Atomic Thunder. The Maralinga Story

Atomic Thunder. The Maralinga Story. By Elizabeth Tynan (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2016), pp.xv + 373, AU$34.99 (pb).     

The British Empire in India,the Gulf pearl and the making of the Middle East

Abstract

Genealogies of the term ‘Middle East’ conventionally focus on a juncture around the 1890s, when it gained new geopolitical currency, promoted by various European and American officials with reference to a space centred around the Arabo-Persian Gulf. This article argues instead that the ‘Middle East’ label should be seen as the culmination of a longer process, led less from London than from India. Over the previous century, this consolidation of ‘British’ India as a distinct regional actor was accompanied by the conceptualisation of its borderlands, including that Gulf-centred space. This space become a theatre for economic and political monitoring strategised from India, seeking to transform what was represented as a pirate-infested margin into a pacified buffer zone. Control and exploitation of pearl fisheries, the main economic activity for Gulf populations, was central to these efforts. Imperial strategy around the Gulf pearl was a key tool in founding an informal Indian empire in the Gulf and its hinterlands, in that very space to which the name ‘Middle East’ would subsequently be given.     

自由:一个尚未结束的美国故事--读埃里克·方纳的《美国自由的故事》

自从独立时期帕特里克·亨利呼出"不自由,毋宁死"的口号,"自由"就成了美国的灵魂.纵观美国历史上的国会辩论、总统演说、法院判例、外交文件、各种社会运动和改革的主张、乃至当今反政府的白人民兵组织的网页,"自由"一词无处不在.即便在日常生活中,"自由"也与美国人形影不离:中小学生每日必宣誓效忠"自由",体育比赛前观众必高唱国歌赞颂"自由之疆",大小美元硬币上均刻有"自由"(liberty),以"自由"为名的地名遍布全国.①至少从表面上来看,美国人对"自由"的钟爱已经达到了一种近似于偏执的程度.然而,当"自由"一词无所不能、无所不为、无人不用的时候,它也就失去了公认的定义,变成了一个令人困惑的概念.在众多的自由语言中,到底什么是真正的美国自由,也因而成为一个极负挑战意味的问题.正因为如此,埃里克·方纳(Eric Foner)的近作《美国自由的故事》(以下简称《自由故事》)便具有了格外重要的意义.     

When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940

When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940. By Robin Prior (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015), pp.xxi + 335. AU$55.00 (cloth), distributed in Australia by Footprint Books.