The Round Table

The Commonwealth Bookshelf

Each issue of The Round Table includes a 'Commonwealth Bookshelf' - a listing of newly published books on the Commonwealth and its member countries.

Commonwealth Bookshelf Archive:

•  Commonwealth Bookshelf 2010
•  Commonwealth Bookshelf 2009
•  Commonwealth Bookshelf 2008

Many of these are later reviews as each issue also includes a substantial Book Reviews section. The Bookshelf is compiled and the reviews coordinated by The Round Table's Assistant Editor, Terry Barringer.

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Commonwealth Bookshelf 2008

Compiled by Terry A. Barringer

General

• William Beinart and Lotte Hughes, Environment and Empire (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series).
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, xiii + 395 pp. ISBN 978-0-199-26031-7.
• Cedric H. Grant and R. Mark Kirton, editor, Governance, Conflict Analysis & Conflict Resolution.
  Kingston: Ian Randle, 2007, xxvii + 494 pp. ISBN 978-976-637-259-0.
  Strong Caribbean focus and also including chapters on Fiji, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
• Philip Holden, Autobiography and decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity and the Nation-state.
  Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. xi + 264. ISBN 0-299-22610-7.
  Study of autobiographies of nationalist leaders including Gandhi, Nehru, Nkruman, Mandela and Lee Kuan Yew.
• Peter Limb, Orb and Sceptre: studies on British Imperialism and its legacies in honour of Norman Etherington.
  Clayton, Vic: Monash University ePress, 2008, [280] pp. ISBN 978-0-9803616-6-7. Available online at www.epress.monash.edu/os ISBN 978-0-9803616-7-4.
  Festschrift bringing together recent work on British Imperialism, with particular reference to Australia and Southern Africa, and the colonial construction of knowledge. Includes article "Till death us do part? Commercial TV, changing family values and Queen Elizabeth II's Commonwealth", by Jennifer McGuire.
• N. Shanmugaratnam, Between War & Peace in Sudan & Sri Lanka: deprivation & livelihood renewal
  Oxford: James Currey, 2008, xi + 194 pp. ISBN 978-1847-0110-22.
• J.C. Sharman and Percy S. Mistry, Considering the Consequences: the development implications of initiatives on taxation, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism
  London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 2008. xii + 202 pp. ISBN 978-0-85092-874-7.
  The consequences, for Barbados, Mauritius and Vanuatu. of recent regulatory initiatives on international financial centres in small countries.
• Timothy M. Shaw, Commonwealth: inter and non-state contributions to global governance
  London and New York: Routledge, 2007, xvi + 160 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-415-35120-1, (paperback) 978-0-415-35120-1.
  Overview of the Commonwealth within the wider context of debates about globalization, governance and global institutions.
• Martin Shipway, Decolonization and its Impact: A Comparative Approach to the End of the Colonial Empires
  Oxford: Blackwell, 2008, xi + 269 pp. ISBN 978-0-631-199968-7.

Africa

• Africa conflict, peace and governance monitor, 2006: ACDESS annual publication on the state of governance in Africa.
  Ijebu Ode: ACDESS and Ibadan: Dokun Publishing House, 2006, vi + 214 pp. ISBN 978-37962-3-2.
  Includes studies of Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Nigeria and Kenya in addition to regional surveys and non-Commonwealth African countries.
• Joe Amoako-Tuffour and Bartholomew Armah, editors, Poverty reduction strategies in action: perspectives and lessons from Ghana.
  Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. xxi + 343 pp. ISBN 978-0739-1101-02.
• Catherine Bestemann, Tansforming Cape Town.
  Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. xii + 296 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-0-520-25670-5, (pbk) 978-052-25672-2.
  A readable anthropological approach to life in Cape Town in the years after Apartheid.
• Elleke Boehmer, Nelson Mandela: a very short introduction.
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 204 pp. ISBN 978-0-19280301-6.
• Paul Collier, Chukwuma C. Soludo and Catherine Patillo, editors, Economic Policy Options for a Prosperous Nigeria.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2008, xx + 439 pp. ISBN 13:978-0-230-54273-0.
• Joanne Davis, Constructive engagement? Chester Crocker & American policy in South Africa, Namibia & Angola, 1981-8.
  Oxford: James Currey, 2007, x + 246 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-184701-305-7, (paperback) 978-184701-304-0.
• Steve De Gruchy, Nico Koopman and Sytse Strijbos, editors, From Our Side: Emerging Perspectives on Development and Ethics.
  Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2008, ix + 288 pp. ISBN 978-90-5170-974-2.
  A collaborative effort of younger scholars in Southern Africa and the Netherlands who are interested in the relationship between development and ethics from a Christian viewpoint. Explores themes of identity, culture, gender, poverty and the market, power and the struggle for life.
• Toyin Falola and Matthew M., A History of Nigeria.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xl + 329 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-86294-3.
  From 9000 BCE to 2007, with final chapter on Nigeria and Nigerians in world history.
• Antoinette Handley, Business and the State in Africa: Economic Policy-making in the Neo-Liberal Era.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, xii + 292 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-521-88605-5, (paperback) 978-0-521-71371
• Heidi Holland, Dinner with Mugabe: the untold story of a freedom fighter who became a tyrant.
  London: Penguin, 2008, xxi + 250 pp. ISBN 978-0-14302-557-3.
• Z. Pallo Jordan, editor, Oliver Tambo Remembered.
  Johannesburg: Pan Macmillan, 2007. xxix + 463 pp. ISBN 978-1-77010-075-6.
  Compilation of memories from friends and colleagues in celebration of what would have been Tambo's ninetieth birthday.
• Al Noor Kassum, Africa's winds of change: memoirs of an international Tanzanian.
  London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007, xiv + 163 pp. ISBN 978-1-84511-583-8.
  Autobiography of a leading Tanzanian politician with an admiring portrayal of the character and legacy of Julius Nyerere.
• Marko Kuhn, Prophetic Christianity in Western Kenya: political, cultural and theological aspects of African independent churches.
  Frankfurt, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2008, xx +328 pp. ISBN 978-3631-5702-65.
• Merle Lipton, Liberals, Marxists and Nationalists: competing interpretations of South African history.
  London, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, vii + 228 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-60059-1.
  Examines conflicting historical accounts of the origins, evolution and, especially, the undermining of apartheid.
• Samuel Makinda and F. Wafule Okumu, The African Union: Past and Future Governance Challenges. (Global Institutions Series).
  London and New York: Routledge, 2007, xvii + 209 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-415-40350-4, (paperback) 9780-414-40349-8.
• Kennedy Agade Mkutu, Guns & Governance in the Rift Valley: Pastoralist Conflict & Small Arms.
  Oxford: James Currey, 2008, xiv + 175 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-1-84701-309-5, (paperback) 978-1-84701-308-8.
• Andile Mngxitama, Amanda Alexander and Nigel C.Gibson editors, Biko Lives! Contesting the legacies of Steve Biko.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ISBN (hardbk) 978-0-230-60519-0, (paperbk) 0-230-60649-4.
  Includes philosophical reflections on Biko's thought, historical investigations of Black consciousness in South Africa and analysis of relevance to the present.
• Gugulethu Moyo and Mark Ashurst editors, The Day after Mugabe: prospects for change in Zimbabwe.
  London: Africa Research Centre, 2007, 214 pp. ISBN 978- 1-906329-00-6
  Articles by key actors, commentators and policy experts on what went wrong in Zimbabwe and future prospects.
• Jessica Shafer, Soldiers at Peace: Veterans after the Civil War in Mozambique.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave, 2007, xi + 256 pp. ISBN 978-1-4039-7053-4.
• Tanja Schũmer, New Humanitarianism: Britain and Sierra Leone, 1997-2003.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xiv + 192 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-54517.
• S.M. Shamsul, Rethinking the Mau Mau in colonial Kenya.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. xv + 249 pp. 978-1-4039-8374-7.
  New approach from a Bangladeshi scholar.
• David Simon, James R. Pletcher and Brian Siegel, Historical Dictionary of Zambia.
  (Historical Dictionaries of Africa; 106) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008, lx + 612 pp. ISBN 978-0810-8530-58.
• Benjamin Soares and René Otayek, editors, Islam amd Muslim politics in Africa.
  Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007, ix + 280 pp. ISBN (hardback) 178-1-906329-00-6, (paperback) 978-1-4039-7964-3.
  Includes chapters on South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya Nigeria and Cameroon.
• Lauren St. John, Rainbow's End: An African Memoir.
  London: Penguin, 2008, xix + 277 pp. ISBN 978-0-141-02460-8.
  The St. John family moved on to a thousand-acre Rhodesia farm in 1978. A story of growing up against the background of the bush war and Zimbabwean independence.
• Judith Garfield Todd, Through the Darkness: a life in Zimbabwe.
  Cape Town and London: New Holland, 2007, xii + 460 pp. ISBN 978-1-77022-002-7.
  A personal and political account of life in Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
• Onyekachi Wambu, editor, Under the tree of talking: leadership for change in Africa.
  London: Counterpoint, 2007, 291 pp. ISBN 978-086355-586-2.
  A collection of eighteen essays by leading thinkers including Chinua Achebe and Ali Mazrui.

Asia

• Alice Albinia, Empires of the Indus: from Tibet to Pakistan; the story of a river.
  London: John Murray, 2008. 384 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-0719-5600-33, (paperbk) 978-0719-5600-33.
• Amardeep Atwal, China-India relations: contemporary dynamics.
  London: Routledge, 2008, xv + 159 pp. ISBN 978-0415-4373-56.
• Mazhur Aziz, Military control in Pakistan: the parallel state.
  London: Routledge, 2008. xi + 144 pp. ISBN 978-0415-4374-31.
• Susan Bayly, Asian Voices in a Postcolonial Age: Vietnam, India and beyond.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, xi +281 pp. ISBN 978-0-5218-6885-3.
  Study of intellectuals and their cosmopolitan life trajectories
• Linnell E. Cady and Sheldon W. Simon editors, Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia: disrupting violence.
  Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2007, x + 198 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-415-39734-6, (paperback) 978-0-415-45953-2.
  Causes of religiously justified violence, the international context and strategies for disrupting religious violence. Case studies from a range of countries including Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh.
• Lionel J. Carter, editor, Punjab Politics, 1 June -14 August 1947: Tragedy: Governors' fortnightly reports and other key documents.
  Delhi: Manohar, 2007, 262 pp. ISBN 81-7304-753-7.
  The fifth and final volume in a series which provides the texts of the Fortnightly Reports sent by the Governors of the Punjab to the Viceroy. The volume opens with the announcement of the plan for partition of the Punjab, follows strained relations between Viceroy, Governor and officials and includes daily situation telegrams.
• Rekha Datta, Beyond Realism: human security in India and Pakistan in the twenty-first century.
  Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. 153 pp. ISBN 978-0739-1215-42.
• Peter Hinchcliffe, John T. Ducker and Maria Holt, Without glory in Arabia: the British retreat from Aden.
  London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007, xxiii + 327 pp. ISBN 978-1-84511-140-3.
  The story of the last few years of British rule in Aden and the Protectorates. Uses previously unpublished material including diaries and interviews with both British and Yemeni individuals.
• Nirmala Lakshman, editor, Writing a nation: an anthology of Indian journalism.
  New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 2007, xlii + 718 pp. ISBN 978-81-291-1253-8.
• Piya Mahtaney, India, China and Globalization: the emerging superpowers and the future of economic development.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, x +323 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-50051-8.
• Dipak Mazumbdar and Sandip Sarkar, Globalization, Labor Markets and Inequality in India.
  Abingdon: Routledge, 2007. xx + 356 pp. ISBN 978-0415-4361-13.
• Martha Craven Nussbaum, Clash Within: Democracy, religious violence and India's future..
  Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press, 2007. xviii + 403 pp. ISBN 978-0-6740-2482-3.
• Harsh V. Pant, Contemporary Debates in Indian Foreign and Security Policy: India negotiates its rise in the international system.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 202 pp. ISBN 13: 978-0-230-60458-2.
• Jørgen Dige Pedersen, Globalization, Development and the State: the performance of India and Brazil since 1990.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, xii+215pp. ISBN 13:978-0-230-20271-9.
• Taiabur Rahman, Parliamentary Control and Government Accountability in South Asia: a comparative analysis of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.
  London, New York: Routledge, 2008, xvii + 254 pp. ISBN 978-0415-4049-83.
• Srirupa Roy, Beyond Belief: India and the politics of postcolonial nationalism.
  Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. xii + 248 pp. ISBN 978-0-8223-3984-7.
• D.R. SarDesai, India: the definitive history.
  Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2008. xxiv + 486 pp. ISBN 978-0813-3435-25.
• Krishnan Srinivasan, The Jamdani Revolition: politics, personalities and Civil Society in Bangladesh 1989-1992.
  New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications, 2008, 386 pp. ISBN 978-81-241-1379-0.
  Diaries kept by the former Commonwealth Deputy Secretary general during his posting as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh 1989-1992.
• Steve Tsang, Governing Hong Kong: administrative officers from the nineteenth century to the handover to China, 1862-1997.
  London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. xii + 227 pp. ISBN978-1-84511-525-8.

Australasia

• M. Anne Brown, editor, Security and development in the Pacific islands: social resilience in emerging states.
  Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner, 2007, x + 347 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-1-58826-505-0, (paperback) 978-1-58826-530-2.
  A collection on the development, security and conflict management agendas of the South Pacific region. Covers PNG, Solomons, Fiji, Vanuatu, Nauru and Tonga as well as several non-Commonwealth territories.
• Richard Devetak, Anthony Burke and Jim George, editors, An Introduction to International Relations: Australian perspectives.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xxii + 439 pp. ISBN 978-0521-6827-63.
• Greg Fry and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, editors, Intervention and State-Building in the Pacific: the legitimacy of 'cooperative intervention'.
  Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008. xvi +246 pp. ISBN 978-0-7190-7863-1.
  Australia's regional interventions since 2003.
• Allan Gyngell and Michael Wesley, Making Australian Foreign Policy.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xi + 339 pp. ISBN 978-052-170-031-3.
• W. David McIntyre, Dominion of New Zealand: statesmen and status 1907-1945.
  Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 2007, 211 pp. ISBN 0-978-0908772-27-8.
  "The origins, progress and fading away of Dominion status in New Zealand".
• Deryck M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward, editors, Australia's Empire (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series).
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, xiii + 419 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-927373-7.
• Brendan Taylor, editor, Australia as an Asia Pacific Regional Power: friendship in flux?.
  Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2008, xvii + 199 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-4021-1.

Canada

• Herman Bakvise and Grace Skogstad, editors, Canadian Federalism: performance, effectiveness and legitimacy.
  Don Mills, Ont: Oxford University Press, new edn. 2008, vi + 408 pp. ISBN 978-0195-4251-23.
• Phillip Buckner, editor, Canada and the British Empire (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series).
  Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2008, xv + 294 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-927164-1.
• Ryan Edwardson, Canadian Content: culture and the quest for nationhood.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. viii + 360 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-08020-9759-0, (paperbk) 978-08020-9519-0.
• Jan Erk, Explaining Federalism: state, society and congruence in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.
  London and New York: Routledge, 2008, xiii + 168 pp. ISBN 978-0415-4320-54.
• Magda Fahmi and Robert Rutherdale, editors, Creating Postwar Canada: community diversity and dissent 1945-75.
  Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008. xi + 347 pp. ISBN 978-0774-8138-46.
• Patrick James and Mark Kasoff, editors, Canadian Studies in the New Millennium.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007, viii + 310 pp. ISBN 978-0-8020-9468-1.
  Comprehensive, introductory text sponsored by the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, "dedicated to improving understanding about Canada in the United States".

Caribbean

• Curwen Best, The Politics of Caribbean Cyberculture.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ix, 250 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-60376-9.
  The impact of new technology on Caribbean culture, religion, entertainment and sport.
• Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner, Small States in Global Affairs: the Foreign Policies of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
  Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, x + 278 pp. ISBN 978-1-403-98001-4.
• Albert K. Fiadjoe, Commonwealth Caribbean Public Law.
  London: Routledge-Cavendish, 2008, xliii + 332 pp. ISBN 978-1859-4163-27.
• Lammert de Jong and Dirk Kruijt, editors, Extended Statehood in the Caribbean: Paradoxes of Quasi Colonialism, Local Autonomy and Extended Statehood in the USA, French, Dutch and British Caribbean.
  Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers, 2005, 206 pp. ISBN 90-5170-686-3.
• Humphrey Metzgen and John Graham, Caribbean Wars Untold: a salute to the British West Indies.
  Mona: University of the West Indies Press, 2007. xv + 256 pp. ISBN 978-976-640-203-7.
  The contributions made over the centuries to Britain's military victories especially in the two World Wars.
• William Vlcek, Offshore Finance and Small States: sovereignty, size and money.
  Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xvi + 198 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-52220-6.

Journal Articles

• B. Hall and A. Ross, The Political and military effectiveness of Commonwealth forces in confrontation 1963-66.
  Small Wars & Insurgencies, 19:2 (2008), pp. 238-55.
• C. Watts, Britain, the Old Commonwealth and the problem of Rhodesian independence, 1964-65.
  Journal of Commonwealth and Imperial History, 36:1 (2008), pp. 75-99.