books@cc.

by Danilo Kiš (1976)

Seven different yet casually interlinked short stories about revolutionaries, mostly centering around the Russian Revolution

A Political History
by Hamid Reza Sadr (2006)

A comprehensive, highly readable history of Iranian cinema with its embedded and reflected social, political, cultural and economic contexts.

by Robert O. Paxton (2004)

A rather disappointing newcomer in this notorious field but nevertheless helpful for its up-to-date bibliography and sources.

since c.1200 (3rd ed.)
by M.C. Ricklefs (2001)

Designed as a stepping stone for those overwhelmed by the wealth of specialised information, or those wanting relatively detailed panoramic view of Indonesian history in English without the overemphasis on colonialism and exoticism.

by Arthur Koestler (1940)

A fictional account of a show trial during Stalin’s 1930s purges, Rubashov, the protagonist, once a revolutionary disillusioned by the regime, is abducted, jailed, tortured (psychologically) and finally confessed to a series of “counter-revolutionary” crimes he didn’t commit, for the ideals of the Revolution.

The Rwandan Genocide: The Killers Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld

Shying away from close analysis of the big picture, Hatzfeld instead focuses on the hands and foot of the genocide, i.e. common men and a few local leaders. The interviews are compiled into chapters, each focusing on specific aspects, interspersed with some overviews and notes by Hatzfeld.

A Harm Minimisation Approach
edited by Margaret Hamilton, Allan Kellehear, Greg Rumbold
Oxford University Press, Australia, 1998

An introductory book containing essays about drugs and drug use in Australia that challenge the “prevailing” (?) judgemental, often insufferably simplistic views about drugs and drug use, and discuss instead the current “harm minimisation” approach, aimed mainly for tertiary students, but readable for general public.

How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive
by Jared Diamond (2005).

Whereas Guns, Germs and Steel explains why history unfolded differently on different continents with varying successes, Collapse gives the other side of the coin: how societies crumble.