Asian Culture

Can anyone really own a culture? This magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing, sharing, and borrowing. It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce masterpieces. From Nefertiti's lost city and the Islamic Golden Age to twentieth century Nigerian theatre and Modernist poetry, Martin Puchner explores how contact between different peoples has driven artistic innovation in every era - whilst cultural policing and purism have more often undermined the very societies they tried to protect.

In this stirring memoir, a preeminent politician and diplomat traces the transformation of the Republic of Singapore from a poor colony into an Asian powerhouse.

Well-balanced, informative and highly readable'-Amartya Sen India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond is an eloquent argument for the importance of India to the future of the industrialized world. Shashi Tharoor shows compellingly that India stands at the intersection of the most...

Giant pandas munch on bamboo. Learn all about these gentle bears and their habitats in Giant Pandas.

Orangutans swing through rain forest trees. Learn all about these clever apes and their habitats in Orangutans.

Korea was one of the last countries in Asia to be visited by Westerners, and its borders have remained largely unchanged since it was unified in the seventh century. Though it is one of the world's oldest and most ethnically homogeneous states, Korea was not born in a vacuum. Geographically isolated, the country was heavily influenced by powerful China and was often used as a bridge to the mainland by Japan. Calling themselves as "a shrimp among whales", Koreans borrowed elements of government, culture, and religion, all the while fiercely fighting to maintain independence.

A NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HENNA ARTIST, A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK Good Morning America’s “27 Books for June" PopSugar’s Best Summer Reads of 2021 In New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi’s intriguing new novel, henna artist Lakshmi arranges for her protégé, Malik, to...

“Shawna Yang Ryan’s propulsive storytelling carries us through a bloody time in Taiwanese history, its implications still reverberating today. The story is haunted by questions about whether Taiwan is a part of China or its own country, what the costs are of standing up for one’s beliefs...

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

Newbery and Caldecott honoree and New York Times bestselling author Grace Lin delivers a groundbreaking, lushly illustrated, and beautifully written full-color book that explores the whimsical myths and stories behind your favorite American Chinese food. From fried dumplings to fortune cookies...

Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma's cooking when she's not fighting other battles—being a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a...

An ode to the quiet joy of collecting more books than we could ever possibly read - and loving them all the same... Drawing on the evocative Japanese term tsundoku - first coined in the Meiji era to describe the growing stacks of unread books that accumulate around devoted readers - this...

A Korean-American adoptee fights to be with the one she loves while coming to terms with her new identity in this enthralling romantic drama and sequel to Heart and Seoul by USA Today bestselling author Jen Frederick. When Hara Wilson lands in Seoul to find her birth mother, she doesn’t plan...

Kitchen Chinese, Ann Mah’s funny and poignant first novel about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to Beijing to discover food, family, and herself is a delight—complete with mouth-watering descriptions of Asian culinary delicacies, from Peking duck and Mongolian hot pot to the...

A brilliant and utterly engaging novel Emma set in modern Asia about a young woman s rise in the glitzy, moneyed city of Singapore, where old traditions clash with heady modern materialism. On the edge of twenty-seven, Jazzy hatches a plan for her and her best girlfriends: Sher, Imo, and Fann...

“With Your House Will Pay, Steph Cha has taken a dark moment in Los Angeles’s violent history and cracked it wide open, creating a prism of understanding—of the pull of generational violence and its enduring devastation, but also of the power of human grace against all odds. It’s a...

“This story of the unlikely meeting of two vulnerable women is a beautifully woven page turner. The battle-weary woman and the pin-up girl who meet, connect, separate: each changed by the brief union.” --Heather Morris, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz A...

A stunning blend of investigative journalism, authoritative science writing, and embedded ethnography. Every Human Intention captures the unsettling, lyrical beauty of the intimate moments and buried secrets that form Japan’s national drama. “An absolute marvel. Reveals the inner workings...

A landmark modern classic about the Korean American immigrant experience and the dawn of Los Angeles’s Koreatown A Penguin Classic Kim Ronyoung (Gloria Hahn, 1926–1987) tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to...

“A delicious and mouthwatering book about food and family, the complicated love for both, and how that shapes us into who we are . . . I absolutely loved it!” —Valerie Bertinelli From the bestselling author and host of the wildly popular Undisclosed podcast, a warm, intimate memoir about...