Showing titles in Asia

This illuminating study explores the ways in which the shattering defeat of the Japanese in World War II, followed by over six years of American military occupation, affected every level of Japanese society. The author describes the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over", from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life.

This piece of writing by famed samurai Musashi (1584–1645) is the single-most influential work on samurai swordsmanship, offering insights into samurai history, the Zen Buddhist state of "no-mind" that enables warriors to triumph and the philosophical meaning of Bushido — "the way of the warrior."

Bushido: The Soul of Japan is a seminal study on the way of the samurai by the Japanese educator Inazo Nitobe. From 1868, the beginning of the Meiji Era, Japan rapidly transformed itself from an isolated feudal society into a modern, industrialised nation state, influenced by Western philosophical and scientific ideas. Nitobe wrote Bushido in English to explain the samurai way to a western audience; it was later translated into Japanese.

The definitive biography of Ravi Shankar, one of the most influential musicians and composers of the twentieth century, told with the cooperation of his estate, family, and friends For over eight decades, Ravi Shankar was India's greatest cultural ambassador. He was a groundbreaking performer...

Hired by the Tibetan government, Royal Air Force veteran Robert W. Ford put together a radio communications network for a nation that had up to this time relied on messages carried by foot over the highest mountains on the globe. More important, his radio connected the secluded nation to the outside world. When, in October, 1950, the Communist Chinese army began its march to subjugate Tibet, Ford risked his life by staying behind to send out reports over his radio to let the world know.

The horse is etched on the Indian landscape, and to view the subcontinent’s past through the prism of the horse is to be swept up in its power and grace. Horses are a thread that connects Indian history, mythology, art, literature, folklore and popular belief. In this inspired and singularly erudite debut, Yashaswini Chandra takes us on the trail of the horse into and within India.

In a rare attempt to understand the Indianness of Indians-among the most intelligent people in the world, but also, to a dispassionate eye, perhaps the most baffling-V. Raghunathan uses the props of game theory and behavioral economics to provide an insight into the difficult conundrum...

The Forgotten History of India by Arun Anand uncovers lesser-known aspects of India's rich and diverse history. This audiobook provides a unique perspective on the cultural, political, and social events that have shaped the country's past, focusing on hidden narratives and unsung heroes. It's a valuable resource for listeners interested in discovering a more complete view of India's historical legacy.

Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across Northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron undertakes a journey along the greatest land route on earth: the Silk Road. Travelling 7,000 miles in eight months, he traces the passage not only of trade and armies, but of ideas, religions and inventions.

According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood.

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.

Nattukotai Chettiars were the most prominent business community from Tamil region and this book captures their spirit of enterprise that led many of them to seek their fortunes overseas. It’s a story that connects South India, Burma, and South-East Asia across the Bay of Bengal and equally one...

14-ാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ പൂര്‍വ്വാര്‍ദ്ധത്തില്‍ കേരളം സന്ദര്‍ശിച്ച ലോകപ്രശസ്ത സഞ്ചാരി ഇബ്‌നു ബത്തൂത്തയുടെ 'രിഹ്‌ലത്ത് ' എന്ന സഞ്ചാരസാഹിത്യകൃതിയുടെ വിവര്‍ത്തനം. കേരള ചരിത്രത്തിന്റെ ഇരുളടഞ്ഞ കോണുകളിലേക്ക് വെളിച്ചം വിതറുന്ന ഈ കൃതി അറുന്നൂറു കൊല്ലം മുമ്പുള്ള കേരളീയരു ടെ സാമൂഹികവും സാമ്പത്തികവും സാംസ്‌കാരികവും മതപരവുമായ അവസ്ഥയെക്കുറിച്ച് അറിവു പകരുന്നു. ഇ്‌നു ബത്തൂത്ത കണ്ടതും കേട്ടതും അനുഭവിച്ചതും എല്ലാം സത്യസന്ധമായി രേഖപ്പെടുത്തിയിട്ടുള്ള ഈ കൃതി ഒരു ചരിത്രഗ്രന്ഥ ത്തിന്റെ വിശ്വാസ്യത പുലര്‍ത്തിപ്പോരുന്നു.

China's Quest for Military Supremacy provides a broad and accessible exploration of Chinese military power, including relations between the Chinese Communist Party and its army, the strategic worldview of Chinese leaders, military strategy and resourcing, conventional and nuclear modernization, military diplomacy and coercion, preparations for war, and the People's Liberation Army's emerging global role.

Nobody expected the liberation of India and birth of Pakistan to be so bloody - it was supposed to be an answer to the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centuries. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi's protégé and the political leader of India, believed that Indians were an inherently nonviolent, peaceful people. Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a secular lawyer, not a firebrand.

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

This is the story of how Darjeeling tea began, was key to the largest tea industry on the globe under imperial British rule, and came to produce the highest-quality tea leaves anywhere in the world. It is a story rich in history, intrigue, and empire, full of adventurers and unlikely successes in culture, mythology and religions, ecology and terroir, all set with a backdrop of the looming Himalayas and drenching monsoons.

By the end of the nineteenth century, India was described as the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, but how did such a small island come to dominate one of the richest lands in the world? Without doubt the toughest opponents to British control was led by the Sikhs. Ranjit Singh, the brilliant "Lion of Punjab" who ruled the Sikh Empire, had revolutionized his army by employing French officers from Napoleon's Grand Army to train his artillery and infantry on the European model.

Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was an established Urdu short story writer and a rising screenwriter in Bombay at the time of India's partition in 1947, and he is perhaps best known for the short stories he wrote following his migration to Lahore in newly formed Pakistan. Ayesha Jalal draws on Manto's stories, sketches, and essays, as well as a trove of his private letters, to present an intimate history of partition and its devastating toll.

India, a culture that witnessed the dawn of civilisation. That witnessed the rise of other cultures and watched them turn to dust. It has been celebrated and attacked. Admired and vilified. But through all these millennia, after all the ups and downs of history, it's still here! And now, after a few centuries of decline, it's driving a new dawn once again. Ajanaabhavarsh. Bharat. Hindustan. India. The names may change, but the soul of this great land is immortal. Amish helps you understand India like never before.