First published in 1987, this volume stresses the importance of development studies for sociology, as P. W. Preston argues that this field of study is emerging from the technical social scientific ghetto back into the mainstream of the ‘classical tradition’ of social theorizing, represented by Marx, Weber and Durkheim.Preston discusses the position of development studies in relation to the wider group of the social sciences in general and to sociology in particular. Using examples ...

Dr Preston’s book, first published in 1982, presents a critical history of development studies since the Second World War, linking the recent, neo-Marxist, debate with the whole tradition in the field, going back to the work of economists like Arthur Lewis.He identifies a series of ‘schools’ and evaluates their contribution, supplying in each case a careful analysis, informed by the sociology of knowledge, of the work of its leading theorists. His final assessment draws on the crit...

The theme of this work, first published in 1985, is the exchange between issues of development and problems of social theory. They provide preliminary analysis of the multiplicity of social-theoretic arguments in development theory and their implications for social theory in general.The book will be of interest to all those interested in the contemporary ‘restructuring’ of social theory and to theorists of development who are rethinking their concerns in a period of pessimism and d...

This book tracks the phases of Singapore’s economic and political development, arguing that its success was always dependent upon the territories links with the surrounding region and the wider global system, and suggests that managing these links today will be the key to the country’s future. Singapore has followed a distinctive historical development trajectory. It was one of a number of cities which provided bases for the expansion of the British empire in the East. But the Pacific War ...

Jake Crabtree is an unwilling volunteer for his granddad’s inventions. They’re supposed to cure the twelve-year-old of his stammer, but more often than not he’s lucky to escape with all of his limbs intact.He has an accident at a local science fair when his secret formula spills onto his neighbour’s harmless picnic basket. This creates a creature that starts to abduct the villages of Little Codswallop, replacing them with not so perfect copies.Jake and his family have to co...

In September 1944 the Western Allies mounted an audacious attempt to seize a crossing over the Rhine into Germany in a bid to end the Second World War quickly. Yet despite the deployment of thousands of American, British and Polish airborne troops, in conjunction with the efforts of ground forces to link up with them, ultimately at Arnhem in the Netherlands, the plan failed spectacularly and the war continued well into 1945. Famously depicted in the blockbuster film A Bridge Too Far (1977)...

When General Allenby arrived in Egypt in June 1917, and assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, British prestige in the East was at a very low ebb. The evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915, followed by the fall of Kut el Amara four months later, and by our two unsuccessful attacks on Gaza in the spring of the following year, had invested the Turkish arms with a legend of invincibility which was spreading rapidly in all Moslem countries. For the first time in seven centurie...

`The expression of human experience it embodies ... includes all personal history'.Saul Bellow's view of the city is far from that of classic geographical descriptions which look at growth or decline, demographic patterns, traffic flows and economic potential: these empirically conceived models of urban geography fail to accommodate the crucial human aspect of city life.Located at the interface of geography and literature, Writing the City visualizes the cit...

With the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe and the related imposition of colonial rule in much of East Asia, both Europe and East Asia have intertwined histories that continue to shape their political thinking and political decision making. The contemporary interactions of the two regions – now once again major trading partners – will both depend upon and facilitate deeper understandings of their respective sets of national pasts. This book compares national pasts as well as the curr...

From the foremost historian of 20th century Spain, A People Betrayed is the story of the devastating betrayal of Spain by its political class, its military and its Church.This comprehensive history of modern Spain chronicles the fomenting of violent social division throughout the country by institutionalised corruption and startling political incompetence. Most spectacularly during the Primo de Rivera and Franco dictatorships, grotesque and shameless corru...

China's growth as a major international superpower means that it is now more important than ever to understand how its politics work. Rejecting familiar discussions of China cast in terms of traditional culture, contemporary economic power or shifting official ideologies, this forward thinking work instead analyses the historically contingent mix of agents, ideas and institutions that make up the country's political life.This approach allows Sabrina Ching Yuen Luk and Peter W. Pres...

‘The Duke is a soldier – a bad education for a statesmen in a free country’. Sir Walter Scott’s fear of the political soldier has long been part of Western political life. Yet although many countries would have preferred to keep the military out of politics few have been successful.Originally published in 1976, this book examines the careers of five distinguished twentieth century soldiers and assesses their contribution as statesmen. Hindenburg, Byng, Franco, Eisenhower and De Gau...