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Review Reviews of previous editions '[A] very good book. It is easy to see why previous editions gained such favourable reviews from this revised, expanded and updated edition... The organisation of the material is thematic and methodical. The style is easy to read, the arguments are cogent and balanced, the judgements are well modulated and of course, the chapters are packed with information, most notably about domestic political development.' - Peter Burnell, Democratization '...a wonderfully comprehensive yet succinct textbook on African politics.' Barry Munslow, Third World Quarterly '[W]ritten with an economy of language and a breadth of knowledge rarely found in political science writings... Tordoff's interpretations will be respected by scholars from diverse perspectives.' - Raymond F. Hopkins, International Journal of African Historical Studies About the Author WILLIAM TORDOFF is Emeritus Professor of Government, University of Manchester.

Review "In , editor R. Cochran of Pepperdine University's School of Law has assembled a valuable collection of sixteen essays by American legal scholars that focus perspectives of several religious traditions on particular legal issues... This volume would represent a good addition as a supplemental text to a law school or graduate seminar class on law and religion."-Religious Studies Review, “This timely book urges readers to look at the courthouse

From Library Journal Until now, Nikita Khrushchev has been largely regarded as a historical bridge from Stalin to Gorbachev. This book, edited by Taubman (Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science at Amherst Coll.), Khrushchev's son Sergei (Brown Univ.), and others sets out to clarify the role Khrushchev played in advancing the USSR to superpower status. When Gorbachev lifted the stigma from the study of Khrushchev in the 1980s and state archives were opened, the operative question changed from why he failed to what made him the Soviet leader. In most recent work about Soviet history, such as Martin Malia's Russia Under Western Eyes (LJ 2/1/99), Gregory Freeze's Russia: A History (LJ 5/1/98), and Robert Service's A History of Twentieth-Century Russia (LJ 3/1/98), Khrushchev is given little space, so this book fills a void in Soviet studies. It lacks readability, however, as the writing varies from author to author. The subject matter is more or less interesting, depending on your knowledge of recent Soviet history. Recommended for Soviet history collections.-Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. System Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate edition. From Kirkus Reviews A filial but revealing semi-biography of Nikita Khrushchev by his son, now at the Institute for International Studies at Brown. Because Sergei Khrushchev intends to deal only with those matters he discussed with his father or personally witnessed, he leaves out much of the early life, except for a short memoir composed by his mother, but he supplements the narrative with portions of the full text of Khrushchev's own memoirs. Sergei is strongest on the development of Soviet weapons, particularly missiles, since he was attached as an engineer to one of the main designers. But that perspective is highly relevant to the US-Soviet relationship during that period and to Nikita Khrushchev as a man. To the end of his life, Sergei says, his father could not watch films about the war or read books on the subject. Whatever his blusterand he concluded after the Suez crisis that his opponents could be intimidated by ithe didn't even dream of using force. Sergei records his father's tongue-lashing of Marshal Grechko, then commander of the ground forces, for suggesting the conquest of Western Europe. He doesnt think much of his father's decision to try to station missiles in Cuba``To this day I can't understand how Father believed such primitive reasoning,'' he laments in recording the recommendation that the missiles could be disguised as coconut palmsbut he pays tribute to the wisdom and courage of both Kennedy and Khrushchev in restraining the fervor of their respective hotheads during the crisis. Indeed, Sergei's account of that crisis may be the most psychologically acute we have of the reactions on both sides. A fascinating portrait of a man of immense vitality, a fervent Communist, convinced that the Soviet Union would surpass the US, and the process by which he began subconsciously to understand that the system itself did not work. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal Until now, Nikita Khrushchev has been largely regarded as a historical bridge from Stalin to Gorbachev. This book, edited by Taubman (Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science at Amherst Coll.), Khrushchev's son Sergei (Brown Univ.), and others sets out to clarify the role Khrushchev played in advancing the USSR to superpower status. When Gorbachev lifted the stigma from the study of Khrushchev in the 1980s and state archives were opened, the operative question changed from why he failed to what made him the Soviet leader. In most recent work about Soviet history, such as Martin Malia's Russia Under Western Eyes (LJ 2/1/99), Gregory Freeze's Russia: A History (LJ 5/1/98), and Robert Service's A History of Twentieth-Century Russia (LJ 3/1/98), Khrushchev is given little space, so this book fills a void in Soviet studies. It lacks readability, however, as the writing varies from author to author. The subject matter is more or less interesting, depending on your knowledge of recent Soviet history. Recommended for Soviet history collections.-Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. System Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews A filial but revealing semi-biography of Nikita Khrushchev by his son, now at the Institute for International Studies at Brown. Because Sergei Khrushchev intends to deal only with those matters he discussed with his father or personally witnessed, he leaves out much of the early life, except for a short memoir composed by his mother, but he supplements the narrative with portions of the full text of Khrushchev's own memoirs. Sergei is strongest on the development of Soviet weapons, particularly missiles, since he was attached as an engineer to one of the main designers. But that perspective is highly relevant to the US-Soviet relationship during that period and to Nikita Khrushchev as a man. To the end of his life, Sergei says, his father could not watch films about the war or read books on the subject. Whatever his blusterand he concluded after the Suez crisis that his opponents could be intimidated by ithe didn't even dream of using force. Sergei records his father's tongue-lashing of Marshal Grechko, then commander of the ground forces, for suggesting the conquest of Western Europe. He doesnt think much of his father's decision to try to station missiles in Cuba``To this day I can't understand how Father believed such primitive reasoning,'' he laments in recording the recommendation that the missiles could be disguised as coconut palmsbut he pays tribute to the wisdom and courage of both Kennedy and Khrushchev in restraining the fervor of their respective hotheads during the crisis. Indeed, Sergei's account of that crisis may be the most psychologically acute we have of the reactions on both sides. A fascinating portrait of a man of immense vitality, a fervent Communist, convinced that the Soviet Union would surpass the US, and the process by which he began subconsciously to understand that the system itself did not work. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate edition.

Review 'This path-breaking new history of Islamic law will become a standard introduction to the subject. Professor Hallaq has provided a magnificent overview of the topic, drawing on his wide reading in primary sources and his many important publications on the history of Islamic law and Islamic legal thought.' Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania Book Description Wael Hallaq, a leading scholar and practitioner of Islamic law, guides students through the intricacies of the subject in this absorbing introduction. This book will be the first stop for those who wish to understand the fundamentals of Islamic law and its history.

From Library Journal While this study makes for interesting reading, it is in one sense a disappointment. White's writing is fluid and engaging, yet he doesn't bring into clear focus exactly what he is trying to accomplish. We come nearest, perhaps, in his preface, where he writes that he is trying to understand "what in English we call 'meaning' in our experience." However, the question of the nature of meaning is very much a concern of contemporary linguistic philosophy (see, e.g., Robert Brandom's Articulating Reasons: An Introduction to Inferentialism, LJ 6/1/00), but White (law, English, and classical studies, Univ. of Michigan) shows no awareness of the work in this area. He instead examines a series of literary, philosophical, poetic, and legal texts from ancient times to the present, adding interesting comments about his own life experiences along the way. Because of the wide range of topics and ideas discussed here e.g., Thoughts from Walden Pond, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey, reading Greek, Phaedrus, rhetoric, love, and Vermeer this book will appeal to the generalist and is recommended on that basis. Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Inside Flap Certain questions are basic to the human condition: how we imagine the world, and ourselves and others within it; how we confront the constraints of language and the limits of our own minds; and how we use imagination to give meaning to past experiences and to give shape to the future. These are the questions James Boyd White addresses in this book, exploring each through readings og great works of Western culture, Huckleberry Finn, the Odyssey, and the paintins of Vermeer among them. In doing so, White creates a deeply moving and insightful book and presents an inspiring conception of mind, language, and the essence of living.

From The growing clamor for a return to Sharia law in the Muslim world has often been met with alarm by the West. But Feldman remains coolheaded, placing the movement in a historical context and suggesting that its ideal of "a just legal system, one that administers the law fairly," is an understandable goal in a region dominated by unchecked oligarchies. At its heart, Sharia "aspires to be Law that applies equally to every human, great or small, ruler or ruled," Feldman writes. Of course, he argues, a radical rethinking of the classical model is in order if the system is to be implemented successfully in a contemporary Islamic state, but, if it fails, "the alternative may well be worse." The book is compelling as a theoretical exercise, but its usefulness is restricted by Feldman’s failure to confront practical considerations such as the rights of women. Copyright ©2008 Review The growing clamor for a return to Sharia law in the Muslim world has often been met with alarm by the West. But Feldman remains coolheaded, placing the movement in a historical context and suggesting that its ideal of 'a just legal system, one that administers the law fairly,' is an understandable goal in a region dominated by unchecked oligarchies. -- New Yorker In a short but masterful exposition, The Fall and Rise of The Islamic State, Noah Feldman seeks to answer a question that puzzles most Western observers: Why do so many Muslims demand the 'restoration' of a legal system that most Occidentals associate with 'medieval' punishments such as amputation for theft and stoning for sexual transgressions? -- Malise Ruthven, New York Review of Books In a short, incisive and elegant book, [Feldman] lays out for the non-specialist reader some of the forms that Islamic rule has taken over the centuries, while also stressing the differences between today's politican Islam and previous forms of Islamic administration. -- The Economist A thoughtful meditation on the history, ideals, and revival of sharia--the divine law governing Muslim society... It is abundantly clear that fresh models of governance in some Muslim nations will be required to build genuine consensus, afford legal justice, and guarantee peace and security... Feldman predicts success for those countries which can 'develop new institutions that would find their own original and distinctive way of giving real life to the ideals of Islamic law.' ... A persuasive and readable book on a complex topic. -- Joseph Richard Preville, Christian Science Monitor [A] concise and thoughtful history of the evolution of the Islamic legal system from the time of the first caliphs (the successors to the prophet Muhammad) to our own....Feldman thinks that the restoration of the authority of sharia in modern Muslim-majority nations might be the only way for them to move beyond their current democracy deficits....Feldman is not so naive as to give them a free pass. Nor does he ignore the democratic deficiencies of the two nations, Iran and Saudi Arabia, that have sharia as the law of the land. While saying that principles of sharia will have to become part of the constitutional fabric of modern Islamic states, he adds that this will work only if Islamists find new institutions to give life to sharia. -- Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report Feldman condemns the autocracies in many Muslim countries but argues that sharia is not to blame. On the contrary, he says, in the traditional Sunni constitutional order, sharia was interpreted by an independent class of scholars who served as a check on tyrrany, preventing rulers from exploiting religion to justify their political positions. -- Washington Post Book World Feldman can be an illuminating analyst . . . on the subject of the marginalization of legal scholars and its consequences for the development of despotisms with an Islamic face. -- Commentary Feldman argues that legislators seeking implementation of a sharia-based rule of law can play the role of earlier scholars in taming executive autocracy. . . . [Offers] wide-ranging discussions and nuanced reasoning. -- L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs [An] excellent contribution to the ongoing discussion on Islam and secular states. -- Abdulkader Tayob, International Affairs A study of the recrudescence of 'Islamist' thought, which advocates the return to a shari'a state. . . . The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State is profound, intelligent, and free of all the hysterical pronouncements one often associates with both the defenders and antagonists of that idea. -- Arnold Ages, Chicago Jewish Star This is a fascinating book for the counselor and statesperson, and is a sequel to a former book dealing with Islam and democracy. -- Imtiaz Jafar, New York Law Journal Powerfully argued and original. . . . [T]his book has the considerable merit of seeing inside the Islamist mentality. -- Anthony Black, Political Studies Review The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State provide an accessible and engaging account of the institutional struggles and changes which befall Islamic constitutionalism from the Ottoman era to the present. . . . [T]he book intended for both academic and non-academic audiences makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature on Islamic law and constitutionalism. -- Shadi Mokhtari, Law and Politics Book Review Whether you agree or disagree with Professor Feldman about what constitutes an Islamic state, you will most likely be captivated by the author's scholarly reflections. -- Abdullahi A. Gallab, Journal of Law & Religion