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 2009

Compiled by Terry A. Barringer

General

• Peter Boyce, The Queens's other realms: the crown and its legacy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
  Sydney: The Federation Press, 2008, pp. ISBN 978-186287-709-9.
• Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlando Ruthven, Portfolios of the Poor: How the world's poor live on $2 a day.
  Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009, vii+283 pp. ISBN 978-0-691-14148-0.
  Material drawn from Bangladesh, India and South Africa.
• Andrew F. Cooper and Timothy M. Shaw, editors, The Diplomacies of Small States: Between vulnerability and resilience.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xxv + 291 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-57549-3.
• Robert Holland, Susan Williams and Terry Barringer, editors; with an introduction by Sir David Cannadine, The Iconography of Independence: Freedoms at Midnight.
  Abingdon, New York: Routldge, 2009, xix + 143 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-55145-8.
  First published as a special issue of The Round Table, this book version contains an additional article on Malaya and a chronology.
• Evan S. Lieberman, Boundaries of Contagion: How ethnic politics have shaped government responses to AIDS
  Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009, xix + 345 pp. ISBN 978-0-691-13286-0.
  Case studies of India, South Africa and Brazil.
• W. David MacIntyre, The Britannic Vision: Historians and the making of the British Commonwealth of Nations
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. xvi + 377 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-22781-1.
  Examines role of seventeen historians in and of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the first half of the twentieth century, together with 'terminology' (a section examining key concepts) and a chronological account. A few pages are devoted to "The Round Table - movement, moot and magazine", concluding that [The Round Table journal] "remained as the best means of keeping up with the Commonwealth into the 21st century".
• James B. L. Mayall and Krishnan Srinivasan, Towards the New Horizon: World Order in the 21st Century
  New Delhi, Standard Publishers (India), 2009, 247 pp., ISBN 978-81-87471-50-9.
  Two essays. James Mayall in "Nationalism and world politics in a global era: reflections on the future of international society" reflects on the continuing relevance of nationalism and the resurgence of political religion. Krishnan Srinivasan in "Conflict and cooperation in the 21st century" envisages the emergence of something akin to the 19th-century Concert of Powers.
• Hilary Perraton, Learning Abroad: a history of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan
  Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 232 pp. ISBN 978-1-4438-600-8.
• Jan Nederveen Pieterse and Boike Rehbein, editors, Globalization and Emerging Societies: development and inequality
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xi + 254 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-22405-6.
  Includes a chapter on India and one on Africa's engagement with China.
• Martin J. Wiener, An Empire on Trial: Race, Murder and Justice under British Rule, 1870-1935
  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, xiv + 255 pp., ISBN 978-0-521-51365.
  Takes the issue of interpersonal interracial homicide in a range of imperial and colonial contexts: "how it was dealt with and what that 'dealing with' reveals about the nature of the British Empire at the height of its power".

Africa

• Iris Berger, South Africa in World History.
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, xii + 190 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-533793-8.
• Giovanni Carbone, No Party Democracy? Ugandan politics in comparative perspective.
  Boulder CO, Lynne Rienner, 2008, xi + 259 pp. ISBN 978-1-5882-663-09.
• Patrick Chabal, Africa: the politics of suffering and smiling.
  London, Zed Books, 2009, pp. xii + 212 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-1-84277-908-8, (paperbk) 978-84277-909-5.
  This volume in Zed's World Political Theories series discusses the limitations of existing political theories applied to Africa and argues that political thinking ought to be driven by the immediacy of everyday life and death.
• Rebecca Davies, Afrikaners in the new South Africa: identity politics in the new South Africa.
  London and New York, Tauris Academic Studeis, 2009, pp. viii + 200 pp. ISBN 978-1-84511-785-6.
• Richard Dowden, Africa: altered states, ordinary miracles.
  London, Portobello, 2008, xvi + 576 pp. ISBN 978-1-84627.
• Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton, A History of Nigeria.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, xl + 329 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-86294-3.
• Mark Gevisser, A Legacy of Liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the future of the South African dream.
  New York, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xii + 376 pp. ISBN 13:978-0-230-61100-9.
• Paul Gifford, Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya.
  London: Hurst, 2009, x + 283 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-1-85065-934-1, (paperback) 978-1-85065-935-8.
• Jonathan Glennie, The Trouble with Aid: why less could mean more for Africa.
  London, Zed Books, 2008, pp. 175. ISBN (hardbk) 978-1-84813039-5, (paperbk) 978-1-84813040-1.
• Kenneth Good, Diamonds, Dispossession & Democracy in Botswana.
  Woodbridge, James Currey and Auckland Park, SA: Jacana, 2008, pp. x + 182 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 9781847013132, (paperbk) 978-184-7013125.
  This book focuses on five main elements in Botswana's political economy: diamond production, presidentialism, predominance, social weakness and the subordination of the San people.
• Muhammed Haron, editor, Going forward: South Africa and Malaysia cementing relations.
  Selangor Darul Ehsan: Limkowing University of Creative Technology, 2008. 188 pp. ISBN: 978-963-42353-5-2.
• R.W. Johnson, South Africa's Brave New World: The Beloved Country since the end of Apartheid.
  London: Allen Lane, 2009, xvi + 701 pp. £25. ISBN 978-0-713-99538-1.
• D. A. Low, Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902.
  Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, xix + 361 pp., £60, ISBN 978-0-521-84351-5.
• Y. G-M. Lulat, United States Relations with South Africa: a critical overview from the colonial period to the present.
  New York: Peter Lang, 2009, lxii + 632 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-8204-7907-1, (paperback) 978-0-8204-7906-4.
• Jens Meierheinrich, The Legacies of Law: long-run consequences of legal development in South Africa, 1652-2000.
  Cambridge: CUP, 2008, xii + 406 pp. ISBN 978-052-189873-7.
• Claire Mercer, Ben Page and Martin Evans, Development and the African Diaspora: place and the politics of hope.
  London, Zed Books, 2009, xiv + 258 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-1-84277-900-2, (paperbk) 978-1-84277-901-9.
  Migration and development with a particular focus on Cameroon and Tanzania.
• Giorgio Miescher, Lorena Rizzo and Jeremy Silvester, Posters in Action: visuality in the making of an African nation.
  Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2008, 265 pp. ISBN 978-3-905758-09-2.
  A beautifully produced and illustrated book exploring the role of posters in the history of Namibia.
• Abdul Raufu Mustapha and Lindsay Whitfield, editors, Turning Points in African Democracy.
  Woodbridge: James Currey, 2009, xix + 235 pp. £55. ISBN 978-1-84701-317-0.
  Commonwealth case studies: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia.
• Sue Onslow, editor, Cold War in Southern Africa: white power, black liberation.
  London and New York: Routledge, 2009, ix + 253 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-47420-7.
• Nigel Parvitt, Kenya: a country in the making.
  London, New York: W.W.Norton, 2008, xii + 320 pp. ISBN 978-393-06777-4.
  A beautifully produced book. A collection of 720 photographs, many from private collections.
• Robert Pinkney, NGOs, Africa and the Global Order.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xi + 232 pp. ISBN 978-0230-54716-2.
• Sarah Raine, China's African Challenges.
  Abingdon: Routledge for The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2009, 270 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-55693-4.
  Includes case study on Zambia.
• Steven L. Robins, From Revolution to Rights in South Africa: Social Movements, NGOs & popular politics after Apartheid.
  Woodbridge: James Currey and Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008, xvi + 192 pp. ISBN 978-1-84071.
• Christopher Rowan, The Politics of Water in Africa: the European Union's role in development aid partnership.
  London and New York, Tauris Academic Studies, 2009, xiii + 203 pp. ISBN 978-1-84511-685-9.
  Includes detailed case studies of water aid from the EU to Lesotho and Mozambique.
• Albie Sachs, The Strange Alchemy of Law and Life.
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, xiv + 306 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-957179-6.
  Juxtaposes reflection and reminiscence with legal judgements.
• South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), The Road to Democracy in South Africa Vol. 3: International Solidarity.
  Pretoria: Unisa Press and New York: Tsehai, 2008, set of two volumes. ISBN 978-1-86888-502-2 and 978-1-86888-503-9.
  The role of Anti-Apartheid movements round the world.
• Usman A. Tar, The Politics of Neoliberal Democracy in Africa: State and Civil Society in Nigeria.
  London and New York: Tauris Academic Studies, 2009, xviii + 269 pp. ISBN978-1-84511-656-9.
• Ian Taylor, China's new role in Africa.
  Boulder CO: Lynne Rienner, 2009, x + 226 pp. ISBN 078-1-58826-636-1.

Asia

• Mark Beeson, editor, Contemporary Southeast Asia.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave, 2nd edn, 2009, xvi + 320 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-20291-7.
• Praveen K. Chaudhry and Marta Vanduzer-Snow, editors, The United States and India: a history through archives: the formative years.
  New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage, 2008, pp. 683. ISBN 978-0-7619-3594.
  First in a series of volumes of declassified papers from American archives. Covers the years 1950-64.
• Shobaa Dé, Superstar India: from incredible to unstoppable.
  London: Penguin, 2009, pp. xii + 456 pp. ISBN 978-0-141-03990-9.
• Bill Emmott, Rivals: how the power struggle between China, India and Japan will shape our next decade.
  London: Penguin, 2009, xxiv + 325 pp. ISBN 978-0-141-03140-8.
• Edward Friedman and Bruce Gilley, editors, Asia's Giants: comparing China and India.
  London and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, ix + 253 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-60616-6.
• Raghbendra Jha, editor, The Indian Economy: sixty years after independence.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave, 2008, xiv + 305 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-21835-2.
• Daniel Lak, India Express: the future of the new superpower.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave, 2008, 264 pp. ISBN 13:978-230-60783-5.
• Peter Lyon, Conflict Between India and Pakistan: an encyclopaedia.
  Santa Barbara, CA, Oxford: ABC Clio, 2008, viii + 277pp. ISBN 978-1-57607-712-3.
• William B. Milam, Bangladesh and Pakistan: flirting with failure in South Asia.
  London: Hurst, 2009, pp. xiii + 276 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-1-85065-920-4, (paperbk) 978-1-85065-921-1.
  A comparative history of Bangladesh and Pakistan since 1971 by a former American Ambassador.
• Robert Muggah, Relocation Failures in Sri Lanka: a short history of internal displacement and resettlement.
  London, New York, Zed Books, 2008, pp. xii + 322 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-1-8413-045-6, (paperbk) 978-1-84813-046-3.
• Nandan Nilekan, Imagining India: ideas for the new century.
  London: Allen Lane, 2009, pp. xii + 511 pp. ISBN 978-1-846-14122-5.
  One of India's leading entrepreneurs gives his perspective on India's development and globalisation.
• Willem Van Schendel, A History of Bangladesh.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, xxvi + 347 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-0-521-86174-8, (pbk) 978-0-521-67974-9.
• Jati Sengupt and Chiranjib Neogi, India's New Economy: industry efficiency and growth.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xiii + 264 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-20170-5.
• Asha Sharma, An American in Gandhi's India: the biography of Satyanand Stokes.
  Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008, xiii + 373 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 978-0-253-3518-6, pbk 978-0-253-21990-9.
  Stokes was a Philadelphia Quaker who went to India as a missionary, converted to Hinduism and became involved with Gandhi and the Independence movement. He is also remembered as the man who introduced American Delicious apples to the Himalayas. This biography is by his granddaughter.
• Farzana Shaih, Making Sense of Pakistan.
  London: Hurst, 2009, ix + 274 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-185065-964-8, (paperback) 978-185065-965-5.
• Rajiv Sikri, Challenge and Strategy: rethinking India's foreign policy.
  New Delhi: Sage, 2009, xx + 318 pp. ISBN 978-81-321-0080-5.
• Ian Talbot and Gurharpal Singh, The Partition of India.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, xvii + 206 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-521-85661-4, (paperback) 978-0-521-67256-6.
• Mukesh Williams and Rohit Wanchoo, Representing India: literatures, politics and identities.
  Delhi, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 354 pp. ISBN 9780195692268.
  Covers the development of language, literature, identity, politics and diaspora of India.
• Shazia Aziz Wülbers, editor, EU-India relations: a critique.
  New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2008, 199 pp. 978-8-171-88696-8.

Australasia

• Catriona Elder, Being Australian: narratives of national identity.
  Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2007, x + 390 pp. ISBN 978-1741-14938-9.
  Explores how ideas of being Australian and 'un-Australian' have formed, with themes of immigration, gender and anxiety.
• Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen, John Winston Howard: the definitive biography.
  Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2008, xv + 464 pp. ISBN 978-052-2855-227.
• David Horner, Peter Londey and Jean Bou, editors, Australian Peacekeeping: sixty years in the field.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, xviii + 333 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-73592-6.
• Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia.
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3rd edn 2009, xiv + 354 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0521-51508-2, (paperback 9780521735933).
• Philippa Mein Smith, Peter Hempenstall and Shaun Goldfield with Stuart McMillan and Rosemary Baird, Remaking the Tasman World.
  Canterbury, NZ: Canterbury University Press, 2008, 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-877257-62-9.
  An attempt to move beyond stereotypes and explore how the Australian and New Zealand pasts are inter-connected.

Canada

• Dimitry Anastakis and P.E. Bryden, editors, Framing Canadian Federalism: historical essays in honour of John T. Saywell.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, vii +307 pp. ISBN (hardback) 0802091938, (paperback) 0802094368.
• Brian Bow and Patrick Lennox, editors, An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada?: challenges and choices for the future.
  Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2008, pp. xvi + 250 pp. ISBN (hardbk) 080-209-6905, (paperbk) 080-209-6344.
• Stephen Clarkson, Does North America exist? Governing the continent after NAFTA and 9/11.
  Toronto: Unviersity of Toronto Press, 2008, 592 pp. ISBN (hardback) 978-0-8020-9712-5, (paperback) 978-0-8020-9653-1.
  Canada, the US and Mexico and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• Alain-G. Gagnon, editor, Contemporary Canadian Federalism: foundations, traditions, institutions.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, vii + 484 pp. ISBN (hardback) 0802097790, (paperback) 080209533X.
• Ronert Teigrob, Warming up the Cold War: Canada and the United States' coalition of the willing from Hiroshima to Korea.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, vii + 298 pp. ISBN (hardback) 0802099238, (paperback) 0802096158.
• Jonathan F. Vance, A History of Canadian Culture.
  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. xi + 500 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-541909-2.
• Robert Wright and Lana Wylie, editors, Our Place in the Sun: Canada and Cuba in the Castro era.
  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, xiv + 309 pp. ISBN 978-0-8020-9666-1.

Caribbean

• Anthony J. Payne, The Political History of CARICOM.
  Kingston, Jamaica, Ian Randle, 2008, xxxvii + 306 pp. ISBN 978-976-637-292-7.
  Formation and subsequent development of CARICOM, from origins to 2007.

Europe

• James Ker-Lindsay and Hubert Faustmann, editors, The Government and Politics of Cyprus.
  Oxford, Peter Lang, 2008, pp. 293 pp. ISBN 978-3-03911-096-4.
  A comprehensive examination of the institutions of governance and the political environment in Cyprus.
• Angelos Sepos, The Europeanization of Cyprus.
  Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, xiv + 211 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-01946-1.
  Cyprus and the EU.
• Andrekos Varnava, British Imperialism in Cyprus 1878-1915: the inconsequent possession.
  Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009, pp. xiii + 321. ISBN 978-0-7190-7903-0.

Journal Articles

• Ron Leask, The Commonwealth Secretariat: not a star but an effective stage manager?.
  Cultures of the Commonwealth, 14 (2007/2008), pp. 1-13.
• David C. McIntyre, The Unofficial Commonwealth Relations Conferences, 1953-59: precursors of the tri-sector Commonwealth.
  Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 36:1 (2008), pp. 591-614.
• Marcus Power, The Commonwealth, 'development' and post-colonial responsibility [with special reference to Mozambique].
  Geoforum, 40:1 (2009), pp. 14-24.