Three new reviews have been published this week.
In the first (no. 762) Trevor Burnard takes issue with David Abulafia’s account of the Spanish conquest of the Americas as found in his new book The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus. Professor Abulafia’s robust defence of his position can be found here.
Also concerned with imperial history, though in a very different time and place, is Kate O’Malley’s recent publication Ireland, India and Empire: Indo-Irish Radical Connections, 1919–64, which draws out the parallels and connections between the independence struggles in both countries, and is reviewed here (no. 763) by Keith Jeffery.
Finally we have a review (no. 764) by Rory Miller of a study of significant individuals from outside the region who have influenced the tumultuous 20th-century history of the Middle East. K. Meyer and S. B. Brysac’s Kingmakers: the Invention of the Modern Middle East begins in the 1880s with the British Consul-General to Egypt Sir Evelyn Baring and concludes with the American neo-con Paul Wolfowitz.
Next week, to coincide with the Anglo-American Conference at the IHR (http://www.history.ac.uk/aac2009) we will begin a special month of reviews on the theme of Cities. Let us know what you think of this by writing to the usual address, danny.millum@sas.ac.uk or ihr.reviews@sas.ac.uk.