Books

Nature Conservation Law (2nd ed.) by Colin T Reid.
W.Green, ISBN 0 414 01355 7

Since the first edition of this book appeared in 1994 there have been a lot of changes in the laws protecting wildlife habitats and individual species of birds, animals and plants. Like its predecessor, this edition covers the law throughout Great Britain, giving details of the many different laws that seek to conserve wildlife, and of the range of public authorities with responsibilities in this field. It also offers an outline of other areas of law that have an important impact on the fate of the natural environment, such as planning, agriculture and forestry. The law is far from straightforward, with initiatives at international, European, national and local levels to be taken into account. For example, there are well over a dozen different habitat designations, each with its own set of rules, and important sites will be subject to several designations at the same time.

In the past the legal controls were fairly limited, and depended heavily on the voluntary principle, relying on persuasion to achieve significant protection. Now the trend is towards creating a stronger legal framework but still trying to work in partnership with landowners. The position at present is particularly complicated since there have recently been major changes to the law in England and Wales, transforming the impact of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), whereas in Scotland such changes are only promised. Stronger penalties for wildlife crime should be in place later this year in Scotland, but it will be next year before we see the exact form of the proposals for change in relation to habitat protection.

Interpreting Culture in a Scottish Congregation by Al Dowie.
Peter Lang Publishing Group: ISBN 0 8204 5659 4

Culture is a subtle idea that looks simple. Centred on social organisation and belonging, culture is what governs the aggregation of people into communities. For the first time in a British setting, this book brings a semiotic understanding of culture to the social context we know as a 'congregation'. Interpreting Culture in a Scottish Congregation is a social anthropological study grounded in hermeneutics (or interpretation theory) and presents an ethnographic account of congregational culture in a particular neighbourhood church of a mainstream Presbyterian denomination. Its focus is not the religious beliefs of congregants, but rather the diverse ways in which they symbolically construct their collective life together as expressed in what they do and say. Themes that arise from this participant observation include the role of tradition, status, micro-politics, symbolic boundaries, and architecture in the ways congregants interact with each other as insiders, as well as the ways in which they relate to other social entities and to the many outsiders who cross the threshold of their historic building.

United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa since 1960 By Norrie MacQueen
Longman: ISBN 0 582 382 38253

This book provides an exploration of the United Nations military intervention in Africa, from its beginnings in the Congo in 1960 to the new operations of the 21st century.

The UN's peacekeeping projects in Africa are described region by region - Central; Southern; Western Africa: the Horn and Trans-Saharan Africa - with comparisons and contracts within and between each area highlighted throughout.

As well as providing an account of UN involvement, the book explores the long historical origins of the African conflicts with which the UN has been engaged.

Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin 1/3 OFF RRP!

This novel has proven Rebus's continuing popularity, by zooming to the top of the bestseller list. Ingeniously plotted, full of twists and turns, Rankin continues to surprise those diehard Rebus fans.

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