http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/topic/55/book-reviews Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:41:57 -0400 Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:41:57 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1495/post-colonial-duality-and-identity-in-ballards-the-crystal-world By Emma O. Volk - J. G. Ballard’s The Crystal World (1966) is a prismatic text, apparently translucent yet linguistically opaque, with moments of unexpected ontological intricacy. Like the crystals consuming the forest, Ballard’s descriptive language itself multiplies, encrusting the novel in adjectival embellishment and convoluted pseudo-science. Yet beneath the pop-apocalyptic overtones, The Crystal World is a text deeply informed by its post-colonial setting. In his seminal work Colonial Desire: Hybridity in theory, culture, and race, post-colonial theorist Robert J.C. Young identifies the &ldquo... Mon, 14 Nov 2016 09:45 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1495/post-colonial-duality-and-identity-in-ballards-the-crystal-world http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 By Florence Lee - In essence, Davis blames neoliberalism for these problems. The ‘villains’, or driving forces behind modern slum creation, are the World Bank and the IMF. And Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) – conditions attached to provisional loans that poor countries are subjected to whereby neoliberal market policies (opening up of the market, removing trade barriers and excess state control) are promoted – have been the reason. By encouraging less trade subsidies and privatization, SAPs lead to borrowers having to cut back on public taxation and spending. Davis states that millions... Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:29 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1353/book-review-a-brief-history-of-neoliberalism-by-david-harvey-2005 By Florence Lee - Michael Thompson, reviewing A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey, calls it ‘the world according to David Harvey’ (2005). This is an accurate remark: although erring slightly on the side of conspiracy, the book is a breathtaking overview of the ‘neoliberal world’ through Harvey’s neo-Marxist and anti-capitalist lens. The book is aimed at the general reader and is a non-technical, concise introduction to many of the key features of neoliberal theory: the economic practices proposing that human wellbeing can be attained by reducing state intervention, promoting... Fri, 12 Feb 2016 03:11 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1353/book-review-a-brief-history-of-neoliberalism-by-david-harvey-2005 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1342/book-review-cyber-war-will-not-take-place By Justine Chauvin - In Cyber War Will Not Take Place1, Thomas Rid develops his argument on the concept of "cyberwar", previously formulated in an article of the same name2 published in January 2012. His chief point is that "cyber war has never happened in the past, it does not occur in the present, and it is unlikely that it will disturb our future";3 ergo the use of this concept to describe cyberoffenses is misleading.4 He has also written several articles related to cyberwar5, cyberweapons6 and cyberpeace,7 in which he argues against the militarization of the debate about cyberattacks,8 and in particular the confusing... Sun, 31 Jan 2016 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1342/book-review-cyber-war-will-not-take-place http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/848/christopher-benjamins-eco-innovators-sustainability-in-atlantic-canada--stories-to-change-minds-and-move-hearts By Tami Ambury - In his 2011 book, Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada, environmental journalist Chris Benjamin provides a new kind of roadmap to a more sustainable future. In this work, Chris masterfully weaves the stories of 35 creative and dedicated individuals from the four Maritime Provinces who recognize the need to take action now. From more sustainable food, transportation, or housing choices, to new business models, to community- based social marketing and branding, to journalists and educators raising their voices for change, Chris outlines some of the many narratives for change. In so... Fri, 10 Jan 2014 02:45 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/848/christopher-benjamins-eco-innovators-sustainability-in-atlantic-canada--stories-to-change-minds-and-move-hearts http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/636/book-review-the-shia-revival-how-conflicts-within-islam-will-shape-the-future-by-vali-nasr By Hamad R. Hamad - In his book The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (2006), Vali Nasr addresses an issue that is gaining increased importance in the contemporary coverage of global Islam: Sunni-Shia relations. Vali Nasr is a widely respected scholar who claims expertise in multiple fields that pertain to Middle Eastern and South Asian politics, particularly Sunni-Shia relations. In the book Nasr examines the issue from, what some would consider to be, a Shia perspective that is often overlooked in favor of Sunni viewpoints. This is made apparent through his disdain of how Islamic history... Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:59 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/636/book-review-the-shia-revival-how-conflicts-within-islam-will-shape-the-future-by-vali-nasr http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/568/tim-obriens-the-things-they-carried-postmodern-fiction-for-a-postmodern-war By Laurence R. Kowalewski - In the western history of human existence the event, idea, and act of war stands totemic in the landscape. Borders both physical and mental have been defined by its threat and execution, and its aura hangs heavily over the last century as the bloodiest in the entire narrative of humanity.[1] During a period widely considered to be the most perfect example of the efficient, mechanised destruction of life—the Holocaust—David Rousset gave a name to the experience he saw inside the internment camps as “l’univers concentrationnaire,” a world apart.[2] This succinct explanation... Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/568/tim-obriens-the-things-they-carried-postmodern-fiction-for-a-postmodern-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/374/the-1905-russian-revolution-through-the-eyes-of-vladimir-nabokov-in-speak-memory By Iulia O. Basu-Zharku - Many of the causes that determined the 1905 Russian Revolution are presented in Nabokov’s novel. One of these is industrialization, which occurred at a rapid pace: “In the early years of this century, a travel agency on Nevski Avenue displayed a three-foot-long model of an oak-brown international sleeping car.... One could make out the blue upholstery inside, the embossed leather lining of the compartment walls, their polished panels, inset mirrors, tulip-shaped reading lamps, and other maddening details. Spacious windows alternated with narrower ones... and some of these were of frosted... Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:01 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/374/the-1905-russian-revolution-through-the-eyes-of-vladimir-nabokov-in-speak-memory http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/269/book-review-the-shock-doctrine-by-naomi-klein-2007 By Delia M. Harrington - Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine ties together history, economics, globalization, natural disasters and geopolitics into one bleak picture. Klein’s thesis is that the Shock Doctrine, also called Disaster Capitalism, has been put into practice all over the world, supported by Milton Freidman and his Chicago Boys. The shock doctrine is a theory that in order to put into practice the highly unpopular tenets of a free market economy, the implementation of such policies must happen directly after a shock to the national conscious. Such shock can take the form of a terrorist attack, national... Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/269/book-review-the-shock-doctrine-by-naomi-klein-2007 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/116/book-review-stephen-kotkins-armageddon-averted By Peter Crowley - As the world's first real Marxist experiment, the Soviet Union, by virtue of lasting seventy odd years, proved Western intelligentsia wrong. The latter had long thought it was doomed to fail. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union disintegrated two years later, Western conservatives and liberals alike felt vindicated. United States conservatives would point to Reagan's military arms buildup which the Soviet Union could not keep pace with, while liberal capitalists believed in the inherent unfeasibility of a nonmarket system. Contrary to these suppositions, Stephen Kotkin's Armageddon... Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:13 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/116/book-review-stephen-kotkins-armageddon-averted