BRILL

Peoples and international law; how nationalism and self-determination shape a contemporary law of nations.

The right of peoples to self-determination is considered a core principle of international law, yet according to Summers (international law and human rights, U. of Lancaster, UK) it is both contested and notoriously ambiguous. Their monograph attempts to put self-determination on firmer ground by examining the sources of the law, exploring the ideas and historical context that underlie it, and critically analyzing its rhetoric and application. They develop a hybrid approach, combining nationalist and legal perspectives, which shifts the focus away from peoples as sociological entities and towards their role as political ideas. Over the course of five chapters they discuss basic concepts, consider the historical basis of the interaction between nationalism and international law, explore the drafting of international instruments on self-determination, examine how courts and other international bodies have responded to cases involving self-determination, and summarize their legal understanding of self-determination. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Poetry and exegesis in premodern Latin Christianity; the encounter between classical and Christian strategies of interpretation.

From Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages, Latin Christian poetry was criticized on the one hand for perpetuating pagan fictions, and on the other for not doing a very interesting job of it because it just paraphrased the Bible or other Christian literature. In June 2004, scholars of the classics, theology, cultural studies, and history gathered in The Netherlands to ponder these criticisms. All but two of the 17 essays here are from that conference. They cover theories of Latin Christian poetry, particular authors and works, and overviews and comparisons. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The poetics of grammar and the metaphysics of sound and sign.

This collection of 12 essays explores the idea that grammar serves as a template in cultures, that such templates have specific contours, and that the applications of grammar has influence on the world. Four essays consider creation, whether through hieroglyphs, an existence-bestowing world in Islamic mysticism, Adam's naming of the animals or Greek distrust of language. Papers on cultural encoding cover Dandin's investigation of the simile, writing in Western Zhou China, monastic leadership in Gaza, and the alphabet of Buddhism, while those on self-transformation consider language in Kabala, the poetics of grammar in the Javano-Balinese tradition, poetry that brings an Indian goddess into being, and powerful Armenian medications. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The politics of historical production in late Qing and Republican China.

These ten essays closely examine the transmission of historical facts and perceptions from the academic elite to the masses, primarily in the form of general reading and classroom texts. The Qing dynasty controlled content through screening and authorization, processes echoed by the Revolutionary polity. These papers address issues peculiar to each government as well as concerns they shared and therefore address how reform affected national identity, reform's impact on ethnic politics, the influence of manipulated content, a resulting synthesis of "general history" in twentieth-century China, and the effects of war and European attitudes on Chinese intellectuals and their perception of global modernity. The final papers describe how national history was officially presented in Republican China, in the last days of the Qing, and during national formation. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Ransom slavery along the Ottoman borders (early fifteenth-early eighteenth centuries).

Dávid (Ottoman history, Eötvös Lorand University, Hungary) and Fodor (history, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) collect 12 studies on areas of Ottoman slavery that haven't received much attention in the past. The studies are organized around themes related to the acquisition of war prisoners, kidnapping, and ransom slavery in the Balkans and Central Europe, especially in Hungary but also other border regions extending from Crimea to Malta. Contributors examine Christian slavery in the Ottoman Empire and provide insight into the tribulations of Ottoman slaves in the Christian world and the devastating effect of captive-related transactions on trade and on the financial position of entire communities. A few chapters look at the situation in the 15th century, but most focus on techniques of acquiring, holding, and exchanging captives in the 16th and 17th centuries. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Re-examining contract and unjust enrichment; Anglo-Canadian perspectives.

This collection of essays addresses the interplay between contract law and unjust enrichment under both English and Canadian law in the 21st century. Leading academics in law from Canada and the UK analyze the nature and development of the principles of unjust enrichment, their relationship with contract and fiduciary obligations, and their impact upon traditional contractual doctrines such as mistake, undue influence, frustration, and the assessment of damages. The comparative nature of the volume demonstrates the continuing importance of the UK-Canada relationship and highlights the value of scholarly exchange on contemporary legal problems which transcend national boundaries. Material originated at a 2006 conference. Giliker is a reader in comparative law at the University of Bristol, UK. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Reflections on the law of war; collected essays.

Kalshoven began his career in the Royal Dutch Navy (1945-1967), was a professor at Leiden U. and Groningen U., has served on the UN Commission of Experts investigating the former Yugoslavia and on the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (1991-2003), among other activities; and with all that involvement, he has also found time to write. This volume collects 50 articles published during the past 35 years. In his preface the author specifies that whereas his Dutch domestic law training involved going back to Roman and German law origins, his work in international humanitarian law has as its starting point the second half of the 19th century. He presents his papers (with only minor editorial changes) arranged thematically rather than chronologically, offering an introduction to the law of warfare followed by chapters on the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law; the means and methods of warfare; combatants, civilians, guerrilla fighters, terrorists; compliance and enforcement; reprisals and fact-finding; and humanitarian law and human rights, criminal law, and neutrality. The final summing up section includes an article on the centennial of the First International Peace Conference, and a "motion of thanks" — Kalshoven's speech on receipt of the Henry Dunant medal from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in 2003. Unlike many collections of papers, this one is thoroughly indexed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Religion, human rights and international law; a critical examination of Islamic state practices.

Examining mostly Islamic states, law scholars from Britain, Ireland, and Canada explore the complexities inherent in the freedom of religion within international law, and analyze the cultural-religious relativist debate in contemporary human rights law. Their topics include religion as a source of international law, why the Hindu caste system presents a new challenge for human rights, minority rights and self-determination in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the path of Muslim integration into Northern Ireland. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Renaissance inquisitors; Dominican inquistors and inquisitorial districts in Northern Italy, 1474-1527.

Tavuzzi (philosophy, U. of St. Thomas, Rome) takes an unusual approach in examining a period in which there was no official overarching inquisition in northern Italy but plenty of active inquisitors working more or less independently. He examines the lives of specific Dominican inquisitors, their beliefs, acts and relations with the powers of the Church and finds a remarkable range of personal attributes (including those along family lines) and careers, and describes how even administrators, courtiers and academics became involved in suppressing minorities such as Waldensians and freethinkers. His material on inquisitors who specialized in witch-hunting is especially interesting. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Roman villas in Central Italy; a social and economic history.

Marzano (archaeology, Oxford U.) analyzes wide range of texts and artifacts to find how elite villas in Roman central Italy related to their socio-economic surroundings. Through close observations of such elements as the placement and quality of slave quarters and intense study of the putative second century Roman economic crisis, Marzano goes far beyond typical assumptions about the moral choices villa owners made, models of operation, and amount and type of interaction between the villas and their complex networks of supporting enterprises. Marzano closes with a fascinating catalog of sites with commentary. The illustrations and maps are superior. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Scripturalist Islam; the history and doctrines of the Akhbari Shi'i School.

The Akhbari School dominated the intellectual landscape of Imami Shi'ism between the 17th and early 19th centuries. Gleave (Arabic studies, University of Exeter, UK) collects work on the intellectual development and historical influence on the Akhbari School. In several chapters, the ideas of founding scholar Astarabadi are analyzed in detail, on the basis of his extant writings on legal theory and theology. Gleave examines the network of Astarabadi's teaching circles and their role in the spread of Akhbarism in the 200 years following his death, and looks at major themes within Akhbari works of jurisprudence between the death of Astarabadi and the work of Mirza Muhammad al-Akhbari, the last significant Akhbari scholar in Iraq and Iran. Concluding chapters look at the relationship between Akhbarism and Usulism as one of the factors which contributed to Akhbarism's demise. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Seeking real truths; multidisciplinary perspectives on Machiavelli.

Machiavelli continues to influence politics, government, literature, drama and even art, and it is as difficult to pin him into one disciplinary framework as it is to find consensus about his content. These 16 essays allow for Machiavelli's authority across many lines of study, including those of government and society, and comment upon his reception from his time to our own. Contributors offer a new introduction to The Prince and new thinking about it as text, commentary on preserving a free way of life, and Machiavelli's uses of and for rhetoric and prudence. Other topics include Machiavellian approaches to women, masculinity, the stage, mayhem and sex, imprudence, Machiavelli's ongoing appeal and a very interesting piece on Shakespeare's Machiavellian muses. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Silk for silver; Dutch-Vietnamese relations, 1637-1700.

The world economy had come to a crisis point. China was suffering a major political and dynastic change. Japan closed its doors to contact with the west. It remained for the Vietnamese kingdom of Tonkin to supply silk to the European market, and it took advantage of the situation to become the major exporter in East Asia. Hoang (history, Vietnam National U.) relies on a wealth of primary documents never used before in his account of trade between Tonkin's maritime traders and the Dutch East India Company, tracing the seemingly endless shifts in policies and practices on both sides and explaining the contexts behind business and political decisions during this crucial era in trade and foreign relations. Some of the most interesting material describes the impact of trade on the people who practiced it and what happened when the attempted to get more control of products and markets. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands; an annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593-1960s.

Doortmont (international relations and Africa studies, U. of Groningen) and Smit (history, U. of Amsterdam) begin by describing the archives concerning the historical relations between the Netherlands and Ghana, on the west coast of Africa, over the four centuries. They focus on how the archives are ordered, to help researchers choose materials relevant for any specific theme. The second part contains a set of thematic descriptions emphasizing the historical topics that can be addressed with the help of the Dutch archives. Only the Nationaal Archeif in the Hague is covered. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Spanish yearbook of international law, v.11, 2005.

The only English text of the Spanish Association of Teachers of International Law and International Relations, this publication provides English-language readers around the world detailed information about Spanish practice in 2005 in the fields of public international law, private international law and international relations. Following articles on the future of uniform private law in the EU, the regulation of aliens and immigration in Spain in 2006, and Spanish policies towards Latin America, the text contains sections on diplomatic and parliamentary practice, treaties on public and private international law, municipal legislation on public and private international law, judicial decisions on public and private international law, and a bibliographic listing of Spanish literature on private and public international law and related matters. For international lawyers and law students. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Studies in Jewish and Christian history; a new edition in English including The god of the Maccabees; 2v.

Classicist Bickerman (1897-1981) collected his 44 essays on early Judaism and Christianity, in three languages, from the different and often remote journals where they had originally appeared, and issued them in three volumes, respectively in 1976, 1980, and posthumously in 1986. They have long been out of print. His The God of the Maccabees, though also out of print, was very popular and so included in that third volume and is included here. He brings to his studies a broad knowledge of classical history and languages, and a belief that early Jewish and Christians ideas and practice can only be understood within their Romano-Greek context. Quotations are in the original language with English translation. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Temple consecration rituals in ancient India.

Revising her 2006 doctoral dissertation for Leiden University, the Netherlands, Slaczka examines three important construction ritual of the Hindu tradition: laying the first stones, placing the consecrated deposit, and placing the crowning bricks. She draws heavily on the rich accounts in many Sanskrit texts on architecture and religion that date from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries. Chief among them is the Kasyapasilpa, a South Indian treatise on art and architecture and ritual written about the 11th-12th centuries. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Theology of ministry; a reformed contribution to an ecumenical dialogue.

Van der Borght (systematic theology, Vrije U., Amsterdam) provides a number of building blocks for an updated theology of ministry within the field of systematic theology that builds on the foundations of the Dutch Reformed Church traditions. His goal is to contribute to the ministry's identity formation and effectiveness in the church. The treatise is translated and revised from his November 2000 doctoral dissertation at the University of Leiden. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Theological quodlibeta in the Middle Ages; the fourteenth century.

Beginning about 1230, the University of Paris would hold special disputations in which leading theologians would respond to questions from a broad audience de quolilbet, about anything. Over the next century, hundreds of these sessions were recorded on parchment. In the second of two volumes examining the texts (rather than the physical documents), historians and philosophers discuss those by such figures as Peter of Auvergne, John Duns Scotus, Thomas Wylton, and Peter Auriol. They also look at those texts in the collections of canons regular, Dominicans, Carmelites, Augustinians, Franciscans, and in Oxford. A concluding chapter discusses the demise of the genre. Indexes are included of the manuscripts, the authors, and names and places. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Towards new global strategies; public goods and human rights.

This volume is a Danish contribution to the issue of connections between global public goods and human rights. Global public goods considered include peace, international institutions, good governance, legal protection and the rule of law, access to information, health, fresh water, and international trade. Each author was asked to address the justification for seeing their issue as a global public good, basic definitional issues, initiatives and mechanisms for public good procurement, possible sanctions and their relevance, political obstructions to procurement, financing of the global public good, and Denmark's present or potential contribution to the particular global public good. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)