Review of The Ever-Changing Past by James M. Banner, Jr.
“a restatement of basic principles of long-standing practice”
Read moreTag Archives: Reviews
Review of Family, Slavery, and Love in the Early American Republic
“a fitting tribute to Lewis’s scholarship”
Read moreReview of Bengal Muslims and Colonial Education, 1854–1947 by Nilanjana Paul
“a new addition to the history of the Partition of India that attempts to demystify the intersectionality of colonial education policy, communal identity formation, class and gender politics, and the rise of religious nationalism in undivided Bengal”
Read moreReview of Mobilizing Black Germany by Tiffany N. Florvil
“Florvil’s coinage of “quotidian intellectual” signifies the importance of challenging what scholars typically think of as “the archive” and broadening what sources, objects, and indeed subjects warrant academic attention.”
Read moreReview of The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist by Kate Fullagar
“Ostenaco, Mai, and Reynolds offer three striking examples of the many and varied meanings of empire in the eighteenth-century.”
Read moreReview of Eastbound through Siberia by George Wilhelm Steller
“The German-born naturalist, Georg Wilhelm Steller was one of a handful of Western European academics who took part in the Russian Empire’s Second Kamchatka Expedition, 1737-43.”
Read moreReview of Hajj to the Heart by Scott Kugle
“Kugle sets a new academic foray into the historiography of Sufism”
Read moreReview of Spiritual Subjects by Lale Can
“a new and fascinating perspective on our understanding of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century hajj”
Read moreReview of The Cold War from the Margins by Theodora K. Dragostinova
“a remarkable new book”
Read moreReview of Tea War by Andrew B. Liu
“a thought-provoking account which hints at how scholars might reconsider the history of capitalism from the perspective of rural or ‘traditional’ Asian peripheries…”
Read moreReview of Warsaw Ghetto Police by Katarzyna Person
“[Katarzyna] Person should be commended for providing Holocaust scholars with the fullest account of the Order Service to date and revising our understanding of the diversity of individual attitudes and motivations among policemen.”
Read moreReview of An Open Secret by Natalie L. Kimball
“as a resource for researching secondary literature or the structuring of an undergraduate research seminar, this work certainly possesses great value.”
Read moreReview of Hiding in Plain Sight by Christian P. Potholm
“as a resource for researching secondary literature or the structuring of an undergraduate research seminar, this work certainly possesses great value.”
Read moreReview of Outcaste Bombay by Juned Shaikh
“Outcaste Bombay is successful in broadening the scope of histories from below by expanding its enquiry into the worlds of the lumpen-proletariat, the petty bourgeois shop keepers, and the sex workers. It offers a glimpse of Bombay as it is lived, reshaped, and appro¬priated by its Dalit inhabitants, and makes a great contribution to the bourgeoning scholarship on Dalit labor and Bombay city.”
Read moreReview Essay of Two Books on Burma and Military History
The 1945 Burma Campaign and the Transformation of the British Indian Army. Raymond A. Callahan and Daniel Marston. Kansas University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780700630417. A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain, 1941-45. Robert Lyman. Oxford: Osprey, 2021. ISBN: 9781472847140. Reviewed by George Wilton, independent scholar, Member of British Commission for Military History, Managing Editor of British Journal for
Read moreReview of Colonial Transactions by Florence Bernault
“Colonial Transactions expands our knowledge and refines our understanding of the two themes that stand at its center – witchcraft and colonialism. The book historicizes witchcraft, arguing that history can enhance our understanding of the obsessions and modes of power of modern witchcraft in Africa. It brings closer the allegedly contradictory ideas of the European colonizers and the colonized Africans and discusses them in the same realm.”
Read moreReview of Coming Home to a Foreign Country by Ong Soon Keong
“As an hourglass funnels sand from the top, through its waist, to the bottom, and when turned over shifts that same sand back, Ong Soon Keong portrays the coastal Chinese city of Xiamen as a middle ground funneling people from Fujian to Southeast Asia and back again.”
Read moreReview of The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen
“The Library: A Fragile History maintains a quick pace throughout, a fact which is necessitated by the sheer breadth of history which it encompasses.”
Read moreReview of Mapping Water in Dominica: Enslavement and Environment under Colonialism by Mark W. Hauser
“Hauser provides a nuanced and an enriched environmentally informed history of how that oppression took place and by what means.”
Read moreReview of Argentina in the Global Middle East by Lilly Pearl Balloffet
“[Balloffet] masterfully navigates a wide range of literatures and perspectives including case studies of Middle Eastern migration, comparative studies of migration in the Americas, global studies of South-South migration, and studies of nation-building in Argentina.”
Read moreReview of The Souls of Womenfolk by Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh
“Wells-Oghoghomeh offers crucial insights, close analysis, and some surprising findings along the way.”
Read moreReview of Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850 by Sugata Ray
“…this elegantly composed and organized book…”
Read moreReview of Queen, Mother, and Stateswoman: Mariana of Austria and the Government of Spain by Silvia Z. Mitchell
“…Silvia Mitchell’s book uses a microhistorical approach to comprehend larger questions, such as the political and diplomatic situation of the Spanish Monarchy during the second half of the seventeenth century…”
Read moreReview of Consuming Ivory: Mercantile Legacies of East Africa and New England by Alexandra Celia Kelly
“…an interdisciplinary and multifaceted study that spans more than two hundred years and three continents…”
Read moreReview of Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule by Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis
“…Thomas and Lewis resurrect the words of dissent the Nazis tried so hard to silence. In nearly every story they tell, the authors find the final words of the resistors who were executed, showing the courage these people possessed.”
Read moreReview of Rotten Bodies: Class and Contagion in Eighteenth-Century Britain by Kevin Siena
“As plague swept the globe at the dawn of the early eighteenth century, ideas about poverty and disease justified new medical geographies and biopolitical schemes for dispossessing poor people. “
Read moreReview Essay of Three Books on Central Asia
“…those of us who teach Central Asian history can now rejoice—not one, but two accessible and well-written narrative histories of Central Asia in the modern age have been published within a year of each other, accompanied by a sourcebook about the same period.”
Read moreReview of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World by Benjamin R. Young
“…This rich and complex story of North Korea’s Third World policies is based upon the author’s extensive archival research, including government documents and newspapers from the West, the East, and the Third World….”
Read moreReview of Abolishing Boundaries: Global Utopias in the Formation of Modern Chinese Political Thought, 1880-1940 by Peter Zarrow
“…The goals of Abolishing Boundaries are set against our present skepticism about sweeping transformations.”
Read moreReview of Coffeeland: One Man’s Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug by Augustine Sedgewick
“…Sedgewick’s twenty-six brisk chapters introduce the reader to the global history of coffee from a peculiar vantage point, the Las Tres Puertas coffee plantation at the foot of the Santa Ana volcano in El Salvador…”
Read moreReview of The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917 by Roger R. Reese
“Reese’s work is an extensive treatment of the Russian Army during its last six decades. He places major emphasis on a new view of the final collapse of the army from long term causes…”
Read moreReview of The Last Good Neighbor: Mexico in the Global Sixties by Eric Zolov
“…this book is an unprecedently clear account of the ways in which Mexico was both uniquely free and at the same time meaningfully limited in its diplomatic relations with the rest of the world…”
Read moreReview of Global Development: A Cold War History by Sara Lorenzini
In this smart, concise survey of twentieth-century development ideology and practice, Sara Lorenzini deconstructs what she calls the “global myth of development”…
Read moreReview of Colonialism in Global Perspective by Kris Manjapra
Colonialism in Global Perspective. Kris Manjapra. Cambridge University Press, 2020. ISBN-13: 9781108441360. Reviewed by Joseph Snyder, Southeast Missouri State University Edited by Julie Tanaka © 2022 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 23, Spring 2022. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Between Fitness and Death: Disability and Slavery in the Caribbean by Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy
Between Fitness and Death: Disability and Slavery in the Caribbean. Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy. University of Illinois Press, 2020. ISBN-13: 9780252085062. Reviewed by Zach Sell, Drexel University (now Brown University) Edited by Julie Tanaka © 2022 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 23, Spring 2022. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period edited by Craig W. Tyson and Virginia R. Hermann
Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Edited by Craig W. Tyson and Virginia R. Hermann. University Press of Colorado, 2019. ISBN: 9781607328223. Reviewed by Alexander Johannes Edmonds, University of Tübingen Edited by Julie Tanaka and Sarah Pesola © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access
Read moreReview of Lisbon: A Biography by Magda Pinheiro
Lisbon: A Biography. Magda Pinheiro. Translated by Mario Pereira. Dartmouth, MA: Tagus Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781933227757. Reviewed by Ernst Pijning, Minot State University Edited by Julie Tanaka © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea by David Fedman
Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea. David Fedman. University of Washington Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780295747453. Reviewed by Steven Ivings, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University Edited by Birgit Schneider © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Soldiers, Saints, and Shamans: Indigenous Communities and the Revolutionary State in Mexico’s Gran Nayar, 1910-1940 by Nathaniel Morris
Soldiers, Saints, and Shamans: Indigenous Communities and the Revolutionary State in Mexico’s Gran Nayar, 1910-1940. Nathanial Morris. University of Arizona Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780816541027. Reviewed by Joshua Simon, Columbia University Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational
Read moreReview of The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation by Wasana Wongsurawat
The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation. Wasana Wongsurawat. University of Washington Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780295746241. Reviewed by Fabrizio Martino, Chulalongkorn University-Bangkok Edited by Birgit Schneider and Sarah Pesola © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access
Read moreReview Essay of Two Holocaust Memoirs
I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir. Esther Safran Foer. Random House, 2020. ISBN: 9780525575986. Inge’s War: A German Woman’s Story of Family, Secrets, and Survival under Hitler. Svenja O’Donnell. Viking, 2020. ISBN: 9781984880215. Reviewed by Laura J. Hilton, Muskingum University Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal
Read moreReview of Gendered Power: Educated Women of the Meiji Empress’ Court by Mamiko C. Suzuki
Gendered Power: Educated Women of the Meiji Empress’ Court. Mamiko C. Suzuki. University of Michigan Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780807174302. Reviewed by Daniel Barish, Baylor University Edited by Birgit Schneider © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey by Anne Mendelson
Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey. Anne Mendelson. Columbia University Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780231541299. Reviewed by Elizabeth Fuhan Mason, M.A. student, San Francisco State University Edited by Julie Tanaka © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Sweet Land of Liberty: America in the Mind of the French Left, 1848-1871 by Tom Sancton
Sweet Land of Liberty: America in the Mind of the French Left, 1848-1871. Tom Sancton. Louisiana State University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780807174302. Reviewed by Michael Clinton, Gwynedd Mercy University Edited by Julie Tanaka © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions by Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Jeffrey D. Sachs. Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231193740. Reviewed by J. Justin Castro, Arkansas State University Edited by Birgit Schneider © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Class in the Age of Empire by Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel, eds.
The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Class in the Age of Empire. Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel, eds. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780691195834. Reviewed by Steven Ivings, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University Edited by Justin Quinn Olmstead and Sarah Pesola © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See
Read moreReview of Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887-1912 by Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz
Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887-1912. Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz. Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231192156. Reviewed by Tristan Miguel Osteria, University of Santo Tomas Edited by Birgit Schneider © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians, 1801-1914 by Stephen Badalyan Riegg
Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians, 1801-1914. Stephen Badalyan Riegg. Cornell University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781501750113. Reviewed by Krista Sigler, University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College Edited by Birgit Schneider © 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire by Mina García Soormally
Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire. Mina García Soormally. Colorado: University of Colorado Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781607328001. Reviewed by Lydia A. Perez, Master’s student, University of Central Oklahoma Edited by Birgit Schneider and Justin Quinn Olmstead (c) 2021 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 21, Spring 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
Read moreReview of Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick
Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town. Barbara Demick. New York: Penguin Random House, 2020. ISBN: 9780812998764. Reviewed by Annima Bahukhandi, Assistant Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi Edited by Julie Tanaka (c) 2021 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 21, Spring 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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