Old Worlds, New Worlds — European Cultural Encounters, C. 1000 - C. 1750

Bailey, Digglemann, and Phillips, all from the history department of the University of Auckland, have redefined the terms "old" and "new" world to look at encounters between Europeans with other cultures. From Richard the Lionheart and the Cypriots to eighteenth century Spanish sailors in Tahiti, it is not always discernable who represents the old world and who the new. Articles treat ways in which one culture tried to make sense of another. In the case of the importation of tobacco to Europe, it was necessary to take this seductive foreigner and fit it into the humoral theory to make it acceptable. Other articles look at medieval European ideas of Oriental sexuality and a hermaphroditic colony imagined in Australia as a Swiftian commentary on contemporary Europe. The ways in which the people of the Americas were fitted into European classifications are discussed in two other essays suggesting how racism was established from the first encounter. The editors have chosen to treat the period from 1190-1750 as a seamless flow of encounters that led to a final world view. This is an excellent approach. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)