Asian history Books

Book SynopsisA major new reference volume presenting innovative recent scholarship on Japan's modern history, including its imperial past and trans-regional entanglements.Leading international scholars offer accessible and thought-provoking essays that provide an expansive global vision of the archipelago's history from c.1868 to the twenty-first century.Table of ContentsIntroduction: placing modern Japanese history in the twenty-first century Laura Hein; Part I. Political sovereignty: centers and margins: 1. The transformative politics of the Meiji revolutions Eiko Maruko Siniawer; 2. Japan and its margins: Okinawa, Hokkaido, Korea, Taiwan from the Meiji to the postwar period Jun Uchida, Asano Toyomi and Asano section trans. Yu Conrad Hirano; 3. The Asia–Pacific War Yuki Tanaka; 4. Japan's postwar subordination to the United States and its structure of dual authority Koseki Shōichi and Trans. Alexandra De Leon; 5. The politics of citizenship in postwar Japan: Korean identity, and immigrant rights Erin Aeran Chung; 6. The struggle to protect individual rights in postwar Japan: seven decades of progress Lawrence Repeta; 7. Japan's decline: the Heisei Era (1989–2019) in world history Yoshimi Shunya and Trans. John Person; Part II. Environment, economy, and technology: 8. Japan: the arc of industrialization Mark Metzler; 9. Japan's agriculture, the Empire, and postwar reconstruction Hiromi Mizuno; 10. Building Japan's oil empire Brett L. Walker; 11. Japan's transwar political economy Andrew Gordon; 12. The Japanese economy: shifts in eras 1980–2000 Edward J. Lincoln; Part II. Social practices and cultures in modern Japan: 13. From status to gender in Meiji Japan Marnie S. Anderson; 14. The modern Japanese metropolis, 1868–1970 Jordan Sand; 15. Modern Japan's regional cultures Tessa Morris-Suzuki; 16. Social experiences of war and occupation in twentieth-century Japan Masuda Hajimu; 17. Locating social movements in Japan's long twentieth century Franziska Seraphim; 18. Burakumin and human rights Ian Neary; 19. Japanese mass media Tsuchiya Reiko and Trans. Michele M. Mason; 20. Perceiving Japan: Japonismes east and west, 1860s–1960s Christopher Reed; 21. Popular culture in modern Japan Michele M. Mason; 22. Modern art in Japan and transnational exchange Asato Ikeda; 23. A history of mentalities in modern Japan: premonitions of anxiety in economic prosperity in the early 1970s Narita Ryūichi and Mark Pendleton.

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Book SynopsisAn edited collection that explores the multifaceted experiences of Chinese culinary modernity both within and outside of mainland China from the mid-19th century to present.Modern Chinese Foodways defines some of the major processes by which Chinese food and foodways have become modern, with a focus on the period from the mid-nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The editors, Jia-Chen Fu, Michelle T. King, and Jakob A. Klein, highlight four prominent areas of change: commodification of food production; the scientization of expertise and the development of new food technologies; the creation of new culinary identities based on gender, ethnicity, and nation; and the circuits of migration taking place since the nineteenth century.This collection argues that Chinese food and foodways are very much modern—not a given in the face of the chorus of voices that insists on emphasizing its ancient roots—in ways that both recall the experiences of

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Book SynopsisHow the collapse of empires helps explain the efforts of China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey to challenge the international orderTrade Review“The early twenty-first century, argues Jeffrey Mankoff in this wide-ranging, deeply researched analysis, is shaping up to be a new age of empire in Eurasia.”—Angela Stent, Survival“Historically and empirically, the book is expansive: the depth and breadth of synthetic research here is significant.”—Joseph MacKay, E-International Relations“[A] deep-ranging history and analysis.”—Steven Seegel, Russian Review“Americans have a blind spot—they don’t study history. Especially history of other countries and civilizations. Mankoff digs into history to help us understand today’s complex geopolitics in Asia. This is history most relevant for today.”—John J. Hamre, president and CEO, Center for Strategic and International Studies“Empires of Eurasia contributes to a discerning, productive discussion of pressing contemporary challenges. Ambitious in scope and depth, this timely, highly readable book will be a foundational text for international relations, area studies and national security curricula for many years to come.”—Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute“Mankoff brings an extraordinary understanding of history, geography, language, culture, and politics to this sweeping and ambitious book.”—James Goldgeier, American University“In a narrative infused with historical depth and incisive analysis, Jeffrey Mankoff takes the reader through the geopolitics of a region we call Eurasia—still contested by Russia, Turkey, China, and Iran and burdened by old conflicts and contemporary convulsions of great power, imperial, competition. This is a must read to understand the backstory of conflicts from Crimea to Xinjiang.”—Fiona Hill, author of There Is Nothing for You Here

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Book SynopsisAfter the collapse of the Han dynasty, China divided along a north-south line. Lewis traces the changes that underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw China's geographic redefinition, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, literary and social developments, and the introduction of new religions.Trade ReviewAn original, useful, and very timely book, China between Empires is arguably the first single-volume comprehensive treatment for general readers of Chinese history between AD 220 and 589. Lewis writes clearly and with conviction and marshals an impressive array of evidence--historical, religious, technological, literary, and archaeological. It is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the extreme complexity of the period. -- Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California, Los AngelesThe book is wide-ranging in scope and interspersed with interesting ideas. -- V. C. Xiong * Choice *This series on China, brilliantly overseen by Timothy Brook, is a credit to Harvard University Press. Above all, it encourages us to think of China in different ways. -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *Table of Contents* Introduction * The Geography of North and South China * The Rise of the Great Families * Military Dynasticism * Urban Transformations * Rural Life * China and the Outer World * Redefining Kinship * Daosim and Buddhism * Writing * Conclusion * Dates and Dynasties * Pronunciation Guide * Notes * Bibliography * Acknowledgements * Index

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Book SynopsisAs a giant of 20th century history, Mao Zedong played many roles: peasant revolutionary, patriotic leader against the Japanese occupation, Marxist theoretician, modernizer, and visionary despot. This Very Short Introduction chronicles Mao''s journey from peasant child to ruler of the most populous nation on Earth. He was a founder of both the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army, and for many years he fought on two fronts, for control of the Party and in an armed struggle for the Party''s control of the country. His revolution unified China and began its rise to world power status. He was the architect of the Great Leap Forward that he hoped would make China both prosperous and egalitarian, but instead ended in economic disaster resulting in millions of deaths. It was Mao''s growing suspicion of his fellow leaders that led him to launch the Cultural Revolution, and his last years were dogged by ill-health and his despairing attempts to find a successor whom he trusted. Delia Davin provides an invaluable introduction to Mao, showing him in all his complexity; ruthless, brutal, and ambitious, a man of enormous talent and perception, yet a leader who is still detested by some and venerated by others. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Review[A] tautly argued, plainly told, luminous story that does full justice to all sides of the argument * The China Journal *Table of Contents1. Formative years ; 2. Marxist Labour organizer to Peasant Revolutionary ; 3. Achieving pre-eminence 1934-1949 ; 4. The revolution institutionalized: first years of the People's Republic ; 5. The Great Leap Forward and its Aftershocks ; 6. The Cultural Revolution ; 7. Decline and death ; 8. Assessments and legacies ; References and further reading

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Book SynopsisAn intimate, deeply reported investigation into the battle over identity in China, chronicling the state oppression of those who fail to conform to Xi Jinping''s definition of who is Chinese, from an award-winning NPR correspondent.?Emily Feng?s focus on ordinary people?bravely determined to shape their own lives?captures the mood of the Xi Jinping era more essentially than reams of statistics ever can.??Evan Osnos, National Book Award winner, author of Age of AmbitionThe rise of China and its great power competition with the U.S. will be one of the defining issues of our generation. But to understand modern China, one has to understand the people who live there ? and the way the Chinese state is trying to control them along lines of identity and free expression.In vivid, cinematic detail, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom tells the stories of nearly two dozen people who are pushing back. They include a Uyghur family, separated as China detains hundreds of thousands of their fellow Uyghurs in camps; human rights lawyers fighting to defend civil liberties in the face of mammoth odds; a teacher from Inner Mongolia, forced to make hard choices because of his support of his mother tongue; and a Hong Kong fugitive trying to find a new home and live in freedom. Reporting despite the personal risks, journalist Emily Feng reveals dramatic human stories of resistance and survival in a country that is increasingly closing itself off to the world. Feng illustrates what it is like to run against the grain in China, and the myriad ways people are trying to survive, with dignity.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Little wonder that before Paul Handley no one had really pried into the king’s sleeping habits, let alone the state of his marriage or political views. The story he uncovers is fascinating."—Economist"A new and comprehensive history of the Thai modern monarchy . . . [which] presents a direct counterpoint to years of methodical royal image-making."—Jane Perlez, The Sunday Telegraph"Thailand’s reigning monarch has just celebrated his sixty-year jubilee and this is the first serious biography of him. . . . It is key to understanding the extraordinary events of the past year. . . . For too long, the issue of the monarchy has been the prone elephant that analysts of Thai history and politics have had to treat carefully around. That era should now pass. . . . In sum, this is the classic story of an exceptional man recrafting a monarchy against the grain of an era. But with a difference."—Chris Baker, Asia Sentinel"[Handley’s] biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej succeeds in engrossing the reader with the complex personality of the Thai king and his long and eventful life. . . . The chapters on political turbulence in Thailand between 1974-76, and on the impact of the 1997 financial crisis, find Mr. Handley at his analytic best. . . . Mr. Handley also has some important remarks on the uses and abuses of the lese majesté laws in Thailand."—Grant Evans, Far Eastern Economic Review

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Book SynopsisAn innovative approach to early Chinese history, now updated and expanded up to 1800.

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Book SynopsisJun Uchida draws on previously unused materials in multi-language archives to uncover the obscured history of the Japanese civilians who settled in Korea between 1876 and 1945, with particular focus on the first generation of "pioneers" between the 1910s and 1930s who actively mediated Japan's colonial presence on the Korean peninsula.Trade ReviewWith contemporary Japanese–Korean relations so inextricably entrenched within contentious politics of national identity and divergent expressions of historical consciousness, Jun Uchida’s Brokers of Empire could not be a more welcome addition to the field of modern East Asian history… Richly deserving of the American Historical Association’s John K. Fairbank Prize in 2012, Brokers of Empire stands as one of the finest English-language books to date on the highly complex social and political dynamics of Japanese colonial expansionism in Korea… While Brokers of Empire is ostensibly a book about Japanese colonialism in Korea, no one writing on any geographical region of the Japanese empire can afford to ignore this work. Moreover, scholars of European empire in Asia and Africa also stand to learn much from what Uchida offers here. Brokers of Empire is a remarkable achievement that sets a high standard for future scholarship on the history of modern East Asia and imperialism itself. -- Erik Esselstrom * Reviews in History *This is an impressive and important work that will quickly become required reading for scholars and graduate students in modern Japanese and Korean history; it will also be of great use to historians outside of East Asian studies with an interest in the global phenomenon of settler colonialism… This is doubtless a major achievement that will spark much debate and stimulate new research. -- Takashi Fujitani * American Historical Review *Brokers of Empire is a magisterial work. This is a lavish compliment, but Uchida deserves it. Her book is grand in the sweep of its reinterpretation and in its command of information about a huge cast of actors. Viewing the Korean colonial experience through the lens of the all-but-forgotten settler community, she compels us to rethink the empire-building process. -- James C. Baxter * Japan Review *The Roman deity Janus, he of two faces, is a constant presence in Brokers of Empire, serving as a metaphor for the brokering activities of the Japanese settlers who acted as intermediaries between the colonial state and Korean society or between Korean nationalists and the metropolitan government… But it might equally be applied to Uchida herself, as she artfully turns through multiple sources and historiographical approaches, and as she leads the reader through multiple Janus-like transitions—from the microhistories of Kobayashi to the comparative histories of Japanese settlers and the French colons of north Africa—with elegant turn of phrase and clarity of argument. Brokers of Empire is an outstanding book, one that will be read and referenced for many years to come. -- Martin Dusinberre * Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History *Uchida’s history offers a wide-ranging treatment of the Japanese population that first flocked to the peninsula as part of Korea’s annexation and subsequently put down their roots as a privileged, if precarious, group of colonizing expatriates… [A] path-breaking study… A truly insightful piece of scholarship, one that students of colonialism in East Asia and beyond will no doubt enjoy for years to come. -- Todd A. Henry * Journal of Korean Studies *Brokers of Empire engages a number of larger questions about the functioning and meaning of colonial domination in the modern world. Through an analysis of memoirs, meeting minutes, reports, and punditry generated by Japanese emigrants to Korea, this ambitious study chronicles seven decades of turbulent colonial social history… Uchida’s superbly executed account is likely to become required reading for all serious students of modern Japanese and Korean history. -- Paul D. Barclay * Journal of Social History *This well-researched and elegantly written social history of Japanese settlers in colonial Korea fills a critical void. Much has been written on the political history of Japan’s expansion into and annexation of Korea and the Korean experience under Japanese colonial rule, but Japanese settlers hardly feature in the history of Japanese colonialism in Korea. Drawing on Korean and Japanese primary sources, Uchida crafts a bottom-up narrative of Japanese colonialism in Korea, portraying Japanese settlers as both vanguards of and obstacles to Japanese colonial rule. Settlers’ interests did not always align with the colonial state’s interests. According to Uchida, the volatile relationship between settlers and the colonial state partly stems from the group’s social composition. More like French settlers in Algiers than British settlers in Kenya, Japanese settlers in Korea were mostly from lower social classes, and were mostly concerned with improving their own conditions. In spite of their humble social origins, there were several success stories about those who built business empires or established themselves in journalism or politics. The inclusion of these settlers’ biographies highlights individual experiences often lost in the state-centered narratives of colonial expansion. -- L. Teh * Choice *Brokers of Empire is a triumphant, landmark study. In Uchida’s skillful hands, the Japanese settler population in Korea—comparable in size to the colons in French Algeria—is resuscitated from colonial memories and archives. At once lyrical and analytical in its prose, Brokers of Empire offers—through the lens of settler colonialism—a complete re-examination of Korea under colonial rule and, with it, the role of settlers in shaping the Japanese empire. Unquestionably, the impact of Uchida’s work will be felt not only in the study of Japan, but also in the broader literature on comparative settler colonialism and empire, writ large. -- Caroline Elkins, Harvard UniversityRichly researched and nicely argued, this study brings Asia into the burgeoning literature on colonialism that stresses the co-production of empire by the colonizers and the colonized. Uchida shows how Japanese settlers and Korean elites operated in a tense dynamic with one another, with the colonial state, and with the imperial metropole in a more complex choreography of colonial power than the conventional narrative admits. An important contribution to the history of twentieth-century East Asia. -- Carol Gluck, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisThe Opium War of 183942 is a subject of enduring interest. The Chinese historian Mao Haijian presents a revisionist reading of the conflict and its main Chinese protagonists, offering a comprehensive explanation as to why the Qing Empire was so badly defeated by the British.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Qing military power; 2. The unexpected war; 3. From 'suppression' to 'conciliation', and back; 4. The 'battle' of Guangzhou; 5. The collapse of the southeastern ramparts; 6. The resurgence of the idea of 'conciliation'; 7. 'Equal' and 'unequal'; 8. The testimony of history; Character list; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisChinese Communists have long embraced capitalism, for various reasons. In the 1930s Communists made deals with foreign capitalists to finance the revolution. Mao continued to promote trade after 1949. Jason Kelly shows how global deals kept China embedded in markets and their norms, laying the groundwork for the capitalist reforms of the 1980s.Trade ReviewA sober, detailed account of the way modern China came to see that global trade could be a way to ‘fortify socialism…rather than degrade it.’…Kelly conveys what a highwire act it must have been to conduct business on Mao’s watch. -- Tim Sifert * Asian Review of Books *Should appeal to scholars exploring the rise of neoliberalism and the transformation of global capitalism since the 1970s, in which the PRC played a leading role. The history of China’s capitalist ascent as sketched in Market Maoists is therefore critical to any history of the contemporary global economy. -- Philip Thai * Business History Review *A beautifully written book with compelling insights on the neglected interactions between Maoist China and global capitalist markets. It unquestionably enriches our understanding of how socialist China skillfully did business with Western traders to achieve its goal of state modernization, and sheds new light on the PRC history with a refreshingly global perspective. -- Shaofan An * China Review *Fascinating…Based on wide-ranging primary sources of evidence, this elegant book convincingly argues that long before its formal policy reorientation in 1978, the People’s Republic of China was actively present in marketplaces in the East and West…A truly valuable contribution and merits serious attention from us all. -- Lin Chun * Pacific Affairs *Provides unprecedented details of China’s foreign economic policies during the pre-1978 period and is an excellent example of scholarship based on field work in Mainland China…Makes an important new contribution to the existing literature. -- Lawrence C. Reardon * H-Diplo *Groundbreaking…Market Maoists is a fascinating economic and political history that is well written and accessible also to readers unfamiliar with the history of socialist China…It deserves to be widely read and discussed. -- Jennifer Altehenger * American Historical Review *Combining lively anecdotes with coherent historical analysis, Market Maoists makes for an engaging read for undergraduate and graduate courses on Chinese and world history. It is also a valuable addition to the work of PRC scholars interested in bridging the geographical divide between China and the world and the temporal divide between the socialist years and the economic reforms…[An] excellent monograph. -- Sarah Chang * PRC History Review *An excellent book, extremely well researched and very well written. Kelly provides a valuable overview of PRC trade policies and the significance of China’s trade inside global markets during the Mao era. His comprehensive treatment of the internal battles over how to proceed with international trade and the effects these political decisions had on China’s future adds a great deal to our understanding of China in the world. -- Odd Arne Westad, author of Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China–Korea RelationsKelly skillfully integrates the Chinese case into a new wave of scholarship transforming our understanding of post–World War II global economic integration. Behind the political confrontation between market-led and planned economies during the Cold War, as he persuasively demonstrates, China’s ongoing need to trade continually shaped its foreign and domestic policy, anticipating the country’s more high-profile engagement with market economies in the late twentieth century and since. -- Karl Gerth, author of Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China’s Communist RevolutionBy examining how the Chinese Communist Party leadership treated trade with the capitalist world, Kelly sheds new light on China’s commercial policies and activities and presents the Maoists as being much more economically well-informed and internationally vigorous than previously understood. An original contribution, as well as a joy to read. -- Shu Guang Zhang, author of Economic Cold War: America’s Embargo against China and the Sino–Soviet Alliance, 1949–1963An excellent history of China’s state-led international economic relations in the Maoist era. Kelly captures China’s necessary turn to trade with the West after 1973 as the precondition of the globalizing Chinese economy we know today. Most important, he reminds us, rightly, that for Mao and his successors, ‘trade always served politics.’ The Party would remain in control. This is a lesson taken to heart by Chinese leaders today. -- William C. Kirby, coauthor of Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth

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Book SynopsisAn untold story that reshapes our understanding of Chinese and Tibetan history From 1956 to 1962, devastating military conflicts took place in China's southwestern and northwestern regions. Official record at the time scarcely made mention of the campaign, and in the years since only lukewarm acknowledgment of the violence has surfaced. When the Iron Bird Flies, by Jianglin Li, breaks this decades long silence to reveal for the first time a comprehensive and explosive picture of the six years that would prove definitive in modern Tibetan and Chinese history. The CCP referred to the campaign as "suppressing the Tibetan rebellion." It would lead to the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in India, as well as the Tibetan diaspora in 1959, though the battles lasted three additional years after these events. Featuring key figures in modern Chinese history, the battles waged in this period covered a vast geographical region. This book offers a portrait of chaos, deception, heroism, and massive loss. Beyond the significant death toll across the Tibetan regions, the war also destroyed most Tibetan monasteries in a concerted effort to eradicate local religion and scholarship. Despite being considered a military success, to this day, the operations in the agricultural regions remain unknown. As large numbers of Tibetans have self-immolated in recent years to protest Chinese occupation, Li shows that the largest number of cases occurred in the sites most heavily affected by this hidden war. She argues persuasively that the events described in this book will shed more light on our current moment, and will help us understand the unrelenting struggle of the Tibetan people for their freedom.Trade Review"In this book we have the for the first time a Chinese historian presenting conclusive research on Tibet's recent history. It is my hope that through this historical documentation establishing the truth of what happened, Chinese intellectuals, and all other readers, will come to understand the real situation and be able to deepen their approach to and understanding of the Tibet problem in the spirit of seeking truth from facts. With my praise and admiration for the author on the fruition of her many labours." –His Holiness the Dalai Lama"Jianglin Li is a treasure. The confines of our knowledge about Tibet have expanded dramatically as a result of her dogged research. She has done for Tibet what Chinese historians like Yang Jisheng have done for the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution: uncovered, at considerable personal cost, a history that the Communist Party tried hard to conceal."—Barbara Demick, author of Eat the Buddha"Jianglin Li has pieced together by far the most comprehensive and compelling picture of the devastation wreaked by China upon Tibet. This book is likely to remain the definitive source, and therefore required reading, for anyone interested in this history."—Anne F. Thurston, co-author with Gyalo Thondup of The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong"To have this kind of detail about these events is exceptional. Until now, historians had assumed that 1959 marked the end of major conflict between the PLA and Tibet. This important study corrects those notions, and expands our understanding about the deep tensions that continue to reverberate in much of China's western territories."—Robert Barnett, editor of Forbidden Memory: Tibet during the Cultural Revolution"When the Iron Bird Flies provides the most comprehensive account to date of the brutal and bloody conflicts that took place between the PLA and Tibetans. Combining rigorous research with extensive interviews with Tibetan refugees, this book sheds light on those violent critical years of state incorporation."—Emily T. Yeh, author of Taming Tibet"Authoritative, exhaustive, and reliable, Jianglin Li's account sets a new standard for the history of Sino-Tibetan relations and deftly depicts the momentous historical transition of a region little known to outsiders."—David G. Atwill, coauthor with Yurong Y. Atwill of Sources in Chinese History"This extraordinarily important book reveals for the first time the ruthless military campaign against local rebellions that the PLA waged across vast Tibetan regions. This long-hidden story, told in a series of powerfully dramatic vignettes, reshapes our understanding of the formative years of the People's Republic of China."—Andrew G. Walder, author of China Under Mao"[When the Iron Bird Flies] provides many startling details about how the Chinese Communist Party cracked down on Tibetans from 1956 through 1962. The work of Li, an independent scholar born in China, has an aspect of a detective story because the Chinese government has never disclosed much of what happened... Does any of this matter now, decades later? I think so. As I read Li's study, I thought of the current Chinese government crackdown on the Uyghurs of far northwestern China. I suspect that many of the lessons the Communist Party learned in Tibet are being applied now."—Thomas E. Ricks, The New York Times Book Review"Li draws on interviews with exiled Tibetans and on classified Chinese-language sources to describe battle after battle and the enormous destruction and loss of civilian life that the PLA caused... The story is all the more heartbreaking for the clinical tone of Li's reporting."—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign AffairsThe book's strength is Li's detailed account and descriptions of events based on rarely accessed Chinese sources supplemented by interviews with Tibetans living in exile. Li sees the book as a personal exploration in pursuit of truth.... Overall, Li tells a powerful story of the Tibetan resistance and provides vivid details about the clash between vastly different value systems that underlay that conflict."—Tsering Shakya, Pacific AffairsTable of Contents1. The Storm Rising in the Mountains 2. Rebellion Sparked in the Year of the Fire Monkey 3. Lithang: The Fallen Buddha of the Future 4. Chatreng: The Broken Mala 5. Nyarong: The Wrath of the Dragoness 6. The First Bend in the Yellow River 7. Tibet: Occupation and "Reform" 8. The Chamdo Pilot Project and "Six Years without Change" 9. Diplomatic Clashes: Zhou Enlai, Nehru, and the Dalai Lama 10. Obscure Events in 1957 11. Gunshots in the Golok Grasslands 12. The Yellow River Massacre 13. Yulshul in Flames 14. Tubten Nyima, a monk from the area, confirmed to the author the location of the battles referred to as the "battle of encirclement and annihilation in southeastern Xinghai" in Chinese sources. It was one of the major campaigns of Qinghai's 1958-1959 suppression of the Tibetan resistance and fleeing Tibetans. 15. The Crossed-Sword Banner at Drigu Lake 16. The 1958 "Religious Reform Movement" 17. Lhasa, the Last Hope 18. "Lhasa Is No More!" 19. The Battle of Lhoka 20. From Namtso to Mitikha 21. Encircling the Plateau in the Depths of Winter 22. The Men Who Fell from the Sky 23. Chamdo's Fight to the Death 24. The Life-or-Death Journey 25. When the Iron Horse Raced Across the Plateau

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Book SynopsisIn Plantation Life Tania Murray Li and Pujo Semedi examine the structure and governance of Indonesia''s contemporary oil palm plantations in Indonesia, which supply 50 percent of the world''s palm oil. They attend to the exploitative nature of plantation life, wherein villagers'' well-being is sacrificed in the name of economic development. While plantations are often plagued by ruined ecologies, injury among workers, and a devastating loss of livelihoods for former landholders, small-scale independent farmers produce palm oil more efficiently and with far less damage to life and land. Li and Semedi theorize “corporate occupation” to underscore how massive forms of capitalist production and control over the palm oil industry replicate colonial-style relations that undermine citizenship. In so doing, they question the assumption that corporations are necessary for rural development, contending that the dominance of plantations stems from a political system that privilTrade Review“Plantation Life is an eye-opening book on many fronts. It offers up an ethnographically and historically rich account of forms of life in Indonesia's corporate plantation zone and has much to give about method, collaboration, and evidence. Tania Murray Li and Pujo Semedi show how the plantation is a presence both fickle and contradictory, at once an occupying force and a source of neglect: occupation and abandonment, order and disorder, theft and calculability, alignment and fracture all coexist in a rough-and-tumble assemblage in which political economy and technologies of power are simultaneously in play. An important book.” -- Michael Watts, Class of '63 Professor, University of California, Berkeley“Palm oil is one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in consumer products in industrialized countries and the principal driver of landscape transformation in the Indo-Malay tropics. This, the first ethnography of oil palm plantations, convincingly demonstrates that they neither achieve their purported goal of modernizing the rural peasantry nor---remarkably---make money for the corporations involved, a paradox and perversity of modern capitalism. This is a must-read for everyone interested in tropical peoples and environments and the impact on them of consumerism in the global North.” -- Michael R. Dove, author of * Bitter Shade: The Ecological Challenge of Human Consciousness *"A useful primer on oil palm plantations in Indonesia but even more useful for illustrating how ethnographic research can be carried out across borders and languages. Recommended. Undergraduates and two-year program students. Recommended. Undergraduates and two-year program students." -- Z. McLaughlin * Choice *“Rather than the typical colonial pattern of the local Indonesian collecting the data but having little involvement in the analysis or writing, [Plantation Life] involved the constitution of a real partnership in all aspects of the work. . . . Plantation Life represents an important contribution to the literature . . . and has a lot of potential for class adoption.” -- Ian G. Baird * Antipode *“Plantation Life is a pathbreaking book. Its approach to corporate presence as a state-licensed form of occupation represents an advance in the understanding of the forms of violence that emerge in plantation zones. . . . Since the authors critically engaged in joint research and writing, the book also sets the parameters for future developments in the practice of scholarly collaboration.” -- Miryam Nacimento * Journal of Peasant Studies *"Plantation Life stands out with its powerful combination of the depth of intensive ethnographic study and the refreshing conceptualization of corporate occupation and its 'world-making' consequences. Furthermore, for a book written with academic rigour, the flowing storytelling makes it easy to read for everyone." -- Shofwan Al Banna Choiruzzad * Pacific Affairs *Table of ContentsPreface vii Introduction 1 1. Establishing Plantations 29 2. Holding Workers 59 3. Fragile Plots 90 4. Forms of Life 122 5. Corporate Presence 158 Conclusion 185 Appendix. Collaborative Practices 193 Notes 199 Bibliography 219 Index 239

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Book SynopsisAt the beginning of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese People''s Air Force (VPAF) was equipped with slow, old Korean War-generation fighters--a combination of MiG-17s and MiG-19s,types that should have offered little opposition to the cutting-edge fighter-bombers such as the F-4 Phantom II, F-105 Thunderchief, and the F-8 Crusader. Yet when the USAF and US Navy unleashed their aircraft on North Vietnam in 1965, the inexperienced pilots of the VPAF were able to shatter the illusion of U.S. air superiority. Taking advantage of its jet''s unequaled low-speed maneuverability, small size, and powerful cannon armament, the VPAF was able to take the fight to its missile-guided opponents, with a number of Vietnamese pilots racking up ace scores. Packed with information previously unavailable in the West and only recently released from archives in Vietnam, this is the first major analysis of the exploits of Vietnamese pilots in the David and Goliath contest with the U.S. over the skiesTable of ContentsIntroduction /Swallows Leave the Nest /The Air War Intensifies /New Tactics /MiG-17 Swansong /The 'White Bandits' /Appendices /Colour Plates Commentary /Bibliography /Index

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Book SynopsisVolume II in this major new reference series brings together leading international scholars to present an expansive global vision of the latest research into Japanese history from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Genealogies of Japanese early modernity David L. Howell; Part I. The Character of the Early Modern State: 1. The end of civil war and the formation of the early modern state in Japan Morgan Pitelka; 2. Politics and political thought in the mature early modern state in Japan, 1650–1830 Kiri Paramore; 3. Regional authority during the Tokugawa period David L. Howell; 4. Tokugawa philosophy: a socio-historical introduction Federico Marcon; 5. Foreign relations and coastal defense under the mature Tokugawa regime Robert Hellyer; 6. The Meiji restoration Mark Ravina; Part II. Economy, Environment and Technology: 7. International economy and Japan at the dawn of the early modern era Adam Clulow; 8. The Tokugawa economy: of rulers, producers and consumers Bettina Gramlich-Oka and Komuro Masamichi; 9. The pacific context of Japan's environmental history Brett L. Walker; 10. Scientific communities and the emergence of science in early modern Japan Yulia Frumer; 11. The problem of western knowledge in late Tokugawa Japan Hansun Hsiung; 12. Technology, military reform and warfare in the Tokugawa–Meiji transition D. Colin Jaundrill; Part III. Social Practices and Cultures of Early Modern Japan: 13. Religion in the Tokugawa period Mark Teeuwen; 14. The medical revolution in early modern Japan Susan L. Burns; 15. Flows of people and things in early modern Japan: print culture Laura Nenzi; 16. Labor and migration in Tokugawa Japan: moving people Amy Stanley; 17. The Tokugawa status order Maren Ehlers; 18. On the peripheries of the Japanese archipelago: Ryukyu and Hokkaido David L. Howell; 19. The early modern city in Japan Thomas Gaubatz; 20. Popular movements in early modern Japan: petitions, riots, martyrs Anne Walthall; 21. Civilization and enlightenment in early Meiji Japan Amin Ghadimi.

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Book SynopsisBrian R. Dott explores how the non-native chile went from obscurity to ubiquity in China, influencing not just cuisine but also medicine, language, and cultural identity. The Chile Pepper in China sheds new light on the piquant cultural impact of a potent plant and raises broader questions regarding notions of authenticity in cuisine.Trade ReviewExtensive source materials in both Chinese and English form the bedrock for this impressive study into how a relatively unassuming American import so radically changed one country’s cuisines and traditional pharmacopoeia. The history of the humble chile in China is a fascinating one, especially as viewed through Brian R. Dott’s affectionate yet scholarly lens. -- Carolyn Phillips, author of All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of ChinaA learned as well as lively book with many surprises. How chile peppers came to China from the New World just starts a story involving taste, regionalism, adaptation, and folklore. Chiles were key to Chinese cuisine’s subtlety and variety, and not just in Sichuan and Hunan either. -- Paul Freedman, author of Food: The History of Taste and Ten Restaurants That Changed AmericaThis is an absolutely wonderful book. It combines scholarship and good food writing—the enormous amount of effort in compiling the databases is duly and modestly cloaked in good prose. -- Eugene Anderson, author of The Food of ChinaA valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese culinary culture or the global history of the chilli as symbol — ‘vitamin, vegetable, preservative and spice’. Dott’s research is extensive, while his writing is entertaining, digestible and peppered with much fascinating information. -- Fuchsia Dunlop * Spectator *It reminds us to look for culinary innovation not only where we often do, in the flashy kitchens of professional chefs, but also in the long-term historical processes of everyday life, the contributions to which, like the chile in China, may be ‘found everywhere.’ * Gastronomica *A book that can be easily understood and enjoyed by casual readers, something not all academic non-fiction books can say. -- Jason Flatt * But Why Tho? *There is much to praise about the book: its painstaking research, its sensitivity to the diversities of regional and historical contexts within China, and the top-notch storytelling. On the last point, Dott deserves special mention. The Chile Pepper in China will be one of the few books that will be read and savored by academics and civilians alike. * Twentieth-Century China *With its lucid, lively style, copious illustrations, and recipes this book could be a model for studies of the assimilation of other New World ingredients, especially in India and China. It will be of great value to students and academics and anyone with an interest [in] Chinese cuisine and culture. * Food, Culture, and Society *A satisfying history to [chiles] origins as well as their cultural significance in China. * Asian Review of Books *The definitive English-language study of how the pepper arrived in China, how it became part of local cuisine and medical practice, and how it even established itself as a core part of identity formation in southwest China. But one of its most provocative contributions has little to do with China and everything do with the chili pepper's unique relationship to globalization. * The Cleaver and the Butterfly *It all adds up to a compelling case for how a foreign plant became a national spice. * Economic Times *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsChinese Dynasties and RegimesIntroduction1. Names and Places: How the Chile Found Its Way “Home” to China2. Spicing Up the Palate3. Spicing Up the Pharmacopeia4. Too Hot for Words: Elite Reticence Toward Chile Peppers 5. Chiles as Beautiful Objects and Literary Emblems6. Mao’s Little Red Spice: Chiles and Regional Identity ConclusionAppendix A. Late Imperial Recipe CollectionsAppendix B. Medical Texts ConsultedNotesBibliographyIndexColor Plates

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Book SynopsisChina is unique in modern world history. No other rising power has experienced China's turbulent history in its relations with neighbors and Western countries. Its sheer size dominates the region. With leader Xi Jinping's political authority unmatched, Xi's sense of mission to restore what he believes is China's natural position as a great power drives the current course of the nation's foreign policy. When China was weak, it was subordinated to others. Now, China is strong, and it wants others to subordinate, at least on the issues involving what it regards as core national interests. What are the primary forces and how have these forces driven China's reemergence to global power? This book weaves together complex events, processes, and players to provide a historically in-depth, conceptually comprehensive, and up-to-date analysis of Chinese foreign policy transition since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), arguing that transformational leaders with new visions and political wisdom to make their visions prevail are the game changers. Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping are transformational leaders who have charted unique courses of Chinese foreign policy in the quest for security, prosperity, and power. With the ultimate decision-making authority on national security and strategic policies, these leaders have made political use of ideational forces, tailoring bureaucratic institutions, exploiting the international power distribution, and responding strategically to the international norms and rules to advance their foreign policy agendas in the path of China's ascendance. Trade Review"Suisheng Zhao has written the authoritative account of how Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping each conceived and executed three radically different eras of Chinese foreign policy. The Dragon Roars Back shows exactly how Xi is problematic for America and the West, in his harboring grievances, holding grandiose visions for the future, and negligence of the dangers his quest entails."—David M. Lampton, Johns Hopkins—SAIS"The Dragon Roars Back is a masterful exploration into the inner dynamics that have driven China's international interactions since 1949. Suisheng Zhao places China's leaders at the center of his analysis—and perceptively reveals the ideational, cultural, bureaucratic, and contextual factors shaping each leaders' policy preferences. A pathbreaking study."—David Shambaugh, the George Washington University, and author of China's Leaders"Suisheng Zhao has made an enormous contribution to the literature on Chinese foreign policy. China is indeed roaring back, and the issue of how the West responds will shape the policy landscape for decades to come. We need to understand China's policy history far better than we do, and Zhao's scholarship puts all who read this on a far better course to do so."—Christopher R. Hill, Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia/Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State"China's foreign policy over the seventy-plus years of the People's Republic has gone through transformations so remarkable that structural theories cannot explain them. In this deeply informed yet readable study, Suisheng Zhao shows that the twists and turns in China's relationship to the world were imposed by the powerful visions of three transformational leaders - Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping. Understanding how these leaders saw the world and how they tried to change it is essential if we are to understand where Xi Jinping intends to lead China."—Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University"By offering a fresh perspective on Chinese foreign policy, Zhao's framework moves beyond the overemphasis on structural factors in realism, the attribution of behaviour solely to authoritarianism in the regime-type theory, and the focus on bureaucratic politics in institutionalism."—Chi Zhang, The China Quarterly"Zhao's overview of Chinese foreign policy serves as a useful introduction to that history for readers otherwise unacquainted with it. Recommended."—P. Lorge, CHOICE"Zhao presents a robust and empirically rich rebuttal of the realist theory that China's foreign policy is the straightforward product of its geostrategic position and the broader balance of power."—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Mao Zedong's Revolutionary Diplomacy: Keeping the Wolves from the Door 2. Deng Xiaoping's Developmental Diplomacy: Biding for China's Time 3. Xi Jinping's Big Power Diplomacy: Showing China's Sword 4. Power of the Past over the Present: The Imperial Glory versus the Century of Humiliation 5. Defining National Interests: State versus Popular Nationalism 6. The Party-State Hierarchy: Paramount Leaders versus Institutions 7. Searching for China's Place in the Sun: International Distribution of Power 8. From Revolutionary State to Revisionist Stakeholder: The World Order and Globalization 9. Conclusion: The Mandate of Heaven? China's Quest and Peril

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Book SynopsisThe American way of war is enabled by the concept of massing all available firepowerwhen done correctly it makes US forces hard to beat. However improvised explosive devices have increasingly enabled a new kind of asymmetric warfare, one that conventional forces continue to struggle to counter. This book offers a counter-IED playbook, one based upon the author's experiences of over 90 months of combat operations, working the problem sets of Fires, Effects, IEDs, Close Target Reconnaissance, Tracking-Tagging-Locating (TTL), and Information Operations. This text offers insights into the ways through some of the most complicated problems that have tested the Department of Defense, and the Armythe problems of how a conventional force is organized, manned, equipped, and trained to deal with the problem of IEDs; and how the Army is doctrinally organized to deal with an emerging revolution of military affairs.

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Book SynopsisBalinese-style villas and resorts are popping up everywhere, from Ibiza to St. Barts to Singapore. In this comprehensive guide, author Julian Davison explores the intricacies of the architecture and the reasons for its global popularity. You'll learn why innovative international architects have been designing Bali-inspired resorts and villas for decades, drawing their inspiration from a rich vernacular tradition. The thirty chapters in this book cover dozens of topics like:Architecture and Social StatusThe Balinese VillageSacred Rice and Subak TemplesContemporary Hotels and ResortsGardens and Water FeaturesAnd many more!This one-of-a-kind book features detailed information on building materials, construction techniques and intricate traditional ornamentation. Over 200 photographs and watercolor illustrations provide a clear picture of the island's architecture and an eye-opening look at a culture that has captivated the world's imagination for over a century.

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Book SynopsisCan a history of cure be more than a history of how disease comes to an end? In 1950s Madras, an international team of researchers demonstrated that antibiotics were effective in treating tuberculosis. But just half a century later, reports out of Mumbai stoked fears about the spread of totally drug-resistant strains of the disease. Had the curable become incurable? Through an anthropological history of tuberculosis treatment in India, Bharat Jayram Venkat examines what it means to be cured, and what it means for a cure to come undone. At the Limits of Cure tells a story that stretches from the colonial period—a time of sanatoria, travel cures, and gold therapy—into a postcolonial present marked by antibiotic miracles and their failures. Venkat juxtaposes the unraveling of cure across a variety of sites: in idyllic hill stations and crowded prisons, aboard ships and on the battlefield, and through research trials and clinical encounters. If cure is frequently taken aTrade Review“How does one narrate a story of endings? At the Limits of Cure chronicles the fantasies of ending tuberculosis and the end of disease itself. Tying evocative histories of science to nuanced ethnography, Bharat Jayram Venkat reveals the attachments to curative reason that bind the clinic, the nation, and the globe. This electric and stunningly original book is infused with curiosity.” -- Harris Solomon, author of * Metabolic Living: Food, Fat, and the Absorption of Illness in India *“At the Limits of Cure is a work of art. Its medium includes historical and biographical narrative, medical journals, mythology, film, literature, and the keenest of ethnography. Thinking cure this carefully—not as an object, but as a desire and praxis—proves to be both a magical and a melancholic endeavor, riven with failures, false starts, and incurable imagination. Readers, specialists, and dreamers in cultural and medical anthropology, South Asian studies, and science and technology studies will love this highly original book.” -- Naisargi N. Dave, author of * Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics *“This superbly written book weaves together a remarkable tale of tuberculosis in India. It is at once a transnational history of medical science and technology, an ethnohistory of the experience of disease, an ethnography of medicine, a history of India through the lens of public health, and, at its core, a compelling discussion of the complex, cultural discourse on the concept of 'cure,' not only in the history of medicine, but in the desires of doctors and governments, the self-understanding of patients, and even in Hindu mythology.” -- Joseph W. Elder Prize Committee“Venkat invites readers on an in-depth journey into the history of tuberculosis in India. [At the Limits of Cure] provides an excellent introduction to the field of medical anthropology. Highly recommended. All readers.” -- I. Glasser * Choice *“Venkat’s storytelling is absorbing. He appears a writer who finds joy in crafting prose, sometimes imbuing it with a playfulness that lands most aptly. . . . This is a meticulously crafted book, but it is nowhere stilted or overworked. It performs deep conceptual labor with a jargon-free lightness of touch that academic writing would do well to emulate.” -- Zahra Hayat * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *“An important consideration of At the Limits of Cure is rethinking what the end-goal of cure is. Is it the absolute removal of illness? Venkat suggests not, and that the possibilities available to us for cures exist within the realms of what we, individually and communally, desire of them.” -- Linda Hamrick * Synapsis *"Venkat argues that the imaginations of cure often dictate and shape the narratives of disease. Cure narratives are pluralistic, varied, and have the power to challenge the seeming homogeneity and universality claimed by colonial histories of disease and cure. . . . The narrative of cure, as the author argues, is more than a history of how disease comes to an end." -- Anandita Pan * Contemporary South Asia *"At the Limits of Cure brings a fresh perspective to a much-discussed disease and in the process transforms what we know about cure and chronicity in the history and anthropology of modern biomedicine. . . . For its methodological creativity with archival sources, attentive ethnography, and engrossing writing, the book will be a great choice in undergraduate and graduate classrooms." -- Koyna Tomar * ISIS *"At the Limits of Cure . . . is a masterclass in thinking with, and through stories. The book is rife with interruptions and twists and turns. Digressions happen. Lines are drawn and followed. Paths break. . . . Just like cures, stories have to be imagined otherwise: without absolute endings and without the power to explain—or narrate—away the messiness of the life they stage." -- Vincent Duclos * American Anthropologist *“Venkat expertly weaves archival methods of the historian and ethnographic fieldwork of the anthropologist to tell a powerful story. . . . As we are coming to a new stage in the global pandemic, this book can contribute to important conversations about our own approaches to cure.” -- Gourav Krishna Nandi * H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews *"[At the Limits of Cure] is a feminist history of disease, a social ethnography of clinical encounters, and a cinematic critical fabulation of the sanatorium. . . . This book will be a foundational text for graduate students wrestling with social histories of disease and the social life of historical actors." -- Lan A. Li * Asian Medicine *Venkat is at heart a storyteller, and the book is a sensitive interplay of the scientific and the personal as he makes the people and the drama come alive, never losing sight of the human perspective of suffering, however dry the archive . . . this is a significant book, deserving of attention by those interested in the South Asian context and in thinking about the conceptual issues of cure and chronic illness more widely." -- Catriona Ellis * Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences *"Venkat offers meticulously argued insights into cure as a concept, employing a diverse array of methods including archival research, literary and film analysis, and ethnography . . . In what is certainly one of the major highlights of the book, Venkat pens a mesmerising narrative of this history by donning the hat of a novel-writer and making the reader the subject of his description of life in a Shimla sanatorium . . . Thinking about cure through its limits is an invaluable and wonderfully fresh idea." -- Kiran Kumbhar * Contributions to Indian Sociology *Table of ContentsPreface ix Introduction. The Incurability of Fantasy 1 1. To Cure an Earthquake 23 2. Cure Is Elsewhere 77 3. From Ash to Antibiotic 121 4. Wax and Wane 165 5. After the Romance Is Over 209 Epilogue. India after Antibiotics 249 Acknowledgments 257 Bibliography 261 Index 281

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Book SynopsisSeparated by a narrow stretch of swamp-like waters, and distinguished by the colour of their skin, the Black Jews and the White Jews have been locked in a rancorous feud for centuries. Only now, when their combined number has diminished to fewer than fifty and they are on the threshold of extinction, have the two remaining Jewish communities in south India begun to realise that their destiny, and their undoing, is the same. Living in Cochin alongside this last generation, Edna Fernandes tells their story from the illustrious arrival of their ancestors from the court of King Solomon, through their long heyday of wealth, tolerance and privilege to their present twilight existence, as synagogues crumble into disuse and weddings become a thing of the past, leaving only funerals.Trade ReviewA touching, investigative account ... Fernandes movingly captures the sombre, embattled mood of this population in countdown mode * Sunday Times *Fernandes' material is fascinating ... The story of these Jews is so compelling and the author's reporting of it so assiduous ... Indeed, she has unearthed gems * The Economist *

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Book SynopsisAfghanistan, 2008. After their eighteen-month epic tour of Helmand Province, the troops of 3 Para are back. This time, the weight of experience weighs heavily on their shoulders.Trade Review‘Are we winning or losing the war in Afghanistan? …Bishop offers no easy answers. The portrait he paints is one of selfless young men and women performing magnificently under near-intolerable conditions … “Ground Truth” is one of the best accounts you will ever read about contemporary warfare: shrewdly observed, action-packed and written with great sensitivity.’ James Delingpole, Mail on Sunday ‘A beguiling and often bewildering account of how this strange war seems to the fighting man and woman…Bishop gets to the core of their thoughts and fears. As a view from the ground, often with the author present at key points, Bishop’s books are invaluable’ Evening Standard ‘Well paced and well told. It is also very well informed…It is his sense of personal involvement in the testing physical and moral hardships of contemporary soldiering that gives the narrative such a sharp and poignant edge…inspiring’ Country Life

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHYA narrative of startling originality As discussions of Britain's colonial legacy become increasingly polarised, we are in ever more need of nuanced books like this one' SAM DALRYMPLE, SPECTATORRebels Against the Raj tells the little-known story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who across the late 19th to late 20th century arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence.Of the seven, four were British, two American, and one Irish. Four men, three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work in a variety of fields: journalism, social reform, education, organic agriculture, environmentalism.This book tells their stories, each renegade motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes where others found endless infuriation in his views; each understanding they woulTrade Review‘A narrative of startling originality … his excitement at discovering a forgotten chapter of Indian history is contagious … As discussions of Britain’s colonial legacy become increasingly polarised, we are in ever more need of nuanced books like this one’Sam Dalrymple, Spectator ‘Fascinating and provocative … Guha organises his material expertly and presents it clearly and stylishly, illuminating an aspect of Raj history which is often forgotten or neglected but which is nonetheless crucial for an understanding both of present-day India and of Britons’ complex and ambivalent past relationship to this ‘jewel’ in their collective crown. This superb book does them justice, as well as adding a new dimension to the histories both of subject India and of imperial Britain – and being a thoroughly good read’Literary Review ‘Guha has done well to remind us of these forgotten stories, all the more as India, like much of the world, is becoming more xenophobic and intolerant, believing all the virtues lie in national frontiers’Irish Times ‘Illuminating and engaging … Guha’s wide-ranging research and lucid narration brings to life these men and women … Rebels Against the Raj, however, makes a larger, more important and incisive point. Guha calls the lives and work of these rebels a morality tale for the world we now inhabit – a world incandescent with xenophobia and jingoism, and full of contempt for thoughts and ideas that a culture can imbibe from outside its borders’New Statesman ‘Eminently readable and dazzling … Painstakingly researched, this is history writing at its best. It is indeed a masterly study of hitherto neglected western figures of modern India and opens a new way of engaging with the complex fault-lines between nationalism and imperialism, between India and the West … Guha’s outstanding work … couldn’t be more relevant. Every Indian should read this book’The Tribune

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China Witness is the personal testimony of a generation whose stories have not yet been told. Here the grandparents and great-grandparents of today sum up in their own words - for the first and perhaps the last time - the vast changes that have overtaken China''s people over a century. The book is at once a journey by the author through time and place, and a memorial to those who have lived through war and civil war, persecution, invasion, revolution, famine, modernization, Westernization - and have survived into the 21st century. We meet everyday heroes, now in their seventies, eighties and nineties, from across this vast country - a herb woman at a market, retired teachers, a legendary ''double-gun woman'', Red Guards, oil pioneers, an acrobat, a female general, a lantern maker, taxi drivers, and more- those whose voices, as Xinran says, ''will help our future understand our past''.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for Another Kyoto * (2018) *Kerr's way of questioning and puzzling through is hugely enjoyable in its own right, and pleasingly infectious. -- Christopher Harding * Spectator *Captivating, informal ... Kerr is the perfect guide. -- PD Smith * Guardian *Rich ... Kerr's combination of instinct and erudition serve him well ... there is something fresh and chirpy about the text, even when it deals with the most esoteric or arcane of subjects. -- Stephen Mansfield * Japan Times *

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Book SynopsisAfghanistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia, has improbably been at the center of international geopolitics for four decades. After the Soviet Union invaded in 1980, Afghanistan descended into an unending conflict that featured at various points most of the world''s major powers. In the mid-1990s, the country entered a new phase, when the Taliban took power and imposed order based on a harsh, repressive version of Islamic law. Infamously, the sheltered Osama bin Laden, whose attack on 9/11 Towers ushered in the Global War on Terror, drew tens of thousands of American troops to the country, where they remain today.In Afghanistan: What Everyone Needs to Know, leading scholar Barnett R. Rubin provides an overview of this complicated nation. After providing a concise history of Afghanistan, he explores the various peoples and cultures of the country and its relations with neighbors like Pakistan and Iran. He also provides an authoritative overview of the conflicts that have plagued tTrade ReviewIt speaks to everyone. It provides new lessons on Afghanistan as well as the stakeholders engaged in the post-war state-building. * Hafizullah Nadiri, South Asia Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Afghanistan Map Chapter 1: Afghanistan Seen by Others Chapter 2: The Land and the People Chapter 3: State and Politics Chapter 4: Communist Coup, Islamic Resistance Chapter 5: Civil War: Islamic State to Islamic Emirate Chapter 6: 9/11, International Intervention, and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Chapter 7: Reconstruction and Development Chapter 8: Narcotics and Counter-Narcotics Chapter 9: More War, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency Chapter 10: Peace or More War? Co-Author Biographies Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe call center industry is booming in the Philippines. Around the year 2005, the country overtook India as the world''s voice capital, and industry revenues are now the second largest contributor to national GDP. In Lives on the Line, Jeffrey J. Sallaz retraces the assemblage of a global market for voice over the past two decades. Drawing upon case studies of sixty Filipino call center workers and two years of fieldwork in Manila, he illustrates how offshore call center jobs represent a middle path for educated Filipinos, who are faced with the dismaying choice to migrate abroad in search of prosperity versus stay at home as an impoverished professional. A rich ethnographic study, this book challenges existing stereotypes regarding offshore service jobs and sheds light upon the reasons that the Philippines has become the world''s favored location for voice. It looks beyond call centers and beyond India to advance debates concerning global capitalism, the future of work, and the lives

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Book SynopsisMany observers predicted the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, and again following the serial collapse of communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain. Their prediction, however, never proved true. Despite minor setbacks, China has experienced explosive economic growth and relative political stability ever since 1989. In The Dictator''s Dilemma, eminent China scholar Bruce Dickson provides a comprehensive explanation for regime''s continued survival and prosperity. Dickson contends that the popular media narrative of the party''s impending implosion ignores some basic facts. The regime''s policies may generate resentment and protest, but the CCP still enjoys a surprisingly high level of popular support. Nor is the party is not cut off from the people it governs. It consults with a wide range of specialists, stakeholders, and members of the general public in a selective yet extensive manner. Further, it tolerates and even encourages aTrade ReviewA clear-headed, very useful guide to what the world can hope, fear, and expect as China's system faces an unprecedented set of challenges." * James Fallows, author of China Airborne *The Dictator's Dilemma is that rare example of impeccable scholarship and highly readable prose. Bruce Dickson draws on remarkable nationwide surveys conducted in China before and after the leadership transition in 2012 to unpack sources of support and prospects of survival of the Chinese one-party state. In so doing, Dickson challenges many assumptions that have become conventional wisdom." * Melanie Manion, Professor of Political Science, Duke University and author of Information for Autocrats *No topic is more hotly debated in the China field than the subject of democratization: Will China finally embark on a process of democratization-or be pushed into one? Dickson looks at the way the Chinese government generates support and suppresses dissent, the way it has evolved in response to societal change, and the attitudes of Chinese citizens to come to the level-headed conclusion that democratization, though possible, is unlikely. He also provides the sober warning that governmental breakdown does not always lead to democracy. The Dictator's Dilemma should be read by all interested in democratization." * Joseph Fewsmith, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University and author of The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China *Dickson's refreshing book reminds us not to look too far ahead but to pay attention to the current realities in China, where rising incomes and an adaptive Chinese Communist Party are providing good enough governance to keep the show alive. He is neither optimist nor pessimist but something better: a realist. The Dictator's Dilemma should be widely read." * Bruce Gilley, Associate Professor of Political Science, Portland State University and author of The Nature of Asian Politics *Table of ContentsContents1. Introduction2. The Heavy Hand of the State3. Mass Line for Modern Times4. Serving the People5. Generating Support6. Defining Democracy7. Will the Party Survive?Appendices

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Book SynopsisThe political events that took place during Lord Wavells Viceroyalty in India set the stage for all that transpired during the Mountbatten era. Wavell was in favour of implementing the Breakdown Plan so the British government could fall back upon a well thought-out course of action when it inevitably departed from India. On the other hand, Wavells assessment of Indias fast-evolving political scenario began to cast a sobering light on the global dilemma of the British, for whom relinquishing control over India meant facing global contraction. This book analyses the complex undercurrents of Lord Wavells Viceroyalty, a subject not been previously touched upon in comparable depth. It covers nearly all the major events of the Indian political scene during the period of the Second World War and immediately after, when the British grip on India was loosening fast and their departure from India was simply a matter of timing. This second edition comprises a new chapter on Wavells Breakdown Plan

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Book SynopsisDiplomatic expert Patrick McEachern unpacks the contentious and tangled relationship between the two Koreas in an approachable question-and-answer format.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 - Origins and the Korean War Chapter 2 - Korea's Hot War Turns Cold: Korea in the Cold War Chapter 3 - Post-Cold War Chapter 4 - Nuclear Weapons and U.S.-North Korean Relations Chapter 5 - Korea-Japan Relations Chapter 6 - U.S.-South Korea Relations in the 21st Century Chapter 7 - Korean Leadership in the 21st Century Chapter 8 - Inter-Korean Relations in the 21st Century Chapter 9 - The Economy Chapter 10 - Korean Society: North and South Chapter 11 - North Korean Human Rights Chapter 12 - The Future Notes Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisThe expansion of the British Empire facilitated movement across the globe for both the colonizers and the colonized. Waiting on Empire focuses on a largely forgotten group in this story of movement and migration: South Asian travelling ayahs (servants and nannies), who travelled between India and Britain and often found themselves destitute in Britain as they struggled to find their way home to South Asia.Delving into the stories of individual ayahs from a wide range of sources, Arunima Datta illuminates their brave struggle to assert their rights, showing how ayahs negotiated their precarious employment conditions, capitalized on social sympathy amongst some sections of the British population, and confronted or collaborated with various British institutions and individuals to demand justice and humane treatment.In doing so, Datta re-imagines the experience of waiting. Waiting is a recurrent human experience, yet it is often marginalized. It takes a particular form within complex bureaucratized societies in which the marginalized inevitably wait upon those with power over them. Those who wait are often discounted as passive, inactive victims. This book shows that, in spite of their precarious position, the travelling ayahs of the British empire were far from this stereotype.Trade ReviewWaiting on Empire is a landmark book, giving long overdue attention to the most significant population of colonized women workers in Victorian Britain. Ayahs enabled British colonizers to maintain families despite their global mobility, critical to the resilience of British imperial rule. This beautifully written book restores these neglected women to the historical record, offering a sophisticated interpretation of women's agency and deftly recasting traveling ayahs as knowledgeable, enterprising, and resourceful skilled workers. * Laura Tabili, Professor of Modern European History, University of Arizona *This book forever changes the history of domestic colonial service. Datta argues that traveling ayahs are a prism for the workings of imperial power from both above and below. Readers will be stunned by the photographic archive she has curated and by the way she practices care work for the subjects she so brilliantly moves out of the waiting room of history. * Antoinette Burton, author of The Trouble with Empire *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Mobile Caregivers for the Empire 1: Becoming Travelling Ayahs and Supporting the Empire: Historical And Contextual Background 2: Waiting in the Heart of Empire: Abandoned Travelling Ayahs and the Contradictions of a Liberal Empire 3: Creative Resilience in Contexts of Crisis: Making Arguments and Evoking Sympathy 4: Capitalizing on Waiting: Creative Use of Time by Travelling Ayahs 5: Travelling Ayahs and Ayahs' Homes: Humanitarianism, Evangelism and Profit 6: Travellers' Tales: Negotiating Waiting in Wars And

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Book SynopsisThis book is a collection of essays, extracts, memoirs and a short story, outlining the events during the decade preceding India's partition which culminated in the making of Pakistan and the division of India and the situation thereafter. This is a paperback reprint of the earlier hardback edition, published in 1993.Trade ReviewThe juxtaposition of these extracts from the words of the leading political actors of the time is a remarkable document in itself. * The Hindu *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Allure of Empire offers a thought-provoking and illuminating narrative of mutual attractions and collusions between self-proclaimed progressive empires. Taking readers from Korea to Cuba and California via the Philippines, and from Washington, DC, back to East Asia via Hawai'i, this book interweaves the separate(d) stories of immigration politics, military conquest, missionary expansionism, social science research, and global racial struggle into a coherent history of the imperial Pacific. This is transimperial scholarship at its best. * Eiichiro Azuma, author of In Search of Our Frontier: Japanese America and Settler Colonialism in the Construction of Japan's Borderless Empire *Chris Suh's masterful book follows the Pacific nations, especially Japan, the United States, and colonies over two centuries framed by the 'Yellow Peril.' Suh's narrative addresses elaborate ideologies, racial hierarchy, politics, and diplomacy. * Thomas Bender, author of Nation Among Nations: America's Place in World History *Table of ContentsNote on Romanization Acknowledgments Introduction: Seeing Race Beyond the Color Line Chapter 1: Empires of Reform: The United States, Japan, and the End of Korean Sovereignty, 1904-1905 Chapter 2: Between Empire and Exclusion: The Professional Class at the Helm of Anti-Japanese Politics, 1905-1915 Chapter 3: Uplifting the "Subject Races": American Missionary Diplomacy and the Politics of Comparative Racialization, 1905-1919 Chapter 4: Empires of Exclusion: The Abrogation of the Gentlemen's Agreement, 1919-1924 Chapter 5: Faith in Facts: The Institute of Pacific Relations and the Quest for International Peace, 1925-1933 Chapter 6: Toward a New Order: The End of the Inter-Imperial Relationship across the Color Line, 1933-1941 Epilogue: The World Empires Made Note on Sources and Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis new history of modern Japan covers its remarkable transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. Professor Tsuzuki traces Japan''s pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of nineteenth century western imperialism; and on to the post-war USJapanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the twentieth century. He examines Japan''s political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan''s modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan''s own imperialism. Tsuzuki goes on to reveal how some of the factors which contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.Trade ReviewOverall, this is a very valuable addition to the general literature on the history of modern Japan. It highlights aspects of the country's recent past that other authors have shied away from, particularly in regard to social history and the tribulations of the Japanese people, and as such provides a useful rejoinder to those who would paint too roseate a picture of the Japanese state. It is a book that deserves to be on every modern Japanese history reading list and should be singled out as a recommended text, that is to say that Professor Tsuzuki has produced a very fine and useful work. * International Relations of the Asia-Pacific *Table of ContentsPreface ; Introduction: Land, People, and their Shaping by History ; PART I: FROM SECLUSION TO EXPANSION, 1825-1900 ; 1. Japan in 1825: A Crisis in Seclusion ; 2. The Opening of the Country ; 3. The Meiji Restoration ; 4. The Decade of Democratic Ferment: Liberty and People's right ; 5. The Meiji Constitution ; 6. The Sino-Japanese War and its Aftermath ; 7. Meiji Industrialization and its Critics ; PART II: THE ROAD TO CATASTROPHE, 1900-1945 ; 8. The Russo-Japanese War and the Annexation of Korea ; 9. Taisho Democracy and the First World War ; 10. Taisho Politics and Society: From the Rice Riot to the Public Order Preservation Act ; 11. Economic Crises and Overseas Colonies ; 12. Fascism, Militarism, and Thought Control ; 13. The Undeclared War against China ; 14. From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima ; PART III: RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION, 1945-1995 ; 15. The American Occupation: The New Constitution and the Tokyo War Crimes Trial ; 16. Occupation Reform: Education, Women, Land and Labour ; 17. Post-war Reconstruction ; 18. From Political Conflict to Economic Growth, 1950-1965 ; 19. Japan Incorporated and Radical Challenges, 1965-1973 ; 20. The Heyday of the LDP: From Tanaka to Nakasone ; 21. The End of Showa and the End of the Bubble Economy ; Epilogue; Appendices; Chronology; Glossary; Index

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Book SynopsisThese systemic challenges are the cumulative consequence of decades of poor governance and squandered opportunities whose convergence creates a formidable, overall challenge.

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Book SynopsisJapan is an icon of the modern world, and yet it remains an enigma to many, who see it as a confusing montage of the alien and the familiar, the ancient and modern. The aim of this Very Short Introduction is to explode the myths and explore the reality of modern Japan - by taking a concise look at its history, economy, politics, and culture.Trade ReviewA wonderfully engaging narrative of a complicated history, which from the beginning to end sheds light on the meaning of modernity in Japan as it changed over time. An exemplary text. * Carol Gluck, Columbia University *With remarkable clarity and breadth of coverage, Goto-Jones introduces the major topics and themes of the modern history of Japan, giving particularly thoughtful attention to the complex and tortured efforts of figures seeking to define and defend a properly Japanese modernity, and those striving to come to grips with the trauma and shadow of World War II. * Andrew Gordon, Harvard University *Lively, lucid, and full of insight, this is an outstanding exploration of Japan's troubled modern past. * Stephen S. Large, Wolfson College, Cambridge University *Table of ContentsIntroduction: What is Modern Japan? ; 1. Japan's Encounter with the Modern World ; 2. Overcoming Modernity in Imperial Japan ; 3. Overcome by the Modern: the US Occupation ; 4. Japan's Miraculous Modern Economy ; 5. Towards a Post-Modern Society ; 6. Normalcy and Japan's Place in the Modern World ; Further reading

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Table of ContentsCONTENTS 1. Between Yesterday and Tomorrow 2. The NIC and the Transition to a Non-racial Democracy: 'To Be or not To Be'? 3. Waiting for change 4. The Hopscotch of Life 5. Hashim Amla: Beyond Boundaries 6. Between the twice born and the born again 7. Hindus and Muslims: The Many Threads of Change and Continuity 8. Place, Memory, Nostalgia 9. Modi meets Mohandas 10. Classrooms of Mobility 11. The 'Tyranny of Numbers' and the Bitter-sweet Fruit of Change 12. Capital Accumulation in New Times 13. Political Connections, Crassness and Capital Wars 14. After the Rainbow, Dark Clouds? Bibliography Index About the Author

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