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Asian history, Politics and government
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic TitleSince the first airplane hijacking by the Popular Front for the Liberation… of Palestine in September 1970, Middle Eastern terrorists have sacrificed innocent human lives in the name of ideology. From Black September to the Munich Olympics, to the embassy bombing in Beirut, to the devastating attacks of September 11 and beyond, terrorism has emerged as the most important security concern of our time."Where did this come from?" Inspired by a student's question on the morning of September 11, 2001, Mark Ensalaco has written a thoroughly researched narrative account of the origins of Middle Eastern terrorism, addressing when and why terrorists started targeting Americans and American interests and what led to the September 11 attacks.Ensalaco reveals the changing of motivations from secular Palestinian nationalism to militant Islam and demonstrates how competition among terrorists for resources and notoriety has driven them to increasingly extreme tactics. As he argues, terrorist attacks grew from spectacle to atrocity. Drawing on popular works and scholarly sources, Middle Eastern Terrorism tells this story in rich detail and with great clarity and insight.
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Asian history, History
Khalidi (Arab studies, Columbia U.) explains why the Palestinians failed to achieve independence prior to 1948, the date of the… establishment of Israel. Rather than "compare the incomparable"--the Palestinians and the Zionist movement--he provides thematically comparisons of the Palestinians to other Arab societies at analogous stages of development. His major themes include the failure of the Palestinians to successfully challenge the legal structure of the mandatory regime, which was consciously designed to prevent Palestinian self-government; the role of British-created religious structures in co-opting Palestinian elites; and the structural failures of the revolt of 1936-39.
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Asian history
The Victorian period viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress was experienced by Asians as… a catastrophe As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing or humiliated the bankrupt rulers of the Ottoman Empire it was clear that for Asia to recover a vast intellectual effort would be required Pankaj Mishra s fascinating highly entertaining new book tells the story of a remarkable group of men from across the continent who met the challenge of the West Incessantly travelling questioning and agonising they both hated the West and recognised that an Asian renaissance needed to be fuelled in part by engagement with the enemy Through many setbacks and wrong turns a powerful contradictory and ultimately unstoppable series of ideas were created that now lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to Al Qaeda from Indian nationalism to the Muslim Brotherhood Mishra allows the reader to see the events of two centuries anew through the eyes of the journalists poets radicals and charismatics who criss-crossed Europe and Asia and created the ideas which lie behind the powerful Asian nations of the twenty-first century
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Asian history, Anthologies
The Selected Essays of Master Lu Xun collects together his most influential and powerful essays and lectures Critical of… traditional Chinese culture of the superstition and rigid social mores and passionate in his argument for reform his essays from the classic contemplation on Confusion patriarchy What Is Required of Us as Fathers Today to his critique of Chinese identity politics My Mustache are exemplary of Chinese thought society and politics in a transitional historic period
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General fiction, Short stories, Asian history
Call to Arms is a collection of revolutionary Chinese writer Lu Xun s most famous and most important short stories… Featuring A Madman s Diary a scathing attack of traditional Confucian civilization and The True Story of Ah Q a poignant satire about the hypocrisy of Chinese national character and the first work written entirely in the Chinese vernacular Together this collection exposes a contradictory legacy of cosmopolitan independence polemical fractiousness and anxious patriotism that continues to resonate in Chinese intellectual life today
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Business and economics, Asian history, General non-fiction
A colorful and revealing portrait of the rise of India s new billionaire class in a radically unequal… society India is the world s largest democracy with more than one billion people and an economy expanding faster than China s But the rewards of this growth have been far from evenly shared and the country s top 1 now own nearly 60 of its wealth In megacities like Mumbai where half the population live in slums the extraordinary riches of India s new dynasties echo the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of yesterday funneling profits from huge conglomerates into lifestyles of conspicuous consumption James Crabtree s The Billionaire Raj takes readers on a personal journey to meet these reclusive billionaires fugitive tycoons and shadowy political power brokers From the sky terrace of the world s most expensive home to impoverished villages and mass political rallies Crabtree dramatizes the battle between crony capitalists and economic reformers revealing a tense struggle between equality and privilege playing out against a combustible backdrop of aspiration class and caste The Billionaire Raj is a vivid account of a divided society on the cusp of transformation and a struggle that will shape not just India s future but the world s
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Asian history, War, Politics and government
The struggle for Vietnam occupies a central place in the history of the twentieth century Fought over a period… of three decades the conflict drew in all the world s powers and saw two of them--first France then the United States--attempt to subdue the revolutionary Vietnamese forces For France the defeat marked the effective end of her colonial empire while for America the war left a gaping wound in the body politic that remains open to this day How did it happen Tapping into newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and making full use of the published literature distinguished scholar Fredrik Logevall traces the path that led two Western nations to lose their way in Vietnam Embers of War opens in 1919 at the Versailles Peace Conference where a young Ho Chi Minh tries to deliver a petition for Vietnamese independence to President Woodrow Wilson It concludes in 1959 with a Viet Cong ambush on an outpost outside Saigon and the deaths of two American officers whose names would be the first to be carved into the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial In between come years of political military and diplomatic maneuvering and miscalculation as leaders on all sides embark on a series of stumbles that makes an eminently avoidable struggle a bloody and interminable reality Logevall takes us inside the councils of war--and gives us a seat at the conference tables where peace talks founder He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France s final years in Indochina--and shows how from an early point a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history Harry Truman s fateful decision to reverse Franklin Delano Roosevelt s policy and acknowledge France s right to return to Indochina after World War II Dwight Eisenhower s strenuous efforts to keep Paris in the fight and his escalation of U S involvement in the aftermath of the humiliating French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the curious turnaround in Senator John F Kennedy s thinking that would lead him as president to expand that commitment despite his publicly stated misgivings about Western intervention in Southeast Asia An epic story of wasted opportunities and tragic miscalculations featuring an extraordinary cast of larger-than-life characters Embers of War delves deep into the historical record to provide hard answers to the unanswered questions surrounding the demise of one Western power in Vietnam and the arrival of another This book will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle s origins for years to come Advance praise for Embers of War Fredrik Logevall has gleaned from American French and Vietnamese sources a splendid account of France s nine-year war in Indochina and the story of how the American statesmen of the period allowed this country to be drawn into the quagmire --Neil Sheehan author of A Bright Shining Lie winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award Fredrik Logevall is a wonderful writer and historian In his new book on the origins of the American war in Vietnam he gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the French war and its aftermath from the perspectives of the French the Vietnamese and the Americans Using previously untapped sources and a deep knowledge of diplomatic history Logevall shows to devastating effect how America found itself on the road to Vietnam --Frances FitzGerald author of Fire in the Lake winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award
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Asian history, War
P WINNER OF THE NATAN BOOK AWARD P An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of… the State of Israel by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today P Not since Thomas L Friedman s groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem has a book captured the essence and the beating heart of the Middle East as keenly and dynamically as My Promised Land Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis P Ari Shavit draws on interviews historical documents private diaries and letters as well as his own family s story illuminating the pivotal moments of the Zionist century to tell a riveting narrative that is larger than the sum of its parts both personal and national both deeply human and of profound historical dimension P We meet Shavit s great-grandfather a British Zionist who in 1897 visited the Holy Land on a Thomas Cook tour and understood that it was the way of the future for his people the idealist young farmer who bought land from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s to grow the Jaffa oranges that would create Palestine s booming economy the visionary youth group leader who in the 1940s transformed Masada from the neglected ruins of an extremist sect into a powerful symbol for Zionism the Palestinian who as a young man in 1948 was driven with his family from his home during the expulsion from Lydda the immigrant orphans of Europe s Holocaust who took on menial work and focused on raising their children to become the leaders of the new state the pragmatic engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel s nuclear program in the 1960s in the only interview he ever gave the zealous religious Zionists who started the settler movement in the 1970s the dot-com entrepreneurs and young men and women behind Tel-Aviv s booming club scene and today s architects of Israel s foreign policy with Iran whose nuclear threat looms ominously over the tiny country P As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions Why did Israel come to be How did it come to be Can Israel survive Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present The result is a landmark portrait of a small vibrant country living on the edge whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today s global political landscape
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War and military biography, Asian history, War
A Green Beret s gripping memoir of American Special Forces in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War … In 1970 on his second tour to Vietnam Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu CCN Officially it was known as the Studies and Observations group In fact this Special Forces squad which Brokhausen calls an unwashed profane ribald joyously alive fraternity undertook some of the most dangerous and suicidal reconnaissance missions ever in the enemy-controlled territory of Cambodia and Laos But they didn t infiltrate the jungles alone They fought alongside the Montagnards oppressed minorities from the mountain highlands trained by the US military in guerilla tactics armed accustomed to the wild and fully engaged in a war against the North Vietnamese Together this small unit formed the backbone of ground reconnaissance in the Republic of Vietnam racking up medals for valor but at a terrible cost In colorful military-jargon-laced prose leavened by gallows humor Brokhausen pulls few punches describing what it was like to navigate remote jungle terrain under the constant threat of enemy fire A smartly written insider s view of one rarely seen Vietnam War battleground Booklist
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Asian history, Politics and government, General non-fiction
Based on a study of recent political behaviour in a rural region of India the author presents a critique… of pluralist theories of democracy and advances a new approach to political sociology Professor Lele insists that the politicians of Maharashtra sustain however dispersed a hegemonic class rule The processes of development and modernization directly serve strategies of private gain through the public sphere the elites continue to enclose the public sphere while propagating the myth of open competition Case studies of local state and national politicans illustrate this behaviour and show how competition between powerful alliances is effectively moderated The concluding section proposes a new comparative approach to political sociology It demonstrates the inherent contradiction between domination and community and argues for a historical analysis of the rise and fall of classes and ideologies Professor Lele challenges the emphasis on modernization and instrumentality in contemporary social science and suggests that the insights of Marx and Weber can lead to a more previse and universal framework for the study of societies
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Adventurers and explorers, Asian history
The classic account of war and adventure in the Middle East that transformed T E Lawrence into Lawrence… of Arabia Originally intended as a study of the great cities of the Middle East Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T E Lawrence s masterful account of the Arab Revolt of 1916 18 As a liaison officer for the British Forces in North Africa Lawrence advised local tribesmen in their rebellion against the Ottoman Turks He fought alongside future king Emir Faisal and played a crucial role in convincing rival Arab leaders to coordinate their efforts A fascinating blend of autobiography military history and adventure story Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a towering literary achievement befitting the man known around the world as Lawrence of Arabia This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices
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Asian history
Born in 1945, the United Nations came to life in the Arab world. It was there that the UN dealt… with early diplomatic challenges that helped shape its institutions such as peacekeeping and political mediation. It was also there that the UN found itself trapped in, and sometimes part of, confounding geopolitical tensions in key international conflicts in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, such as hostilities between Palestine and Iraq and between Libya and Syria. Much has changed over the past seven decades, but what has not changed is the central role played by the UN. This book's claim is that the UN is a constant site of struggle in the Arab world and equally that the Arab world serves as a location for the UN to define itself against the shifting politics of its age. Looking at the UN from the standpoint of the Arab world, this volume collects some of the finest scholars and practitioners writing about the potential and the problems of a UN that is framed by both the promises of its Charter and the contradictions of its member states. This is a landmark book--a close and informed study of the UN in the region that taught the organization how to do its many jobs.
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Asian history, History, Science and technology
From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways… of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China’s culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture. In The Water Kingdom, he takes us on a grand journey through China’s past and present, showing how the complexity and energy of the country and its history repeatedly come back to the challenges, opportunities, and inspiration provided by the waterways. Drawing on stories from travelers and explorers, poets and painters, bureaucrats and activists, all of whom have been influenced by an environment shaped and permeated by water, Ball explores how the ubiquitous relationship of the Chinese people to water has made it an enduring metaphor for philosophical thought and artistic expression. From the Han emperors to Mao, the ability to manage the waters ― to provide irrigation and defend against floods ― was a barometer of political legitimacy, often resulting in engineering works on a gigantic scale. It is a struggle that continues today, as the strain of economic growth on water resources may be the greatest threat to China’s future. The Water Kingdom offers an unusual and fascinating history, uncovering just how much of China’s art, politics, and outlook have been defined by the links between humanity and nature.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, General non-fiction
Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a quiet innovator whose fame has too often been yoked to that of her husband Jean… Arp Over time however she has slowly come to be seen as one of the foremost abstract artists and designers of the twentieth century The Swiss-born Taeuber-Arp had a front row seat to the first wave of Dadaism and was along with Mondrian and Malevich a pioneer of Constructivism Her singular artwork incorporated painting sculpture dance fiber arts and architecture as hers was one of the first oeuvres to successfully bridge the divide between fine and functional art Now Roswitha Mair has brought us the first biography of this unique polymath illuminating not just Tauber-Arp s own life and work but also the various milieux and movements in which she traveled No fan of the Dadaists and their legacy will want to miss this first English-language translation
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History, Asian history, Politics and government
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Asian history
The war of 1948 in Palestine is a conflict whose history has been written primarily from the national point of… view This book asks what happens when narratives of war arise out of personal stories of those who were involved stories that are still unfolding Efrat Ben-Ze ev examines the memories of those who participated and were affected by the events of 1948 and how these events have been mythologized over time This is a three-way conversation between Palestinian villagers Jewish-Israeli veterans and British policemen who were stationed in Palestine on the eve of the war Each has his or her story to tell These small-scale truths shed new light on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as it was then and as it has become
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Asian history, History, Politics and government
Before the Chinese Communist Party came to power China lay broken and fragmented Today it is a force… on the global stage and yet its leaders have continued to be haunted by the past Drawing on an array of sources Sulmaan Wasif Khan chronicles the grand strategies that have sought not only to protect China from aggression but also to ensure it would never again experience the powerlessness of the late Qing and Republican eras The dramatic variations in China s modern history have obscured the commonality of purpose that binds the country s leaders Analyzing the calculus behind their decision making Khan explores how they wove diplomatic military and economic power together to keep a fragile country safe in a world they saw as hostile Dangerous and shrewd Mao Zedong made China whole and succeeded in keeping it so while the caustic impatient Deng Xiaoping dragged China into the modern world Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao served as cautious custodians of the Deng legacy but the powerful and deeply insecure Xi Jinping has shown an assertiveness that has raised both fear and hope across the globe For all their considerable costs China s grand strategies have been largely successful But the country faces great challenges today Its population is aging its government is undermined by corruption its neighbors are arming out of concern over its growing power and environmental degradation threatens catastrophe A question Haunted by Chaos raises is whether China s time-tested approach can respond to the looming threats of the twenty-first century
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Asian history, General non-fiction, Social issues
In this brilliant, breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is… made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. <P><P>Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi’s “most-everything girl,” might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. <P><P>But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal. <P><P>With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget. <P><P>Winner of the National Book Award | The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award | The Los Angeles Times Book Prize | The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award | The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • USA Today • New York • The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • Newsday NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • People • Entertainment Weekly • The Wall Street Journal • The Boston Globe • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsweek/The Daily Beast • Foreign Policy • The Seattle Times • The Nation • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Denver Post • Minneapolis Star Tribune • Salon • The Plain Dealer • The Week • Kansas City Star • Slate • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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War and military biography, Asian history, World War II
The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9 1942--illuminating the white flags of surrender against the… nighttime sky Woefully outnumbered outgunned and ill-equipped battered remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun Yet amongst the chaos and devastation of the American defeat US Army Captain Donald D Blackburn refused to lay down his arms With future Army Special Forces legend Russell Volckmann Blackburn escaped from Bataan and fled to the mountainous jungles of North Luzon where they raised a private army of more than 22 000 men against the Japanese Once there Blackburn organized a guerrilla regiment from among the native tribes in the Cagayan Valley Blackburn s Headhunters as they came to be known devastated the Japanese 14th Army within the western provinces of North Luzon and destroyed the Japanese naval base at Aparri--the largest enemy anchorage in the Philippines After the war Blackburn remained on active duty and played a key role in initiating Army Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia In 1958 as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group he spearheaded Operation White Star in Laos--the first major deployment of Army Special Forces to a country with an active insurgency Seven years later Blackburn took command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group SOG charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise In the wake of the CIA s disastrous Leaping Lena program in 1964 Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam Sending cross-border reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail Taking this information directly to General Westmoreland Blackburn received authorization to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong operating in Laos and Cambodia In combats large and small the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics--and he was on the US side Following his return to the United States Blackburn was appointed Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities where he was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid Officially termed Operation Ivory Coast the Son Tay raid was the largest prisoner-of-war rescue mission--and indeed the largest Army Special Forces operation--of the Vietnam War During a period when United States troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side it has been little recognized today that America had a superb covert commander of its own his guerrilla skills honed in resistance against Japan This book follows Donald D Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat against an Empire and through his days as a commander imparting his lessons to the newly realized ranks of America s own Army Special Forces
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Asian history
"The best new book on al Qaeda . . . and the best book on Yemen in years."--Bruce Riedel, Daily… Beast Far from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and al-Qaeda are fighting a clandestine war of drones and suicide bombers in an unforgiving corner of Arabia. The Last Refuge charts the rise, fall, and resurrection of al-Qaeda in Yemen over the last thirty years, detailing how a group that the United States once defeated has now become one of the world's most dangerous threats. An expert on Yemen who has spent years on the ground there, Gregory D. Johnsen uses al-Qaeda's Arabic battle notes to reconstruct their world as they take aim at the United States and its allies. Johnsen brings readers in-side al-Qaeda's training camps and safe houses as the terrorists plot poison attacks and debate how to bring down an airliner on Christmas Day. The Last Refuge is an eye-opening look at the successes and failures of fighting a new type of war in one of the most turbulent countries in the world.