Choice 评论

Munro and Day's extremely useful and timely volume is particularly so in view of the problems in Kuwait and the Baltic republics. It is organized not in a simply narrative fashion, as is Border and Territorial Disputes, ed. by Alan J. Day (2nd ed., CH, May'88), but in several sections for each conflict. This organization makes it more useful as a reference volume but has the drawback of some repetition among the sections, especially between the narrative and chronology sections. The article on each conflict area starts with a useful map followed by a brief factual profile, a brief narrative, a chronology of events (usually the longest section), a who's who, and a listing of key places and words, ending with a brief further reading list, too brief in some cases. Only 28 major conflict areas are included in contrast to some 80, much briefer accounts in the Day volume. On page 128, reference is made to the deployment of "U.S. troops" to defend the Saudis from Iraq. Though the great majority of the troops in Saudi Arabia are from the US they are "UN troops" from some 27 different nations. An equal number of UN nations have made monetary contributions. Some other relatively minor corrections and omissions do not detract from the considerable utility of this volume. -K. Y. Stabler, New Mexico State University