Search results for ""Author Jonathan Fenby""

China's spectacular growth and expanding global role have led to visions of the 21st century being dominated by the last major state on earth ruled by a Communist Party. In this new edition of his widely acclaimed book, renowned China expert Jonathan Fenby shows why such assumptions are wrong. He presents an analysis of China under Xi Jinping which explores the highly significant political, economic, social and international challenges it faces, each involving structural difficulties that will put the system under strain. Based on the author's extensive knowledge of contemporary China and his close analysis of Xi's leadership, this incisive book offers a pragmatic view of where the country is heading at a time when its future is too important an issue for wishful theorizing.

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The Times Book of the YearBBC History Magazine Book of the YearDaily Telegraph Book of the Year BOOK OF THE WEEK - The Times ‘The strength of this book lies in the cold realities it delivers. “The thirteen months of 1947-48,” writes Fenby, “provide trenchant examples of how realpolitik can serve a wider purpose if those in power know how to use it.” Crucible captures perfectly the urgency of the time…Read this book for the light it shines on a turbulent time; cherish it for the lessons it provides’ - Gerard DeGroot 'Looking back 70 years Jonathan Fenby argues convincingly that the period from 1947 to 1948 “really did change the world”. His book is an assured gallop across the terrain of contemporary history in this fateful year. The global devastation of the second world war had smashed longstanding institutions and bankrupted empires, leaving behind the kind of power vacuums that were major openings for change and chaos. Crucible swings from one region to the next in a fast-moving account of how local actors filled those vacuums, often with violence.’Mary Sarote, Financial TimesOne year shaped the world we know today. This is the page-turning story of the pivotal changes which were forged in the space of thirteen months of 1947-48 Two years after the end of the second conflict to engulf the world in twenty years, and the defeat of the Axis forces of Germany, Italy and Japan, this momentous time saw the unrolling of the Cold War between Joseph Stalin's Soviet Russia and the Western powers under the untried leadership of Harry Truman as America came to play a global role for the first time.The British Empire began its demise with the birth of the Indian and Pakistan republics with the flight of millions and wholesale slaughter as Vietnam, Indonesia and other colonies around the globe vied for freedom. 1948 also marked the creation of the state of Israel, the refugee flight of Palestinians and the first Arab-Israeli war as well as the victories of Communist armies that led to their final triumph in China, the coming of apartheid to South Africa, the division of Korea, major technological change and the rolling out of the welfare state against a backdrop of events that ensured the global order would never be the same again. This dynamic narrative spans the planet with overlapping epic episodes featuring such historic figures as Truman and Marshall, Stalin and Molotov, Attlee and Bevin, De Gaulle and Adenauer, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, Nehru and Jinnah, Ben Gurion and the Arab leaders. Between them, they forged the path to our modern world.

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In 1850, China was the 'sick man of Asia'. Now it is set to become the most powerful nation on earth. The Penguin History of Modern China shows how turbulent that journey has been. For 150 years China has endured as victim of oppression, war and famine. This makes its current position as arguably the most important global superpower all the more extraordinary. Jonathan Fenby's comprehensive account is the definitive guide to this remarkable transformation.'His book is a miracle of thoroughness, truthfulness and readability - the perfect primer for a time when China is about to enter all our lives' Sunday Telegraph'Jonathan Fenby's ... illuminating book [is] the first major history that looks at the country with the eyes of the 21st century rather than the 20th' Rana Mitter, Financial Times'Reads like a novel and is never less than thoughtful and compassionate for the fate of a much-abused people ... [Fenby has] a journalist's eye for telling detail' Herald'Taut, anecdote-studded ... a great introduction for a general audience, with vivid scene setting and character sketches' Michel Sheridan, Sunday Times'For an accessible, authoritative, fair and comprehensive and well written account, this would be hard to better' BBC History'A wonderful history of modern China and a cracking good read' Chris PattenJonathan Fenby, CBE, has been the editor of the Observer and the South China Morning Post. His books include Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost and Dealing with the Dragon: A Year in the New Hong Kong. He is currently Editor-in-Chief and China Editor of the analytical service, Trusted Sources.

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They were the most powerful rulers on earth. The mighty Qin Shi Huangdu (r. 221-210 BC), who began the construction of the Great Wall. The long-lived Han emperor Wudi (r. 141-87 BC), who developed China as a centralized Confucian state. The soldier-scholar Yongle (r. 1402-24 AD), who raised the Ming dynasty to its military peak. The dowager empress Cixi (r. 1861-1908 AD), who rose from humble Manchu origins to rule over all China. In The Dragon Throne, Jonathan Fenby tells the extraordinary story of imperial China through its 157 emperors, from Qin Shi Huangdu, who crushed his rivals to take supreme power as the first emperor in 221BC, until the final collapse of the faltering Manchu dynasty amidst the revolutionary chaos of the early twentieth century. The final emperor, the infant Puyi (r. 1908-12) ended his days as an assistant gardener in the very palace where he had been enthroned.

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China's spectacular growth and expanding global role have led to visions of the 21st century being dominated by the last major state on earth ruled by a Communist Party. In this new edition of his widely acclaimed book, renowned China expert Jonathan Fenby shows why such assumptions are wrong. He presents an analysis of China under Xi Jinping which explores the highly significant political, economic, social and international challenges it faces, each involving structural difficulties that will put the system under strain. Based on the author's extensive knowledge of contemporary China and his close analysis of Xi's leadership, this incisive book offers a pragmatic view of where the country is heading at a time when its future is too important an issue for wishful theorizing.

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The magnificent wonders of China, ancient and modern, revealed by an international team of leading scholars from Asia and the West. China is the oldest continuous civilization on earth and holds a unique global place in the 21st century, this book's uniquely wide focus shows what makes it such a special country, with topics stretching from the natural wonders including mountains and rivers to the Silk Road, the technological innovations of printing and the compass and the modern vibrant cities of today as well as famous monuments such as the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Great Wall. In this new and updated edition, a team of leading scholars from Asia and the West provide an unmatched account of this vast country. Beyond the quality of the individual entries, The Seventy Wonders of China provides an unmatched account of Chinese history and culture as well as an essential contribution to understanding and appreciating this vast country.

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Asian empires led the world economically, scientifically and culturally for hundreds of years, and posed a constant challenge to the countries of Europe. How and why did those empires gain such power, and lose it? What legacies did they leave? This book brings together a team of distinguished historians to survey seven great Asian empires that rose and fell between 800 ce and the mid-20th century: the Mongol Empire, Ming Dynasty of China, Khmer Empire, Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire of Persia, Mughal Empire of India and the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Compellingly written, The Great Empires of Asia shows how those seven empires played a key role in forming today’s global civilization – and how, with the renewed ascendancy of Asia, their legacies will help shape the continent’s future.

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Many of Magnum’s most renowned photographers – beginning with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson on assignment in the 1930s – have been captivated by China. They’ve returned time and again, their fascination growing in line with China’s burgeoning accessibility and international influence. – both an outstanding photobook and a fascinating social history – illustrates the agency’s evolving relationship with this increasingly influential nation to give a visually rich, informed photographic account of the country, its people and the changes witnessed over the last nine decades. Chronologically organized to present key periods in the development of the modern state and its associated territories, Magnum China presents in-depth portfolios by individual photographers, accompanied by introductory commentaries on the featured projects and group selections illustrating the diversity of Magnum’s interaction with the region. Supplemented with introductory essays by Jonathan Fenby, historical timelines, lists of photographers’ travels and a fold-out map of China, Magnum China offers detailed and perceptive socio-political, geographical and historical context to complement the outstanding photography of some of the world’s finest photographers.

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