Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Erdkamp, Paul / Manning, Joseph G. / Verboven, K. (eds.), Climate Change and Ancient Societies in Europe and the Near East: Diversity in Collapse and Resilience. (Palgrave Studies in Ancient Economies) 487 pp. 2021:10 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) * paper 2021 <665-537>
ISBN 978-3-030-81102-0 hard ¥37,660.- (税込) EUR 159.99 *
ISBN 978-3-030-81105-1 paper ¥37,660.- (税込) EUR 159.99 *

Climate change over the past thousands of years is undeniable, but debate has arisen about its impact on past human societies. This book explores the link between climate and society in ancient worlds, focusing on the ancient economies of western Eurasia and northern Africa from the fourth millennium BCE up to the end of the first millennium CE. This book contributes to the multi-disciplinary debate between scholars working on climate and society from various backgrounds. The chronological boundaries of the book are set by the emergence of complex societies in the Neolithic on the one end and the rise of early-modern states in global political and economic exchange on the other. In order to stimulate comparison across the boundaries of modern periodization, this book ends with demography and climate change in early-modern and modern Italy, a society whose empirical data allows the kind of statistical analysis that is impossible for ancient societies. The book highlights the role of human agency, and the complex interactions between the natural environment and the socio-cultural, political, demographic, and economic infrastructure of any given society. It is intended for a wide audience of scholars and students in ancient economic history, specifically Rome and Late Antiquity.

Fabre, Camille, Commerce et marchandisation du bois a Toulouse a la fin du Moyen Age. (Bibliotheque d'histoire medievale 30) 506 p. 2021:9 (Classiques Garnier, FR) <665-538>
ISBN 978-2-406-12010-0 hard ¥20,479.- (税込) EUR 87.00
ISBN 978-2-406-12009-4 paper ¥11,534.- (税込) EUR 49.00 *

Kwass, Michael, The Consumer Revolution, 1650-1800. (New Approaches to European History 63) 262 pp. 2021:12 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <665-539>
ISBN 978-0-521-19870-7 hard ¥21,367.- (税込) GB￡ 75.00 *
ISBN 978-0-521-13959-5 paper ¥6,834.- (税込) GB￡ 23.99 *

The production, acquisition, and use of consumer goods defines our daily lives, and yet consumerism is seen as increasingly controversial. Movements for sustainable and ethical consumerism are gaining momentum alongside an awareness of how our choices in the marketplace can affect public issues. How did we get here? This volume advances a bold new interpretation of the 'consumer revolution' of the eighteenth century, when European elites, middling classes, and even certain labourers purchased unprecedented quantities of clothing, household goods, and colonial products. Michael Kwass adopts a global perspective that incorporates the expansion of European empires, the development of world trade, and the rise of plantation slavery in the Americas. Kwass analyses the emergence of Enlightenment material cultures, contentious philosophical debates on the morality of consumption, and new forms of consumer activism to offer a fresh interpretation of the politics of consumption in the age of abolitionism and the Atlantic Revolutions.

Marsh, Patricia, The Spanish Flu in Ireland: A Socio-Economic Shock to Ireland, 1918-1919. (Palgrave Studies in Economic History) 291 pp. 2021:9 (Springer, GW) <665-541>
ISBN 978-3-030-79499-6 hard ¥28,244.- (税込) EUR 119.99

This book examines the Irish experience of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic through a detailed study of the disease in the most industrialised region of the country, the province of Ulster. By exploring the different themes of dispersion of the disease; mortality; gender; medical response and politics - and through case studies of different towns in the province of Ulster - it builds up a picture of the social, economic and political impact of influenza in Ireland. The Ulster experience of the pandemic is examined by constructing micro-histories of industrial cities and towns, along with provincial market towns and a naval port, to provide a basis for comparison of the differing approaches taken to combat the influenza outbreaks throughout Ulster. Contemporary opinion was that Ireland was considerably less affected by the war than the rest of the UK but, this book shows that the war did have a significant influence on how the influenza pandemic impacted on the Irish population from an economic, social and medical point of view. The book also explores the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and how it influenced the Irish response to the influenza scare of 1920 and the viral pandemic of Encephalitis Lethargica which was prevalent for ten years after 1918, as well as discussing what if any lessons learnt from 1918 have been applied to the present-day outbreak of Covid 19. This book will be of interest to academics in economic history, social history, Irish history and pandemic history, and those studying the effects of pandemics on the economy, health provision and pandemic preparedness.

Torregrosa Hetland, Sara, The Spanish Fiscal Transition: Tax Reform and Inequality in the Late Twentieth Century. (Palgrave Studies in Economic History) 237 pp. 2021:9 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <665-543>
ISBN 978-3-030-79540-5 hard ¥25,890.- (税込) EUR 109.99

This book provides an analysis of the process and outcomes of the tax reform, with a focus on progressivity, redistribution, and inequality. Between 1977 and 1986, Spain underwent a comprehensive tax reform which shaped its fiscal system until today. It was made in connection with the transition to democracy and indeed was understood as a fundamental part of the political change. The book situates the reform both within Spanish history and international trends in tax systems and connects it to the expansion of the welfare state and regional decentralization in Spain. The analysis reveals that the tax system failed to attain progressivity, and significant levels of fraud had a noticeable impact on inequality. Because of this, fiscal redistribution remained limited. In the new political economy of the second globalization, late democratic and fiscal transitioners were unable to emulate the path of the welfare state forerunners.

Bennett, James T., Unsustainable: The History and Politics of Green Energy. 195 pp. 2021:8 (Springer, GW) <665-411>
ISBN 978-3-030-78903-9 paper ¥7,058.- (税込) EUR 29.99

This book examines the history, politics, and economics of alternative energy. Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, governments around the world have subsidized and otherwise incentivized alternative forms of energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This search has taken on added urgency in the twenty-first century, as the specter of climate change has engendered ambitious state-level renewable portfolio standards, enhanced federal incentives, and inspired "100% renewable" electrical generation targets in such states as Vermont and Hawaii. To save the planet from destruction, wind, solar, and other renewable energy alternatives must replace fossil fuels. But how did we get here and what is the cost? After an in-depth study of the Carter administration's synthetic fuels program, the focus shifts to the two most prominent, perhaps most promising, and certainly most promoted-and government subsidized-"green" and "renewable" energies today: wind and solar. Because wind has made the most headway and drawn the most controversy, it receives the most attention. Although the primary focus is on the American experience with renewable energy, the policies and politics of renewables in Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Spain, and other European nations are also discussed. Issues considered in the book include the nature and efficacy of renewable subsidies; the employment of federal and state tax codes to encourage renewables; the lobbies and interest groups that campaign for government support of renewables; and the fierce battles over the siting of renewable facilities. Unlike other works on this subject, the book probes in depth the nature of the opposition to wind and solar, both in the matter of siting and in their worthiness as recipients of substantial government assistance.

Pokam Kamdem, Williams, L'energie au Cameroun au XXe siecle: entre la puissance publique et les entreprises, une histoire intriquee. (Histoire de l'energie / History of Energy 12) 370 p. 2021:9 (P. Lang, SZ) <665-422>
ISBN 978-2-8076-1876-3 paper ¥15,731.- (税込) SFR 63.00

Cet ouvrage decrit la constitution et l’evolution du secteur de l’energie au Cameroun. Il vise a epaissir la connaissance de ce pan de l’histoire economique et a contribuer a la recherche, dense ces dernieres decennies, sur l’histoire de l’energie et l’histoire des entreprises a travers le monde. Ce travail s’appuie sur une diversite de sources d’archives pour explorer les activites des entreprises de production et de distribution d’hydrocarbures ainsi que d’energie electrique au Cameroun. Il suit a cet effet la trame des choix ainsi que des remises en cause de politiques economiques et energetiques dans ce pays. L’approche diachronique privilegiee eclaire trois sequences de cette histoire. La premiere correspond a la periode sous administration coloniale, marquee par la formation d’une economie mixte. La deuxieme fait reference aux trois decennies qui suivent l’accession de ce pays a l’independance et qui voient s’affirmer l’etatisme. La troisieme sequence couvre les debuts de la dereglementation au cours des annees　1990. En suivant ces evolutions, l’ouvrage permet de souligner les determinants, les modalites ainsi que les effets des rapports entre la puissance publique et les entreprises privees dans un secteur de l’economie nationale decrit comme nevralgique. Il pose ainsi un jalon de l’histoire de l’energie dans ce pays d’Afrique en croisant l’histoire des entreprises, l’economie de l’energie et l’action publique.

Ma, Debin / von Glahn, Richard (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of China. 2 vols. 700 pp. 2022:2 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <100-5806>
ISBN 978-1-107-14606-8 hard ¥56,980.- (税込) GB￡ 200.00

Building on a wide array of recent scholarship, the two volumes of The Cambridge Economic History of China bring together the fruits of pioneering international studies in all dimensions of economic history, past and present. Exploring themes including political economy, agriculture, industry and trade, technology, ecological change, demography, law, urban development, standards of living, consumption, financial institutions, and national income, the two volumes together provide broad temporal coverage across all of Chinese history, including recent developments in contemporary China.