by Trudy Bodak

This 1550 map with fanciful illustrations, created by French cartographer and artist Pierre Desceliers, is just one of the beautiful images contained in the Concise Historical Atlas of Canada.

Concise Historical Atlas of Canada / edited by William G. Dean, Conrad E. Heidenreich, Thomas F. McIlwraith, and John Warkentin; cartography by Geoffrey J. Matthews and Byron Moldofsky. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1998.

The Concise Historical Atlas of Canada is a magnificent publication. York should be proud that geography professors Conrad Heidenreich and John Warkentin were part of the editorial team that developed this edition.

Based on the award-winning and best-selling Historical Atlas of Canada published by the University of Toronto Press between 1987 and 1993, this edition brings together a one-volume version of the original, retaining its scholarship and beauty. It must have been a very difficult task for the editors of this concise edition to select 67 plates from the nearly 200 found in the full set to accomplish their goal.

According to the book's preface, their aim was "to select plates that summarize Canadian history from prehistoric times through the European experience, starting with the Norse, a thousand years ago, to the 1960s". Their intent was also to choose those plates that "mirror the social and economic experiences of ordinary people rather than the political and military activities associated with individual heroes".

With the exception of adding dates to some of the title captions, clarifying the time-frame, the plates have not been altered from the three-volume edition. What the reader sees, then, is still a goldmine of material on the Canadian past, nicely represented through maps, charts, graphs, photographs, drawings, and text.

This edition has been developed to appeal to a wide audience. The plates have been reorganized under three sections or headings: 'National Perspectives', 'Defining Episodes' and 'Regional Patterns'. Thirty-three plates in the 'National Perspectives' section give "overarching views of the entire land mass". Here are included topics such as prehistoric and Native Canada, exploration, the establishment of boundaries, the spread of settlement, the development of transport facilities, urbanization, the economy, and society. 'Defining Episodes' has 9 plates on "turning points of national importance", covering historical events such as dramatic migrations, wars, and the Depression. Twenty-five plates in the 'Regional Patterns' section focus on "smaller parts of the Canadian experience, considering events and developments in greater detail over limited periods". This regional grouping includes specific case studies from the East, the West and the North such as 'The Newfoundland Fishery, 18th Century', and 'Societies and Economies in the North, 1891-1961'.

Each of the three sections has been prefaced with a new introductory essay, presenting an overview of the theme and an explanation of some of the graphics. This background information is an excellent summary and should assist readers who find some of the graphic information overwhelming.

As in the Historical Atlas of Canada, there is no index in this concise edition; however, the 'Brief Contents' provides readers with an overview of the groupings of plates. The original plate numbers from the three-volume set are also given in the 'Brief Contents', which is useful for those who wish to pursue topics in greater detail. It is encouraging to note in the preface, that an index to the Historical Atlas of Canada will be published separately by the University of Toronto Press, which will improve access to the full set as well as this edition.

The Concise Historical Atlas of Canada is interesting, beautiful, useful, and reasonably priced for its value. It is indeed "a unique tribute to our history and a significant contribution to Canadians' understanding of one another". I believe the editors have achieved their goal of making this edition a work that will have wide appeal ­ a work that can be appreciated by the scholar and by anyone who loves to read about Canada's peoples and development.

Trudy Bodak is the Map Librarian for the York University Libraries.

By Michael Todd

The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea (Indiana University Press, 1998) by history professors Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman.

Biological Warfare argues that the United States experimented with and deployed biological weapons during the Korean War. Endicott and Hagerman explore the political and moral dimensions of this issue, and ask what restraints were applied or forgotten in those years of ideological and political passion and military crisis.

From newly declassified U.S., Canadian and British documents, and with the cooperation of the Chinese Central Archives giving the authors the first access by foreigners to relevant classified documents, Endicott and Hagerman have been able to tell the previously hidden story of the extension of the limits of modern war to include the use of medical science.

An important book for anyone interested in the history and morality of modern warfare.

Soldiers, Writers and Statesmen of the English Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1998), a collection of essays edited by Glendon history professor Ian Gentles, John Morrill and Blair Worden.

This collection of essays examines the struggles of the people of England with the collapse of civilization as they knew it. As the country fell into civil war and near-anarchy, the people sought out in word and action how to preserve what could still be preserved or to create new political, religious and social certainties. The authors discuss individuals or groups who were soldiers, writers or statesmen of the Civil Wars or the Interregnum, people who were at the centre of power or in more humble and localised circumstances.

The book presents the most up-to-date thinking of both leading scholars and keen younger voices on many of the central issues dominating the study of the 'English Revolution'.

"Bingo: A Form of Women's Leisure" (Addictions 1998: An International Research Journal), by Robyn Levy (BA'94) and Atkinson School of Social Work Professor Joseph Levy.

Levy and Levy's study examines the leisure experiences of adult women playing bingo. Historically, women's leisure, like many other social issues affecting women, has not been as thoroughly studied as those social issues affecting men. The leisure role is one of those new and emerging roles that women have acquired, making research in this area both critical and timely, say the authors.

by Clive Holloway

Like many of us over the last several months, I have been having nagging worries about the year 2000. This has been reinforced by internal missives and by external media and commercial hype. I therefore slowly and reluctantly decided to begin to take note and activate myself over the snow break.

It seems that the Y2K problem can be factored into three components acting over a period of almost seven months, next Fall and Winter. The first component is the Sept. 9 Problem, which will strike on Sept.9, 1999. This is because some computer programs have utilised a 9999 coding to initiate a sub routine. Thus it is possible that on 9-9-99, your computer will go into an inappropriate routine which will cause it to crash or freeze up. If this happens, probably the only solution is to wait for the 10th before rebooting.

The second component is the actual, publicly recognised Y2K Problem involving the turnover from the two-digit year date 99 (meaning 1999) to 00 whose meaning will be ambiguous. The paroxysms this could cause has been widely discussed and used to predict the end of the modern world. This of course will happen at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, and you might find yourself plunged back to 1900.

The third component is the Leap Year Problem due to strike at midnight on Feb. 28, 2000. This is because of the rule that a leap year is one that is divisible by 4, except by those divisible by 100, but including those divisible by 400. Thus one might assume that if the device passes 2000 with no problem, then it would also continue happily until the year 2100.

I was curious about what would happen to my old computers and home entertainment devices controlled by silicon chips, so I took the opportunity of the recent snow-in to do some time-shift experiments.

To test the first component, I entered the clock setup of a device, changing the date to one minute before midnight 8-9-99 and then monitored what happened when the 8th became the 9th. I am happy to say that all of my computers and my ancient home entertainment devices did nothing strange. This does not mean, of course, that there isn't some program out there that will crash, but none of the simple stuff I have did.

The second component could be tested in a similar way, setting up to just before midnight on New-Year's Eve. In addition I had my VCR unit tape a program spanning the alleged New Year from 11:45 pm on 31-12-99 to 12:15 am on 1-1-00. Everything worked out fine, one half hour of tape spanning the midnight hour. It even predicted the correct day for the first day of 2000.

I felt rather less confident about the third component, since this was where a day might simply never appear, a slightly different proposition. I was imagining how one might have to program the VCR to tape a full day late in order to hit the right day for the rest of one's life, and to be a day out on those computers that link dates to days. So with some trepidation I reset the internal clocks to just before midnight on Feb. 28 for the year 00. Midnight came and a miracle happened. The clocks went smoothly from 28-2-00 to 29-2-00, and even the correct day was indicated. Still doubtful, I reset the clocks to just before midnight on February 29, 00, expecting perhaps to get the 30th next. However, the clocks switched over to 1-3-00 just like magic.

None of the equipment I have was ever declared year 2000 compliant. Some of it is old enough to predate the first public concerns about the problem. Perhaps its very age and lack of sophistication is what protects it, and I find that I appear to be Y2K compliant by default perhaps.

So maybe the world will not come to an abrupt end at my place after all. The only problem now is that I will have to find something else to worry about before the next big snow-in.

Clive Holloway is a professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Director of the Division of Natural Science, Faculty of Pure & Applied Science, at York University.

Some of York's Summer in Italy students during the 1997 and 1998 programs

"A man who has not been to Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see."

Samuel Johnson

Each May and June, York University, in co-operation with Brock University, offers a six (or three) week study program in Florence and Rome. During that time, the cities become two impressive museums for students to explore the creativity and the culture of the past and the vibrant and colourful life of present-day Italy.

This year, students from any Canadian university may register for a one credit six week intermediate Italian language and culture course (some knowledge of Italian is required to enrol), or two half credit three week culture courses (these may be taken separately or consecutively, and no knowledge of Italian is required). The cultural courses have been recognized as equivalents in Humanities, History and Political Science.

Italian Language and Culture is an intensive language course designed to develop and sharpen skills in composition, stylistics and oral expression. Grammatical structures, written and oral exercises are stressed. The cultural component of this course focuses on the historical, cultural and literary heritage of both Florence and Rome.

For the cultural courses: Italian Medieval and Renaissance Civilization and Modern and Contemporary Italian Culture, an interdisciplinary approach is adopted. Literary texts are integrated with social and historical material on the periods and are related to the arts in general, and sculpture, architecture and visual arts in particular. For this reason the museum, the church and the palace often substitute for the classroom.

John Picchione (DLLL), course director for Modern and Contemporary Italian Culture summed up the program well. "To know another culture is an extremely enriching experience," he said. "It reveals to students new ways to interact with the world, and it provides them with alternative tools to analyze it. Understanding the value of cultural differences is extremely important in today's world because unfortunately it is undergoing more and more a process of unprecedented and dangerous homogenization."

This year Summer Studies in Italy runs from May 22 to July 4, 1999 and applications must be received no later than April 12.

Costs (excluding course tuition fees) for a full six week program are $3,845, and for the three week program costs are $2,595. This includes air transportation from Toronto and return, accommodation in Florence and Rome, breakfast and dinner daily, transfers, and local excursions arranged by instructors.

For a brochure or additional information contact: Summer Studies in Italy, Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Room S561 Ross Building, York University, 4700 Keele street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, or telephone (416) 736-5016.

by Michael Todd

PLACIDO DOMINGO LENDS AID. In response to the devastation of Hurricane Paulina in 1997, Italian tenor Placido Domingo and the Integral Center for Community Development (CIDECO) of Universidad Anahuac joined forces in December to lay the cornerstone for a new community in Acapulco. Housing Unit "Placido Domingo" will provide 150 houses, primary and secondary schools, a medical clinic, and a chapel for impoverished Acapulcans who lost their homes in the hurricane.

FAULT LINES. Canada's banks have asked the Canadian government to declare ineligible for federal student loan programs those educational institutions whose graduates have high student loan default rates. The banks' current student loan contract with the federal government expires Aug. 1, 2000, and the government has agreed to assess the situation in 1999. (Source: Brockville Recorder and Times, 12/14/98.)

CANADA INVADED. More U.S. students are attending universities in Canada, partly because Canadian institutions are aggressively courting U.S. high school students, reports The Boston Globe. About 3,000 Americans are studying at Canadian universities this year, a 10 per cent increase over the 1997-98 academic year. (For more on this story, see The Boston Globe @ www.boston.com, 1/10/99.)

TANZANIA'S PRESIDENT called for a new partnership between universities and governments to "revitalize" African higher education, which he said was in danger of becoming obsolete. The President, Benjamin W. Mkapa, made his remarks Feb. 2 at the opening of a four-day conference for leaders of postsecondary education in Africa.

LOOK MA! NO WIRES! The next big technology, say some college administrators, will be wireless networks that let students and professors connect to the Internet with radio waves instead of cumbersome cables. (For more on this story see http://chronicle.com/infotech)