{"title":"Asian history Books","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"wild-grass-9780141996233","title":"Wild Grass","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Illuminating ... Johnson has not only lifted a corner of the curtain which covers China''s reality beyond its glittering eastern cities; he has drawn the whole curtain'' \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWild Grass,\u003c\/i\u003e Pulitzer Prize-winning Ian Johnson describes a China caught between the desire for change percolating up from below and the ossified political structure above. He recounts the stories of three ordinary people who find themselves finding oppression and government corruption, risking imprisonment and even death. A young architecture student, a bereaved daughter, and a peasant legal clerk are the unlikely heroes of these stories, private citizens cast by unexpected circumstances into surprising roles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIlluminating ... Johnson has not only lifted a corner of the curtain which covers China's reality beyond its glittering eastern cities; he has drawn the whole curtain. * The Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eA gripping tale. * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003eA captivating and an important study of what is happening on the ground in China today. * The News Tribune *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47832690262359,"sku":"9780141996233","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141996233.jpg?v=1710336805"},{"product_id":"a-brief-history-of-the-samurai-9781845299477","title":"A Brief History of the Samurai","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850755162455,"sku":"9781845299477","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781845299477.jpg?v=1710620313"},{"product_id":"a-short-history-of-india-9781843449225","title":"A Short History of India","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe world's largest democracy and second-most populous country, 21st century India is a dynamic nation with a thrusting economy, made up of a variety of beliefs and peoples united under one flag. Its history is a unique story of ancient empires and civilisations, some dating back to humankind's earliest times. Ancient India was home to myriad kingdoms with boundaries that were ever changing while a variety of cultures and religions have flourished over the millennia as the influence of foreign invaders and occupiers has come and gone. The country was under foreign rule from the early 1800s until the demise of the British Raj and independence in 1947.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith countless languages and cultures and many religions, India is one of the world's most diverse nations. From the late 1980s, India has opened itself to the outside world, encouraging economic reform and foreign investment and is now courted by the world's leading economic and political powers, including its one-time enemy, China. It is now a major power with a burgeoning middle class, having made substantial strides in areas such as information technology. It has launched a space programme and, famously, boasts a massive film industry, its 'Bollywood' films being amongst the most-watched in the world. Meanwhile, India still has major issues with poverty and illiteracy and campaigns have been launched to alleviate these problems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003eShort History of India\u003c\/em\u003e traces the fascinating path from the India of ancient empires and powerful kingdoms to the flourishing, vibrant nation that it is today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oldcastle Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850767745367,"sku":"9781843449225","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781843449225.jpg?v=1710620835"},{"product_id":"a-brief-history-of-the-great-moghuls-indias-most-flamboyant-rulers-9781841195339","title":"A Brief History of the Great Moghuls: India's","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Entertainingly written history . . . ravishingly beautiful photographs.'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBamber Gascoigne's classic book tells of the most fascinating period of Indian history, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the country was ruled by the extraordinarily talented dynasty of emperors known to European travellers as 'the Great Moghuls', for their almost limitless power and incomparable wealth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere is a unique picture of the way of life of India's most flamboyant rulers, their sublime palaces, their passions in art, science and religion, and their sophisticated system of administration that stabilized the greater part of India and was later adopted by the British. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcclaimed by travellers and scholars alike, and beautifully illustrated in colour with sixteen pages of photographs, this is a book for anyone with an interest in India's glorious past and an engaging survey of a splendid culture and its singular achievements.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the story rattles along, it is also built on sound and scholarly foundations. Christina Gascoigne deserves a special word of praise. Her photographs are superb. They jerk us into looking at the Indian scene, and at Moghul architecture, in a fresh way. * History Today *\u003cbr\u003eThoroughly sound. . . extremely readable. * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eA tremendous story, full of delight as well as the requisite horrors . . . unreservedly to be recommended. * Oxford Mail *\u003cbr\u003eEntertainingly written history . . . ravishingly beautiful photographs. * The Times *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850788913495,"sku":"9781841195339","price":8.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781841195339.jpg?v=1710621456"},{"product_id":"great-books-of-china-9781837930210","title":"Great Books of China","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiscover – or rediscover – the major achievements of Chinese culture and civilization.\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003ci\u003eGreat Books of China\u003c\/i\u003e offers concise introductions – each of them accompanied by generous quotation (in English) from the book in question – to sixty-six works in the canon of Chinese literature.  The books chosen reflect the chronological and thematic breadth of Chinese literary tradition, ranging from such classics as \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Songs\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eConfucian Analects\u003c\/i\u003e, through popular dramas and novels (\u003ci\u003eThe Romance of the Western Chamber\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Water Margin\u003c\/i\u003e), twentieth-century political and biographical works (\u003ci\u003eQuotations from Chairman Mao\u003c\/i\u003e, the autobiography of the last emperor) and modern novels that are little known in the West (\u003ci\u003eMemories of South Peking\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSix Chapters from a Cadre School Life\u003c\/i\u003e).  Frances Wood presents a comprehensive, accessible and richly informative primer for the uninitiated; a box of delights that opens up an entire literary culture to the inquisitive reader.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR FRANCES WOOD'S \u003ci\u003eCHINA'S FIRST EMPEROR AND HIS TERRACOTTA WARRIORS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e:   'Fascinating book' \u003ci\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e.   'Wry, concise and authoritative' \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e.   '[Wood's] close reading of these sources offers fresh insight' \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e.   '[An] interesting and informative work' \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e.   'Wonderfully descriptive' * Library Journal *","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850911105367,"sku":"9781837930210","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781837930210.jpg?v=1710624145"},{"product_id":"the-world-turned-upside-down-a-history-of-the-chinese-cultural-revolution-9781800750586","title":"The World Turned Upside Down: A History of the","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Swift Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850995876183,"sku":"9781800750586","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"disaster-in-the-far-east-1941-1942-9781783462094","title":"Disaster in the Far East 1941-1942","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespatches in this volume include that on the Far East between October 1940 and December 1941, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham; the despatch on operations in Hong Kong between 8 and 25 December 1941, by Major-General C.M. Maltby, General Officer Commanding British Troops in China; the report on the air operations during the campaigns in Malaya and Netherland East Indies between December 1941 and March 1942; and the important despatch by Percival detailing the fall of Malaya and Fortress Singapore. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.","brand":"Pen \u0026 Sword Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851298685271,"sku":"9781783462094","price":22.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781783462094.jpg?v=1710633379"},{"product_id":"white-mountain-9781780228402","title":"White Mountain","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHome to mythical kingdoms, wars and expeditions, and strange and magical beasts, the Himalayas have always loomed tall in our imagination. Overrun at different times by Buddhism, Taoism, shamanism, Islam and Christianity, they are a grand central station of the world's religions. They are also a plant hunter's paradise, a climber's challenge, and a traveller's dream.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his quest to explore the region's seismic history, Twigger seeks out the Nagas, who helped his grandfather build a camp for Allied soldiers near Imphal during the Second World War and takes the most scenic bike ride in the world from Lhasa to Kathmandu. The result is a sweeping, fascinating and surprising journey through the history of the world's greatest mountain range.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Twigger leaves no mountain path untouched . . . \u003cb\u003elively, interesting, unusual and entertaining\u003c\/b\u003e' -- Sara Wheeler * THE SPECTATOR *\u003cbr\u003e'A \u003cb\u003efascinating\u003c\/b\u003e compendium of stories' * DAILY TELEGRAPH *\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eVery readable\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003ci\u003eWhite Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e offers firm narrative and sweeping views' -- John Keay * TLS *\u003cbr\u003e'Real and imagined journeys in the Himalayas, by Robert Twigger, acclaimed author of Red Nile. \u003cb\u003eA travelogue and expansive exploration\u003c\/b\u003e of these mighty mountains that follows a meandering and often mythical path' * NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER *\u003cbr\u003e'Twigger is\u003cb\u003e one of the best and most fascinating of recent travel writers\u003c\/b\u003e. Following his excellent book on the Nile, Twigger goes into deeper territory with this \"spiritual\" biography of the Himalayas. Of course, in any such book, there are a lot of mountaineering tales and tragedy, but Twigger is far more interested in the spirituality of the people of Nepal and Tibet than he is with peaks and summits. Looking at Tibetan Buddhism as well as the area's bloody history, Twigger show the spiritual importance of this strange and haunting place' * CATHOLIC HERALD *\u003cbr\u003eInteresting and idiosyncratic... The author's style is by turns entertainingly conversational, essay-like and at times almost stream-of-consciousness ... The author, Robert Twigger, is a writer of considerable acclaim and a poet, which shows. His prose crackles ... It is a literate miscellany of obscure facts, characters and tales of history interwoven with philosophy, biography and autobiography. Not for everyone - but if you think you'll like it, you'll probably love it. I did -- Simon Ingram * TRAIL *","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851348951383,"sku":"9781780228402","price":9.34,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781780228402.jpg?v=1710635241"},{"product_id":"the-longest-august-the-unflinching-rivalry-between-india-and-pakistan-9781568587349","title":"The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe partitioning of British India into independent Pakistan and India in August 1947 occurred in the midst of communal holocaust, with Hindus and Sikhs on one side and Muslims on the other. More than 750,000 people were butchered, and 12 million fled their homes,primarily in caravans of bullock-carts,to seek refuge across the new border: it was the largest exodus in history. Sixty-seven years later, it is as if that August never ended.Renowned historian and journalist Dilip Hiro provides a riveting account of the relationship between India and Pakistan, tracing the landmark events that led to the division of the sub-continent and the evolution of the contentious relationship between Hindus and Muslims. To this day, a reasonable resolution to their dispute has proved elusive, and the Line of Control in Kashmir remains the most heavily fortified frontier in the world, with 400,000 soldiers arrayed on either side.Since partition, there have been several acute crises between the neighbours, including the secession of East Pakistan to form an independent Bangladesh in 1971, and the acquisition of nuclear weapons by both sides resulting in a scarcely avoided confrontation in 1999 and again in 2002. Hiro amply demonstrates the geopolitical importance of the India-Pakistan conflict by chronicling their respective ties not only with America and the Soviet Union, but also with China, Israel, and Afghanistan.Hiro weaves these threads into a lucid narrative, enlivened with colourful biographies of leaders, vivid descriptions of wars, sensational assassinations, gross violations of human rights,and cultural signifiers like cricket matches.  The Longest August  is incomparable in its scope and presents the first definitive history of one of the world's longest-running and most intractable conflicts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Dilip Hiro's latest book is another proof of the maturity among the historians of the emerging independent countries... The writer tries to unfold the hidden politics of the unflinching rivalry between the twins and comprehensively covers both the pre- and post-partition developments... He has boldly challenged the politics of Mahatma{and] rightly pointed out that the Mahatma believed in religious nationalism, and gives the reference of Mahatma's 1915 address in which he said: 'Politics cannot be divorced from religion.'\" --The News (Pakistan) \"This book is remarkable in its sweep of history... By sequencing the events in this manner, their flow becomes clearer. The facts presented are well-rounded, backed as they are by considerable background information. The portrayal of the key historical figures has been quite vividly done. It delineates the changing international context of evolving India-Pakistan relations and the drawing in of global powers with each major shift, thereby investing their bilateral developments with profound global balance-of-power ramifications.\" --Mainstream (India) \"[A] deeply researched book about partition and its consequences...The adversarial relationship between the homespun Mahatma [Gandhi] and the Anglicized barrister [Jinnah] is recounted in novelistic detail... This is a reliable, insightful and, for so partisan a subject, admirably evenhanded examination.\" --Wall Street Journal \"A history that spans a century of antagonism, skullduggery and war...It is a tale of broken bloodlines, fatal miscalculations and mutual paranoia that has placed a bitter parting at the center of the destiny of a subcontinent. And it is timely... Hiro also offers fascinating accounts of the espionage wars between the two countries.\" --The New York Times Book Review \"The book supplies enough detail to leave the reader in no doubt about the upshot of India's partition: a nuclear-armed quasi-theocracy imploding under the weight of its own radicalism. This should inspire dread in the most stolid of hearts -- not only in India but across the world.\" --Washington Post \"Brisk and clear history of partition and its effects... Mr. Hiro has written a highly readable account of a complicated history... A dispassionate chronological narrative, it is an excellent introduction to a bitterly contested topic.\" --The Economist \"An exhaustive narrative on Indo-Pak relations coloured by the burden of history...It is a bold, dispassionate attempt to examine the bitterly contested subject...The immensely readable book is peppered with catchy anecdotes linking senior leaders of India and Pakistan.\" --Deccan Herald (India) \"Mr. Hiro does a competent job outlining a complex, often contradictory and seemingly unending Kashmir dispute.\" --Business Standard \"The Longest August needed a mix of skill, patience and courage. Hiro exhibits them all in good measure, and happily takes the book above most Partition sagas.\" --The Hindu \"In Hiro's retelling, Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah are alive with all their egos and foibles resplendent...The Longest August is a brave first attempt to magnify relations between India and Pakistan.\" --The Independent (UK) \"The author provides a riveting account of the relationship between India and Pakistan ...The author weaves these threads into a lucid narrative, enlivened with colourful biographies of leaders, vivid descriptions of wars, sensational assassinations, gross violations of human rights - and cultural signifiers like cricket matches.\" --Business Standard (India) \"Every new Dilip Hiro book brings a tingle of excitement over the chance to chronologically understand events in a particular land, almost always close to ours, by a meticulous storyteller who takes no sides... The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan remains true to Hiro's genre of storytelling, based on an intense examination of the archives and a reliable-enough timeline. This helps him recount the past as it happened, blemishes and all.\" --Tribune India \"Hiro's book is a fluidly written narration tracing the prehistory of the conflict to Hindu assertion and Muslim anxiety as the independence struggle gathered pace. This is an eminently readable history that outlines the evolution of a complicated conflict.\" --India Today \"The Longest August is an ambitious project, particularly in the vastness of its scope... Every major incident is touched upon in the book... Written in the style of the immensely popular Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, The Longest August is an easy read. It is full of anecdotes which have either been forgotten or overlooked.\" --Indian Express \"The book is updated enough to include the Modi government's bizarre attitude to relations with Pakistan -- a mix of hugging and sulking -- and comprehensive enough to act as a single volume reference for India-Pakistan relations.\" --Asian Age \"A definitive history of one of the world's most intractable conflicts. ... It is an absorbing read.\" --Bangalore Mirror \"Hiro amply sketches the geopolitical contours of the India-Pakistan conflict by chronicling their respective ties not only with America and the Soviet Union but also with China, Israel, and Afghanistan.\" --The Times of India \"The book is a must read to understand the predilections of the Hindu leaders in India and their Muslim counterparts in Pakistan which has deepened the trust deficit leading to a dead end. Or has it!\" --Free Press Journal (Mumbai)","brand":"Avalon Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851471536471,"sku":"9781568587349","price":20.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781568587349.jpg?v=1710637182"},{"product_id":"viceroys-the-creation-of-the-british-9781472124746","title":"Viceroys The Creation of the British","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eViceroys \u003c\/i\u003etells the important story of the British aristocracy sent to govern India during the reigns of five British monarchs and the role it played in the shaping of the modern British identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA richly rewarding work of history * Military History *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851677483351,"sku":"9781472124746","price":12.74,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781472124746.jpg?v=1710641840"},{"product_id":"viceroys-9781472124753","title":"Viceroys","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween 1858 and 1947, twenty British men ruled millions of some of the most remarkable people of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Indian Mutiny to the cruel religious partition of India and the newly formed and named Pakistan, the Viceroy had absolute power, more than the monarch who had sent him. Selected from that exclusive class of English, Scottish and Irish breeding, the aristocracy, the Viceroys were plumed, rode elephants, shot tigers. Even their wives stood when they entered the room. Nevertheless, many of them gave everything for India. The first Viceroy, Canning, exhausted by the Mutiny, buried his wife in Calcutta before he left the subcontinent to die shortly afterwards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe average Viceroy lasted five years and was granted an earldom but rarely a sense of triumph. Did these Viceroys behave as badly as twenty-first century moralists would have us believe? When the Raj was over, the legacy of Empire continued, as the new rulers slipped easil\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA richly rewarding work of history * Military History *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851677647191,"sku":"9781472124753","price":22.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781472124753.jpg?v=1710641845"},{"product_id":"when-the-clouds-fell-from-the-sky-9781472143754","title":"When the Clouds Fell from the Sky","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Like Auschwitz, like Stalin''s purges, the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge are one of those extraordinary events that make us wonder about the human capacity for evil. Through a profoundly moving tale that weaves together the connected stories of a victim, his surviving family, and members of the regime, Robert Carmichael brings us into the heart of the darkness that took over Cambodia, bringing it alive in the way no mere statistics can. I''ve not seen a comparable book about these horrors.''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Hochschild, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eKing Leopold''s Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''What does it mean to say two million people lost their lives during the years of Khmer Rouge rule? The true answer can only be told in microcosm, as Robert Carmichael has done in this intimate and heartbreaking story of the disappearance of one man, and the decades of suffering that followed as his family searched for answers.''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeth Mydans, former Southeast Asia correspondent for the\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn outstanding book of astonishing power, one of the most important and valuable to emerge from the horrors of the Pol Pot regime . . . a direct and vivid account of the cruelty and destruction of the country's darkest era . . . Carmichael relates a family's intensely painful private story with great sensitivity, weaving it into his overall narrative of the genocide . . . this and his sincerity make his book unforgettable. One finishes it with an ache in the heart. -- Jon Swain, writer and foreign correspondent, author of \u003ci\u003eRiver of Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA love story that rises - so beautifully - above, and in stark contrast to, the absurd and criminal insanity of the Khmer Rouge. Meticulous and carefully documented, \u003ci\u003eWhen the Clouds Fell from the Sky\u003c\/i\u003e explores a wide range of Cambodia's issues while testifying in a deeply moving way about one of humanity's worst tragedies. -- Bruno Carette, documentary-maker, Khmers Rouges Amers (Bitter Khmer Rouge)\u003cbr\u003eLike Auschwitz, like Stalin's purges, the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge are one of those extraordinary events that make us wonder about the human capacity for evil. Through a profoundly moving tale that weaves together the connected stories of a victim, his surviving family, and members of the regime, Robert Carmichael brings us into the heart of the darkness that took over Cambodia, bringing it alive in the way no mere statistics can. I've not seen a comparable book about these horrors. -- Adam Hochschild, award-winning author of King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa\u003cbr\u003eWhat does it mean to say two million people lost their lives during the years of Khmer Rouge rule? The true answer can only be told in microcosm, as Robert Carmichael has done in this intimate and heartbreaking story of the disappearance of one man, and the decades of suffering that followed as his family searched for answers. -- Seth Mydans, former Southeast Asia correspondent for the New York Times\u003cbr\u003eAs moving as it is well researched. Robert Carmichael's sharp prose and depth of knowledge of Cambodia's history transforms a daughter's search for her missing father into a nation's journey to find peace and reconciliation with its brutal history of genocide. -- Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew journalists have studied the Khmer Rouge tribunal as closely as Carmichael, whose book reveals the complex, often contradictory nature of international justice. What justice can be had when weighed against such crimes? It is an issue victims and observers alike have struggled with from the start . . . The book is like tracing paper, layering Ket's life over Cambodia's sad history. Threading it together are Martine and Ket's daughter Neary, whose early chance encounter with Carmichael yielded this extraordinary story.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Abby Seiff * History Today *\u003cbr\u003eIn this brilliant and vivid book, Robert Carmichael skilfully weaves personal accounts with history and reflective analysis, giving essential context to the violence. It is a powerful and compelling story that avoids casting the perpetrators as 'monsters'; instead, showing them to be terrifyingly ordinary. 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Hats off to Teresa Lim' -- Hope Adams","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48066839314775,"sku":"9780241544402","price":17.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241544402.jpg?v=1713211782"},{"product_id":"a-brief-history-of-the-dynasties-of-china-9781841197913","title":"A Brief History of the Dynasties of China","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough China's great empire lasted for longer than any other, no country has suffered so great an imbalance between the fame of its art and obscurity of its history. The names of the great dynasties are familiar, yet who can actually locate a T'ang horse or a Ming vase in its social or cultural context? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy focusing on the key colourful characters of the eight major dynasties, Bamber Gascoigne brings to life 3500 years of Chinese civilization. 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Recent excavations and newly translated Hittite texts reveal that Troy was a large, wealthy city allied with the Hittite Empire. Located at the strategic entrance to the Dardanelles, the link between the Aegean and Black Sea, it was a tempting target for marauding Greeks, the Vikings of the Bronze Age. The Trojan War may have been the inevitable consequence of expanding Greek maritime commerce.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten by a leading expert on ancient military history, the true story of the most famous battle in history is every bit as compelling as Homer''s epic account - and confirms many of its details. 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I really enjoyed it -- Michael Wood\u003cbr\u003eA military epic of the first order, weaving together fact and fiction in a beguiling tapestry of blood, guts, gore - and terrible feminine beauty -- Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek History, Cambridge University","brand":"Cornerstone","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732239888727,"sku":"9780099474333","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099474333.jpg?v=1719996096"},{"product_id":"mao-the-unknown-story-9780099507376","title":"Mao The Unknown Story","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJung Chang was born in Yibin, Sichuan Province, China, in 1952. She was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen and then worked as a peasant, a 'barefoot doctor', a steelworker and an electrician before becoming an English-language student and, later, an assistant lecturer at Sichuan University. She left China for Britain in 1978 and was subsequently awarded a scholarship by York University, where she obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 - the first person from the People's Republic of China to receive a doctorate from a British university. Her award-winning book, \u003ci\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1991. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJon Halliday is a former Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College, University of London. He has written or edited eight previous books.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first great political biography of the twenty-first century\u003c\/b\u003e -- Frank Johnson * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is a bombshell of a book... 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This is the first intimate, political biography of the greatest monster of them all -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Sunday Times *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732254110039,"sku":"9780099507376","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099507376.jpg?v=1719996150"},{"product_id":"empress-dowager-cixi-9780099532392","title":"Empress Dowager Cixi","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJung Chang is the best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e (1991, which the \u003ci\u003eAsian Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e called the most read book about China), \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eMao: The Unknown Story\u003c\/i\u003e (2005, with Jon Halliday), which was described by \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine as an atom bomb of a book'. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies outside mainland China where they are both banned.. She was born in China in 1952, and came to Britain in 1978. She lives in London.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJung Chang tells a story and what a colourful tale it is…This is history at its most readable. -- George Walden * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eA truly authoritative account of Cixi’s rule. Her story is both important and evocative. -- Orville Schell * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eFilled with new revelations, it's a gripping and surprising story of an extraordinary woman in power. Using Chinese sources, totally untapped by western books, this reappraises one of the great monstresses of modern history... Jung Chang's revisionism means that this book reveals a new and different woman: ambitious, sometimes murderous, but pragmatic and unique. All of this adds up to make \u003ci\u003eEmpress Dowager Cixi \u003c\/i\u003ea powerful read. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * BBC History Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eIf there is one woman who mattered in the history of modern China, it is the empress dowager Cixi…[Her] conventional image is queried in this detailed and beautifully narrated biography, which at long last restores the empress dowager to her rightful place. Chang’s book relies heavily on the vast holdings in the imperial archives in Beijing... She has a wonderful eye for the telling detail and excels at unravelling palace intrigues and corridor politics. -- Frank Dikotter * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eChang has a proven Midas touch.\u003ci\u003e.. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmpress Dowager\u003c\/i\u003e, by returning to female experience in the style of \u003ci\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e yet focusing, like \u003ci\u003eMao\u003c\/i\u003e, on a controversial ruler, should appeal to fans of both. -- Jeffrey Wasserstrom * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eA captivating cradle-to-grave biography * VOGUE *\u003cbr\u003eIn this vivid biography, as colourful and intricate as the embroidery on a Chinese robe, [Jung Chang] uses new evidence and meticulous research to cast a spotlight on the amazing woman she regards as the mother of modern China…This is a rich, dramatic story of rebellions, battles, plotting, rivalry, foreign invasion, punishment and forbidden love. -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eAn absorbing read. -- Josh Neicho * Independent on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eThis is an important book, drawing attention to a period in China's history that has received little, and usually only negative, attention. Chang writes with verve, energy and evident concern for the country in which her books are proscribed and her family was made to suffer during the Cultural Revolution. * BBC History Magazine *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732273738071,"sku":"9780099532392","price":12.34,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099532392.jpg?v=1719996227"},{"product_id":"inside-the-kingdom-9780099539056","title":"Inside the Kingdom","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSaudi Arabia is a country defined by paradox: it sits atop some of the richest oil deposits in the world, and yet the country''s roiling disaffection produced sixteen of the nineteen 9\/11 hijackers. 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[I] know of no book that captures so convincingly the intimate connection between the kingdom and the rise of al-Qaeda and its jihadist ideology...What distinguishes Mr Lacey's account is his use of Saudi voices - many of them, even in this most reticent of cultures, on the record - to anatomise a deeply rooted culture of intolerance * Economist *\u003cbr\u003eIncisive ... The real triumph of this book ... is the way it peels away the layers of mystery that shroud a civil society of which we have almost no knowledge * Sunday Times *","brand":"Cornerstone","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732279996759,"sku":"9780099539056","price":10.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099539056.jpg?v=1719996248"},{"product_id":"the-impossible-state-9780099578659","title":"The Impossible State","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive account of North Korea - its veiled past and uncertain future - from former White House adviser and Korea expert Victor Cha\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe killed Americans. \u003cbr\u003e We are killing Americans.\u003cbr\u003e We will kill Americans.\u003ci\u003e'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNorth Korean schoolchildren conjugating verbs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow did North Korea become The Impossible State, where citizens found humming South Korean pop songs risk being sent to a gulag, and yet a starving populace clings fiercely to its Dear Leader Kim Jong-un? 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It offers perhaps the best recent one-volume account of North Korea’s history, economics and foreign relations * The Economist *\u003cbr\u003e[This] excellent, comprehensive book explains as much as it is possible to explain the nature of this ‘impossible state’, how it has developed under the Kim dynasty and why it endures as a major thorn in the side of the global community -- Jonathan Fenby * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eThis scrupulously researched account provides an alarming insight into how a long-running nightmare for North Koreans could soon become a geopolitical crisis for the rest of us -- Stephen Robinson * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eHe uses his first-hand and often surreal experiences of dealing with North Korean officialdom to telling effect in the book. 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In this intimate biography we learn not only about the imperial grandeur of his life in a country racked by poverty and the vicious infighting at his court, but also about his extraordinary personal habits that equal those of deceased Korean supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, another infamous and idiosyncratic dictator, equally deified and worshipped by his followers: Mao''s teeth turned black because he would only brush them with tea; he hardly ever bathed but then received Krushchev in his swimming pool where he obliged the Soviet President to join him. Li''s revealing account also chronicles Mao''s voracious sexual appetite that led to the seduction of thousands of peasant women because he believed in the mythical healing power of sex. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eZhisui Li spent more time with Mao than perhaps any other person. 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Goscha manages the (not easy) task of showing Vietnam's complexity without losing the reader with too much detail... quite simply the finest, most readable single-volume history of Vietnam in English' -- Joshua Kurlantzick * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eA vigorous, eye-opening account of a country of great importance to the world, past and future. * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eFor those who have wanted a distinct and comprehensive overview of Vietnam's history, this is it. Christopher Goscha has an eye for how history connects through generations and how a country can rise from disasters in a new form, without losing sight of its past -- Odd Arne Westad, author of Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750\u003cbr\u003eA splendid achievement. Christopher Goscha is one of our leading historians of modern Vietnam, and he shows it in this nuanced, fair-minded, deeply humane book. 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[and his] ability to empathise with people long dead is also astonishing -- Nilanjana S Roy * Business Standard, New Delhi *\u003cbr\u003eI enjoyed everything about this book -- Charles Allen * Literary Review *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732500689239,"sku":"9780141981437","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141981437.jpg?v=1719997160"},{"product_id":"unruly-waters-9780141982632","title":"Unruly Waters","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''An enthralling, elegantly written and, ultimately, profoundly alarming history'' \u003ci\u003eEconomist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eA bold new perspective on the history of South Asia, telling its story through its climate, and the long quest to tame its waters\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eSouth Asia''s history has been shaped by its waters. 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From the first small weather-reporting stations to today''s  satellites, the modern battle both to understand and manage water has  literally been a matter of life or death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToday, Asian nations  are racing to construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas, with dire  environmental impacts; hundreds of millions crowd into coastal cities  threatened by cyclones and storm surges. In an age of climate change,  this highly original work of history is essential reading for anyone  seeking to understand not only Asia''s past but its future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732501672279,"sku":"9780141982632","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141982632.jpg?v=1719997163"},{"product_id":"asias-reckoning-9780141982854","title":"Asias Reckoning","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Stunningly good'' Michael Burleigh, \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e, Books of the Year 2017 \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A shrewd and knowing book.'' Robert D. Kaplan, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A compelling and impressive read.'' \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Skillfully crafted and well-argued.'' Jeffrey Wasserstrom, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e''An excellent modern history. . . . provides the context needed to make sense of the region''s present and future.'' Joyce Lau, \u003ci\u003eSouth China Morning Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe dramatic story of the relationship between the world''s three largest economies, one that is shaping the future of us all, by one of the foremost experts on east Asia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor more than half a century, American power in the Pacific has successfully kept the peace. But it has also cemented the tensions in the toxic rivalry between China and Japan, consumed with endless history wars and entrenched political dynas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA shrewd and knowing book\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert D. Kaplan * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA compelling and impressive read\u003c\/b\u003e * Economist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSkillfully crafted and well-argued\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jeffrey Wasserstrom * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn excellent modern history. . . . provides the context needed to make sense of the region's present and future.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Joyce Lau * South China Morning Post *\u003cbr\u003e[A] wide-ranging study of China's re-emergence as a regional power in Asia after a long hiatus, thwarting the designs of other powers, including the United States and Russia. . . . The U.S. [finds itself] firmly ensnared in the so-called Thucydides trap, 'the principle that it is dangerous to build an empire but even more dangerous to let it go.' So it is, and the current leadership appears to be at a loss about what to do or to formulate other aspects of any coherent policy in and toward Asia. . . . Geopolitics wonks will want to give attention to this urgent but nonsensationalized argument. * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eThe United States, China, and Japan form the power triangle that will shape much of the international politics in the 21st century. Richard McGregor's masterful \u003ci\u003eThe Party\u003c\/i\u003e illuminated one corner of that triangle-China. In this important book he describes how the other two corners have interacted with China since World War II. Lucid, insightful and ominous, as the author describes big trouble ahead -- Eliot Cohen, author of SUPREME COMMAND\u003cbr\u003eRichard McGregor's new book is essential reading for anyone worried about the most fraught relationship in Asia-between China and Japan. With extensive experience in and knowledge of both China, Japan, and the United States, McGregor is in a unique position to unpack the relationship and sort through the extensive propaganda and myth-making on all sides. A great read! -- John Pomfret, author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom\u003cbr\u003eMcGregor distills years of meetings with high officials in China and Japan to give a vivid nuanced picture of their relations in the 21st century -- Ezra Vogel, author of Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China\u003cbr\u003eAn in-depth depiction of radical changes and challenges in Japan-China relations in the post-war period, thoroughly researched and rich in storytelling. In the course of tumultuous relations with China, Japan has had to trail blaze in the face of the rise of China. Japan's naked exposure to the unfolding Realpolitik with China at its core is for the first time comprehensively reviewed. -- Yoichi Funabashi, former Editor-in-Chief, Asahi Shimbun\u003cbr\u003eA must read for anyone who wants to understand our future. \u003ci\u003eAsia's Reckoning\u003c\/i\u003e provides a detailed picture of the slow military, diplomatic and economic waltz between China, Japan and the United States that determined the shape of the past half-century. -- Nicholas Stuart * Brisbane Times *\u003cbr\u003eA compelling account of the post-war relationship between China, Japan and America, brings to life one of the world's most complicated love-hate triangles. -- Clifford Coonan * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eMcGregor's brilliant book is packed with insights on the complex Sino-Japanese relationship, the gist of that being that past history should be our teacher rather than master. Will a more powerful China learn magnanimity, one wonders. -- David Sexton * Evening Standard, Book of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eFor journalists taking up new posts in China, the first book I always suggest is Richard McGregor's \u003ci\u003eThe Party\u003c\/i\u003e. I will now add McGregor's new book, \u003ci\u003eAsia's Reckoning\u003c\/i\u003e, to my list for those headed to the Far East. -- Melissa Chan * Los Angeles Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAsia's Reckoning\u003c\/i\u003e, Richard McGregor provides a cogent and superbly researched guide to the deep forces that undergird China's geopolitical strategy and the attempts of two other great powers in the region, the United States and Japan, to deal with it. -- Peter Tasker * The Mekong Review *\u003cbr\u003eMcGregor's fascinating narrative of the three countries' relations over 50 years is filled with fresh anecdotes drawn from interviews and newly released archival documents. McGregor has a sharp eye for personalities and policy factions, as well as a firm grasp of geopolitics. -- Andrew Nathan * Foreign Affairs *\u003cbr\u003eRichard McGregor has followed up his masterful 2010 book on The Party by focusing on the collisions and the less frequent collusions between the three Pacific powers: China, Japan and the US. Most regional strategic writing is focused on one of the three countries, but McGregor has done immense research in each of them and sets up the story beautifully. -- Rowan Callick * The Australian *\u003cbr\u003eMcGregor offers a masterful account of the complex fifty-year dance between China, Japan and the United States. -- Graeme Dobell * The Strategist *\u003cbr\u003eMcGregor has written a magisterial book that combines old-fashioned shoe leather reporting and extensive archival research to hart seven decades of history between the three countries. -- Anna Fifield * Australian Foreign Affairs *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732502065495,"sku":"9780141982854","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141982854.jpg?v=1719997163"},{"product_id":"india-in-the-persianate-age-10001765-9780141985398","title":"India in the Persianate Age 10001765","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Remarkable ... this brilliant book stands as an important monument to an almost forgotten world'' William Dalrymple, \u003ci\u003eSpectator \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sweeping, magisterial new history of India from the middle ages to the arrival of the British\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Indian subcontinent might seem a self-contained world. 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Richard Eaton's brilliant book stands as an important monument to this almost forgotten world. -- William Dalrymple * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eBy rethinking this history as India's 'Persianate age', Eaton breaks free from religious sectarianism that projects today's tensions into the past ... His book is a fine tribute to India. -- Tanjil Rashid * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA brilliant, gripping, refreshing and scholarly history of India\u003c\/b\u003e from 1000AD to the 1750s, analysing the power of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mogul Empire, its rise and decline and the rise of the East India Company - \u003cb\u003etotally essential reading.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGenius ... \u003ci\u003eIndia in the Persianate Age\u003c\/i\u003e is Eaton's mature masterpiece.\u003c\/b\u003e It will, undoubtedly, become the authoritative account of this most politically controversial period of South Asia's long history. -- Katherine Schofield * History Today *\u003cbr\u003eA richly researched, badly needed and wholly convincing account ... \u003cb\u003eWorld history proves its worth.\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Keay * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eRichard Eaton employs rich empirical detail to demonstrate that intellectual encounters between the Sanksrit and Persian worlds were not tied to any one religion and that the two were not hostile ... and does so with great panache. -- Rudrangshu Mukherjee * Business Standard *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732505211223,"sku":"9780141985398","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141985398.jpg?v=1719997177"},{"product_id":"japan-story-9780141985374","title":"Japan Story","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is a fresh and surprising account of Japan''s culture from the ''opening up'' of the country in the mid-nineteenth century to the present.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''How much I admired it, what a lot I learned from it and, above all, how very much I enjoyed it ... M\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003easterly.'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eNeil MacGregor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is told through the eyes of people who greeted this change not with the confidence and grasping ambition of Japan''s modernizers and nationalists, but with resistance, conflict, distress. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe encounter writers of dramas, ghost stories and crime novels where modernity itself is the tragedy, the ghoul and the bad guy; surrealist and avant-garde artists sketching their escape; rebel kamikaze pilots and the put-upon urban poor; hypnotists and gangsters; men in desperate search of the eternal feminine and feminists in search of something more than state-sanctioned subservience; Buddhists without morals; Marxist terror groups; couches full to bursting with the psychologi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow much I admired it, what a lot I learned from it and, above all, how very much I enjoyed it. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough the broad outlines of the story were familiar (as they will be to every reader) almost all the more detailed information was new to me.   I thought the book was masterly in the intermeshing of the personal and the political, the quotidian and the spiritual, the psycho-analytic with the journalistic, the long-historical with the contemporary, and everywhere finding and highlighting the poetic and the aesthetic.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Neil MacGregor\u003cbr\u003eElegantly written and compelling history of Japan's past century and a half -- Bill Emmott * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eLucid and lyrical ... delivered with his flair for storytelling ... one of the best accounts I've\u003cbr\u003eever read of what happens - for better and worse - when a country's relationship with the world is abruptly renegotiated.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Alex Dudok de Wit * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eRichly embroidered, well-written text ... you will profit considerably from reading \u003ci\u003eJapan Story\u003c\/i\u003e. -- Christopher Ross * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eA fresh, detailed, intimate, witty, and captivating tour across the evolving landscape of Japan over the past hundred and fifty years ... told with compassion and with a storyteller's wit and wisdom. -- Will Harris * Books and Bao *\u003cbr\u003eMagisterial -- Best New Books to Read Christmas 2018 * Tatler *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732505309527,"sku":"9780141985374","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141985374.jpg?v=1719997178"},{"product_id":"kingdom-of-characters-9780141985312","title":"Kingdom of Characters","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA riveting, masterfully researched account of the bold innovators who adapted the Chinese language to the modern world, transforming China into a superpower in the process\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat does it take to reinvent the world''s oldest living language?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChina today is one of the world''s most powerful nations, yet just a century ago it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, left behind in the wake of Western technology. In \u003ci\u003eKingdom of Characters\u003c\/i\u003e, Jing Tsu shows that China''s most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: to make the formidable Chinese language - a 2,200-year-old writing system that was daunting to natives and foreigners alike - accessible to a globalized, digital world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKingdom of Characters\u003c\/i\u003e follows the bold innovators who adapted the Chinese script - and the value-system it represents - to the technological advances that would shape the twentieth century and beyond, from the \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnchanting... [Tsu's] love for the enigma and beauty of Chinese shines through in this delightful mix of history and linguistics... A pleasure to read -- Michael Sheridan * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eErudite and beautifully written -- Rana Mitter * TLS *\u003cbr\u003eIncredibly fascinating... Chinese is the oldest written language in the world, and this book is very much an aperture book. Look through its linguistic premise and a whole panorama of politics, technology and aesthetics springs into life... Remarkable -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *\u003cbr\u003eImpressive... A well-told story about those who created modern China not through the barrel of a gun or a little red book but through dictionaries, libraries and printing presses. 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Jing Tsu has crafted a tale of this achievement with flair, originality and extraordinary narrative power: seldom have I read a book about modern China so informative, revelatory and enjoyable -- Simon Winchester\u003cbr\u003eAn absolute joy to read. This stunning, meticulously researched book is the detective story of Chinese characters. Jing Tsu has seamlessly fused the craft of the linguistic historian with the artistry of the storyteller - including cliff-hangers -- David Crystal, author of THE STORIES OF ENGLISH and HOW LANGUAGE WORKS\u003cbr\u003eAn amazing story! How Chinese speech and script go to be standardized and made fit for the age of printing, data-processing and the internet is a true adventure story, told with brio and passion in this eye-opening book. It's a complicated tale, to be sure, and the solutions found verge on the miraculous. 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It's a story of desperate strife, unflagging dedication, and ultimately, triumph\u003c\/p\u003e -- Ha Jin\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKingdom of Characters\u003c\/i\u003e is a deeply engaging and revealing narrative of the Chinese language in modern times: its graphic and phonetic transformations, conceptual debates, technological innovations, and political contentions. Jin Tsu has brought together a series of key moments concerning Chinese modernity, from the first Chinese typewriter to the digital Sinosphere, from the script reform to the voice revolution. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in the sound and script of modern China -- Professor David Wang, Harvard University\u003cbr\u003eInteresting and very readable -- Peter Gordon * Asian Review of Books *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732505407831,"sku":"9780141985312","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141985312.jpg?v=1719997178"},{"product_id":"a-history-of-the-crusades-i-9780141985503","title":"A History of the Crusades I","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first volume of Steven Runciman''s classic, hugely influential trilogy on the history of the Crusades\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''On a February day in the year AD 638 the Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem, riding upon a white camel''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn enthralling work of grand historical narrative, Steven Runciman''s \u003ci\u003eA History of the Crusades\u003c\/i\u003e  overturned the traditional view of the Crusades as a romantic Christian  adventure, and instead shifted the focus of the story to the East. 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