In 5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs Dimitri Bogazianos, an assistant professor at the departement Criminal Justice of California State University, discusses the cultural links between the American ‘war on drugs’ and the creative contributions of those directly affected by its destructive effects. At the centre of his analysis is the parallel between what the author calls ‘the crack game’ and ‘the rap game’. On the one hand Bogazianos examines the profound symbolic consequences of America’s reliance on the paradoxical punishment structure of crack; on the other hand the author focuses on the multiple ways crack appeared as a symbolical reference in the lyrics of rap artists.

Order in Security. A Dynamic Perspective (Schuilenburg 2012) is a theoretical and empirical study of self-organizing processes of change taking place within what the author calls ‘security assemblages’. In this review, the study is favorably evaluated as a form of empirical philosophy and praised for usefully introducing French philosophy into the field of security studies. In terms of empirical sociological research, however, the study is more critically reviewed as offering little insight into the perceptions, emotions, interpretations and meanings that actors assign to their conduct in this field.

Atlas of the Conflict by Israeli architect Malkit Shoshan presents a fascinating historical analysis of a difficult relationship between Jews and Palestinians. It shows, in maps and diagrams, a great discrepancy in perceptions of both people on such issues as borders, land, heritage, water and settlements. Visual research methods, which are used in this project, are important and innovative to get a deeper insight in the nature of this conflict. However some questions about misuse, propaganda and manipulation of information and symbols remain open and can lead to an important discussion in cultural criminology on the relationship between conflict and culture.