Book reviews 191

resolution levels in the spatial data (TTWAs in Britain, regions in France).

Overall, this is a useful study of a modern high-technology industry with a careful attention to detail and a clear interpretation of changing geographical patterns.

H. D. Watts Department of Geography, University of Sheffield

would need to be written with great skill, with sympathy for pedagogy and under strong editorial control. This book shows none of these.

David Unwin Department of Geography, University of Leicester

Cooke, P., Moulaert, F., Swyngedouw, E., Weinstein, 0. and Weels, P. Towards global localization. London: UCL Press, 1992. 227~~. f30 hardback.

The reviewer’s attention is drawn inexorably towards this title as it sits amongst a group of books awaiting review. The antithesis between ‘globality’ with its implication of world systems and ‘localization’ with implications of the par- ochial hints at an interesting debate concerning the contradictions inherent in the book’s title. However, it is perhaps one of the more deceptive titles of the decade, for on closer inspection the reader finds it is a discussion of the computing and telecommunications industries in Britain and France. As befits the current age we learn that the book was typeset using word-processing software, that the publishers use the trade mark of University College London (UCL) with the consent of the owner and that the book was printed in a small English town (either Kings Lynn or Guildford). Like many modern books this is a compilation of the work of several authors. All those cited on the contents page manage to make it to the dust-jacket with the exception of the one female contributor (Martinne Lemattre).

The book has to be judged against its three aims. The first is to examine the extent to which the dynamics of industrial reorganization and economic development are dictated by pure market forces as against the force of government policies seeking to intervene and shape the competitive market. In view of this first aim it is not surprising that the second aim is to explore the relevance of the regulationist approach. The final aim is to see whether, with the aid of the regulationist approach. a good explanation can be provided for spatial shifts in the computing and telecommunications industries. It is these spatial shifts which give rise to the global and local of the title.

Although a joint work it has a much higher degree of coherence that many edited texts based on conference proceedings, a reflection of its origins in a well-defined research project. The British-French cooperation stands out in the integration of French and British material in each chapter and the overall cohesion is seen in the attempts to link the final chapter to the three aims set out in the introduction. One minor quibble: in comparing the spatial patterns the authors do not appear to consider the different geographical

Chapman, G. P. and Baker, K. M. (eds) The changing geography of Africa and the Middle East. London: Routledge, 1992. 252~~. f40 hardhack; f10.99 paperback.

This is an interesting and readable book, pro- duced by staff and research students of the SOAS Geography Department. along with a couple of authors who have strong links with the depart- ment. After an introductory chapter by the editors, there follow eight chapters, each treating a macro-region of Africa and the Middle East, with a further final chapter attempting to summar- ize two decades of change. Although it is convenient to consider regions at the scale of Southern Africa, Eastern Africa. the Arab Middle East and so on, it does nevertheless create problems. This is best illustrated in the chapter on Eastern Africa, where Tony O’Connor is only too aware of the diversity within this region. On p.114, he does in fact concede that ‘it is not even totally obvious which countries should be in- cluded’. With such doubts, it becomes an ex- tremely difficult task to provide regional coher- ence, and frequency O’Connor has no choice but to make separate comments about each country within Eastern Africa in turn. This occurs to a greater or lesser extent in most chapters. The only chapter which largely avoids the problem is that on Egypt and Sudan, primarily because Tony Allan uses the Nile as his central focus. Although each chapter attempts to cover similar ground (and this is certainly commendable on the grounds of comparability). it might have been more effective if the authors of each region had had even greater leeway to focus more sharply on the key themes relating to their region. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the most satisfying chapter is that on Egypt and Sudan.

Despite these criticisms, this reviewer can readily recommend this book. It is up to date, to the point and very informative, but it is a pity about the large number of typographical errors, which begin on the flyleaf page and continue unabated thereafter.

John Briggs Department of Geography and Topographic Science, University of Glasgow