“The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad” by Harrison E. Salisbury…SUCKS! This book really, really sucks, and is a terrible, terrible book. The title of the book is extremely misleading; indeed, only slightly more than half the total number of pages (54%) in the book actually have anything to do with the siege of Leningrad.ContinueContinue reading “Review: “The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad” – Harrison E. Salisbury”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Review: “A Political History of The Gambia, 1816-1994” – Arnold Hughes and David Perfect
THANK GOD THIS BOOK IS DONE! I expected “A Political History of The Gambia, 1816-1994” by Arnold Hughes and David Perfect to be a monotonous tome (at 549 pages!), but I thought I’d give it a go! And since there are so few books written about The Gambia, mainland Africa’s smallest state, I was determinedContinueContinue reading “Review: “A Political History of The Gambia, 1816-1994” – Arnold Hughes and David Perfect”
Review: “One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America” – Jerry Lembcke and William M. Tattam
“One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America” by Jerry Lembcke and William M. Tattam is one of the BEST labour studies books I have ever read. The authors don’t just examine the history of the IWA chronologically, such as the various strike battles and other struggles of Canadian andContinueContinue reading “Review: “One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America” – Jerry Lembcke and William M. Tattam”
Review: “Becoming Somaliland” – Mark Bradbury
Someone on Facebook recommended Mark Bradbury’s “Becoming Somaliland” to me because I study ethnic and separatist conflicts. I thought it would be interesting to read about Somaliland, a place I know little about besides that it declared independence from Somalia and has remained relatively peaceful while the rest of Somalia has been rife with violenceContinueContinue reading “Review: “Becoming Somaliland” – Mark Bradbury”
Review: “France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa” – Nathaniel K. Powell
In “France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa,” Nathaniel K. Powell meticulously examines France’s multiple military interventions in Chad between Chadian independence in 1960 and Hissène Habré’s seizure of power in 1982. Powell argues that France’s military interventions in Chad, its support to competing armed factions and ruthless dictatorial regimes, not onlyContinueContinue reading “Review: “France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa” – Nathaniel K. Powell”
Review: “Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Kiva, 1865-1924” – Seymour Becker
Seymour Becker’s analysis of Russia’s conquests of the khanates of Bukhara and Khiva is considered the book on the subject. However, I did not find this book lived up to its reputation in Central Asian studies circles. What is most striking about this book is Becker’s elementary understanding of imperialism and empire. Throughout much ofContinueContinue reading “Review: “Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Kiva, 1865-1924” – Seymour Becker”
Review: “Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy: Positive Neutrality and the Consolidation of the Turkmen Regime” – Luca Anceschi
Luca Anceschi’s “Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy: Positive Neutrality and the Consolidation of the Turkmen Regime” was another swing and a miss by Routledge. Just like Irina Y. Morozova’s “Socialist Revolutions in Asia,” the subject of Anceschi’s book, i.e., Turkmenistan’s doctrine of Positive Neutrality, is of great interest to me. Since the overthrow of the USSR inContinueContinue reading “Review: “Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy: Positive Neutrality and the Consolidation of the Turkmen Regime” – Luca Anceschi”
Early Thoughts: “Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Kiva, 1865-1924” – Seymour Becker
Seymour Becker’s analysis of Russia’s conquests of the khanates of Bukhara and Khiva is considered the book on the subject. Although I am only about 70 pages into the book, what I find most striking about this book is Becker’s inability to understand Lenin’s theory of imperialism and his determination to prove that Russia’s motivesContinueContinue reading “Early Thoughts: “Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Kiva, 1865-1924” – Seymour Becker”
Review: “Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality: The Bund and the Polish Socialist Party in Late Tsarist Russia, 1892-1914” – Joshua D. Zimmerman
Joshua D. Zimmerman’s “Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality: The Bund and the Polish Socialist Party in Late Tsarist Russia, 1892-1914” is an excellent, well researched, highly informative, and widely accessible analysis of Polish-Jewish relations and the national question within the late tsarist empire. Zimmerman begins the book by describing the origins of theContinueContinue reading “Review: “Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality: The Bund and the Polish Socialist Party in Late Tsarist Russia, 1892-1914” – Joshua D. Zimmerman”
Review: “Socialist Revolutions in Asia: The Social History of Mongolia in the Twentieth Century” – Irina Y. Morozova
Irina Y. Morozova’s “Socialist Revolutions in Asia: The Social History of Mongolia in the Twentieth Century” was not what I had expected — and not in a good way! When I first ordered this book from Routledge, I had hoped for a more balanced history of socialist development in Mongolia than B. Shirendyb’s heavily pro-SovietContinueContinue reading “Review: “Socialist Revolutions in Asia: The Social History of Mongolia in the Twentieth Century” – Irina Y. Morozova”
Review: “The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir” – Telford Taylor
Telford Taylor’s “The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir” is both a memoir/autobiography and a scholarly legal analysis of the International Military Tribunal. The book begins with some details about Taylor and international law as it existed at the time of WWII. Taylor had served in the American Army intelligence in Europe duringContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir” – Telford Taylor”
Terrorism and International Law in Palestine
Image Credit: Getty image by Mustafa Hassouna Israel is once again bombarding Gaza in response to Palestinian protests against the illegal eviction of Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque. Whenever Israel commits such acts of ethnic cleansing and its genocidal policies makes international news headlines, it is often claimedContinueContinue reading “Terrorism and International Law in Palestine”
Review: “The Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State: A Study in Transition” – Anita Sengupta
Anita Sengupta’s “The Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State: A Study in Transition” is a highly theoretical examination of nation-state formation. Unlike Adeeb Khalid, Adrienne Edgar, Arne Haugen, and other Central Asia scholars, Sengupta’s primary focus is not on the actual establishment of Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic, nor Soviet nationalities policy, but how the transformationContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State: A Study in Transition” – Anita Sengupta”
Review: “Japan’s New Imperialism” – Rob Steven
“Japan’s New Imperialism” by Rob Steven is a slightly-dated (published 1990) but nonetheless comprehensive analysis of the rise of Japanese imperialism in Southeast Asia since the 1970s. Since the end of decolonization, “a new revolutionary force is sweeping through and transforming Southeast Asia. That force is capitalism, and once again the catalytic upsurge in itsContinueContinue reading “Review: “Japan’s New Imperialism” – Rob Steven”
Review: “Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It” – James Ciment
James Ciment’s “Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It” is, in my opinion, a much better history of Liberia than David Reese’s “Liberia: America’s African Stepchild”. In Ciment’s book the primary objective of his historical investigation is the politics of Liberia, not the people, although for obvious reasons theContinueContinue reading “Review: “Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It” – James Ciment”
Review: “Liberia: America’s African Stepchild” – David Reese
David Reese’s “Liberia: America’s African Stepchild” is a rather unique history of an African nation. Each chapter is essentially a mini-biography of an important person in Liberia’s history, such as Paul Cuffe, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Edward James Roye, Edwin Barclay, Edward Blyden, William Tubman, and Samuel Doe. It is through the stories of these andContinueContinue reading “Review: “Liberia: America’s African Stepchild” – David Reese”
Review: “1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War” – Michael Carley
Michael Carley’s “1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II” reads like an episode of Law and Order: Special Appeasement Unit. Carley writes about the high-stakes diplomacy in the 1930s like a court-room drama — a real thriller! Carley’s main argument is that WWII happened because of British, French, andContinueContinue reading “Review: “1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War” – Michael Carley”
Review: “Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR” – Adeeb Khalid
Adeeb Khalid’s “Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR” is a landmark study of the creation of the state of Uzbekistan and national territorial delimitation in Soviet Central Asia. The haphazard and seemingly irrational borders of the five Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan — has often beenContinueContinue reading “Review: “Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR” – Adeeb Khalid”
Review: “Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin’s Sniper” – Lyudmila Pavlichenko
With 309 confirmed Nazi kills, Lydumila Pavlichenko was the most successful female sniper in the history of modern warfare. In these memoirs Pavlichenko recounts her experience during the Siege of Odessa and the Siege of Sevastopol. Pavlichenko wasn’t just a sniper; she was a sniper that specialized in hunting enemy snipers! A sniper sniper! Pavlichenko’sContinueContinue reading “Review: “Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin’s Sniper” – Lyudmila Pavlichenko”
Review: “Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh” – Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai
Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai’s “Empire of the Sikhs” tells the story of one of the most remarkable individuals in the history of the Indian subcontinent, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire. Blinded in one eye from smallpox, Ranjit Singh first fought in a battle with his father when he was 10-years-old.ContinueContinue reading “Review: “Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh” – Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai”
T. J. Petrowski 