No city in the world is better covered by literature – fictional and non-fictional – than London. From Pepys, via Dickens, to Ackroyd, London has benefited from a series of talented historians, novelists and commentators who have provided detailed accounts of the city’s condition. In the past few years a new tranche of books has been published on the contemporary character of the…
Graduate students have traditionally learned a good part ofwhat they know about sources and research aids on modern Chinathrough hearsay and serendipity, in unsystematic and unreliable bitsand pieces. The field has now developed to the point where thisneed not and ought not to be so. It is now possible for beginningresearcher…
It was in November 2021 that we shared the intriguing idea of co-editing a book project on the historical figure of saxophonist Elise Hall. After sending several messages back and forth, we finally found a mutually agreeable time for a video meeting. Kurt was at his home in Brussels, while Adrianne was in Chicago, a sev-en-hour time difference. We had first met at a conference in 2016, “Prepo…
Two thirds of our planet is covered with water. Every fragment of land, from the great contingent of Eurasia to the tiniest pasific island, has a shore. The total length of shorelines is huge. Yet the width is hardly measurable in comparison - it is often just a few yards. Shores are strange places, being the edge of the land as well as the edge of the sea. The sea level rises falls with the ti…
The credibility and legitimacy of electoral processes is inextricably linked to electoral integrity. The Global Commission on Democracy, Elections and Security identified five major challenges to the conduct of elections with integrity in its 2012 report: building the rule of law to substantiate claims to human rights and electoral justice, developing professional and competent electoral manage…
Archaeological findings have indicated that Southern Africa is the land from which humankind’s ancestors evolved, between 3 million and 1 million years ago. Indeed, it is probable that the indigenous San, Pygmy, and Khoekhoe peoples of Southern Africa are linked genetically to that earlier, ancient population. Little, if anything, is known about interaction among these particular early group…