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Articles 451 - 480 of 1977

Full-Text Articles in Comparative Literature

Book Review: Michel Danino. The Lost River: On The Trail Of The Sarasvati, Joseph Drew Jan 2021

Book Review: Michel Danino. The Lost River: On The Trail Of The Sarasvati, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

When early civilizations were listed back at the beginning of the modern discipline that constitutes the comparative study of civilizations, one of the greatest of them all was yet essentially unknown. It was only about a century ago that information was brought forward on the possible existence of this most interesting, extensive, and influential Bronze Age civilization, the Indus River Valley Civilization.


Christopher Peet. Practicing Transcendence: Axial Age Spiritualities For A World In Crisis, Constance Wilkinson Jan 2021

Christopher Peet. Practicing Transcendence: Axial Age Spiritualities For A World In Crisis, Constance Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

This unusual and enlightening scholarly work by Christopher Peet draws our contemplative attention to what post-war German philosopher Karl Jaspers called "the Axial Age," a "span of several centuries from 800 to 200 BCE . . . constituting a dividing line or 'axis' between a long prehistory of human beings before and the emergence of a world history after."


Macgregor Knox And Williamson Murray, Eds. The Dynamics Of Military Revolution, 1300–2050, Stephen T. Satkiewicz Jan 2021

Macgregor Knox And Williamson Murray, Eds. The Dynamics Of Military Revolution, 1300–2050, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Carl von Clausewitz famously declared “War is but the continuation of politics by other means.” It could just as easily be declared that war is the continuation of civilization by other means, concerning how different societies and cultures fight can be reflective of their distinct characters as much as any other factor. The study of war from the civilizational perspective is not new; for example, former ISCSC presidents Pitirim Sorokin and Matthew Melko did their own studies related to the matter. Into this mix come MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray in their edited volume The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050 …


Rachel M. Stein, Vengeful Citizens, Violent States. A Theory Of War And Revenge, Jamie Gonzalez Jan 2021

Rachel M. Stein, Vengeful Citizens, Violent States. A Theory Of War And Revenge, Jamie Gonzalez

Comparative Civilizations Review

From the very outset, Western civilization postulated revenge as a significant cause of armed conflict. The Iliad’s storyline, the first extant literary text in our Western tradition, revolves around the concept of a Greek retaliatory military campaign against a foreign enemy. The Greeks sail to Priam’s city, intending to make the Trojans pay for the abduction of Helen. The first historiography work in the Western canon (Herodotus’ Histories) posits a framework of an eternal cycle of revenge between East and West. The “Father of History” structures the narrative at the beginning of his work as a cycle of abduction …


End Matter Jan 2021

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Full Issue Jan 2021

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Book Review: Christopher I. Beckwith. The Tibetan Empire In Central Asia, Constance Wilkinson Jan 2021

Book Review: Christopher I. Beckwith. The Tibetan Empire In Central Asia, Constance Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia was brought into being by polyglot polymath philologist MacArthur Fellowship recipient and stupefyingly wide-ranging medieval Central Asian civilizations-ist scholar Christopher I. Beckwith as the "first detailed narrative history of the Tibetan Empire in Central Asia written in any language" (vii). By 1993, Princeton University Press had released a 4th printing/1st paperback edition (with a new afterword by Beckwith), suggesting a widening readership for what some might regard as a rarified subject.


Jennifer E. Sessions. By Sword And Plow: France And The Conquest Of Algeria, Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, And Jacob Tatsitsa. Kamerun! Une Guerre Cachée De La Françafrique (1948-1971), Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, And Jacob Tatsitsa. La Guerre Du Cameroun: L’Invention De La Françafrique 1948-1971, Leland Conley Barrows Jan 2021

Jennifer E. Sessions. By Sword And Plow: France And The Conquest Of Algeria, Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, And Jacob Tatsitsa. Kamerun! Une Guerre Cachée De La Françafrique (1948-1971), Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, And Jacob Tatsitsa. La Guerre Du Cameroun: L’Invention De La Françafrique 1948-1971, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

The legacy of the colonial period continues to weigh on France. Recently, President Emmanuel Macron called for the creation of a “Memories and Truth Commission” to lay to rest the lingering questions, bitterness, and controversies surrounding the French occupation of Algeria, the independence war, and the country’s accession to independence. Questions regarding the brutality of French colonial conquests and colonial rule in tropical Africa are also being raised. Immigration from Algeria and other formerly French territories is provoking controversy as is also the fact that France has the largest Muslim population of any European country. Many French citizens, particularly those …


Ccr Style Guide For Submitted Manuscripts Jan 2021

Ccr Style Guide For Submitted Manuscripts

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Jack Weatherford. Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World, Ashok Kumar Malhotra Jan 2021

Jack Weatherford. Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World, Ashok Kumar Malhotra

Comparative Civilizations Review

Jack Weatherford’s book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is divided into three segments. Part one tells the story of Genghis Khan’s birth in 1162, his rise to power on the steppe, and the influence of the steppe in shaping his mindset. Growing up in this wilderness helped fashion the personality which led him to consolidate many warring tribes into a single Mongolian country by 1206. Furthermore, unifying these diverse ethnic groups into a Mongolian nation provided Genghis Khan an excellent model which he replicated in the rest of the world. Part two is devoted to the …


Michael Scott. Ancient Worlds: A Global History Of Antiquity, Leland Conley Barrows Jan 2021

Michael Scott. Ancient Worlds: A Global History Of Antiquity, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

Michael Scott, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick in England, who has written prolifically on Ancient Greece and the Greco-Roman world, has broadened his scope in writing the book under review to include consideration of the ancient histories of selected societies in the Near East, India, Central Asia, and China. Scott is motivated by the thought that, scholars, particularly in the West, have been provincial, treating the designation, ancient worlds or ancient history, as if Greece, Rome, and the peripheral areas with which they interacted constituted the sum total of the ancient world. Or, if …


Front Matter Jan 2021

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Sustainable Civilization: Informatization Strategy, Andrew Targowski Jan 2021

Sustainable Civilization: Informatization Strategy, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The article proposes strategic aspirations for the development of sustainable civilization, which are based on organizing the Geoinformatics Steering System, which will monitor civilizations based on established indexes measuring the state of civilization. This monitoring must have a uniform system on many levels of human organization, from the enterprise (company) to regions, countries, continents and the world. The condition for this organization is the creation of the World Civilization Organization because the current efforts of people and countries are chaotic.


The Pahlavis And The Other Side Of The Coins, Ardavan Khoshnood Jan 2021

The Pahlavis And The Other Side Of The Coins, Ardavan Khoshnood

Comparative Civilizations Review

It was with great interest that I read “Political Power of Iranian Hierocracies” by János Jany published in Comparative Civilizations Review (83, 2020: 67-102). Writing about Iranian history is not an easy task because historical points of view have been highly politicized. Such is particularly the case when discussing the Pahlavi dynasty, particularly its founder, Reza Shah Pahlavi, and his successor, Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. It is therefore of major importance to be transparent and, when feasible, to present the varying views and schools of thought which may exist with respect to the Pahlavi dynasty (Khoshnood, 2019).


Book Review: David J. Rosner. Catastrophe And Philosophy, John Berteaux Jan 2021

Book Review: David J. Rosner. Catastrophe And Philosophy, John Berteaux

Comparative Civilizations Review

In Chinese, the word “catastrophe” is composed of two characters: 危机 The first character represents danger and the second is the symbol for opportunity, suggesting as my son so aptly put it, “We should never let a ‘good’ disaster go to waste.” In much the same light, philosopher David Rosner’s sensible and probing anthology, Catastrophe and Philosophy, directs us to observe that, “catastrophes are catastrophes not only because they bring widespread death and destruction in their wake, but also because they fundamentally challenge the basic ‘sense making’ feature of the human mind and our need for a meaningful world.” …


End Matter Jan 2021

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Editor's Note, Joseph Drew Jan 2021

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Book Review: Leonid Grinin. Macrohistory And Globalization, Stephen T. Satkiewicz Jan 2021

Book Review: Leonid Grinin. Macrohistory And Globalization, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin is once quoted as saying, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” There should be a parallel statement about how some books state extraordinarily little in multiple pages, but others speak volumes in mere sentences. A good example of the latter would be Macrohistory and Globalization by another Russian: Leonid Grinin.


Do All Roads Lead To Rome? Exploring The Underlying Logics Of Similar Policies And Practices Of Recruiting Barbarian Soldiers In Roman And Early Chinese Empires, Pengfei Su Jan 2021

Do All Roads Lead To Rome? Exploring The Underlying Logics Of Similar Policies And Practices Of Recruiting Barbarian Soldiers In Roman And Early Chinese Empires, Pengfei Su

Comparative Civilizations Review

There are many similarities between various aspects of the Roman and early Chinese empires, which have been the focus of much academic discussion. A wide range of comparative studies have been carried out and resulted in the publication of numerous research papers. Scholars have been using different approaches focusing upon different areas to address this very broad comparative topic. Detailed analyses were made to compare the two empires in respect to their coinage and monetary systems, state revenue and expenditures, elite formation and social class advancement, and executive decision-making processes, just to mention a few. In a broader context, the …


The Human Search For A Sense Of Wholeness, Ross R. Maxwell Jan 2021

The Human Search For A Sense Of Wholeness, Ross R. Maxwell

Comparative Civilizations Review

How can we characterize a civilization? From an economic point of view, a civilization consists of a system of interacting fulltime interdependent specialized occupations. From a cultural point of view, on the other hand, a civilization consists of what Ben Nelson, the late president of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (1971-1977), called a civilizational complex, a structure that developed from the blending of multiple cultures.


Full Issue Jan 2021

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.


Rutger Bregman. Humankind: A Hopeful History, John Bertreaux Jan 2021

Rutger Bregman. Humankind: A Hopeful History, John Bertreaux

Comparative Civilizations Review

Do crises bring out the best or the worst in people? Are humans inclined to be evil, or are they more likely to be good, to do the right thing? Is civilization simply a thin veneer that is easily scratched away? From Church Father St. Augustine (354-430) to French theologian, pastor, and reformer John Calvin (1509-1564), we are depicted, if not as totally depraved and evil, at least, as the bearers of original sin. While perusing Rutger Bregman’s hopeful history, I happened upon a newspaper article announcing an exhibition of drawings and prints of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), at the Metropolitan …


Editor's Note, Joseph Drew, Editor-In-Chief Jan 2021

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew, Editor-In-Chief

Comparative Civilizations Review

It has always seemed somewhat ironic that the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations has never agreed on the exact definition of the single word arguably most central to its mission: “civilization”.


The Deep Seer And The Four Tests, Ross R. Maxwell Jan 2021

The Deep Seer And The Four Tests, Ross R. Maxwell

Comparative Civilizations Review

At last, he knew his true name. When he was young, he wandered, unsure of himself. He knew he was a generalist — not satisfied with mastering only one thing. He wanted to explore. He wanted to fill in blanks in his mental map of the world. He was good at science, and he understood concepts quickly, but he rarely stuck around long enough to gain real expertise in a field. His curiosity was ravenous, always seeking new realms to explore.


The World System, Regional Systems, And The Limitations Of Historical Urban Population Datasets, Karl E. Ryavec Jan 2021

The World System, Regional Systems, And The Limitations Of Historical Urban Population Datasets, Karl E. Ryavec

Comparative Civilizations Review

This study presents a method for mapping and comparing the regional extents of historical city-based economies at the global scale by integrating the World-Systems Theory of Immanuel Wallerstein with the Regional Systems Theory of G. W. Skinner. The approach taken here focuses on mapping urban cores and their rural peripheries based on available disaggregated urban population estimates for 1741 cities according to six main historical periods from ca. 3700 BCE to 1900 CE. As a result, a spatial history of some regional-scale changes wrought by increasing modes of capitalism in the Modern and Industrial periods may be compared with earlier …


One Book—Two Authors—Whose Ideas?, Leland Conley Barrows Jan 2021

One Book—Two Authors—Whose Ideas?, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

This short essay attempts to answer some questions that came to my mind regarding the authorship and the origin of ideas developed in De la Sénégambie française (Paris: Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, Fils et Cie., 1855) by Frédéric Carrère and Paul Holle, two notables of mid-nineteenth century Saint-Louis, Senegal. I had been commissioned to prepare an analysis of the attitudes towards Islam of the authors for Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History 1500-1900, a multi-volume series of bibliographical studies under preparation by the Department of Theology and Religion of the University of Birmingham in England being published, volume by …


Imagining An Asian American Superhero Of North Korean Origin: A Design Fiction, Seo-Young J. Chu Jan 2021

Imagining An Asian American Superhero Of North Korean Origin: A Design Fiction, Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

My talk, a thought-experimental blend of literary criticism and speculative "design fiction," will introduce you to an Asian American superhero of North Korean origin. In this science-fictional superhero, whom I have tentatively named "구름"/"☁️"/"Ku-reum," Korea's elusive realities coalesce into legible form. More specifically, they become available for narrative experience and relatable to us as an anthropomorphic character, a person with whom we might identify, come face-to-face, sympathize, interact dynamically, and have a conversation. Ku-reum is designed to reflect Korea's complex past and hopes for the future. Existing beyond division systems, Ku-reum uses the non-binary pronouns "one"/"they." Neither "South" nor "North," …


Notes On Contributors, Molly Lynde-Recchia Dec 2020

Notes On Contributors, Molly Lynde-Recchia

Transference

No abstract provided.


On Tasso In Prison By Charles Baudelaire, Sharon Fish Mooney Dec 2020

On Tasso In Prison By Charles Baudelaire, Sharon Fish Mooney

Transference

Translation of and commentary on Baudelaire's "On Tasso in Prison," which is an ekphrastic poem after Delacroix's painting of the same name.


Four Poems By Toshiko Hirata, Eric Hyett, Spencer Thurlow Dec 2020

Four Poems By Toshiko Hirata, Eric Hyett, Spencer Thurlow

Transference

Translations of "Is It February?" "Is It March?" "Is It November Again?" and "Is It December Again?"