Books

THE MADRAS MIASMA

Madras in the 1920s. The British are slowly losing the grip on the subcontinent. The end of the colonial enterprise is in sight and the city on India’s east coast is teeming with intrigue. A grisly murder takes place against the backdrop of political tension and Superintendent Le Fanu, a man of impeccable investigative methods, is called in to find out who killed a respectable young British girl and dumped her in a canal, her veins clogged with morphine.

As Le Fanu, a man forced to keep his own personal relationship a secret for fear of scandal in the face British moral standards, begins to investigate, he quickly slips into a quagmire of Raj politics, rebellion and nefarious criminal activities that threaten not just to bury his case but the fearless detective himself.

A House in Damascus: Before The Fall

As Syria confronts an uncertain future, A House in Damascus seeks to balance the Western view with the lives and views of the everyday people living in the world’s oldest continuing capital city

Drawn from the author’s experiences occurring immediately before the 2011-2012 social and political upheaval, each story traces the Old City of Damascus and its people’s present through the past, capturing the universal human element often missing from the strategic and political accounts.

A People’s Collector In The British Raj: Arthur Galletti

This biography provides deep insight into the life and personality of Arthur Galleti, as well as his style of working and his concern for the welfare of common people. Simultaneously it demonstrates social prejudices in British India concerning class, status, race, education and profession. Also it connects to the major phases of the independence movement in India between the late 19th century and 1947.

Land, Water, Language and Politics in Andhra: Regional Evolution in India Since 1850

This book explains how access to and use of land, water and language helped shape Andhra politics in India from 1850 down to the present day. After independence, the debate over land reform and policies on irrigation has shaped the fortunes of various governments, while the debate over the make-up of the language-based state has stimulated separatist movements like the one in support of Telangana.

The book discusses how British innovations in irrigation in coastal Andhra in the mid-nineteenth century transformed the economy there from food crops to cash crops, and created new markets for local entrepreneurs. This stimulated increased education and social reform in the region, which in turn supported new politics in search of constitutional concessions. The drive for a Telugu language-based province then arose in concert, and those political resources were then used to determine local patterns down to independence. The 1930s ruse of the socialists, then the communist organisations, was an extension of land and water tax debates, which impacted the political nature of development ― both before and after ― independence.

This is one of the first books on Andhra that recounts this story and is based on extensive archival research exploring the deep relationships between land, water, language and politics. It would be of primary interest to those studying modern nationalism in India, natural resource management, Indian politics and economic growth.

Sport, Culture and History: Region, nation and globe (Sport in the Global Society)

In addition to being an internationally recognised pioneer of sports history, Brian Stoddart has also been a leading thinker and influence in the field. That influence has crossed several areas of history, sociology, business, politics and media aspects of sports studies, and has drawn deeply upon his own training in Asian studies. His work has been characterised by cross-disciplinary work from the outset, and has encompassed some very different geographical areas as well as crossing from academic outlets to media commentary. As a result, his influential work has appeared in many different locations, and it has been difficult for a wide variety of readers to access it fully and easily. This volume draws together, in the one place for the first time, some of his most important academic and journalistic work. Importantly, the pieces are drawn together by an intellectual/autobiographical commentary that locates each piece in a wider social and cultural framework.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society

The Imperial Game: Cricket, Culture and Society (Studies in Imperialism) Hardcover – 23 July 1998

Sports history offers many profound insights into the character and complexities of modern imperial rule. This book examines the fortunes of cricket in various colonies as the sport spread across the British Empire. It helps to explain why cricket was so successful, even in places like India, Pakistan and the West Indies where the Anglo-Saxon element remained in a small minority. The story of imperial cricket is really about the colonial quest for identity in the face of the colonisers’ search for authority. The cricket phenomenon was established in nineteenth-century England when the Victorians began glorifying the game as a perfect system of manners, ethics and morals. Cricket has exemplified the colonial relationship between England and Australia and expressed imperialist notions to the greatest extent. In the study of the transfer of imperial cultural forms, South Africa provides one of the most fascinating case studies. From its beginnings in semi-organised form through its unfolding into a contemporary internationalised structure, Caribbean cricket has both marked and been marked by a tight affiliation with complex social processing in the islands and states which make up the West Indies. New Zealand rugby demonstrates many of the themes central to cricket in other countries. While cricket was played in India from 1721 and the Calcutta Cricket Club is probably the second oldest cricket club in the world, the indigenous population was not encouraged to play cricket.

The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket

The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket covers every aspect of a sport in which Australians have long excelled and which at various times has inspired and united the nation. No other book on Australian cricket offers such a combination of historical and statistical information and analytical commentary. 

Liberation Cricket: West Indies Cricket Culture (Sport, Society & Politics S.)

Of the global community of cricketers, the West Indians are, arguably, the most well-known and feared. This book shows how this tradition of cricketing excellence and leadership emerged, and how it contributed to the rise of West Indian nationalism and independence. The essayists argue that cricket mirrors the anti-colonial tensions and ideological and social conflicts over race and class that have shaped West Indian society. In consequence, it has helped promote the region’s democratic ethos and fragmented nationalism. “Liberation Cricket” connects and embraces the diversity of West Indian social and political life, and suggests the relevance of cricket research for an understanding of the making of the modern West Indies.

Sport in Australia: A Social History

Australia is often seen as a sport-obsessed nation, its people besotted with watching and playing sport. This book is an exciting survey of Australia’s sporting life since white settlement. It deals comprehensively with the history of a range of individual sports in Australia, including cricket, horse-racing, netball, rowing, tennis, lawn bowls, swimming and surfing and the various football codes. Leading sports historians look at the impact of professionalization and commercialization on many sports, the link between sport and nationalism, the successes of Australian sport in the international arena and the effect of the communications revolution on sport. The book shows that class prejudice, sexual segregation and racial discrimination have permeated Australia’s sporting history, arguing that sport in Australia has not taken place on a level playing field. Sport in Australia demonstrates the central role of sport in Australian popular culture and shows the ways in which sport reflects changing Australian society.

Saturday Afternoon Fever: Sport in the Australian Culture

Cricket and Empire: the 1932-33 Bodyline Tour of Australia

A great depression, worsening Anglo-Australian relations, the declining British Empire and the challenge from an Australia striving to find a national identity are the context which explain bodyline and its repercussions. Bodyline was a watershed in the history of cricket and politics were publicly seen as part of sport. This book offers a radical reappraisal of bodyline which challenges the official interpretations of the events, and places them in a unique social and political context.