Bøger af Peter Robb

A vivid memoir which brings Naples and its extraordinary history to life

Midnight in Sicily is a captivating work by renowned author Peter Robb. Published by Vintage Publishing in 2015, this book takes the reader on an enthralling journey through the heart of Sicily. Robb masterfully blends history, politics, art, and cuisine to create a vivid and insightful portrait of Sicily. His rich narrative and evocative descriptions bring the island's unique culture and complex past to life. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the soul of Sicily. Midnight in Sicily is a testament to Robb's storytelling prowess and his deep understanding of the region. Published by Vintage Publishing, it stands as a significant contribution to the genre.

In this volume leading historians and economists from India and the West consider the conditions and purposes governing the practices and understandings of South Asian agriculture. They demonstrate some persistent features and variable forces which explain changes through their impact on different levels of decision-making in agriculture. New light is cast on both the pre-colonial and colonial periods, and on current development policies and problems.

This book traces various interesting aspects of the story of Indian labor from the eighteenth century to the present day, assessing the degrees of continuity with past practice, and whether the modern assumptions about work--its separation from other aspects of daily life, its commoditization, its class implications--have often been reflected in Indian experience. The essays propose a number of general points on how ideological and religious ferment accompanies economic change, and also treat particulars that resonate against entrenched social conditions and attitudes. As a whole the book forms a comparative story of the concepts of labor and of social hierarchy.

South Asia has always played a part in the European imagining of race, but has not been much considered in the scholarly literature of the present generation; nor, recently, have concepts of race figured very prominently in South Asian studies. This volume constitutes one of the first attempts to raise the question comparatively and over a long time-span with regard to South Asia.

This volume, commemorating nearly forty years during which Professor K.A. Ballhatchet taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, offers varied but coherent studies relevant to questions of ethnicity in South Asia. It goes beyond the recognition that identities are constructed, toward an understanding of the context and conditions in which particular kinds of community are possible. A secondary theme is the means and importance of the interpretation of texts. A third is the impact of the intrusions of colonial rule upon South Asia's practices and self-perceptions. The subjects are considered from pre-Mughal times to the recent past, and in both India and Sri Lanka.

First published in 1983, Rural India intends to provide pictures of Indian rural society in the past, from the standpoint of relationships and exchanges between the countryside and the more general physical and cultural context of which it is a part. A predominant theme is control over land and people. Others are the impact of British rule, the political role of local networks and ties, and the response to and internalising of external stimuli. Attempts are made to examine the concepts employed by scholars in relation to the perceptions of the villagers and similarly to interpret economic and social data in radical ways. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics and agriculture.

In Lives, an extraordinary writer encounters some remarkable people - and evokes their inner worlds.Peter Robb has an uncanny ability to get under the skin of his profile subjects: to show them in a new light, to home in on what makes them tick. In Australia, these range from Alex Dimitriades to Ivan Milat, from Marcia Langton to Julian Assange. In Italy, Robb immerses the reader in the worlds of Fellini, Caravaggio, Calvino and Pasolini. Elsewhere, his portraits of EM Forster, Arthur Rimbaud, Peter Carey and Gore Vidal illuminate the real people behind the public image. This is a fascinating exploration of human life in all its variety, glamour and idiosyncrasy.

This volume argues that concepts and ideologies shaped the practice of British rule in India; impacted policies and laws, and were embodied in institutions and practices, affecting both governance and Indian experience. Engaging with questions of historiography, it calls for a balanced assessment of India's growth or decline under British rule. Ideas Matter examines revenue policies and their consequences, generally but particularly in Bihar, stressing continuities from pre-colonial times but also discussing major changes deriving from British laws. Two chapters analyse the rationale and impact of the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885. Others discuss communal identities and the effects of colonial categorization, probing the significance of interpretations of the 1857 revolt and the Amritsar massacre of 1919, and considering the overtly non-communalist Abdul Latif (1828-93) and educational reforms intended to benefit Bengali Muslims.

Focusing on the underlying ideas and the practical repurcussions of agrarian policy, this text analyzes the character of British rule in 19th-century India. In particular, the book considers the importance of notions of historical rights and economic progress.

Peter Robb's clear, fluent narrative explores the interplay between India's empires and regions of rule, custom and belief, from early times up to the present day. The new edition of this established text has been revised to incorporate the latest scholarship and now includes a fully reworked, updated and extended final chapter.

Examining agrarian societies in colonial India, these papers include analyses of late 18th-century records on South India and North Bengal, and a look at the late colonial period. Mobility and land transfer, technology and labour absorption, and famines and epidemics are also studied.

A collection of 15 articles providing up-to-date introductory information on South Asia. This book focuses primarily on religious, social and political perspectives and the need for a multi-disciplinary approach. This advanced text offers past, present and future views.

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the YearA New York Public Library Best Book of the YearFrom the author of M and A Death in Brazil comes Midnight in Sicily.South of mainland Italy lies the island of Sicily, home to an ancient culture that--with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology--has seduced travelers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. Peter Robb lived in southern Italy for over fourteen years and recounts its sensuous pleasures, its literature, politics, art, and crimes.

Using the art, food and the books of Brazils nineteenth-century writer, Machado de Assis, this work is about its history of slavery and the multicultural but disturbed society that was left in its wake when the practice was abolished in the late nineteenth century.