352-3

Controversial history education in Asian contexts. Title main entry. Ed. by Mark Baildon, Loh Kah Seng, Ivy Maria Lim, Gül Inanç, and Junaidah Jaffar. (Routledge critical studies in Asian education) Routledge, ©2013 282 p. $170.00 The editors (of Nanyang Technological U., Singapore, and Sogang U., South Korea) present 15 chapters that explore controversies in history education in East Asia with an eye to identifying proper ways of teaching about historical controversy in the region. Finding that Western scholarship, lacking an understanding of local contexts, has tended to either naively assume that Western pedagogical strategies (such as Structured Academic Controversy) are easily transferred to Asia or largely give up on the possibility of teaching controversy because of Asian political authoritarianism and competing national narratives, the editors and their contributors have sought a middle ground that remains aware of local and regional contexts, including the authoritarian history of much of the region in the wake of World War II, while still acknowledging the opportunities opened up by an Asian “mini-glasnost” deriving from the end of

Reference & Research Book News October 2013

the Cold War, the growing acceptance of leftist discourse, the preservation of counter-hegemonic memories at community and family levels, and the emergence of social media technology allowing for greater dissemination of these memories. DS44

2013-003036

978-1-58826-910-2

Understanding the contemporary Middle East, 4th ed. Title main entry. Ed. by Jillian Schwedler. (Understanding; introductions to the states and regions of the contemporary world) Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., ©2013 487 p. $27.50 (pa) How much power do women have in Middle Eastern politics? Has the overall progress in Arab-Israeli relations stalled as activists “take care of business” within their own borders? What has the faltering global economy done to oil-producing nations? These and other important questions and answers have been updated or augmented in this fourth edition, reflecting the constant changes and shifts in play in the Middle East. Contributors of these fourteen extensive articles cover geography, history, politics, international relations the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the economy and the political economy, population growth, urbanization, unemployment, kinship and class, the role of women, religion, literature, and upcoming trends. DS62

2013-012742

978-0-8133-4865-0

The government and politics of the Middle East and North Africa, 7th ed. Title main entry. Ed. by Mark Gasiorowski. Westview Press, ©2014 530 p. $52.00 (pa) The seventh edition of this accessible reference for students, general readers, and scholars is totally revised to reflect new developments such as the Arab Spring and the US pullout from Iraq. An introduction overviews the region and looks at Middle Eastern and North African states in comparative perspective. The book then presents one chapter each on the 14 larger countries of the region, one chapter on the five small eastern Arabian states, and one on the Palestinians. These country chapters use a common framework to overview the history, geography, political structure, domestic and foreign policies, economy, and society in each country. Each chapter also includes a b&w map, a fact box, and an annotated bibliography. Gasiorowski teaches political science at Tulane University. DS63

2012-947812

978-1-4462-4948-2

of NATO), the 1957 American-Syrian crisis, US approaches to Nasser and pan-Arabism, and Cold War politics in the Middle East. Five papers are included on the Arab-Israeli conflict, examining US policy from the 1967 war to the Obama administration. The remaining 13 contributions examine more contemporary issues, focusing on relations with allies and enemies of the region, as well as policies towards other actors such as alQaeda. DS70

2013-021854

978-1-61451-109-0

The house of prisoners; slavery and state in Uruk during the revolt against Samsu-iluna. Seri, Andrea. (Studies in ancient Near Eastern records; v.2) De Gruyter, ©2013 444 p. $137.45 This volume investigates the archival records of the house of prisoners of war (bit asiri) at the ancient Babylonian city of Uruk during the reign of Rim-Anum (ca. 1741 BCE), focusing on the social and economic implications of the intersection of state interests and forced labor by enslaved prisoners of war. The study evaluates chronological and political issues revealed by economic documents, supplemented by information from year names and royal inscriptions. It also seeks to establish connections between archival groups and the activities of the house of prisoners and those of other related administrative or productive units in reference to the management of the captive and enslaved labor force. The social characteristics and political circumstances of the prisoners and slaves are reconstructed, along with the workings of the administration of Uruk. Finally, the institutional characteristics, including interactions with other elements of the state, of the house of prisoners are interpreted. DS79

2013-008479

978-0-313-38062-4

The Iraq War encyclopedia. Title main entry. Ed. by Thomas R. Mockaitis. ABC-CLIO, ©2013 542 p. $100.00 From Abu Ghraib to weapons of mass destruction, general readers and students can gain basic knowledge of the Iraq War with 250 entries written by interdisciplinary contributors. The reference also includes a brief overview essay, brief essays on the causes and consequences of the war, and a chronology, plus b&w photos and seven b&w maps. Editor Mockaitis teaches history at DePaul University and teaches terrorism and counter-terrorism at the Center for Civil-Military Relations at the Naval Post-Graduate School.

An introduction to Middle East politics.

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MacWueen, Benjamin. Sage, ©2013 408 p. $120.00 For this textbook introducing the politics of the Middle East, MacQueen (political and social inquiry, Monash U., Australia) has sought to reframe the discussion by highlighting the importance of issues such as democratization, political change, human rights, political economy, and the environment and by recognizing the centrality of recent events in states such as Iraq, Egypt, and those of the Gulf (while still including coverage of non-core areas such as Yemen, Sudan, and North Africa). He has organized his treatment around three parts: an examination of the formation of the modern state system, with a particular focus on the periods of Ottoman imperial rule, colonial governance, and the early years of independence and their political, social, and economic legacies; an exploration of key political themes of modern Middle Eastern political life (with coverage of specific events and cases), including authoritarianism and political repression, economic dependency and the role of oil, and key security issues; and, finally, focused treatment of the three major issues that have dominated debates over recent political affairs in the region, i.e., US interventionism (particularly in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and drone strikes and other forms of interventionism in Somalia and Yemen), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Arab uprisings that began in 2010.

Wieland, Carsten and Adam Almqvist, Helena Nassif. (St. Andrew’s papers on contemporary Syria) U of St Andrews Ctr for Syrian Studies, ©2013 116 p. $16.95 (pa) This volume collects three separately-authored essays examining different aspects of the ongoing uprising/insurgency against the rule of Bashar alAsad in Syria. German diplomat Wieland conducts a counterfactual exploration of Asad’s roads-not-taken as a demonstration of lost opportunities to set Syria on a path of reform and greater international acceptance. Almqvist (a researcher for the Syria Research Project at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund U., Sweden) explores the role of the transnational public sphere in transforming the conflict. Finally, Nassif (a researcher at the Communication and Media Research Institute, U. of Westminster, England) offers a comparative exploration of the experiences of the character Umm Joseph on the Syrian television series Bab el-Hara (The Neighborhood Gate), a character that had become a figure of emulation to some women protesters early in the uprising, with the experiences of the actress that portrayed Umm Joseph, Muna Wassef, who came under regime suspicion for signing a letter asking troops to allow goods to reach a Syrian border town, with the analysis focusing on questions associated with defining and claiming the state. Distributed by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

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978-0-9568732-1-7

The Syrian uprising; dynamics of an insurgency.

2013-000596

978-1-61132-228-6

The Middle East and the United States; history, politics, and ideologies, rev. 5th ed.

Ebla and its landscape; early state formation in the ancient Near East.

Title main entry. Ed. by David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas. Westview Press, ©2014 562 p. $55.00 (pa) For this new edition of their collection examining US relations with the Middle East, Lesch (Middle East history, Trinity U.) and Haas (political science, Duquesne U.) have de-emphasized the previous focus on the 1990-1991 Gulf War and included new chapters on events that have transpired since the publication of the last edition in 2007. The 21 chapters they include explore US policy towards the region from the Woodrow Wilson era to the “Arab Spring.” Historically oriented chapters discuss the King-Crane Commission and US policy towards the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, US policy towards Iran during the Mussadiq era, the United States and the Baghdad Pact (which formed a Middle East version

Title main entry. Ed. by Paolo Matthiae and Nicoló Marchetti. Left Coast Press, Inc., ©2013 563 p. $149.00 This broad-based text edited by Matthiae (archaeology & art history, U. Rome, Italy) and Marchetti (history & cultures, U. Bologna, Italy) compiles the wealth of archaeological evidence gathered at the site of Ebla in Syria. Traditional excavation artifacts are analyzed alongside textual evidence, geological, zoological, and chemical markers to give new insights into the history of ancient states in the region. Both archaeological methods and photographic or diagrammatic reproductions of collected evidence are used to support arguments. The book is intended to be a


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useful supplement to researchers in a range of fields including archaeology, anthropology, history, and linguistics. A listing of plates and figures is given in the front. DS119

2012-043913

978-1-61234-545-1

Imperfect compromise; a new consensus among Israelis and Palestinians. Karpin, Michael. Potomac Books, ©2013 251 p. $29.95 “Consensus” is rarely a word associated with the ongoing IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Yet, Israeli broadcast journalist Karpin (The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World) is optimistic that moderates on both sides can come to a peace agreement this time around. He discusses the roles and attitudes of key players in the Middle East. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. DS125

2012-289347

978-3-631-63836-1

The other’s other; reflections and opacities in an Arab college in Israel. Paloge, Helen. Peter Lang , ©2012 174 p. $38.95 As an American-born Jewish lecturer in a predominately Arab (Palestinian) college in Israel, the author came to reflect more and more on the tensions between Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel in the wake of the 2006 Lebanon war. Here, she explores those tensions of identity, culture, and political allegiance through an autobiographical exploration of her time at the college and her interactions with her Palestinian colleagues and students. She explains the ways in which she believes it is sometimes possible to perhaps overcome those tensions through an acceptance of the (Palestinian-Israeli) other and of one’s (Jewish-Israeli) self as the “other’s other.” DS126

2012-043597

978-1-62356-781-1

The two-state solution; the UN partition resolution of mandatory Palestine; analysis and sources. Title main entry. Ed. by Ruth Gavison. Trans. by Gadi Weber. Bloomsbury , ©2013 330 p. $130.00 This volume arises out of the proceedings of the 2007 founding conference of the Metzilah Center, which bills itself as a center for “Zionist, Jewish, Liberal, and Humanist Thought.” The subject of the conference was “The November 29th Partition Resolution—Sixty Years Later.” As one might expect, it provides a Zionist perspective on the historical origins and consequences of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, offering 3 studies that discuss the Zionist debates on partition, Palestinian reactions, and the reactions of Arab political leaders, as well as an essay on how Zionism can be harmonized with liberal and humanist principles along the lines espoused by the Metzilah Center. It also reproduces a number of documentary sources including materials produced by the Peel Commission, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, and the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. Co-published with The Metzilah Center. DS134

2012-374707

978-3-631-63124-9

The Holocaust in occupied Poland; new findings and new interpretations. Title main entry. Ed. by Jan T. Gross. (Warsaw studies in Jewish history and memory; v.1) Peter Lang , ©2012 237 p. $61.95 This special edition of East European Politics and Societies collects presentations from an October 2010 conference at Princeton University. Many were written by scholars associated with the Center for Holocaust Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences, which has been at the forefront of bringing the study of the Holocaust in Poland away from being a strictly Jewish concern towards situating it as a central aspect of Poland’s wartime history. Nine papers explore such issues as Polish peasant pogroms against Jews, Polish judicial treatment of pogroms, Jewish-Christian relations in specific localities, and discourses of treason in Occupied Poland. DS135

2012-044202

978-1-904113-95-9

Becoming Habsburg; the Jews of Austrian Bukovina, 17741918. Rechter, David. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, ©2013 214 p. $49.50 Austrian Bukovina was the spot where diverse cultural and ethnic groups lived side by side and in relative harmony. Merchants prospered, people could practice their professions, families could thrive for over 150 years; Jews came to understand themselves as members of the Hapsburg-owned state, rather than as outcasts. Rechter (modern Jewish history, Oxford U.)

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traces the founding and growth of this paragon, starting with its military rule from 1774 to 1786, its peaceful Galician years (1786-1848), followed by a period of turmoil that included absolutism and full emancipation from 1848 to 1867. He closes with the eventual rise of Bukovina Jews and their resolution on idealist politics, albeit as a minority. Bukovina was a conscious experiment, and it worked; its dissolution at the end of WWI was no accident, however, and it was sacrificed to punish the Hapsburgs. Distributed in the US by ISBS. DS135

2012-040558

978-0-8143-3872-8

The origins and onset of the Romanian Holocaust. Eaton, Henry. Wayne State Univ. Press, ©2013 192 p. $29.95 (pa) In June of 1941, 311 Jews were murdered by the Romanian military at Stânca Rosenovanu in northeastern Romania and hundreds more were also killed in the nearby city of IasI by a combination of civilians, policemen, and German and Romanian soldiers. Nearly 3000 more were to perish while being evacuated from the city in train freight cars in the aftermath of the pogroms. Eaton (retired, history, U. of North Texas) recounts these events and analyzes their origins, examining both immediate circumstances as well as wider historical developments, including the growing presence of antisemitism in Romania from the mid-1800s and its transformation between the two world wars. DS143

2012-032931

978-0-85745-892-6

Race, color, identity; rethinking discourses about “Jews” in the twenty-first century. Title main entry. Ed. by Efraim Sicher. Berghahn Books, ©2013 380 p. $110.00 Modern genetics is recycling 19th-century debates over the biology of race, but as the foreword writer notes, the meaning of ‘race’ really has more to do with the social ideology of what group is used as the litmus test for race. Sicher (comparative and English literature, Ben-Gurion U. of the Negev, Beer-Sheva) introduces chapters by contributors from the social sciences, history, cultural studies, and literature that apply these debates to such controversial questions as who is a Jew, whether the category is biological or cultural, and the effects of the “ethnicization” of diseases. In the contexts of globalization, multiculturalism, and diaspora, authors discuss topics including the social construction of race, relations between white Jews and African Americans, and Ethiopian Jews in Israel. DS156

2012-044283

978-1-84217-518-7

Rough Cilicia; new historical and archaeological approaches; proceedings. International Conference of Rough Cilicia: New Historical and Archaeological Approaches (2007: Lincoln, Nebraska) Ed. by Michael C. Hoff and Rhys F. Townsend. Oxbow Books, ©2013 315 p. $120.00 Archaeologists and historians explore the mountainous part of Cilicia, on the southern coast of Turkey during antiquity. The 22 papers consider such topics as problematizing Greek colonization in the Eastern Mediterranean in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, the rule of Antiochus IV of Commangene in Cilicia, a diachronic analysis of Roman temples in Rough Cilicia, the ceramic evidence for connections between Rough Cilicia and northwestern Cyprus between about 200 BC and AD 200, rural habitat in the hinterland of Seleucia and Calycadnum during Late Antiquity, and research on ancient cities and buildings in Rough Cilicia. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. DS247

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978-0-8047-8573-0

Sectarian gulf; Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring that wasn’t. Matthiesen, Toby. Stanford U. Press, ©2013 192 p. $12.99 (pa) Most of the Western commentary on the “Arab Spring” has focused on events in the Arab republics and has neglected protests in the Gulf countries, perhaps because threats to the established order in the Gulf is considered far more problematic to Western geopolitical interests, yet the emergence of popular protest in the Gulf states, Matthiesen (Islamic and Middle Easter studies, U. of Cambridge, England) writes, shows that “the legitimacy of Gulf rulers has been challenged profoundly.” Focusing on events in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, he explores how the events of the Arab Spring have played out, emphasizing in particular the way that rulers have responded to demands for democracy, a fairer distribution of resources, and the rule of law by a resort to a sectarian identity politics aimed at preventing a unified Sunni-Shia opposition front. He further argues that, once this sectarian approach became viable, it became as much a bottom-up as a top-down process because of


the activities of “sectarian identity entrepreneurs;” an amalgam of political, religious, social, and economic elites who use sectarian politics to bolster their own positions. DS247

978-1-906011-80-2

A time in Arabia; life in Hadhramaut. (reprint, 1970) Ingrams, Doreen. Eland Publishing, ©2013 164 p. $29.95 (pa) Previously an actress on the London stage, Ingrams was married to an Arabic-speaking British official sent as a political adviser to local Sultans in what is now part of the Republic of Yemen. They lived there from 1934 to 1944, the first Europeans to do so. She traveled through the region by camel and donkey, meeting women, children, and servants and gaining insight into family life, diet, traditions, frustrations and difficulties. Back home, she mined her diary for this account, and included photographs she had taken. The 1970 edition was published by John Murray in Great Britain. Distributed in the US by Dufour. DS266

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978-3-447-06863-5

Remembering the past in Iranian societies. Title main entry. Ed. by Christine Allison and Philip G. Kreyenbroek. (Gottinger orientforschungen III. Reihe; Iranica, neue folge, 9) Harrassowitz, ©2013 221 p. $81.00 (pa) This collection is intended to fulfill a gap in research on memory in Iranian studies, which editors Allison (Kurdish studies, U. of Exeter, England) and Kreyenbroek (Iranian studies, Georg-August U. Göttingen, Germany) feel has not received adequate attention, particularly in comparison to work on Turkey, the Soviet Union, Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere. They have chosen the term “Iranian societies” to allow for the inclusion of Armenians, Kurds in Turkey, Ottoman Turks, and others whose cultures are closely linked to the Iranian world, but would not necessarily be considered to fit within a strict definition of “Iranian society.” Twelve papers explore the ways in which the past is remembered through folklore, music, monuments, spatial organization and city planning, the construction of the nation-state, and personal narratives of trauma. Examples of specific topics include: storytelling, history, and communal memory in pre-Islamic Iran; religion and oral history in the origin myth of the Yezidis; memory and social structures in Kurdish society; the pre-Islamic past as part of Iranian national memory; Armenian and Kurdish lullabies in present-day Istanbul; recollecting the resettlement of the population of the Yaghnob valley of Turkmenistan; and war, culture, structural violence, and oral historical representations. DS318

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The coup; 1953, the CIA, and the roots of modern U.S.Iranian relations. Abrahamian, Ervand. The New Press, ©2013 277 p. $26.95 The history of hostility between the United States and Iran is in large part rooted in the 1953 overthrow, engineered by the US Central Intelligence Agency, of the democratically elected Iranian prime minister, Muhhamad Mossadeq, and the installation of the autocratic Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi as dictator. Abrahamian (history, City U. of New York) examines the coup and the 1951-53 oil crisis that led up to it for the purposes of challenging two key aspects of previous interpretations of these events. Firstly, he argues against the notion that Mossadeq was unreasonable in his negotiations with the British and the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, contending that neither the British nor the Americans were willing to accept substantive oil nationalization and Iranian control over their own resources and were only willing to offer, at best, “pseudonationalization.” Secondly, he challenges interpretations of the coup as being driven primarily by Cold War geopolitical considerations (seeing it largely as a cover justification), arguing that instead it should be interpreted within the framework of “the conflict between imperialism and nationalism, between First and Third Worlds, between North and South, between developed industrial economies and underdeveloped countries dependent on exporting raw materials.” The United States, he suggests, was not so concerned about communism, as it was that Iran’s nationalization of oil could serve as an exemplary lesson for other oil-rich but underdeveloped states. DS325

2012-040604

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978-81-7304-975-0

Islamicate traditions in South Asia; themes from culture & history. Title main entry. Ed. by Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fras. Manohar, ©2013 414 p. $16.18 The term “Islamicate,” explains Kuczkiewicz-Fras (Jagiellonian U., Poland) in her editor’s preface, refers to “phenomena influenced by Muslim tradition and presence but not restricted to the practice of Islam as a religion.” She presents 14 articles that explore a broad array of themes in the study of Islamicate cultures in South Asia from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Topics include: the historiographical reconstruction of Muslim identity in the aftermath of the 1857 Indian uprising against British rule; images of India’s Muslim past in the poetry of Kunwar Narain; the etymologies of Delhi urban toponyms of PersoArabic origin; the literature of Zay Khay Sheen; the novels of Urdu-language writer Nasim Hijazi; the role of Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the history and culture of Pakistan; the public sphere and the work of educational reformer Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan; amorous and erotic themes in Urdu writings of the 19th century; commonalities between the Urdu and Hindi language traditions; a Bangladeshi treatise seeking to prove that Islamic foundational figures Hasan and Husain were not the sons of Ali, but were instead the sons of the prophet Muhammad; the causes and effects of Afghan eastward migrations leading to the creation of the Lodi Sultanate; Persian lexicography in South Asia; and the curricula and educational institutions for teaching Persian in South Asia. Distributed in the US by South Asia Books. DS341

2013-019505

978-0-85728-074-9

South Asia 2060; envisioning regional futures. Title main entry. Ed. by Adil Najam and Moeed Yusuf. Anthem Press, ©2013 324 p. $140.00 Yusuf (South Asia adviser at the US Institute of Peace) and Najam (vice chancellor, Lahore U. of Management Sciences, Pakistan) present the product of a two-year long project of the Boston U. Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars of South Asia to address possible longrange trajectories for South Asia as a region. They have organized the 37 “thought pieces” looking towards the next 50 years of the region’s development into sections covering: the currently problematic idea of the South Asian region as a region; issues of interstate relations and security aspects of South Asian ties, including democracy, religious conflict, nuclear weapons, and regional integration issues; economic issues, including macroeconomic prospects, globalization, trade, trends in urbanization; water security, energy, and technology; and issues of human well-being, including the prospects of a South Asian population dividend, health, education, women’s empowerment, and civil society. Distributed in the US by Books International, Inc. DS341

978-81-7708-355-2

South Asia; post-Nehruvian dynamics of diplomacy. Title main entry. Ed. by K.M. Sajad Ibrahim. New Century Pub. (New Delhi), ©2013 239 p. $49.25 As India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was a leading figure in promoting peace in South Asia through his setting the course of Indian foreign policy, according to Ibrahim (U. of Kerala, India), although Indian foreign policy has undergone dramatic change since his passing and South Asia has emerged as one of the world’s crisis regions. He presents 13 essays that explore South Asian international relations issues against the background of the Nehruvian perspective of regional cooperation. Papers address Indian relations with China, Pakistan, Australia, Afghanistan, and the United States. Distributed in North America by ISBS. DS352

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Afghan lessons; culture, diplomacy, and counterinsurgency.

978-1-84217-494-4

Nishapur revisited; stratigraphy and ceramics of the Qohandez. Rante, Rocco and Annabelle Collinet. Oxbow Books, ©2013 212 p. $80.00 Rante (archaeology, Louvre, France) and Collinet (scientific advisor, Louvre, France) present this archaeological study of Nishapur, an Iranian city with a central position on the ancient Silk Road. The volume primarily focuses on stratigraphy and ceramics analysis from the


Qohandez, or main citadel. The wide variety of methods used, including chemical, physical, and historical analyses, are presented in detail and used to establish a chronology of the area. Many diagrams, color maps, site photographs, and artifact photographs illustrate and supplement the text. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co.

Gentilini, Fernando. (Brookings-SSPA series on public administration) Brookings Institution Press, ©2013 176 p. $28.95 (pa) Italian diplomat Gentilini was appointed NATO’s senior civilian representative for Afghanistan in May 2008 and worked in that position for two years. In this memoir, he reflects on his experiences while in Afghanistan, including the institutional and cultural factors that caused him to become increasingly pessimistic about the possibility of NATO success.

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DS371

978-3-8487-0153-7

Borders and orders in Central Asia; transactions and attitudes between Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Kuzmits, Bernd. (World regions in transition; v.15) Nomos, ©2013 388 p. $80.00 (pa) Kuzmits (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) defines the drivers of and constraints on cross-border interaction across the Amu Darya River between Afghanistan and her two northern neighbors in Central Asia. He covers theoretical approaches to borders and orders, trajectories of borders and orders, state and nation building since 1991, regionalization in the local borderlands, and regionalism and transnational relations. The study originated as his PhD July 2010 dissertation in political science at the University of Koblenz-Landau. It is not indexed. Distributed in the US by ISBS. DS371

2013-017769

978-0-7864-6971-0

Unconventional warrior; memoir of a special operations commander in Afghanistan. Herd, Walter Morris. McFarland, ©2013 216 p. $29.95 (pa) Col. Herd recounts both hostile and friendly engagements with different segments of the Afghani population as commander of a special task force during 2003 and 2004, describes special forces training practices, and shares lessons he has learned as a military leader. Among the numerous memoirs written by soldiers recently, Herd’s deserves consideration for understanding the larger picture of carrying out a war with the goal of long-term peace. DS432

2012-037872

978-0-85745-929-9

The Gaddi beyond pastoralism; making place in the Indian Himalayas. Wagner, Anja. Berghahn Books, ©2013 202 p. $80.00 Based on 15 months of anthropological fieldwork in the North Indian State of Himachal Pradesh between March 2006 and October 2008, this work by Wagner (social anthropology, U. of Münster, Germany) explores the relationship between the agropastoralistGaddi people and their mountainous Himalayan environment. Her treatment gives priority to local conceptions of the environment and seeks to join ideas from environmental anthropology and the anthropology of place with new approaches in the theory of practice. This is particularly in the practice of place-making, which in turn requires an exploration of the relation between the body and ecology, between person and place, as well as the religious and aesthetic practices through which place is imbued with meaning. DS478

2103-001632

978-81-321-1053-8

Military aspects of the Indian uprising. Title main entry. Ed. by Gavin Rand and Crispin Bates. (Mutiny at the margins; new perspectives on the Indian uprising of 1857; v.4 ) Sage, ©2013 154 p. $39.95 This is the fourth of a set of seven volumes dedicated to reexamining the Indian Uprising of 1857 (or the First War of Indian Independence) through the theme of the marginal (e.g. marginal scholarly perspectives, geographic margins, the role of the socially marginal, etc.). Edited by Rand (history, U. of Greenwich, England) and Bates (modern South Asian history, U. of Edinburgh, Scotland) this volume addresses the military aspects of the events of 1857-1858, which they argue have surprisingly become somewhat peripheral in the historiography. The eight chapters they present explore the motivations, organizations, and understandings of those who participated in the uprising and the campaign to suppress it, focusing on particular individuals and communities, rather than seeking a singular narrative. The chapters address the following thematic topics: the significance of the Vellore Mutiny (the first instance of Sepoy rebellion); combat motivation and the construction of identities; religion as military modus operandi; logistics failures on the part of the rebels; tales of Indian loyalists (loyal to the British, that is) during the uprising; reconstructing the imperial military after the rebellion; the ascription and re-ascription of martial identities after the uprising; and the debate over whether to characterize the events as mutiny, war, or small war. DS480

978-81-7708-356-9

India’s national security; concerns and strategies. Title main entry. Ed. by Mohanan B. Pillai. New Century Pub. (New Delhi), ©2013 404 p. $79.50 Pillai (UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of South Asian Regional Cooperation, Pondicherry U., India) presents 21 papers examining topics relevant to contemporary Indian national security, broadly defined. Topics include emerging frontiers of co-operation on security policy; security and South Asian regional development; Pakistan and crossborder terrorism; policy towards the Afghanistan-Pakistan region; energy

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security and West Asian conflict; maritime security; global dimensions of maritime piracy; China, the US, and the South China Sea dispute; India-US-China trilateral co-operation in the Indian Ocean region; human security and climate change in South Asia; India’s policy initiatives with respect to human rights and human security; the Indo-International Initiative for Billions of Fruit Trees; human security and Gandhian ethics in a globalized world; and environmental challenges for policy formation and national security. Distributed in North America by ISBS. DS518

2013-008123

978-0-313-38482-0

Global security watch—China. Weitz, Richard. (Global security watch) Praeger, ©2013 200 p. $52.00 This reference for students, journalists, and general readers overviews China’s foreign and defense policies, and the political-military developments affecting these policies, since 1989. After a historical review, early chapters cover factors affecting Chinese security, China’s place in the ‘middle-income trap,’ and the struggle of China’s authoritarian political system to find legitimacy in an era of democratic change. Later chapters assess the strengths and weaknesses of China’s military power, looking at current development such as cyber warfare capabilities, and report on China’s relations with its Asian neighbors, the US, Europe, and other world regions. Extensive appendices offer biographical sketches of key figures and a detailed chronology from 1972 to 2012. Weitz is affiliated with the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute. DS518

2012-047720

978-0-8133-4667-0

Pacific century; the emergence of modern Pacific Asia, 4th ed. Borthwick, Mark. Westview Press, ©2014 587 p. $60.00 (pa) For the fourth edition of his text exploring the rise of the Asia-Pacific region as a global economic and political power and its implications for global affairs in the 21st century, Borthwick (director of the United States Asia Pacific Council at the East-West Center in Washington, DC) has placed even greater emphasis on how converging forces of globalization, technology innovation, and modern finance are challenging the capacities of the multilateral institutions created by the United States and Europe in the aftermath of World War II and the momentous geopolitical changes such challenges may portend. Borthwick thus devotes significant attention to the region’s resilience following the 2008-2009 global financial context and the domestic and international factors shaping the Chinese society and economy. Other areas newly receiving attention in this edition include Japan’s recovery from natural disaster, internal economic and political tensions in China, Chinese assertiveness as a regional power, the North Korean change in leadership, and Southeast Asia’s challenges in transitioning to middle income status. The historical material (i.e., the bulk of the text), tracing the region’s historical development from China’s Qin dynasty onwards, appears not to have been substantially revised, perhaps so that the text can still be read in conjunction with the eponymous, companion video series from the Public Broadcasting System, first broadcast in 1992. DS554

2013-011127

978-0-313-39337-2

The Khmer Rouge; ideology, militarism, and the revolution that consumed a generation. Nhem, Boraden. (PSI guides to terrorists, insurgents, and armed groups) Praeger, ©2013 216 p. $52.00 Observing that since most of the literature on the Cambodian Civil War has focused on the figure of Pol Pot, the story is only half-complete, Nhem (deputy director, Institute of Military History, Ministry of National Defense, Cambodia) argues that an organizational focus is required to truly understand how Pol Pot came to power and how the war was eventually ended. He therefore presents an organizational history of the Khmer Rouge that emphasizes the importance of such factors as mission, resources, procedures, and adaptability in the outcomes of organizational dynamics and evolution. He follows the development of the Khmer Rouge from their emergence out of the larger, Vietnamese-dominated Indochina Communist Party between the 1930s and 1950s to their eventual dissolution in response to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Win-Win policy, which Nhem argues succeeded in ending the war primarily because of its focus on the “political-military organization” of the Khmer Rouge. DS557

2013-017741

978-0-7864-7439-4

The crouching beast; a United States Army lieutenant’s account of the Battle for Hamburger Hill, May 1969. Boccia, Frank. McFarland, ©2013 463 p. $40.00 (pa) Boccia shares his experiences and observations as a first lieutenant


during his first seven months in the Vietnam War. At the time, he was leading a platoon of the 187th Infantry during what came to be called the battle of Hamburger Hill in 1969 and another battle during the Vietnam War. The author describes the casualty-filled 11-day Hamburger Hill (referred to locally as Dong Ap Bia) battle vividly, with the intent of portraying his view of war for both general readers and military historians. The author acknowledges that his account contains a number of discrepancies from official reports. DS559

2013-001735

978-1-61251-217-4

Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton; six characteristics of high performance teams. Fretwell, Peter and Taylor Baldwin Kiland, J.P. London, James B. Stockdale II. Naval Institute Press, ©2013 152 p. $27.95 Hanoi Hilton was a cynical nickname given to Hoa Lo, a former French prison that the North Vietnamese used to hold captured Americans from 1964 through 1972. Yet led in part by officer James Stockdale and his Stoic philosophy, they created a culture of unity and resilience and actually developed posttraumatic growth (PTG)—a term which could be considered the opposite of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fretwell (The Classical Network) and Kiland (a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy) boil the lessons down to the six principles they present here and intersperse them with stories of the POWs and their later successes. DS559

2012-042381

978-0-7006-1898-9

Vietnam Rough Riders; a convoy commander’s memoir. McAdams, Frank. (Modern war studies) University Press of Kansas, ©2013 263 p. $34.95 From his time working as a prosecutor in a military court of law to his disarming of a fellow marine holding South Vietnamese Rangers at gunpoint, this well-written memoir recounts McAdams’s Vietnam experiences. Along the way he describes the battles and narrow scrapes experienced by his truck convoy. The volume closes with a brief account of his homecoming that only foreshadows some of the difficulties he will face in readjusting to life back in the United States. McAdams currently teaches cinema studies at the University of Southern California. A four page glossary appears at the front of the book, with unexpected definitions for terms such as “rock and roll” and “rubber lady.” DS721

978-1-4214-0606-0

Imagined civilizations; China, the West, and their first encounter. Hart, Roger. Johns Hopkins U. Press, ©2013 374 p. $55.00 Hart (history, Texas Southern U.) presents a critical, microhistorical account of the interactions between Jesuit missionaries and Chinese court officials in the 17th century often described by historians as “the first encounter between China and the West.” He applies the trend in nationalism studies to view the nation as “imagined communities” to the notion of civilization, which he argues is just as imagined. His deflationary account of when Jesuits and Chinese first interacted focuses on local understandings by Chinese actors, who saw the Jesuits as tributary officials bringing lost wisdom (i.e. European sciences, efficacious technologies, religion and culture) back to China where it would restore the Empire to its former well ordered glory. To this end, he examines several mathematical texts translated into Chinese. By emphasizing the civilization as imagined, he’s not dismissing them as insignificant fictions, but suggesting an alternative starting point for historical inquiry. “This is not to say” he assures us “that we can eliminate the terms ‘China’ and ‘the West.’ Rather, we need to observe that these are actor categories, and not components of a historical explanation.” Hart argues in the end for the contemporary significance of revising our understand of these encounters in terms of a world history of science and “science beyond civilizations.” DS753

2013-019984

978-0-393-92085-7

DS778

Title main entry. Ed. by Janet Chen, Pei-Kai Cheng, Michael Lestz, and Jonathan D. Spence. W.W. Norton, ©2014 625 p. $32.00 (pa) This primary source documentary reader, edited by Chen (Princeton U., US), Cheng (City U. of Hong Kong, China), Lestz (Trinity College, US), and Spence (Yale U.), is intended to serve as a supplement to Spence’s text The Search for Modern China (third edition), which treats the history of Qing, Republican, and post-1949 China. It therefore follows the same organizational structure as that work in its presentation of translated documents,

2013-020024

978-0-7864-3582-1

Biographical dictionary of the People’s Republic of China. Title main entry. Ed. by Yuwu Song. McFarland, ©2013 443 p. $95.00 (pa) This reference compiles biographical entries on 588 key figures from the past 70 years in China, since the country’s founding in 1949, highlighting the contributions of those who impacted the development of Chinese life and culture. While most of the entries profile political figures, there are also many entries on those in business, the military, the arts, medicine, entertainment, sports, and social movements. Each entry begins with a chronological account of the person’s life and a summary of facts and dates, then moves on to analyze the person’s significance in Chinese culture. Editor Song is Chinese studies librarian at the Library of Congress. DS796

2012-049836

978-981-4447-66-9

Hong Kong under Chinese rule; economic integration and political gridlock. Title main entry. Ed. by Zheng Yongnian and Yew Chiew Ping. World Scientific, ©2013 274 p. $92.00 Contributors from the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute look at how economic and political conditions in Hong Kong have changed in the past 15 years, since the Chinese takeover in 1997. Material is presented in sections on integration and independence, governance crises and social discontent, and electoral reforms and democratization. The book begins with a detailed overview of China’s Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, then examines areas such as economic links with Guangdong, statutory minimum wage, the 2011 District Council Election, and the 2012 Legislative Council Election. Yongnian and Ping are affiliated with East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. DS894

2013-007729

978-0-674-72673-4

A sense of place; the political landscape in late medieval Japan. Spafford, David. (Harvard East Asia monographs; 361) Harvard University Asia Center, ©2013 312 p. $39.95 Spafford (pre-modern Japanese history, U. of Pennsylvania) investigates how eastern Japan’s provincial elite of the Kanto plains region thought about attachment to land and territory in the context of widespread armed conflict between 1450 and 1600. Examining memoirs, letters, chronicles, poetry, travelogues, lawsuits, land registers, and archaeological reports, he explores how the elite families warring over land holdings related their understandings of place to their beliefs about family, politics, and authority. Distributed in the US by Harvard U. Press. DS918

2013-012760

978-0-393-06849-8

Brothers at war; the unending conflict in Korea. Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. W.W. Norton, ©2013 605 p. $35.00 This detailed, accessible narrative chronicles the divide between North Korea and South Korea from WWII to the present. Jager, director of Oberlin College’s East Asian Studies Program, draws on recently opened archives in several countries, as well as personal accounts from the perspectives of Koreans and others who have participated in the conflict over the years, including Americans, Soviets, and Chinese. Discussing not only military events but also their impact on social, cultural, and political life, the author examines how the struggle between North and South Korea has influenced, and continues to impact, East Asia and the world. The book is illustrated with b&w historical and contemporary photos and maps. DS918

The search for modern China; a documentary collection, 3d ed.


providing new perspectives on various aspects of Spence’s historical narrative and offering insights into both everyday social issues as well as issues of high politics.

2013-020993

978-0-7864-6857-7

Understanding the Korean War; the participants, the tactics and the course of conflict. Mitchell, Arthur H. McFarland, ©2013 300 p. $45.00 (pa) Mitchell (history, University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie) reveals the American combat experience of the Korean War through the experiences of American soldiers. The book begins with background on how the war began and how the US became involved, then offers special focus on how US soldiers interacted with the Korean people and with Chinese and Soviet soldiers, and how the soldiers reacted to the end of racial segregation in the US military. The book also deals with technological and tactical issues, as well as international consequences of the war. It includes b&w historical photos.

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