REVIEW OF MODERN SOUTH ASIA: HISTORY, CULTURE, POLITICAL ECONOMY BY SUGATA BOSE AND AYESHA JALAL
Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy . Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal. London: Routledge , 2011. ISBN: 9780415169516 Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal provide an excellent study of South Asian history in Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. The book, now in its third edition, is a concise read more »
REVIEW OF CROSS-CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS IN MODERN WORLD HISTORY BY JON THARES DAVIDANN AND MARC JASON GILBERT
Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History . Jon Thares Davidann and Marc Jason Gilbert . New York: Pearson , 2013. ISBN: 9780205532667 High school AP and college world history teachers looking for a brief but entertaining supplementary text for their classes may want to consider this innovative, accessible, and well-written read more »
REVIEW OF ENGAGING SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIONS: BOUNDARIES, APPROPRIATIONS, AND RESISTANCES EDITED BY MATTHEW N. SCHMALZ AND PETER GOTTSCHALK
Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistances . Edited by Matthew N. Schmalz and Peter Gottschalk. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press , 2011. ISBN: 9781438433233 Critical study of any subject requires an equally critical examination of the lenses we use to interpret the world. Engaging South read more »
REVIEW OF DECOLONIZATION AND ITS IMPACT: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE END OF THE COLONIAL EMPIRES BY MARTIN SHIPWAY
Decolonization and Its Impact: A Comparative Approach to the End of the Colonial Empires . Martin Shipway. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing , 2008. ISBN: 9780631199687 To explain the process of decolonization in one nation is a difficult task. To describe clearly the patterns to be found in decolonization across the globe read more »
REVIEW OF AFRICAN SLAVERY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN SECOND EDITION BY HERBERT S. KLEIN AND BEN VINSON III
African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean . Herbert S. Klein and Ben Vinson III. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press , 2007. ISBN: 9780195189421 When constructing the themes for world and Latin American history courses, instructors consistently return to the subject of slavery. For world read more »
REVIEW OF DREAMS AND VISIONS IN ISLAMIC SOCIETIES EDITED BY OZGEN FELEK AND ALEXANDER D. KNYSH
Dreams and Visions in Islamic Societies . Edited by Ozgen Felek and Alexander D. Knysh. Albany: NY: State University of New York Press , 2012. ISBN: 9781438439938 This essay is a part of our new series, Graduate Students and The Middle Ground Journal -- for more information, please see HERE read more »
REVIEW OF A HISTORY OF STATE AND RELIGION IN INDIA BY IAN COPLAND, IAN MABBETT, ASIM ROY, KATE BRITTLEBANK, AND ADAM BOWLES
A History of State and Religion in India . Ian Copland, Ian Mabbett, Asim Roy, Kate Brittlebank, and Adam Bowles. New York: Routledge , 2012. ISBN: 9780415580663 This essay is a part of our new series, Graduate Students and The Middle Ground Journal -- for more information, please see HERE read more »
REVIEW OF THE DECOLONIZED EYE: FILIPINO AMERICAN ART AND PERFORMANCE BY SARITA ECHAVEZ SEE
The Decolonized Eye: Filipino American Art and Performance . Sarita Echavez See. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press , 2009. ISBN: 9780816653195 This essay is a part of our new series, Graduate Students and The Middle Ground Journal -- for more information, please see HERE . In the growing body of read more »
REVIEW OF FRONTIER FORTS OF IOWA: INDIANS, TRADERS, AND SOLDIERS, 1682-1862, EDITED BY WILLIAM E. WHITTAKER
Frontier Forts of Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers, 1682-1862 . William E. Whittaker, ed. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press , 2009. ISBN 1587298317 This essay is a part of our new series, Graduate Students and The Middle Ground Journal -- for more information, please see HERE . Frontier Forts read more »
China in World History . Paul S. Ropp. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2010. ISBN: 9780195381955 China’s meteoric rise over the last three decades has alternately provoked admiration, alarm, and awe. Indeed, it appears to be primed to play a major role in global affairs throughout the twenty-first century. read more »
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REVIEW OF ENCOUNTERS WITH WITCHCRAFT: FIELD NOTES FROM AFRICA BY NORMAN N. MILLER
Encounters with Witchcraft: Field Notes from Africa . Norman N. Miller. Albany: State University of New York Press , 2012. ISBN: 9781438443584 The death of European geologist William Hanning intrigued African specialist Norman H. Miller. In 1960, as Miller arrived in East Africa, he read an article about the geologist read more »
REVIEW OF NEW TERRAINS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY BY ABU TALIB AHMAD AND TAN LIOK EE
New Terrains in Southeast Asian History . By Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee. Athens, Ohio: Center for International Studies, Ohio University Press . 2003. ISBN: 0896802280 After Orientalism and the nation-state narrative, what is next for writing history in the Southeast Asian region? New Terrains in Southeast Asian read more »
REVIEW OF SCREENING MOROCCO: CONTEMPORARY FILM IN A CHANGING SOCIETY BY VALERIE K. ORLANDO
Screening Morocco: Contemporary Film in a Changing Society . Valerie K. Orlando. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press , 2011. ISBN: 9780896802810 What is ‘Third Cinema?’ This central question at the heart of Orlando’s book, Screening Morocco, is complicated by several issues. Beginning in the 1960s, this loosely-named film movement is read more »
REVIEW OF CITY, COUNTRY, EMPIRE: LANDSCAPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY, EDITED BY JEFFRY M. DIEFENDORF AND KURK DORSEY
City, Country, Empire: Landscapes in Environmental History . Jeffry M. Diefendorf and Kurk Dorsey, eds. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press , 2005. ISBN: 9780822958765 City, Country, Empire: Landscapes in Environmental History is an intriguing collection that grew out of a 2001 conference at the University of New Hampshire. That gathering read more »
REVIEW ESSAY: SOMEONE ELSES EMPIRE: EUROPEAN COLONIALISMS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA, 1800 TO 1914
To the last and the largest Empire, To the map that is half unrolled. —Rudyard Kipling, The Native Born This paper is a synopsis of my current research, which explores the European colonial experience in South East Asia through a comparative examination of previously unpublished documents produced by colonial personnel read more »
REVIEW OF AFRICA AND THE WEST: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY, VOLUME 2: FROM COLONIALISM TO INDEPENDENCE, 1875 TO THE PRESENT, SECOND EDITION BY WILLIAM H. WORGER, NANCY L. CLARK AND EDWARD A. ALPERS
Africa and the West: A Documentary History, Volume 2: From Colonialism to Independence , 1875 to the Present, Second Edition. William H. Worger, Nancy L. Clark and Edward A. Alpers, editors. New York: Oxford University Press , 2010. ISBN: 9780195373134 In the second edition of the documentary compilation Africa read more »
REVIEW OF DOCUMENTARY: ROBERT MUGABE ... WHAT HAPPENED? BY SIMON BRIGHT
“Robert Mugabe…What Happened?” a film by Simon Bright, Cinema Guild, 2011. ISBN: 0781514029. See also: http://cinemaguild.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TCGS&Product_Code=2416 This powerful documentary is really two films in one. It’s a political history of Zimbabwe from its formation in 1980 on the ashes of Rhodesia, Britain’s breakaway former colony. This history is told through read more »
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REVIEW OF JAPAN IN WORLD HISTORY BY JAMES L. HUFFMAN
Japan in World History . James L. Huffman. New York: Oxford University Press , 2010. ISBN: 9780195368086 James Huffman begins and ends his book with a reference to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, mythological progenitor of the Imperial line from the mists of prehistory. The first reference at the beginning of read more »
REVIEW OF BONDS OF ALLIANCE: INDIGENOUS AND ATLANTIC SLAVERIES IN NEW FRANCE BY BRETT RUSHFORTH
Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France . Brett Rushforth. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press , 2012. ISBN: 9780807835586 Brett Rushforth’s Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France is a comparative history that examines the magnitude of 17th and 18th century slavery read more »
REVIEW OF THIS VIOLENT EMPIRE: THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN NATIONAL IDENTITY BY CARROLL SMITH-ROSENBERG
This Violent Empire: The Birth of an American National Identity Carroll Smith-Rosenberg. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press , 2010. ISBN 9780807872710 It should have become abundantly clear in the years since 9/11 that the imperialist violence highly characteristic of the Bush era – from preemptive war read more »
REVIEW OF THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF BORNEO, 1941-1945 BY OOI KEAT GIN
The Japanese Occupation of Borneo, 1941-1945 . Gin, Ooi Keat. London: Routledge , 2011. ISBN 978-0-415-45663-0 (hbk); 978-0-203-85054-1 (ebk). Because few historian-scholars and students hitherto have given much Schrift to the role of the Japanese Empire in Southeast Asia, the Occupation of both British Borneo – Brunei, Sarawak and North read more »
REVIEW OF TRANS-SAHARAN AFRICA IN WORLD HISTORY BY RALPH A. AUSTEN
Trans-Saharan Africa in World History . Ralph A. Austen. New York: Oxford University Press , 2010. ISBN 0195337883 The desert comes alive in Ralph A. Austen’s Trans-Saharan Africa in World History, as over a thousand years of vibrant trade and commerce in trans-Saharan Africa are carefully chronicled and explained. The read more »
REVIEW OF DOCUMENTARY: THE WARRIORS OF QIUGANG, BY RUBY YANG AND THOMAS LENNON
Documentary: The Warriors of Qiugang, Director: Ruby Yang, Writer: Thomas Lennon. 2010, 39 minutes. See also, http://www.warriorsofqiugang.com/en/1AboutFilm.html The Warriors of Qiugang, a stark and powerful 39-minute documentary, offers an excellent introduction to some of China’s gravest issues, one that would be extremely helpful to students of modern China. With no read more »
REVIEW OF PACHAKUTIK AND THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE ECUADORIAN INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT BY KENNETH J. MIJESKI AND SCOTT H. BECK
Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement . Kenneth J. Mijeski and Scott H. Beck. Athens: Ohio University Press , 2011. ISBN 0896802809 This slim volume tells the story of Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country (a.k.a. Pachakutik), the political arm of a social movement coalition formed read more »
REVIEW OF SMALL TOWN CHINA: RURAL LABOR AND SOCIAL INCLUSION BY BEATRIZ CARRILLO
Small Town China: Rural Labor and Social Inclusion . Beatriz Carrillo. New York: Routledge , 2011. 212 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-60023-1 China is a society in the midst of transformation. One of the most visible and studied aspects of this transformation is the large scale migration of workers from the rural read more »
REVIEW OF BLACK POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND THE CUBAN REPUBLIC BY MELINA PAPPADEMOS
Black Political Activism and the Cuban Republic . By Melina Pappademos. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press , 2011. 978-0-807-83490-9 Melina Pappademos’s work is intended as a corrective to the influential body of literature that explores the intersection of race, nationalism, and political mobilization in twentieth century read more »
REVIEW OF IN THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY: AFRICAS BOTANICAL LEGACY IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD BY JUDITH A. CARNEY AND RICHARD NICHOLAS ROSOMOFF
In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World . By Judith A. Carney and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff. Berkeley: University of California Press , 2009. ISBN: 978-0-520-25750-4 When I lived in Mexico City in 1999-2000, one of my greatest joys was drinking agua de Jamaica (hibiscus tea) read more »
REVIEW OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD-SYSTEM: A STUDY IN POLITY-MARKET INTERACTION BY MASUDUL ALAM CHOUDHURY
The Islamic World-system: a Study in Polity-market Interaction . Masudul Alam Choudhury. London: Routledge Curzon , 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-61315-6 Masdul Alam Choudhury is a professor of economics at Sultan Qaboos University, in Oman, where a number of scholars are working on economic models that operate through a Shuratic process, read more »
REVIEW OF THE HORSE, THE WHEEL AND LANGUAGE: HOW BRONZE-AGE RIDERS FROM THE EURASIAN STEPPES SHAPED THE MODERN WORLD BY DAVID W. ANTHONY
The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World . David W. Anthony. Princeton: Princeton University Press , 2007. ISBN 978-0691058870. A traditional, but perhaps unfair, saying is that when archaeologists find a new shard or other object they rush to read more »
The Silk Road in World History . Xinru Liu. New York: Oxford University Press , 2010. ISBN 978-0-19-533810-2 This book more than more exemplifies the themes underlying Oxford University Press’ New Oxford World History series: presenting comprehensive histories of the local , the regional and the national while emphasizing their links read more »
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REVIEW OF AFTER THE FACT: THE ART OF HISTORICAL DETECTION (6TH EDITION) BY JAMES WEST DAVIDSON AND MARK HAMILTON LYTLE
After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection 6th edition. James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle. New York: McGraw-Hill , 2010. ISBN 9780073385489 Those familiar with Davidson and Lytle’s long-time classic, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, will find that the latest, 2010 edition has significant read more »
Review of Daniel Headrick’s Technology: a World History ( Oxford University Press , 2010) offers students of history a comparative and global approach to thinking about the role of technology in the development of human communities. This is a slim book – 179 pages that are jam packed with details. read more »
REVIEW OF CAMBODIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCES: HISTORIES, COMMUNITIES, CULTURES, AND IDENTITIES, EDITED BY JONATHAN H.X. LEE
Review of Cambodian American Experiences: Histories, Communities, Cultures, and Identities . Edited by Jonathan H.X. Lee. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company , 2010. 484 pages including text and annotated videography; accompanied with a Study Guide, 136 pages. Cambodian Americans are dark, dirty, poor, pitiful, hopeless, and helpless victims of the read more »
REVIEW OF FAITH MISPLACED: THE BROKEN PROMISE OF U.S.-ARAB RELATIONS: 1820-2001, BY USSAMA MAKDISI
Ussama Makdisi’s Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of U.S.—Arab Relations: 1820-2001 provides critical insights into how the United States and the “Arab World” have encountered each other over the last two centuries, offering historicized answers to the question, “Why do they hate us?” Makdisi seeks to contextualize contemporary American and read more »
REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN WORLD HISTORY, BY STEPHEN MOSLEY
Review of The Environment in World History . By Stephen Mosley. New York: Routledge , 2010. 126pp., $29.95. In redesigning a course on modern world history at my university, I took on the rather quixotic idea to structure the class along thematic lines. I framed the course within the frameworks read more »
REVIEW OF SOCIETIES, NETWORKS, AND TRANSITIONS: A GLOBAL HISTORY. 2ND ED. BY CRAIG A. LOCKARD
Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History. 2nd ed ., by Craig A. Lockard. Boston: Wadsworth , 2011. 1120 pages. ISBN-10: 143908520X ISBN-13: 9781439085202 The first thing that strikes a reader about the new edition of Craig Lockard’s world history textbook are the maps, both in a short introductory geography read more »
REVIEW OF EMPIRES OF THE ATLANTIC WORLD: BRITAIN AND SPAIN IN AMERICA, 1492-1830, BY J.H. ELLIOTT
Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, 1492-1830 , by J.H. Elliott. New Haven and London: Yale University Press , 2006. 546 pp. ISBN 0-300-11431-1 The act of comparison has a long history, as a useful tool for understanding and also as a rationale for intolerance. read more »
REVIEW OF EMPIRES IN WORLD HISTORY: POWER AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE, BY JANE BURBANK AND FREDERICK COOPER
Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference . By Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press , 2010. 511 pp. + maps and illustrations. $35.00 (hardcover). Although we live in a world of some two hundred nation-states - each of which flaunts read more »
The Horse in Human History. By Pita Kelekna. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 2009.. 460 pages. $99.00 (hardcover) $27.99 (paperback). Pita Kelekna provides a masterful statement regarding current archeological, anthropological, and historical understanding of the increasing complexity of early equestrian cultures and of the worldwide rise of importance of the read more »
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- ON TEACHING
- THE NEW IMPERIAL HISTORY: A PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH
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- PROGRESS REPORT: MIDDLE GROUND JOURNAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT INTERNS AND NORTH STAR ACADEMY 8TH GRADE GLOBAL STUDIES CLASSES, SPRING 2013
- FROM THE CHIEF EDITOR
- THE MIDDLE GROUND JOURNAL AND PERSPECTIVES ON HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
- ARTICLES
- THE BEGINNING OF TWO CRISES: THE JEWISH IMMIGRATION AND THE PARTITION OF PALESTINE IN 1937
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- HOW COMPARISON LED ME TO WORLD HISTORY AND GLOBALIZATION
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- REVIEW OF ENCOUNTERS WITH WITCHCRAFT: FIELD NOTES FROM AFRICA BY NORMAN N. MILLER
(1 comment) - ON TEACHING
- PROPAGANDA AND THE 21ST CENTURY STUDENT
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- REVIEW OF JAPAN IN WORLD HISTORY BY JAMES L. HUFFMAN
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