The first systematic analysis of American proconsular leadership from the Spanish-American War to the present.

Detailing the unfolding discovery of a crucial link in our evolution, this book is written in the voice of Walker, whose involvement with Proconsul began when his graduate supervisor analyzed the tree-climbing adaptations in the arm and hand of this extinct creature. Today, Proconsul is the best-known fossil ape in the world.

The unprecedented influence of United States military governments in Germany and Japan makes this volume a funda­mental contribution to several basic fields: history, political science, eco­nomics, archival administration, mil­itary studies, civil affairs, and inter­national law and criminal justice. Although the speeches and discussions of the 1977 "Americans as Proconsuls" Conference were often piquant, enter­taining, nostalgic, each addressed the core issues of the topic, often setting the historical record straight. The chief vir­tue of these essays, however, may be, as Edward N. Peterson states in his own piece, that "The scholar's history of the occupation could still assist the public and the politician to avoid the pitfalls of impossible dreams and illusions created by an American isolation from the rest of suffering humanity."

Britain's Moment in the Middle East: was it an imperial triumph or a decisive staging post in the end-of-empire story? Sir Percy Cox (1864-1937) was a vital figure in the history of the British Empire in the Middle East, part of the pantheon with such legends as T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell. As High Commissioner in Iraq from 1920 to 1923 he presided over the birth of modern Iraq - the climax of his career - but left an infant state fraught with political, ethnic and religious problems which have bedeviled Iraq and the Middle East to the present day. John Townsend paints a convincing picture of Britain's global empire and brings Cox to life as an archetypal patrician proconsul. This is the first major biography of Cox, based on extensive research in original sources and long experience in the region. It strikingly illustrates the troubled contemporary history of Iraq and the modern Middle East and will become the standard work on Cox.

In the heyday of Empire just before the First World War, Lord Cromer was second only to Lord Curzon in fame and public esteem. In the days when Cairo and Calcutta represented the twin poles of British power in Asia and Africa, Cromer's commanding presence seemed to radiate the essential spiritof imperial rule. In this first modern biography Roger Owen charts the life of the man revered by the British and hated by today's Egyptians, the real ruler of Egypt for nearly a quarter of a century.A member of the famous City banking family of Baring Brothers, Cromer in his youth seemed to be distinguished mainly by lack of academic ability and a taste for the fashionable pursuits of his day. His first military posting, to Corfu, was welcomed by him on account of the excellent shooting to behad in the region. Roger Owen shows how, almost imperceptibly, his commitment to public service grew, due in part at least to his relationship with Ethel Errington who, after long delay, became his first wife. From the island outposts of the old British Empire, to India, the jewel in its crown, and finally to the new Empire in Africa, Cromer represented the might of Britain's Empire. Few imperial administrators had either his range of experience or his long practice of ruling different non-Europeanpeoples, at a time when the whole notion of Empire itself entered more and more into the metropolitan political debate. Roger Owen makes extensive use of Cromer's official correspondence, family papers, memoirs, and the personal letters of his friends and colleagues to explore all aspects of Cromer's life in imperial government. He examines his innovative role in international finance and his energetic re-engagementwith Britain's troubled political life following his formal retirement in 1907. Finally, he assesses the sometimes bitter legacy of imperial rule left by Cromer.

The early 19th century was the heroic age of Egyptology. It was also largely dominated by Napoleon, who had led his ill-considered invasion of Egypt (1798-1799). The eastern Mediterranean was under the control of the ramshackle Ottoman Empire, from whom the Greeks were to win their War of Independence. Apart from its archaeological importance, Egypt was also one of the most important cockpits in the struggle amongst the various European powers and their fight against the Turks. Bernardino Drovetti was the French consul in Egypt for most of the early 19th century. After an important career in the Napoleonic army, he came to Egypt in 1803 where he was to play a leading role in many fields: diplomacy, politics, archaeology and exploration, amassing no fewer than three collections of antiquities.