2021 Book reviews

Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Edited by Craig W. Tyson and Virginia R. Hermann. University Press of Colorado, 2019. ISBN: 9781607328223.

Reviewed by Alexander Johannes Edmonds, University of Tübingen

Edited by Julie Tanaka and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Lisbon: A Biography. Magda Pinheiro. Translated by Mario Pereira. Dartmouth, MA: Tagus Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781933227757.

Reviewed by Ernst Pijning, Minot State University

Edited by Julie Tanaka

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.


Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea. David Fedman. University of Washington Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780295747453.

Reviewed by Steven Ivings, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Soldiers, Saints, and Shamans: Indigenous Communities and the Revolutionary State in Mexico’s Gran Nayar, 1910-1940. Nathanial Morris. University of Arizona Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780816541027.

Reviewed by Joshua Simon, Columbia University

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation. Wasana Wongsurawat. University of Washington Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780295746241.

Reviewed by Fabrizio Martino, Chulalongkorn University-Bangkok

Edited by Birgit Schneider and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir. Esther Safran Foer. Random House, 2020. ISBN: 9780525575986.

Inge’s War: A German Woman’s Story of Family, Secrets, and Survival under Hitler. Svenja O’Donnell. Viking, 2020. ISBN: 9781984880215.

Review essay by Laura J. Hilton, Muskingum University

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Gendered Power: Educated Women of the Meiji Empress’ Court. Mamiko C. Suzuki. University of Michigan Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780807174302.

Reviewed by Daniel Barish, Baylor University

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey. Anne Mendelson. Columbia University Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780231541299.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Fuhan Mason, M.A. student, San Francisco State University

Edited by Julie Tanaka

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Sweet Land of Liberty: America in the Mind of the French Left, 1848-1871. Tom Sancton. Louisiana State University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780807174302.

Reviewed by Michael Clinton, Gwynedd Mercy University

Edited by Julie Tanaka

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

In a Sea of Empires: Networks and Crossings in the Revolutionary Caribbean. Jeppe Mulich. Cambridge University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781108489720.

Reviewed by Christopher Marshall, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Jeffrey D. Sachs. Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231193740.

Reviewed by J. Justin Castro, Arkansas State University

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Class in the Age of Empire. Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel, eds. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780691195834.

Reviewed by Steven Ivings, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Edited by Justin Quinn Olmstead and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887-1912. Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz. Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231192156.

Reviewed by Tristan Miguel Osteria, University of Santo Tomas

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians, 1801-1914. Stephen Badalyan Riegg. Cornell University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781501750113.

Reviewed by Krista Sigler, University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 22, Fall 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Teaching World History Thematically: Essential Questions and Document-Based Lessons to Connect Past and Present. Rosalie Metro. New York: Teachers College Press, 2020. ISBN 9780807764466.

Reviewed by Stephen Jackson, University of Sioux Falls

Edited by Birgit Schneider and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

State Formation in the Liberal Era: Capitalisms and claims of Citizenship in Mexico and Peru. Edited by Ben Fallaw and David Nugent. University of Arizona Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780816540389.

Reviewed by Andrea K. Moerer, Saint Paul Academy and Metropolitan State University

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

A Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa. M’hamed Oualdi. Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231191869.

Reviewed by Jennifer M. Morris, Ph.D., Mount St. Joseph University, Cincinnati, Ohio

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

On the Sultan’s Service: Halid Ziya Usakligil’s Memoir of the Ottoman Palace, 1909-1912. Translated and Edited by Douglas Scott Brookes. University of Indiana Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780253045515.

Reviewed by James N. Tallon, Lewis University

Edited by Julie Tanaka and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

People’s Wars in China, Malaya, and Vietnam. Mark Opper. University of Michigan Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780472131846.

Reviewed by David Fitzgerald, University College Cork, Ireland

Edited by Julie K. Tanaka and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

In Camps: Vietnamese Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Repatriates. Jana K. Lipman. University of California Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780226665788.

Reviewed by Peter Gatrell, University of Manchester

Edited by Birgit Schneider and Sarah Pesola

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Partitioning Palestine: British Policymaking at the End of Empire. Penny Sinanoglou. University of Chicago Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780226665788.

Reviewed by Frank Zator, M.A., University of Chicago

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict that Made the Modern World. Andrew Lambert. Yale University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780300251487.

Reviewed by Francisco M. Ortiz Delgado, Ph.D., Autonomous Metropolitan University, Mexico

Edited by Justin Quinn Olmstead and Jeanne Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Opening the Gates to Asia: A Transpacific History of How America Repealed Asian Exclusion. Grace H. Hong. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2019. ISBN 9781469653365.

Reviewed by Lei Zhang, Department of American Studies, University of Minnesota

Edited by Jeanne Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Learning to Die in London, 1380-1540. Amy Appleford. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. ISBN 9780812246698.

Reviewed by Katherine Pierpont, Ph.D. candidate, University of Minnesota

Edited by Jeanne Grant and Justin Quinn Olmstead

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World. Matt Alt. New York: Crown, 2020. ISBN: 9781984826695.

Reviewed by Rustin B. Gates, Bradley University

Edited by Jeanne Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Beneath the Backbone of the World: Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720-1877. Ryan Hall. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781469655154.

Reviewed by Jacob Jurss, Adjunct Professor of History, Metropolitan State University and University of St. Thomas

Edited by Sarah Pesola and Jeanne Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Peace on our Terms: The Global Battle for Women’s Rights after the First World War. Mona L. Siegel. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780231195102.

Reviewed by Susan Smith, Maple Grove High School, Maple Grove, Minnesota

Edited by Birgit Schneider, Sarah Pesola, and Jeanne Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Tatar Empire: Kazan’s Muslims and the Making of Imperial Russia. Danielle Ross. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780253045706.

Reviewed by Mark A. Soderstrom, Aurora University

Edited by Jeanne E. Grant

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It. Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780520331075.

Reviewed by David C. Fisher, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Edited by Birgit Schneider

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire. Mina García Soormally. Colorado: University of Colorado Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781607328001.

Reviewed by Lydia A. Perez, Master’s student, University of Central Oklahoma

Edited by Birgit Schneider and Justin Quinn Olmstead

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

The Phantom Image: Seeing the Dead in Ancient Rome. Patrick R. Crowley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780226648293.

Reviewed by Joseph M. Snyder, Assistant Professor, Southeast Missouri State University

Edited by Julie Tanaka

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town. Barbara Demick. New York: Penguin Random House, 2020. ISBN: 9780812998764.

Reviewed by Annima Bahukhandi, Assistant Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi

Edited by Julie Tanaka

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.

Atlantic Studies: Prospects and Challenges. William Boelhower. University of Louisiana Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780807171639.

Reviewed by Len von Morzé, University of Massachusetts Boston

Edited by Justin Quinn Olmstead

© 2021 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 21, Spring 2021 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org.

See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.