Between A.D. 286 and 296, the Gallo-Roman military commander Carausius and his successor Allectus ruled Roman Britain, forming a renegade government there that threatened the stability of the Roman Empire. Constantius Chlorus eventually suppressed this separatist regime, and his success paved the way for his son Constantine to use Britain as the base for his own bid for imperial recognition. Using literary, archaeological, and numismatic evidence, P.J. Casey brilliantly pieces together this little-known but extraordinary episode in the history of Roman Britain. Casey sets out the Continental and British background to the revolt, which he closely dates and, contrary to current published wisdom, locates initially in Gaul. He finds that Britain's independence was based on naval power-the first time that insular sea power played a major part in British history. He describes how Carausius and Allectus controlled the sea-lanes of the English Channel and the North Sea, maintaining what was probably the most effective naval force in the Roman world after serious naval warfare ceased in the reign of Augustus. He reviews the marine technology of the period and outlines the strategies of Roman coastal protection. He concludes by considering how Carausius was depicted by writers from the medieval period onward, in particular assessing the use of Carausius and Allectus as historical icons in periods of national crisis in British history.

Recent advances in molecular biology have shown GTPases and phosphoproteins to be the paramount molecular switches uti- lized intracellularly in biological systems. The origins of the GTPase switch appear to be almost as ancient as life it- self, and through evolution nature has adapted this switch to a variety of purposes. In this two-volume work a broad survey of the major classes of GTPases is presented. The role of GTPases in ensuring ac- curacy during protein translation, a new look at the trimeric G-protein cycle, the molecular function of ARF in vesicle coating, the emerging role of the dynamin family in vesicle transfer, GTPases which activate GTPases during nascent protein translocation, and the many roles of ras-related proteins in growth, cytoskeletal polymerization, and vesicle transfer, are all described in 80 chapters by the leading authorities in their fields. Both detailed knowledge of specific systems or proteins and general principles of structure and function are offered. Much of this information has never been published before. At the rate the extended family of GTPases is growing it becomes increasingly unlikely that we will again get it to sit for a group portrait such as this. Therefore, the volume has the chance to become t h e reference work for GTPases.

Accessible to archaeological experts and students alike, PJ Casey's "Roman Coinage in Britain "is a fascinating investigation of the Roman Empire's economic presence in Britain. Drawing from a wealth of archaeological sources, this book places Roman coinage in its rightful economic and political context to better understand the chronology and lives of those who used it. Boasting over a hundred images of exquisitely preserved coins, many of them life-sized, Casey's study is a must for coin collectors, amateur archaeologists and anyone with an interest in ancient Roman Britain.