January 2003 Issue
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| FEATURES | ||||||||
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Whichever way you look at it, the site of Pompeii is ill-fated. If history does not repeat itself and a future eruption of Mount Vesuvius does not engulf the city with a blanket of volcanic ash, then the well-meaning tourist will surely destroy it bit-by-bit. What does the future hold for the site and those who work to preserve and conserve it? Should we focus on recording what standing remains are left above ground, or place renewed emphasis on excavating below the AD 79 levels to advance our knowledge of the city and its inhabitants? A range of new books on Pompeii look at the past, present and future of the site. | |||||||
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Book Feature: Stranger than fiction? Sometimes archaeology reveals a find that not only attracts the attention of the media but also the imagination of the novelist. While detailed forensic analysis of objects, features and sites provides valuable information about the lives of our ancestors, a good novel can put flesh on the bones. | |||||||
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Top Ten Best-Selling New Books during 2002 Just out of curiosity, we decided to find out which new books were Oxbow's best-sellers during 2002. We meant to list the top ten, but in the end we came up with a list of thirteen as a late run on a few hot titles in December created several sales ties. There were a few surprises! The number one seller, however, was way out in front ... | |||||||
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Quirky Book of the Month First published in 1950, The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody is available again. This entertaining book is an 'off the wall' look at twenty-six historical figures and their deeds. This new edition, which is accompanied by some amusing illustrations by William Steig, portrays figures such as Cleopatra, Hannibal, Attila the Hun, Lucrezia Borgia, Peter the Great, Columbus and Montezuma as 'foolish, funny and fallible'. Did you know that the home life of William the Conqueror and Matilda was happy enough 'barring occasional knockdown fights and pretty constant bickering over the children and who was the boss'? | |||||||
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Of all the new books that have passed over the desks of the Oxbow staff this month, these, for whatever reason, are the ones that grabbed their attention.
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| INTERVIEWS | ||||||||
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Meet the Editor: Martin Carver of Antiquity From 2003 onwards Antiquity will have a new editor and a new look. We met up with Professor Martin Carver and talked to him about some of his favourite books, and his plans for the venerable journal of world archaeology, started by O G S Crawford in 1927. | |||||||
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Meet the Author: Koji Mizoguchi Koji Mizoguchi's new book, An Archaeological History of Japan, is "one of the most challenging, eloquent and engaging books on this subject to date" ... at least according to Simon Kaner in the December 2002 edition of Antiquity. This is not too surprising considering Dr Mizoguchi's wide-ranging scholarly interests - from Bronze Age Wessex to Kofun burial mounds, and from post-processual theory to the archaeological study of money. I caught up with Koji at the Theoretical Archaeology Group meetings in Manchester and talked to him about his work, his favourite books, and his plans for the future. | |||||||
| AT OXBOW | ||||||||
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It's the January 2003 Sneaky Bargain Preview for Classical Studies ... We were amazed by the popularity of last month's Sneaky Bargain Preview, so we have set Charles to the task again and he has come up with a new list of imminent good deals on books on Greece and Rome ... | |||||||
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New Releases At Oxbow, we also publish the occasional book. These are our new releases:
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