[Book Review] Malta Historical Society Proceedings of History Week 2011

Abstract

Book Review for Malta Historical Society Proceedings of History Week 2011. By Joan Abela, Emanuel Buttigieg, Krystle Farrugia (eds.). Midsea books. 2013. ISBN 9789993274391. This publication of History Week Proceedings by the Malta Historical Society offersa multi-perspectival, temporally layered representation of the social environments and political challenges in Malta, spanning from early sixteenth century to the first half of the twentieth. The collection of papers opens a window onto power dynamics; struggles for symbolic and cultural capital; descriptions of individuals' ambitions, pride, and entrepreneurial spirit; shifting concepts of nationhood; and tensions between emergent cultural identities. The individual papers presented are diverse in style, length and focus yet they hang together comfortably, one complementing the other, often raising questions that are echoed in the next.