Search

"Dressing Up: A History of Fancy Dress in Britain" by Verity Wilson is a thoroughly researched and illustrated book that explores the significance of fancy dress in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. Wilson argues that fancy dress was not just a trivial pastime, but a means of understanding class, national identity, gender, and technology. The book covers various types of fancy dress occasions, such as balls, tableaux vivants, carnivals, and celebrations, and examines how they reflected cultural changes and challenged social boundaries. While the book could have delved deeper into the implications of racial stereotypes and the role of empire, it successfully highlights the importance of fancy dress in the lives of everyday Britons. [Extracted from the article]

Lou Pingeot's book "Police Peacekeeping: the UN, Haiti, and the production of global social order" challenges traditional views on UN peace operations by examining the global impact of field-based activities in peacekeeping missions. The book explores the effects of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) from 2004 to 2017, highlighting the complex political dynamics and consequences for both host and contributing countries. Pingeot's work sheds light on the harmful practices of militarized policing in UN-managed conflict contexts, revealing how marginalized communities are disproportionately affected. The book calls for a reevaluation of the role of militarized policing in peacekeeping and questions the need for further police development efforts. [Extracted from the article]

Sebastián Gil-Riaño's book, "The Remnants of Race Science: UNESCO and Economic Development in the Global South," explores how UNESCO's internal debates and evolving ideas of race influenced the organization's intellectual strategy and interventions during the mid-20th century. The author challenges the traditional racist/antiracist binary and instead examines the politics of international officials' scientific methods and experiments. Gil-Riaño highlights the role of Latin American scientists in transforming mainstream race science away from fixed biological categories and towards the prevailing liberal internationalist ideology of the time. The book also examines UNESCO's projects and their relationships with national ideas of race and development, as well as their efforts during decolonization. Overall, the book provides a critical analysis of the racialized practices and logic of international organizations and calls for more historical examinations of UN specialized agencies. [Extracted from the article]