books@cc.

How our animal heritage affects the way we live
by Jared Diamond (1991)

How the human species changed, within a short time, from just another species of big mammal to a world conqueror; and how we acquired the capacity to reverse all that progress overnight.

Traditional Orchestra of Indonesia, 2nd ed.
by Jennifer Lindsay (1992)

A simple introductory text for those with no prior knowledge of gamelan.

Chronicle of the Future
by Svetlana Alexievich (1997)

“This is not a book about Chernobyl, but about the world of Chernobyl,” a wide range of oral, first-hand testimony, accounts, sometimes occasional rant and condemnations from broad range of people involved and/or affected by Chernobyl.

by Sophie D. Coe, Michael D. Coe (2003).

Examines the origin of processed cacao and its history and sociological importance/pervasiveness from pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture to present day.

by Mark Mazower (2000).

A short but broad-ranging history book, it challenges the common one-dimensional stereotype of “the Balkans”

Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century
by Graham Robb (2003).

Challenges the common assumptions of the Victorian age as a tabloid image of homophobic hell populated by mean-spirited, fearful and envious ignoramuses from which gay people eventually liberated themselves.

Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Europe
by Piero Camporesi (1989)

An account on how many people in early modern Europe lived in a state of almost permanent hallucination, drugged by their hunger or by bread adulterated with hallucinogenic herbs.

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.

History of a Genocide
by Gérard Prunier (1995)

Meticulously researched, elaborating history and politics of pre-colonial Rwanda, written in a “scientifically” detached tone.