State failure takes many forms. Somalia offers one extreme. A collapse of central authority as the outcome of a prolonged civil war, where authority descends into competing factions -- headed by warlords -- around the spoils of local commerce, power and international aid. At the other end of the...

Introduction / A.J.H. Latham -- An interview with Peter Mathias / A.J.H. Latham -- Barges and bargemasters on the thames in the eighteenth century / H.I.H. Crown Prince Naruhito -- Edo and water / H.I.H. Crown Prince Naruhito -- Consuming plants : botany and consumer society / Toshio Kusamitsu...