A companion to Byzantium: book review

Read Professor Paul Stephenson's review of the recently published "A companion to Byzantium" (edited by Liz James) in the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History, and her response to his critique.

If you want to see what the debate is about, you can find "A companion to Byzantium" in SOAS Library at Ref. QT949.502 / 733914

Liz James is Professor of History of Art at the University of Sussex

Professor Stephenson is a member of the Department of History at Durham University, and their Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Two new open-access journals of interest to historians

Two new open-access journals with a wide historical (and thematic) range

Hallesche Beitrage zur Orientwissenschaft

This academic journal published by the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (frequently in monograph format) covers a wide range of topics and countries (ancient history, archives, religions, Middle Eastern studies etc.)
It is currently available as digitized open-access texts from Vol.1 (1979) to Vol.44 (2007).

The current link address is via AWOL (Ancient World Online blog)

'Atiqot (Journal of the Israeli Antiquities Authority)

This journal covers the archaeology of "the land of Israel" from prehistory to Ottoman times. Open access coverage begins with Vol.60 (2008). You need to register first, but after that you will be able to login to view and share journal content.

Sasanian Empire: website and open-access e-journals

Sasanika is hosted by the University of California at Irvine. The website features resources on the geography, history and archaeology of the Sasanian Persian Empire

The website also gives open-access to:

e-Sasanika (a collection of open-access academic papers) 

Name-ye Iran Bastan (International journal of ancient Iranian studies) : the project to make all content for this title is a work in progress and only 2001 is currently available. The journal is in Persian and English

The site also aims to give access to the Persian language title Bulletin of Ancient Iranian History, which looks at the Iranian world prior to the coming of Islam. Only Vol.5 (2009) is available at present.

Two new history websites

For those interested in the history of Asia Minor, the Black Sea area and Constantinople / Byzantium 

Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World

This resource is maintained by the Foundation of the Hellenic World and co-funded by the EU. The Encyclopedia covers Asia Minor, the Black Sea area and Constantinople / Byzantium from ancient times and includes articles, bibliographies, a directory of related weblinks and an historical interactive atlas with audio-visual material. Some parts of the site are still under construction. Texts are multilingual, but there is a "translate" facility. The site has both simple and advanced search options.

For those interested in modern Japanese history and / or  the history of the Second World War

Japan air raids: a bilingual historical archive

This website has been created by Professor Cary Karacas of City University of New York (College of Staten Island) and includes an online archive of documents, film reels and photographs relating to the bombing of Japan during World War 2, from both Japanese and American perspectives

Book review: Witnesses to a world crisis

Anthony Kaldelis of Ohio State University reviews James Howard-Johnston's "Witnesses to a world crisis: historians and histories of the Middle East in the 7th century" in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review
The book was published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

Read the book in SOAS Library at N907.2 / 736514

"Histories of Partition": guide to online resources posted on BLE

A guide to online resources in SOAS Library to support the course "Histories of Partition: India and Palestine, 1947-1948" has just been posted on the BLE
The guide also includes links to selected websites, including the newly released film and oral history archive from Cambridge University Institute of South Asian Studies, which has amateur film of Partition refugees, and interviews discussing Partition


The Guide can be found on the Library Information Skills section of the BLE. Go to the History pages and look under Research Guides

History Seminar programme 10th-14th December

The last History department seminars of 2010!
TODAY
Commemorating Constantinople's conquest: appropriating the imperial past for the national present - Gavin Brockett (Wilfred Laurier University)
12 Noon to 2 p.m.
Russell Square Campus, College Buildings, Room 116
Contact Dr. Benjamin Fortna (bp@soas.ac.uk)

MONDAY 13th DECEMBER
The ethnic cleansing of Palestine: past and present  - Ilan Pappe (University of Exeter)
5.15 p.m - 7.15 p.m.
Russell Square Campus, College Buildings, Room G3
Contact Teresa Bernheimer (tb31@soas.ac.uk)


TUESDAY 14th DECEMBER
Making Ayurveda modern: framing indigeneity and the biopolitical in inter-war North India - Rachel Berger (Concordia University)
5.00 p.m. - 6.30 p.m
Russell Square Campus, College Buildings, Room G2
Contact Dr Eleanor Newbigin (en2@soas.ac.uk)