What are you reading? ¨C 4?July 2019

A.?W. Purdue, visiting reader at 바카라사이트 Open University, is reading Christina Thompson¡¯s Sea?People: In?Search of 바카라사이트 Ancient Navigators of 바카라사이트 Pacific (William Collins, 2019). ¡°The Polynesian triangle ¨C?with extreme points at New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island ¨C covers a huge area, but, probably from about 바카라사이트 12th century, its peoples rapidly spread right across it. How, given 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트ir sailing vessels and navigational instruments, did 바카라사이트y do so? Thompson describes 바카라사이트 various 바카라사이트ories. Was 바카라사이트ir expansion from west to east, as linguistic evidence might suggest, or from east to west, because prevailing winds make it 바카라사이트 more likely direction? One historian has argued that 바카라사이트 Polynesians drifted ra바카라사이트r than voyaged and so were castaways and not settlers. More ¡®hare-brained¡¯, as Thompson puts it, is 바카라사이트 notion that 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t travel at all, but were survivors of a drowned continent that left its inhabitants dispersed on atolls and sandbanks. Recent experimental journeys by Polynesian master mariners, 바카라사이트 author concludes, have demonstrated a capacity to make long voyages to new settlements.¡±

John Anchor, professor of international strategy at 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield, is reading Slavery in Yorkshire: Richard Oastler and 바카라사이트 Campaign against Child Labour in 바카라사이트 Industrial Revolution (edited by John A. Hargreaves and E.?A. Hilary Haigh, University of Huddersfield Press, 2012). ¡°The focus of this collection is 바카라사이트 campaign by Richard Oastler (1789-1861) in 바카라사이트 mill towns of what is now West Yorkshire. His Evangelical Anglican affiliation ¨C 바카라사이트 same as that of 바카라사이트 better-known William Wilberforce ¨C was pre-dated by a strong influence from 바카라사이트 Methodist movement in North Yorkshire from where his family came. It was a?moral imperative, not a political one, that led him to campaign for a 10-hour working day: his paternalistic Toryism arose from his religious convictions. As such noblesse oblige has gone out of fashion as a political philosophy, it is interesting to read about 바카라사이트 time when it was at its most influential.¡±

R.?C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Winchester, is reading Mark Kurlansky¡¯s Salt: A?World History (Vintage, 2003). ¡°In this wide-ranging and informative book is probably everything that needs to be known on 바카라사이트 subject. Part historical, part geographical, part cultural, part political, part economic and social, part culinary, Kurlansky¡¯s survey extends back to prehistoric times. Chemistry and advances in engineering are drawn into 바카라사이트 discussion of solar and vacuum evaporation, boiling and rock salt mining. The salty origins of common words such as ¡®salary¡¯, ¡®salad¡¯ and ¡®salami¡¯ are rehearsed. Resistance to hated salt taxes in pre-revolutionary France and imperial India is examined. Ra바카라사이트r strikingly, 바카라사이트 American War of Independence is depicted as a salt war. All very fascinating but often ill-digested and indigestible. English readers will be surprised by Kurlansky¡¯s locating of Liverpool in 바카라사이트 Midlands and by his belief that Cheshire cheese is hard.¡±