Books that cannot be accommodated in our book review section but that are worthy of special attention are listed here with their tables of contents.
Eckert, Astrid M., West Germany and the Iron Curtain: Environment, Economy, and Culture in the Borderlands. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. xvi, 422 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations. Photographs. Maps. $99.00, hard bound.
Introduction: On the Western Side of Germany's Iron Curtain. 1. The Making of the West German Borderlands, 1945–1955. 2. The East of the West: An Economic Backwater at the Border. 3. “Greetings from the Zonal Border”: Tourism to the Iron Curtain. 4. Salts, Sewage, and Sulfurous Air: Transboundary Pollution in the Borderlands. 5. Transboundary Natures: The Consequences of the Iron Curtain for Landscape. 6. Closing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle at Gorleben? West Germany's Energy Future in the Borderlands. Conclusion: West Germany from the Periphery.
Krikh, Sergei, Другая история. «Периферийная» советская наука о древности. Nauchnaia Biblioteka. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2020. 312 pp. Notes. Index. ₽360 rubles, hard bound.
Предисловие первое. История проигравших? Предисловие второе. «ядро» и «периферия». Часть первая. Периферия как катастрофа. Глава 1. Общее состояние советской науки досталинского периода. Глава 2. Схватка с титаном. Глава 3. Штурм неба… Глава 4. В погоне за мейнстримом. Глава 5. Жить незаметно. Глава 6. Итоги периода и возможные альтернативы. Часть вторая. Периферия как окраина. Глава 1. Новые условия при старом властителе: советская историческая наука перед оттепелью. Глава 2. География и агиография. Глава 3. Периферия в центре. Глава 4. Счастье окраины. Глава 5. Достижения периода и альтернативы. Часть третья. Периферия как надежда. Глава 1. Тенденции периода: начало дезорганизации «ядра». Глава 2. Ученики победителей. Глава 3. Новая надежда. Глава 4. Невозможные альтернативы.
Hashamova, Yana, Screening Trafficking: Prudent and Perilous. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2018. 175 pp. Bibliography. Index. Plates. $60.00, hard bound.
Introduction. Part One: The Viewer. Chapter 1: Social, Political, and Cultural Conditions Affecting Trafficking and Its Perception. Chapter 2: NGO Prevention Campaigns and Their Audiences. Chapter 3: Cross-cultural Discussion of Attitudes toward Trafficking. Part Two: The Representation. Chapter 4: Western Feature Films and Media. Chapter 5: East European Feature Films and NGO Media. Chapter 6: Trauma: Screening Violence and the “Viewer-Witness.” Afterword.
Di Palma, Francesco, ed. Perestroika and the Party: National and Transnational Perspectives on European Communist Parties in the Era of Soviet Reform. New York: Berghahn Books, 2019. vi, 341 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $135.00, hard bound.
Francesco Di Palma, Introduction: Perestroika or about the Demise of the Communist World?
Part I: Eastern Europe. Peter Ruggenthaler, The Impact of Perestroika and Glasnost on the CPSU's Stance toward the “Fraternal Parties” in the Eastern Bloc. Mark Kramer, Soviet Society, Perestroika, and the End of the USSR. Tamás Péter Baranyi, Perestroika Made in Hungary? The HSWP's Approach to the Soviet Reform of the Late–1980s. Petar Dragišić, Yugoslavia and Perestroika 1985–1991: Between Hope and Disappointment. Wanda Jarząbek, The Polish United Workers Party and Perestroika. Hermann Wentker, SED and Perestroika: Perceptions and Reactions. Stefano Bottoni, Between External Constraint and Internal Crackdown: Romania's Non-Reaction to Soviet Perestroika. Part II: Western Europe. Aldo Agosti, Parallel Destinies: The Italian Communist Party and Perestroika. Dominique Andolfatto, “I felt as if I was faced with a French Honecker”: The French Communist Party Confronted with a World that was Falling Apart (1985–1991). Stefan Berger and Norman LaPorte, A Dialogue of the Deaf: The CPGB and the SED during the Gorbachev Era (1985–1990). Gerrit Voerman, Premature Perestroika: The Dutch Communist Party and Gorbachev. Andreas Stergiou, The Perestroika and the Greek Left. Maximilian Graf, The Austrian Communists and Perestroika. Walther L. Bernecker, The Spanish Communist Party and Perestroika. Silvio Pons, Afterword: Gorbachev and the End of International Communism.
Baumgart, Winfried, The Crimean War, 1853–1856, 2nd edition. Modern Wars. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. xiv, 297 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Chronology. Index. Figures. Maps. $40.95, paper.
Part 1 - Origins and Diplomacy of the War. 1. The Real Cause of the War – the Eastern Question. 2. Diplomacy during the War, 1853–56. Part 2 - The Belligerents and the Non-Belligerents. 3. The War Aims of the Belligerents. 4. The Non-Belligerent German Powers: Austria and Prussia. 5. The Neutral Powers. Part 3 - The Armies of the Belligerents. 6. Russia. 7. France. 8. Great Britain. 9. Turkey. 10. Sardinia. Part 4 - The War. 11. The Danube Front, 1853–54. 12. The Black Sea Theatre. 13. The Campaigns in the Baltic, 1854 and 1855. 14. The Caucasian Battlefield, 1853–1855. 15. The Minor Theatres of War: The White Sea and the Pacific. 16. Allied War Preparations for 1856 and the War Council in Paris, January 1856. 17. The Medical Services. Part 5 - The End of the War. 18. The Paris Peace Congress, February–April 1856. 19. The Results of the War for International Relations.
Rolet, Serge, Qu'est-ce que la litterature russe? Introduction à la lecture des classiques (XIXe-XXe siècles). Litteratures Series. Villeneuve d'Asq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2019. 195 pp. Bibliography. Chronology. Indexes. €17.00, paper.
Introduction. La littérature russe et nous. Quels repères donner aux lecteurs de culture française? Le cliché du prince russe francophone. Vous avez dit « âme russe » ? 1. Quelques dates. 1485. 1703. 1812. 1825. 1861. 1921. 1934. 1956. 1987. 2. Quand la littérature russe commence-t-elle? Les plus anciens textes russes: une préhistoire de la littérature. La grande remise à plat du XVIIIe siècle. Écrire comme tous ou comme personne? Une littérature européenne, mais en langue russe. La métrique, mémoire de la culture russe. Quelques constantes. 3. Une grande littérature? Centre et périphérie. La littérature russe en France: cote et décote. Splendeur et misère de la traduction. 4. Que veut dire le mot « littérature » en Russie? Pouvoir tout dire?
Censure impériale et censure soviétique. Autonomie et « lecture transcendante. » 5. Lire Gogol, oui, mais lequel? Vissarion Biélinski, auteur du Manteau? Le fantôme de l'« école naturelle. » Littérature, critique et prédication. 6. Deux manières de poser la question « Que faire ? » La drôle d'Europe des occidentalistes. Identité russe et totalité organique. L'héritage slavophile. 7. Qui sont « l'homme de trop » et « le petit homme »? Eugène Onéguine et Akaki Akakiévitch. Nouvelle ou roman? Biélinski, car c’était lui. Parodie et subversion: la couette, le sous-sol, l’étui. 8. Qu'est-ce que « la réalité » du réalisme russe? La littérature du vrai: autobiographie et « choses vues. » Reproduire, imaginer. L'art et le matériau. La littérature peut-elle créer la réalité? Conclusion. Vesoul