Best Selling Asian History Books

Chart of the top 50 most popular and best selling Asian history ebooks at the Apple Books.

Chart list of the top Asian history ebooks was last updated:

History Ebook Best Sellers

Top Asian History Ebooks

1

Embracing Defeat - John W. Dower Cover Art

Embracing Defeat

Embracing Defeat Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize Embracing Defeat is John W. Dower's brilliant examination of Japan in the immediate, shattering aftermath of World War II. Drawing on a vast range of Japanese sources and illustrated with dozens of astonishing documentary photographs, Embracing Defeat is the fullest and most important history of the more than six years of American occupation, which affected every level of Japanese society, often in ways neither side could anticipate. Dower, whom Stephen E. Ambrose has called "America's foremost historian of the Second World War in the Pacific," gives us the rich and turbulent interplay between West and East, the victor and the vanquished, in a way never before attempted, from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes and fears of men and women in every walk of life. Already regarded as the benchmark in its field, Embracing Defeat is a work of colossal scholarship and history of the very first order.

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The Rape of Nanking - Iris Chang Cover Art

The Rape of Nanking

The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II by Iris Chang

The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II. "A powerful, landmark book, riveting in its horror." —Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered—a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Historian Iris Chang tells the story from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers, that of the Chinese, and that of a group of Westerners who refused to abandon the city and created a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. More than just narrating the details of an orgy of violence, in The Rape of Nanking Chang analyzes the militaristic culture that fostered in the Japanese soldiers a total disregard for human life. It also tells of the concerted effort during the Cold War on the part of the West and even China to stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang’s classic is the definitive history of this horrifying episode.

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Empire of Ashes - James M. Scott Cover Art

Empire of Ashes

Empire of Ashes Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War by James M. Scott

From the acclaimed Pacific War historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, the harrowing story of America’s bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the dramatic struggle to end World War II. At 9:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, an American bomber pierced the skies over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The single bomb it dropped unleashed an atomic hurricane that toppled homes, vaporized birds in flight, and carbonized humans. Three days later, a second bomb flattened the port city of Nagasaki. In the span of a mere 75 hours, the United States—a nation once morally opposed to the bombing of civilians—killed 120,000 men, women, and children, dooming tens of thousands more to agonizing death in the weeks and months ahead. Empire of Ashes explores the final brutal months of the war in the Pacific, featuring the voices of never-before-heard victims of the atomic bombs. Through interviews with survivors and accounts gleaned from Japanese sources, New York Times best-selling author James M. Scott combines the attacks’ heart-wrenching details with their causes and consequences, from debates within the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, Oakridge, and Hanford to the fallout that would alter decades of life in Japan. Scott also delves into the political maneuvering in Washington and Tokyo between two seemingly unlikely leaders—President Harry S. Truman and Emperor Hirohito—that led to unprecedented violence and, eventually, surrender. Scott grapples with questions that still haunt the detonation of the atomic bomb to this day: What justified the first and only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict? And how does a nation reconcile the pride of liberating millions, with its own unprecedented violence? With startling immediacy, Empire of Ashes illuminates the moral dilemma at the center of America’s decision to inflict total war upon Japan.

4

Indian Summer - Alex Von Tunzelmann Cover Art

Indian Summer

Indian Summer The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann

An extraordinary story of romance, history, and divided loyalties — set against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century. The stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, Britain ceased to be a superpower, and its king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator. This defining moment of world history had been brought about by a handful of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India. Within hours of the midnight chimes, their dreams of freedom and democracy would turn to chaos, bloodshed, and war. Behind the scenes, a secret personal drama was also unfolding, as Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru began a passionate love affair. Their romance developed alongside Cold War conspiracies, the beginning of a terrible conflict in Kashmir, and an epic sweep of events that saw one million people killed and ten million dispossessed. Steeped in the private papers and reflections of the participants, Alex von Tunzelmann's Indian Summer reveals, in vivid, exhilarating detail, how the actions of a few extraordinary people changed the lives of millions and determined the fate of nations.

5

Stranger in the Shogun's City - Amy Stanley Cover Art

Stranger in the Shogun's City

Stranger in the Shogun's City A Japanese Woman and Her World by Amy Stanley

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography A “captivating” ( The Washington Post ) work of narrative history that explores the life of an unconventional woman in 19th-century Edo-period Japan—and portrays the city that would become Tokyo on the brink of a momentous encounter with the West. The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces—and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval—she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of everyday life in Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai, and eventually enters the service of a famous city magistrate. Tsuneno’s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture—and a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, in defiance of social conventions. “A compelling story, traced with meticulous detail and told with exquisite sympathy” ( The Wall Street Journal ), Stranger in the Shogun’s City is “a vivid, polyphonic portrait of life in 19th-century Japan [that] evokes the Shogun era with panache and insight” ( National Review of Books ).

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Empires of the Silk Road - Christopher I. Beckwith Cover Art

Empires of the Silk Road

Empires of the Silk Road A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present by Christopher I. Beckwith

The first complete history of Central Eurasia from ancient times to the present day, Empires of the Silk Road represents a fundamental rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of this major world region. Christopher Beckwith describes the rise and fall of the great Central Eurasian empires, including those of the Scythians, Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the Mongols. In addition, he explains why the heartland of Central Eurasia led the world economically, scientifically, and artistically for many centuries despite invasions by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and others. In retelling the story of the Old World from the perspective of Central Eurasia, Beckwith provides a new understanding of the internal and external dynamics of the Central Eurasian states and shows how their people repeatedly revolutionized Eurasian civilization. Beckwith recounts the Indo-Europeans' migration out of Central Eurasia, their mixture with local peoples, and the resulting development of the Graeco-Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations; he details the basis for the thriving economy of premodern Central Eurasia, the economy's disintegration following the region's partition by the Chinese and Russians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the damaging of Central Eurasian culture by Modernism; and he discusses the significance for world history of the partial reemergence of Central Eurasian nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Empires of the Silk Road places Central Eurasia within a world historical framework and demonstrates why the region is central to understanding the history of civilization.

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Judgment at Tokyo - Gary J. Bass Cover Art

Judgment at Tokyo

Judgment at Tokyo World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass

WINNER OF THE ARTHUR ROSS BOOK AWARD FROM THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS • ACCLAIMED AS ONE OF THE YEAR’S 10 BEST BOOKS BY THE WASHINGTON POST • 12 ESSENTIAL NONFICTION BOOKS BY THE NEW YORKER • 100 NOTABLE BOOKS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • BEST BOOKS BY THE ECONOMIST , FOREIGN AFFAIRS , THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, AND AIR MAIL • 10 ESSENTIAL BOOKS BY THE TELEGRAPH • MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE FINALIST • CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE FINALIST • BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE LONGLIST • THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • THE OBSERVER AND THE SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK • DAUNT BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A landmark, magisterial history of the trial of Japan’s leaders as war criminals—the largely overlooked Asian counterpart to Nuremberg “Nothing less than a masterpiece. With epic research and mesmerizing narrative power, Judgment at Tokyo has the makings of an instant classic.” —Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march. For the Allied powers, the trial was an opportunity to render judgment on their vanquished foes, but also to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war, building a more peaceful world under international law and American hegemony. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was victors’ justice. For more than two years, lawyers for both sides presented their cases before a panel of clashing judges from China, India, the Philippines, and Australia, as well as the United States and European powers. The testimony ran from horrific accounts of brutality and the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor to the Japanese military’s threats to subvert the government if it sued for peace. Yet rather than clarity and unanimity, the trial brought complexity, dissents, and divisions that provoke international discord between China, Japan, and Korea to this day. Those courtroom tensions and contradictions could also be seen playing out across Asia as the trial unfolded in the crucial early years of the Cold War, from China’s descent into civil war to Japan’s successful postwar democratic elections to India’s independence and partition. From the author of the acclaimed The Blood Telegram, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, this magnificent history is the product of a decade of research and writing. Judgment at Tokyo is a riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years that set the stage for the Asian postwar era.

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The Storm of War - Andrew Roberts Cover Art

The Storm of War

The Storm of War A New History of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts

“Gripping. . . . splendid history. A brilliantly clear and accessible account of the war in all its theaters. Roberts’s prose is unerringly precise and strikingly vivid. It is hard to imagine a better-told military history of World War II.” –New York Times Book Review Andrew Roberts's acclaimed new history has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he tells the story of the war—the grand strategy and the individual experience, the brutality and the heroism—as never before. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, The Storm of War illuminates the war's principal actors, revealing how their decisions shaped the course of the conflict. Along the way, Roberts presents tales of the many lesser-known individuals whose experiences form a panoply of the courage and self-sacrifice, as well as the depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War.

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Black Snow - James M. Scott Cover Art

Black Snow

Black Snow Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by James M. Scott

"Riveting.…This book is required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in World War II and the Pacific Theater." —Bob Carden, Boston Globe Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we’ll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

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Saving Bravo - Stephan Talty Cover Art

Saving Bravo

Saving Bravo The Greatest Rescue Mission in Navy SEAL History by Stephan Talty

From the author of A Captain's Duty , the New York Times best-selling account of Captain Phillips, comes the untold story of the most important rescue mission not just of the Vietnam War, but the entire Cold War. One American aviator, who knew our most important secrets, crashed behind enemy lines and risked capture by both the North Vietnamese and the Soviets. One Navy SEAL and his Vietnamese partner had to sneak past them all to save him. At the height of the Vietnam War, few American airmen are more valuable than Lieutenant Colonel Gene Hambleton. His memory is filled with highly classified information that the Soviets and North Vietnamese badly want. When Hambleton is shot down in the midst of North Vietnam’s Easter Offensive, US forces place the entire war on hold to save a single man hiding among 30,000 enemy troops and tanks. Airborne rescue missions fail, killing eleven Americans. Finally, Navy SEAL Thomas Norris and his Vietnamese guide, Nguyen Van Kiet, volunteer to go after him on foot. Gliding past hundreds of enemy soldiers, it takes them days to reach Hambleton, who, guided toward his rescuers via improvised radio code, is barely alive, deeply malnourished, and hallucinating after eleven days on the run. In this deeply researched, untold story, award-winning author Stephan Talty describes the extraordinary mission that led Hambleton to safety. Drawing from dozens of interviews and access to unpublished papers, Saving Bravo is a riveting work of military history, telling the story of one of the greatest rescue missions in the history of the Special Forces. How did two men succeed where entire airborne missions had failed? A High-Stakes Cold War Mission: The desperate, top-secret race to save one man, Lieutenant Colonel Gene Hambleton, whose capture could have changed the course of the war. Elite Special Forces Operation: How Navy SEAL Thomas Norris and his Vietnamese partner Nguyen Van Kiet planned a daring infiltration deep into enemy territory after conventional rescue attempts failed, killing eleven Americans. Survival Against All Odds: The eleven-day ordeal of a downed pilot hiding among 30,000 enemy soldiers, battling starvation and hallucinations while guiding his rescuers by a secret code. An Authentic Vietnam War Story: Drawn from dozens of interviews and unpublished documents to tell the complete, untold story of one of the most remarkable rescue missions of the era.

11

Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa Cover Art

Musashi

Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa

The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Musashi is a novel in the best tradition of Japanese story telling. It is a living story, subtle and imaginative, teeming with memorable characters, many of them historical. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety and absolute dedication to the Way of the Samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely.

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The Last Kings of Shanghai - Jonathan Kaufman Cover Art

The Last Kings of Shanghai

The Last Kings of Shanghai The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China by Jonathan Kaufman

"In vivid detail... examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties."— The Boston Globe "Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China's past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China's modern history."— LA Review of Books An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Shanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon—billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty—the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of Private Lives in his suite and Charlie Chaplin has entertained his wife-to-be. And a few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist Party have been plotting revolution. By the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty—the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and losing nearly everything as the Communists swept into power. In The Last Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil at their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival. The book lays bare the moral compromises of the Kadoories and the Sassoons—and their exceptional foresight, success, and generosity. At the height of World War II, they joined together to rescue and protect eighteen thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Though their stay in China started out as a business opportunity, the country became a home they were reluctant to leave, even on the eve of revolution. The lavish buildings they built and the booming businesses they nurtured continue to define Shanghai and Hong Kong to this day. As the United States confronts China's rise, and China grapples with the pressures of breakneck modernization and global power, the long-hidden odysseys of the Sassoons and the Kadoories hold a key to understanding the present moment.

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Without You, There Is No Us - Suki Kim Cover Art

Without You, There Is No Us

Without You, There Is No Us Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite by Suki Kim

A haunting account of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign   Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields—except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has gone undercover as a missionary and a teacher. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them English, all under the watchful eye of the regime. Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic, especially for Suki, whose letters are read by censors and who must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but from her colleagues—evangelical Christian missionaries who don't know or choose to ignore that Suki doesn't share their faith. As the weeks pass, she is mystified by how easily her students lie, unnerved by their obedience to the regime. At the same time, they offer Suki tantalizing glimpses of their private selves—their boyish enthusiasm, their eagerness to please, the flashes of curiosity that have not yet been extinguished. She in turn begins to hint at the existence of a world beyond their own—at such exotic activities as surfing the Internet or traveling freely and, more dangerously, at electoral democracy and other ideas forbidden in a country where defectors risk torture and execution. But when Kim Jong-il dies, and the boys she has come to love appear devastated, she wonders whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever be bridged. Without You, There Is No Us offers a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life in the world's most unknowable country, and at the privileged young men she calls "soldiers and slaves."

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Dereliction of Duty - H. R. McMaster Cover Art

Dereliction of Duty

Dereliction of Duty Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff by H. R. McMaster

"The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C."  —H. R. McMaster (from the Conclusion) Dereliction Of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants. A page-turning narrative, Dereliction Of Duty focuses on a fascinating cast of characters: President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, McGeorge Bundy and other top aides who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Congress and the American public. McMaster’s only book, Dereliction of Duty is an explosive and authoritative new look at the controversy concerning the United States involvement in Vietnam.

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Vietnam - Max Hastings Cover Art

Vietnam

Vietnam An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 by Max Hastings

An absorbing and definitive modern history of the Vietnam War from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Secret War. Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas. No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

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Korea's Place in the Sun - Bruce Cumings Ph.D. Cover Art

Korea's Place in the Sun

Korea's Place in the Sun A Modern History by Bruce Cumings Ph.D.

"Passionate, cantankerous, and fascinating. Rather like Korea itself."--Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times Book Review Korea has endured a "fractured, shattered twentieth century," and this updated edition brings Bruce Cumings's leading history of the modern era into the present. The small country, overshadowed in the imperial era, crammed against great powers during the Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification. But positive movements forward are tempered by frustrating steps backward. In the late 1990s South Korea survived its most severe economic crisis since the Korean War, forcing a successful restructuring of its political economy. Suffering through floods, droughts, and a famine that cost the lives of millions of people, North Korea has been labeled part of an "axis of evil" by the George W. Bush administration and has renewed its nuclear threats. On both sides Korea seems poised to continue its fractured existence on into the new century, with potential ramifications for the rest of the world.

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Mao's Great Famine - Frank Dikötter Cover Art

Mao's Great Famine

Mao's Great Famine The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 by Frank Dikötter

Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize An unprecedented, groundbreaking history of China's Great Famine that recasts the era of Mao Zedong and the history of the People's Republic of China. "Between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up to and overtake Britain in less than 15 years The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives." So opens Frank Dikötter's riveting, magnificently detailed chronicle of an era in Chinese history much speculated about but never before fully documented because access to Communist Party archives has long been restricted to all but the most trusted historians. A new archive law has opened up thousands of central and provincial documents that "fundamentally change the way one can study the Maoist era." Dikötter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of "one of the most deadly mass killings of human history,"--at least 45 million people were worked, starved, or beaten to death--but also of "the greatest demolition of real estate in human history," as up to one-third of all housing was turned into rubble). The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the maniacal pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. In a powerful mesghing of exhaustive research in Chinese archives and narrative drive, Dikötter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power-the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders-with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.

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Korea: The Impossible Country - Daniel Tudor Cover Art

Korea: The Impossible Country

Korea: The Impossible Country South Korea's Amazing Rise from the Ashes: The Inside Story of an Economic, Political and Cultural Phenomenon by Daniel Tudor

"Daniel Tudor covers all the important issues, yet does not simply tell the more familiar stories, but looks deeper and wider to give the full story of Korea today." —Martin Uden, Former British Ambassador to South Korea In just fifty years, South Korea has transformed itself from a failed state, ruined and partitioned by war and decades of colonial rule, into an economic powerhouse and a democracy that serves as a model for other countries. How was it able to achieve this with no natural resources and a tradition of authoritarian rule? Who are the Koreans and how did they accomplish this second Asian miracle? Through a comprehensive exploration of Korean history, culture and society, and interviews with dozens of experts, celebrated journalist Daniel Tudor seeks answers to these and many other fascinating questions. In Korea: The Impossible Country , Tudor touches on topics as diverse as shamanism, clan-ism, the dilemma posed by North Korea, and the growing international appeal of South Korean pop culture. This new edition has been updated with additional materials on recent events, including the impeachment of Park Geun-hye and the sinking of the Sewol Ferry. Although South Korea has long been overshadowed by Japan and China, Korea: The Impossible Country illuminates how this small country is one of the great success stories of the postwar period.

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Shogun - A. L. Sadler Cover Art

Shogun

Shogun The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu by A. L. Sadler

Uncover the true history behind the critically acclaimed FX/Hulu series "SHOGUN" in this epic biography of the man who unified Medieval Japan. For 700 years, Japan was ruled by military commanders who waged war against one another incessantly. Shogun tells the fascinating story of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who finally unified and brought lasting peace to the nation. He established a new central government which enabled his descendants to rule Japan for the next 260 years—a period in which Japanese culture as we know it today flourished. The dramatic episodes retold in this book include: Ieyasu's crushing victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, the largest battle ever fought in JapanHis creation of a new form of government with a centralized system of control that allowed his descendants to rule Japan peacefully for the next 15 generationsIeyasu's fateful decision to limit the spread of Christianity in Japan, ultimately banning the religion and massacring tens of thousands of ardent believers In the critically acclaimed FX/Hulu series "Shogun" audiences witness producer Hiroyuki Sanada star as military leader "Lord Yoshi Toranaga" — based on the real life of Tokugawa Ieyasu. This new edition highlights the drama and pageantry of Ieyasu's life and features a new foreword by leading Japanese military historian Alexander Bennett.

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The War of the Running Dogs - Noel Barber Cover Art

The War of the Running Dogs

The War of the Running Dogs Malaya 1948-1960 by Noel Barber

'A splendid, exciting book' Daily Mirror 'The story of the first all-out struggle in Asia between Communism and the West, vividly told in an exciting and engrossing book' Sunday Express Only three short years after the end of the Japanese occupation, war came again to Malaya. The Chinese-backed guerrillas called it the War of the Running Dogs - their contemptuous term for those in Malaya who remained loyal to the British. The British Government referred to this bloody and costly struggle as the 'Malayan Emergency'. Yet it was a war that lasted twelve years and cost thousands of lives. By the time it was over Malaya had obtained its independence - but on British, not on Chinese or Communist terms. Here is the war as it was. Here are the planters and their wives on their remote rubber estates, the policemen, the generals and the soldiers, the Malays, Chinese and Indians of a polyglot country, all fighting an astute, ruthless, and well organized enemy.

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《文革五十年》(上) - 宋永毅 Cover Art

《文革五十年》(上)

《文革五十年》(上) 毛澤東遺產和當代中國 by 宋永毅

呈現在讀者面前的這套上下兩冊的巨著,是全球80多位學者對中國文化大革命的最新發現、研究成果。 毛澤東和他發動的文革是一場顛覆了中國社會、人類文明的政治運動,其基因仍在、遺毒猶烈,決定和影響著中國當今和未來。正因為如此,中共將文革研究視為禁區,試圖掩蓋遠未被揭示徹底的罪惡,他們擔心其掌權的法理基礎被摧毀。 所以,文革發生在中國,真正獨立、專業的研究會議卻只能在美國召開。由美國著名文革研究專家宋永毅、著名中國事務教授林培瑞等召集的文革50周年國際研討會,2016年在美國加州大學河濱分校舉行,與中國對文革的禁聲,形成了諷刺性對比。 這一會議聚集了來自美、加、德、日、中國香港、澳門等地的學者,更有十多位來自中國大陸的重量級文革專家。這樣的會議規模和陣容,已屬「史無前例」,而且新人輩出,新說迭起,如一些媒體所言,實為一次迄今為止「規模最大、水平最高」的有關文革的國際學術會議。 會議向世人昭示了海內外史學家們探究歷史真相的勇氣和堅韌,對於重構中華民族對文革的集體記憶,極具戰略意義。 記錄會議成果的這套巨著,注定成為中國當代歷史的珍藏。 前言 韌性博弈後的成果 宋永毅 呈現在讀者面前的這本一百萬字、上下兩冊的題名為《文革五十年:毛澤東遺產和當代中國》的巨著是我在美國編纂的第二本有關文革的論文集。十年以前,在文革40周年之際,我也曾受委託組織過大型的國際研討會,並在事後找到香港田園書屋出版了題名為《文化大革命:歷史真相和集體記憶》的兩卷本的論文集。 這本新的論文集是今年6月24-26日,在加州大學河濱分校召開的、題名為「毛澤東遺產和當代中國」的紀念文革50周年的國際研討會的產物。會議的主辦單位有加州大學河濱分校的社會和意識研究中心、普林斯頓中國學社和《中國文化大革命文庫》編輯委員會。協辦單位有紐約天問聯合學會。但在出版計畫上大有不同的是:早在一年多以前,紐約明鏡出版集團的老總何頻先生得知我們即將組織這一會議時,便慨然拍板決定了這一論文集的出版,充分顯示了一個出版家的良知和眼光。 一 在我編纂這本新的論文集時,內心的感受可謂悲喜交加、五味雜陳。 悲的是:十年前我們相聚紐約開文革40周年研討會時,內心都或多或少地抱著一絲神思遐想:下一個十年能不能在文革的發生地——中國大陸開這樣的研討會?然而,幻想總是溫暖的,現實卻是冰冷的。和十年前相比,中國大陸的新領導人不僅更嚴厲地在國內禁止任何有關文革的學術活動,還想把已經前行了50年的歷史車輪拉回到黑暗的毛澤東時代去。 喜的是:在政客們千方百計掩蓋歷史的同時,還有史學家們堅韌不拔的對真相的揭露。雖然歷史有時會發生短暫的倒退,但這並不意味著政客和學者的悠久的博弈中,前者一定是「勝利者」。雖然學者只掌握形而上的「批判的武器」(思想和言論),但在歷史真相和集體記憶的構築中,並不一定輸給政客們的形而下的「武器的批判」(警察和監獄)。在這些投身與文革研究的歷史學者身上,我們還看到了自春秋末年齊國史官太史伯三兄弟為纂信史而不畏死的節操和承傳。由於他們正氣的震懾,篡位的君王最後認識到他只能主導當政時期,而史官卻傳承千年中華歷史。中國千年以來的史官們秉承著「史學、史識、史才、史德」,秉持了「險惡矯誣之人,不足以言史」的信念,成為華夏民族歷史真理的捍衛者。 在這次會議中,我們也確實欣慰地看到了韌性博弈後的成果。例如,這一會議聚集了來自美、加、德、日、中、港、澳(門)等地的70多位學者,其中有十位來自中國大陸。他們中有徐友漁、秦暉、王海光、米鶴都、金光耀、李遜、崔衛平等重量級的文革研究專家。 此外,會議還收到了朱學勤、唐少傑、董國強、申曉雲、徐海亮等七位大陸著名學者的書面發言和論文。這樣的規模,如一些媒體所言,實屬「史無前例」了。十年前,在紐約召開文革40周年的國際研討會時,由於大陸有關方面的阻攔,在上述的知名文革研究專家中,僅有徐海亮教授一人能與會。更令人欣慰的是:世界已經進入了一個全球化的時代,文革也已經成為了一個國際性的學術課題。既然在中國國內無法進行任何公開的學術研討活動,與會的學者、尤其是華裔學者都認為:他們在海外學術自由的環境中組織和召開這樣的大會就責無旁貸。文化大革命的歷史真相一定要被揭示,中華民族的集體記憶一定要被保存。 二 因為中共當局對文革研究的禁錮和阻攔,文革研究是否後繼有人的問題一直是纏繞著海內外學界的一個憂慮。其實,有關當局的陰暗企圖是一回事,他們能不能使如此重大的歷史事件集體失憶又是另外一碼事。尤其是中華民族的史學有著「以史為鑑」的優良傳統,要利用國家機器的力量強迫海內外學界放棄「文革研究」是不可能的。近十年來,不要說海外學界的新生輩層出不窮,中國大陸也出現了一批相當數量的以文革為研究課題的博士研究生。會議的組織者敏銳地發見了這一剛剛浮現的新群體,邀請了六位80後的文革研究新人與會。並以「新一代學人(80後)的文革研究」為題,開啟了大會第一天的首場討論。 這六位來自世界各地(美國、德國、中國、澳門)的五位博士研究生和青年學者是:陳闖創(美國青年學者)、宋國慶(德國佛萊堡大學漢學研究博士生)、劉成晨(澳門大學社會學系博士生)、王芳(復旦大學歷史系博士後)、楊雋(復旦大學歷史系博士生)等。 這幾位青年學人儘管都生在文革後,但他們的發言和論文卻有著堅實的史料基礎和新學科知識的底蘊。首先,他們的研究雖然比較微觀,集中在某一個省、市或縣,但都以大量的檔案史料和現場訪談為基礎。例如宋國慶的〈遲到的正義:廣西處理文革亂打死人問題的啟動〉是他近兩年內在廣西查找檔案和田野調查收集口述資料的結果。再如王芳的〈文革中的工人派系政治——以滬、漢兩地為例(1966-1967)〉一文,同樣也是她奔波於滬漢兩地調查訪談的結果。為此,他們所梳理的歷史真相都比較可信和全面。其次,雖然他們的研究都帶有個案研究色彩,卻也同時顯現了現代史學、政治學和社會學理論知識的學養,在理論上也有一定的開拓意義。例如,劉成晨和他導師郝志東合著的英文論文《理解中國的暴力:以一個縣域的土改與文革為例》,是第一次把土改和文革暴力做比較研究的論文,還得出了「1940年代的土改和1960年代-1970年代的文革之間有相當的關聯性,其暴力的機理是一脈相承的」的新結論。對一門學科建設而言,及時推出和鼓勵學術新人具有相當的戰略意義。從這一意義上來說,洛杉磯研討會不僅給人以文革研究後繼有人的信心,更將沉實地推動該學科今後幾十年內的發展。

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Fuji Fire - Chas Henry Cover Art

Fuji Fire

Fuji Fire Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps Tragedy by Chas Henry

On October 19, 1979, the largest, most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded propelled 5,500 gallons of gasoline into corrugated steel huts filled with U.S. Marines. The gas ignited, injuring seventy-three people, thirteen of them fatally. The Marine Corps commandant, a veteran of combat in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, was stunned as he met scores of horribly burned survivors. “Having witnessed a lot of bad things, ugly things,” the general declared, “none can compare to that experience.” And yet this 1979 catastrophe on the slopes of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji remains all but forgotten except by those directly affected. Now, the fruits of Chas Henry’s exhaustive four-year, two-continent investigation provide insight into what many have called the U.S. Marine Corps’ worst-ever peacetime disaster. Fuji Fire shares the compelling and intimate stories of heartbreak and inspiration forged by these events while bringing to light new, critical analyses of the incident’s causes and effects.  

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To Rule All under Heaven - Andrew Seth Meyer Cover Art

To Rule All under Heaven

To Rule All under Heaven A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor by Andrew Seth Meyer

The first ever comprehensive history in English of China's Warring States period, an era that saw epic battles, the birth of profound philosophies, groundbreaking innovations, and shaped much of East Asian culture as we know it today In 481 BCE, ancient China was on the cusp of one of the most profound revolutions any society has ever undergone, one that would set the course of world history for the following two millennia and a half. The ruling order that had been set up by the Zhou kings almost six centuries before was disintegrating. While the Zhou realm was populous, wealthy, and blessed with a sophisticated and already ancient culture, the basic institutions that structured social and spiritual life were in radical decay. The world was literally falling apart. The following two-hundred and sixty years saw the largest civilization on earth reinvent and recreate itself. Through war, diplomacy, debate, commerce, philosophy, literature, science, and artistic expression, the people of the Warring States gave birth to a radically new social order. The era saw the emergence of Confucianism and Daoism, the composition of seminal texts such as The Art of War by Master Sun and the Book of Changes, and the codification of Chinese script into its current form. It also saw the initial building of the Great Wall and the canal system that would become the Grand Canal, as well as the invention of the crossbow--which would not be invented in Europe for another 1,500 years--and the origin of acupuncture and feng shui. This dynamic period coincided with the lives of global figures such as the Buddha, Socrates, and the prophet Ezra, beginning during Confucius's lifetime and culminating with the reign of the First Emperor, whose tomb is famously guarded by the terra cotta soldiers. The Persian Wars and the conquests of Alexander the Great are well known to people in Europe and America; however, far fewer English-language books have attempted to cover this same and equally important period in East Asia. To Rule All under Heaven corrects this imbalance by recounting a detailed history that is replete with dramatic stories and characters. The result is a thorough and entertaining account of one of the most fertile and significant periods in world history.

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Koh-i-Noor - William Dalrymple & Anita Anand Cover Art

Koh-i-Noor

Koh-i-Noor The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond by William Dalrymple & Anita Anand

From the internationally acclaimed and bestselling historians William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, the first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, arguably the most celebrated jewel in the world. On March 29, 1849, the ten-year-old leader of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the center of the British fort in Lahore, India. There, in a formal Act of Submission, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company swathes of the richest land in India and the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond, otherwise known as the Mountain of Light. To celebrate the acquisition, the British East India Company commissioned a history of the diamond woven together from the gossip of the Delhi Bazaars. From that moment forward, the Koh-i-Noor became the most famous and mythological diamond in history, with thousands of people coming to see it at the 1851 Great Exhibition and still more thousands repeating the largely fictitious account of its passage through history. Using original eyewitness accounts and chronicles never before translated into English, Dalrymple and Anand trace the true history of the diamond and disperse the myths and fantastic tales that have long surrounded this awe-inspiring jewel. The resulting history of south and central Asia tells a true tale of greed, conquest, murder, torture, colonialism, and appropriation that shaped a continent and the Koh-i-Noor itself.

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穿越400年:認識西拉雅族(歷史篇) - 段洪坤 Cover Art

穿越400年:認識西拉雅族(歷史篇)

穿越400年:認識西拉雅族(歷史篇) by 段洪坤

「在地書寫、親近田野」,透過歷史學、語言學與考古學的多重視角,梳理西拉雅族四百年來的歷史變遷與族群命運,聚焦曾經俯仰於臺南平原的新港(Sinckan)、蕭壠(Soulangh)、麻豆(Mattau)、目加溜灣(Baccloangh)等四大社群,段洪坤Alak Akatuang將長年的累積與研究,提煉成《穿越400年:認識西拉雅族(歷史篇)》,不僅是對歷史的回溯,更對殖民脈絡下受壓迫者的命運深刻的回應。 看見臺灣的文明記憶 西拉雅,是四百年前這片土地原初的名字 他們的語言、信仰與故事 在荷蘭檔案與祖靈祭場間,延續成一條時間的河 這是一部穿越殖民與遺忘的歷史之書 以圖像與敘事重構臺灣的文化根源 也是一場追尋「我們從何而來」的深刻旅程

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The Dojima Rice Exchange - TAKATSUKI Yasuo Cover Art

The Dojima Rice Exchange

The Dojima Rice Exchange From Rice Trading to Index Futures Trading in Edo-Period Japan by TAKATSUKI Yasuo

The Dojima Rice Exchange of the Edo period (1603-1868), located in Osaka, Japan, is known among researchers as “the world’s first futures trading market.” Much as modern markets do today, the Edo-period Dojima market had a market for trading securities called rice certificates and an index futures market for trading indices derived from those securities. The market economy and the Exchange itself became extraordinarily dynamic, astounding observers of the time. But a dynamic market poses its own challenges, as we in our times know all too well. How did the people and government of the Edo period, who had no precedents to draw on, let alone economists to consult, contend with what was often a runaway market? The story of how the futures market developed and functioned at Dojima reveals the true nature of the “market economy.”

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Dragon's Jaw - Stephen Coonts & Barrett Tillman Cover Art

Dragon's Jaw

Dragon's Jaw An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam by Stephen Coonts & Barrett Tillman

A riveting Vietnam War story--and one of the most dramatic in aviation history--told by a New York Times bestselling author and a prominent aviation historian Every war has its "bridge"--Old North Bridge at Concord, Burnside's Bridge at Antietam, the railway bridge over Burma's River Kwai, the bridge over Germany's Rhine River at Remagen, and the bridges over Korea's Toko Ri. In Vietnam it was the bridge at Thanh Hoa, called Dragon's Jaw. For seven long years hundreds of young US airmen flew sortie after sortie against North Vietnam's formidable and strategically important bridge, dodging a heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire and enemy MiG planes. Many American airmen were shot down, killed, or captured and taken to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" POW camp. But after each air attack, when the smoke cleared and the debris settled, the bridge stubbornly remained standing. For the North Vietnamese it became a symbol of their invincibility; for US war planners an obsession; for US airmen a testament to American mettle and valor. Using after-action reports, official records, and interviews with surviving pilots, as well as untapped Vietnamese sources, Dragon's Jaw chronicles American efforts to destroy the bridge, strike by bloody strike, putting readers into the cockpits, under fire. The story of the Dragon's Jaw is a story rich in bravery, courage, audacity, and sometimes luck, sometimes tragedy. The "bridge" story of Vietnam is an epic tale of war against a determined foe.

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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford Cover Art

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern age—by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan . The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

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India After Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha Cover Art

India After Gandhi

India After Gandhi The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha

A definitive history of post-Partition India, now revised and updated with extensive new material. "Guha has given India the rich, well-paced history it deserves." — Washington Post Book World Told in lucid and beautiful prose, the story of India's wild ride toward and since Independence is a riveting one. Taking full advantage of the dramatic details of the protests and conflicts that helped shape the nation, politically, socially, and economically, Ramachandra Guha writes of the factors and processes that have kept the country together, and kept it democratic, defying the numerous prophets of doom. Moving between history and biography, this story provides fresh insights into the lives and public careers of those legendary and long-serving Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter, Indira Gandhi. Guha includes vivid sketches of the major "provincial" leaders, but also writes with feeling and sensitivity about lesser-known Indians—peasants, tribals, women, workers, and Untouchables. Massively researched and elegantly written, this is the work of a major scholar at the height of his powers, a brilliant and definitive history of what is possibly the most important, occasionally the most exasperating, and certainly the most interesting country in the world. This tenth anniversary edition, published to coincide with seventy years of India's independence, is revised and expanded to bring the narrative up to the present. "Guha is a scholar of astounding energy and ingenuity. . . . He seems to have visited every archive from Alabama to Allahabad, Calcutta to California, delving into a sea of private correspondence, news reports, pamphlet ephemera, as well as state papers. The result is a fascinating, kaleidoscopic narrative." — Daily Telegraph (UK)

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Operation Storm - John Geoghegan Cover Art

Operation Storm

Operation Storm Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II by John Geoghegan

The riveting true story of Japan's top secret plan to change the course of World War II using a squadron of mammoth submarines a generation ahead of their time   In 1941, the architects of Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor planned a bold follow-up: a potentially devastating air raid—this time against New York City and Washington, DC. The classified Japanese program required developing a squadron of top secret submarines—the Sen-toku or I-400 class—designed as underwater aircraft carriers, each equipped with three Aichi M6A1 attack bombers painted to look like U.S. aircraft. The bombers, called Seiran (which translates as “storm from a clear sky”), were tucked in a huge, water-tight hanger on the sub’s deck. The subs' mission was to travel more than halfway around the world, surface on the U.S. coast, and launch their deadly air attack. This entire operation was unknown to U.S. intelligence. And the amazing thing is how close the Japanese came to pulling it off. John Geoghegan’s meticulous research, including first-person accounts from the I-401 crew and the U.S. capturing party, creates a fascinating portrait of the Sen-toku 's desperate push into Allied waters and the U.S. Navy's dramatic pursuit, masterfully illuminating a previously forgotten story of the Pacific war. 

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The Tragedy of Liberation - Frank Dikötter Cover Art

The Tragedy of Liberation

The Tragedy of Liberation A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 by Frank Dikötter

A groundbreaking chronicle of the violent early years of the People's Republic of China, by the author of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize–winning Mao's Great Famine. "The Chinese Communist party refers to its victory in 1949 as a 'liberation.' In China the story of liberation and the revolution that followed is not one of peace, liberty, and justice. It is first and foremost a story of calculated terror and systematic violence." So begins Frank Dikötter's stunning and revelatory chronicle of Mao Zedong's ascension and campaign to transform the Chinese into what the party called New People. Following the defeat of Chiang Kai-shek in 1949, after a bloody civil war, Mao hoisted the red flag over Beijing's Forbidden City, and the world watched as the Communist revolution began to wash away the old order. Due to the secrecy surrounding the country's records, little has been known before now about the eight years that followed, preceding the massive famine and Great Leap Forward. Drawing on hundreds of previously classified documents, secret police reports, unexpurgated versions of leadership speeches, eyewitness accounts of those who survived, and more, The Tragedy of Liberation bears witness to a shocking, largely untold history. Interweaving stories of ordinary citizens with tales of the brutal politics of Mao's court, Frank Dikötter illuminates those who shaped the "liberation" and the horrific policies they implemented in the name of progress. People of all walks of life were caught up in the tragedy that unfolded, and whether or not they supported the revolution, all of them were asked to write confessions, denounce their friends, and answer queries about their political reliability. One victim of thought reform called it a "carefully cultivated Auschwitz of the mind." Told with great narrative sweep, The Tragedy of Liberation is a powerful and important document giving voice at last to the millions who were lost, and casting new light on the foundations of one of the most powerful regimes of the twenty-first century.

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Vietnam - Christopher Goscha Cover Art

Vietnam

Vietnam A New History by Christopher Goscha

The definitive history of modern Vietnam and its diverse and divided past. “The best one-volume history of modern Vietnam in English.” — Wall Street Journal In Vietnam , Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam, but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta. Over the centuries, numerous kingdoms, dynasties, and states have ruled over—and fought for—what is now Vietnam. The bloody Cold War-era conflict between Ho Chi Minh's communist-backed Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the American-backed Republic of Vietnam was only the most recent instance when war divided and transformed Vietnam. A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. It is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.

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Cover-Up - Seymour M. Hersh Cover Art

Cover-Up

Cover-Up by Seymour M. Hersh

The Pulitzer Prize winner who first disclosed the massacre at My Lai 4 uncovers the full story of how those involved - from private to general - kept it secret. What he reveals is shocking - from the amorphous but very real "West Point Protective Association" to the fact that an extensive but closed investigation by the Army itself covered up another massacre by the same unit on the same morning.

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Let Only Red Flowers Bloom - Emily Feng Cover Art

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom

Let Only Red Flowers Bloom Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China by Emily Feng

A “gripping and scrupulously reported” ( The Washington Post ) 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 Ambition A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The 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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The Immobile Empire - Alain Peyrefitte Cover Art

The Immobile Empire

The Immobile Empire by Alain Peyrefitte

In 1793, Lord George Macartney and an enormous delegation—including diplomats, doctors, scholars, painters, musicians, soldiers, and aristocrats—entered Beijing on a mission to open China to British trade. But Macartney’s famous refusal to perform the traditional kowtow before the Chinese Emperor was just one sign that the two empires would not see eye to eye, and the trade talks failed. The inability to develop a trade relation would have enormous consequences for future relations between China and the West. Peyrefitte’s vivid narrative of this fascinating encounter is based on extraordinary source materials from each side—including the charming and candid diary of Thomas Staunton, the son of one of Macartney’s aides. An example of history at its finest, The Immobile Empire recaptures the extraordinary experience of two great empires in collision, sizing each other up for the first time.

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The Anarchy - William Dalrymple Cover Art

The Anarchy

The Anarchy The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple

Finalist for the Cundill History Prize ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal and NPR "Superb … A vivid and richly detailed story … worth reading by everyone." -The New York Times Book Review From the bestselling author of Return of a King, the story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating results of the corporation running a country. In August 1765, the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and set up, in his place, a government run by English traders who collected taxes through means of a private army. The creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to be a conventional company and became something much more unusual: an international corporation transformed into an aggressive colonial power. Over the course of the next 47 years, the company's reach grew until almost all of India south of Delhi was effectively ruled from a boardroom in the city of London. The Anarchy tells one of history's most remarkable stories: how the Mughal Empire-which dominated world trade and manufacturing and possessed almost unlimited resources-fell apart and was replaced by a multinational corporation based thousands of miles overseas, and answerable to shareholders, most of whom had never even seen India and no idea about the country whose wealth was providing their dividends. Using previously untapped sources, Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before and provides a portrait of the devastating results from the abuse of corporate power. Bronze Medal in the 2020 Arthur Ross Book Award

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Twilight of the Gods - Ian W. Toll Cover Art

Twilight of the Gods

Twilight of the Gods War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 by Ian W. Toll

New York Times Bestseller “No one has told the story of World War II in the Pacific, from beginning to bitter end, better than Ian W. Toll. This final volume concludes a brilliant trilogy.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The First Wave and Avenue of Spies In June 1944, the United States launched a crushing assault on the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The capture of the Mariana Islands and the accompanying ruin of Japanese carrier airpower marked a pivotal moment in the Pacific War. No tactical masterstroke or blunder could reverse the increasingly lopsided balance of power between the two combatants. The War in the Pacific had entered its endgame. Beginning with the Honolulu Conference, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with his Pacific theater commanders to plan the last phase of the campaign against Japan, Twilight of the Gods brings to life the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts. Ian W. Toll’s narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as gripping as ever, but he also reconstructs the Japanese and American home fronts and takes the reader into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and diplomacy were decided. Drawing from a wealth of rich archival sources and new material, Twilight of the Gods casts a penetrating light on the battles, grand strategic decisions and naval logistics that enabled the Allied victory in the Pacific. An authoritative and riveting account of the final phase of the War in the Pacific, Twilight of the Gods brings Toll’s masterful trilogy to a thrilling conclusion. This prize-winning and best-selling trilogy will stand as the first complete history of the Pacific War in more than twenty-five years, and the first multivolume history of the Pacific naval war since Samuel Eliot Morison’s series was published in the 1950s.

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Embers of War - Fredrik Logevall Cover Art

Embers of War

Embers of War The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED WORKS OF HISTORY IN RECENT YEARS Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians • Winner of the American Library in Paris Book Award • Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award • Finalist for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature   NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • The Christian Science Monitor • The Globe and Mail Written with the style of a great novelist and the intrigue of a Cold War thriller, Embers of War is a landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam. Tapping newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations, Fredrik Logevall traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. 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. An epic story of wasted opportunities and deadly miscalculations, 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. Eye-opening and compulsively readable, Embers of War is a gripping, heralded work that illuminates the hidden history of the French and American experiences in Vietnam.   Praise for Embers of War “A balanced, deeply researched history of how, as French colonial rule faltered, a succession of American leaders moved step by step down a road toward full-blown war.” —Pulitzer Prize citation   “This extraordinary work of modern history combines powerful narrative thrust, deep scholarly authority, and quiet interpretive confidence.” —Francis Parkman Prize citation   “A monumental history . . . a widely researched and eloquently written account of how the U.S. came to be involved in Vietnam . . . certainly the most comprehensive review of this period to date.” — The Wall Street Journal   “Superb . . . a product of formidable international research.” — The Washington Post

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Nagasaki - M. G. SHEFTALL Cover Art

Nagasaki

Nagasaki The Last Witnesses by M. G. SHEFTALL

The second volume in a prize-worthy two-book series based on years of irreplicable personal interviews with survivors about each of the atomic bomb drops, first in Hiroshima and then Nagasaki, that hastened the end of the Pacific War. On August 6, 1945, the United States unleashed a weapon unlike anything the world had ever seen. Then, just three days later, when Japan showed no sign of surrender, the United States took aim at Nagasaki. Rendered in harrowing detail, this historical narrative is the second and final volume in M. G. Sheftall’s series Embers. Sheftall has spent years personally interviewing hibakusha —the Japanese word for atomic bomb survivors. These last living witnesses are a vanishing memory resource, the only people who can still provide us with reliable and detailed testimony about life in their cities before the use of nuclear weaponry. The result is an intimate, firsthand account of life in Nagasaki, and the story of incomprehensible devastation and resilience in the aftermath of the second atomic bomb drop. This blow-by-blow account takes us from the city streets, as word of the attack on Hiroshima reaches civilians, to the cockpit of Bockscar, when Charles Sweeney dropped “Fat Man,"  to the interminable six days while the world waited to see if Japan would surrender to the Allies--or if more bombs would fall.

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The Devil Reached Toward the Sky - Garrett M. Graff Cover Art

The Devil Reached Toward the Sky

The Devil Reached Toward the Sky An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb by Garrett M. Graff

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Magisterial…A stunning account that brings to the fore the nuclear saga’s surreal combination of ingenuity, fate, and terror.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) • “If you are an intelligent person, or at the very least think you are, you have to read The Devil Reached Toward the Sky …This period in history has never been more relevant and frightening than it is today.” —James Patterson • “Comprehensive and engrossing…Excellent oral history.” — Kirkus Reviews On the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work is “oral history at its finest” ( Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ) delivers an epic narrative of the atomic bomb’s creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians. The building of the atomic bomb is the most audacious undertaking in human history: a rush by a small group of scientists and engineers in complete secrecy to unlock the most fundamental power of the universe. Even today, the Manhattan Project evokes boldness, daring, and the grandest of dreams: bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific. As Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen fight overseas, men and women strive to discover the atom’s secrets in places like Chicago, Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos. On August 6, 1945, the world discovers what the end of the war—and the new global age—will look like. The road to the first atomic bomb ends in Hiroshima, Japan, but it begins in Hitler’s Europe, where brilliant physicists are forced to flee fascism and antisemitism—bringing to America their determination to harness atomic power before it falls into the Führer’s arsenal. The Devil Reached Toward the Sky traces the breakthroughs and the breakneck pace of atomic development in the years leading up to 1945, then takes us inside the B-29 bombers carrying Little Boy and Fat Man and finally to ground zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff comes a panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks, sacrifices, and choices that will transform the course of history. Engineers experiment with forces of terrifying power, knowing each passing day costs soldiers’ lives—but fearing too the consequences of their creation. Hundreds of thousands of workers toil around the clock to produce uranium and plutonium in an endeavor so classified that most people involved learn the reality of their effort only when it is announced on the radio by President Truman. The 509th Composite Group trains for a mission whose details are kept a mystery until shortly before takeoff, when the Enola Gay and Bockscar are loaded with bombs the crew has never seen. And the civilians of two Japanese cities that have been spared American attacks—preserved for the sake of judging the bomb’s power—escape their pulverized homes into a greater hellscape. Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, and diaries, Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown—key figures like J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and President Truman; the crews of the B-29 bombers; and the haunting stories of the Hibakusha—the “bomb-affected people.” Both a testament to human ingenuity and resilience and a compelling drama told by the participants who lived it, this book is a singular, profound, and searing work about the inception of our most powerful weapon and its haunting legacy.

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Special Forces Combat Recon Manual - U.S. Special Forces Cover Art

Special Forces Combat Recon Manual

Special Forces Combat Recon Manual (includes original 1970 and 1995 updated versions) by U.S. Special Forces

Project Delta - The Origins of LRRP, Recondo in Vietnam This document collection includes the original 1970 Combat Recon Manual by Project Delta and the 7th Special Forces updated version from 1995, plus a third book on WW2 Jungle Fighting. This is the famous "Tips of the trade" training document outlining tactical doctrine /techniques for special patrolling teams that would search for the enemy and transportation units along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Project DELTA was the first of the four Special reconnaissance (SR) units with a Greek letter formed by the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) during the Vietnam War to collect operational intelligence in remote areas of South Vietnam. Project DELTA was established at Nha Trang in 1964 and consisted of six reconnaissance hunter-killer teams each composed of two United States Special Forces (USSF) and four Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces (LLDB) and later supported by the 91st Ranger battalion. It was designated Detachment B-52, 5th Special Forces Group. DELTA's mission included operational and strategic reconnaissance into long-held Viet Cong areas and the direction of air strikes on them. They were also to conduct bomb damage assessment, conduct small scale reconnaissance and hunter-killer operations, capture and interrogate VC / NVA, tap communications, bug compounds and offices, rescue downed aircrew and prisoners of war, emplace point minefields and other booby traps, conduct psychological operations, and perform counter intelligence operations. They were to focus on base areas and infiltration routes in the border areas.   During its storied history, Project DELTA captured or destroyed numerous major enemy installations and supply routes. It was awarded numerous honors including the Valorous Unit Award, RVN Cross of Gallantry, RVN Civil Actions Honor Medal (PC) and the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon. Project DELTA was deactivated in June of 1970. The successful Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) training program was originally established by Detachment B-52 of the 5th Special Forces Group (Project Delta). The Project Delta course was first established in May 1964 and would eventually evolve into the famous Vietnam RECONDO school. BONUS book: This ebook collection also contains a historical report on Jungle Warfare, written in 1942 just months into the Guadalcanal campaign during World War II. Via interviews with front lines Marines and Army soldiers it goes into great details of how the Japanese fought, weapons and tactical reports with specifics on what worked and what didn't. This no holds-barred feedback help U.S. military adapt and supply what our troops needed to succeed in the jungle of the Pacific war. Of note are comments from a one, Lt. Col. L.B. Puller, the legendary 'Chesty' Puller of Marine Corp fame to this very day. Keywords: jungle,reconnaissance,patrolling,infiltration,scouting,tactics,vietnam,warfare, recon, Guadalcanal

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Pol Pot - Philip Short Cover Art

Pol Pot

Pol Pot Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short

“A superb, authoritative account of the man and the madness that transformed Cambodia, almost overnight, into hell on earth”— The New York Times The leading biographer offers a searing, firsthand account of the despot's ideology and the horrors of his reign. Observing Pol Pot at close quarters during the one and only official visit he ever made abroad, to China in 1975, Philip Short was struck by the Cambodian leader's charm and charisma. Yet Pol Pot's utopian experiments in social engineering would result in the death of one in every five Cambodians—more than a million people. How did an idealistic dream of justice and prosperity mutate into one of humanity's worst nightmares? To answer these questions, Short traveled through Cambodia, interviewing former Khmer Rouge leaders and sifting through previously closed archives around the world. Key figures, including Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary, Pol's brother-in-law and foreign minister, speak here for the first time. Short's masterly narrative serves as the definitive portrait of the man who headed one of the most enigmatic and terrifying regimes of modern times. "Short chronicles the stages of the Cambodian revolution with admirable clarity . . . A few chilling details, expertly deployed, do the necessary work." — The New York Times "A spectacularly efficient job of describing what happened and why . . . A chillingly clear portrait." — The Economist

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A Great Place to Have a War - Joshua Kurlantzick Cover Art

A Great Place to Have a War

A Great Place to Have a War America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA by Joshua Kurlantzick

The untold story of how America’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy. January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever. With “revelatory reporting” and “lucid prose” ( The Economist ), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today’s war on terrorism.

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Autocrats vs. Democrats - Michael McFaul Cover Art

Autocrats vs. Democrats

Autocrats vs. Democrats China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder by Michael McFaul

"A history, an analysis, and a set of prescriptions for the greatest geopolitical challenge of our time: the threat to the democratic world posed by China and Russia." —Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc. "A monumental account of contemporary geopolitics"—Francis Fukuyama, author of Liberalism and Its Discontents From New York Times bestselling author and former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul comes a bold, clear-eyed look at how the autocracies of China and Russia are challenging the current liberal international order, and how America’s future depends on successfully confronting this threat. The rise of China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the reelection of President Donald Trump have reinforced a gloomy yet growing consensus: the old global order has ended, and a new Cold War has begun. And yet, many of the perils we face today are distinctly different from those we encountered from the Soviet Union. The alliance between the autocracies of China and Russia, China’s economic might, the rise of the far right in the United States and Europe, and the disturbing isolationist foreign policy shifts of the Trump administration—taken together represent new challenges for the democratic world. They are threats with no precedent in the past century. In this sweeping account of great power competition between the United States, China, and Russia over the past three centuries, Michael McFaul—former ambassador to Russia and international affairs analyst for NBC News —argues persuasively that today’s challenges require fresh thinking, not constrained by distant memories of the Cold War or the nationalist dreams of MAGA. One of the preeminent thinkers on American foreign policy for decades, McFaul combines in-depth historical analysis with a forward-looking perspective, crafting a new American grand strategy for this age of global disorder. Acknowledging how Xi’s China, Putin’s Russia, and Trump’s America are upending the current international system, Autocrats vs. Democrats makes the case against America’s retreat from the world, detailing why: Russia’s disruptive ambitions should not be underestimated.China’s capabilities should not be overestimated.Trump’s shift toward isolationism and autocracy will weaken America’s place in the world. At once a clarion call for American diplomacy and a forceful rebuttal of the Trump administration’s policies, Autocrats vs. Democrats provides a nuanced assessment of the China and Russia threats, as well as a bold vision for renewing America’s leadership on the world stage.

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A Brief History of the Middle East - Christopher Catherwood Cover Art

A Brief History of the Middle East

A Brief History of the Middle East by Christopher Catherwood

Western civilization began in the Middle East: Judaism and Christianity, as well as Islam, were born there. For over a millennium, the Islamic empires were ahead of the West in learning, technology and medicine, and were militarily far more powerful. It took another three hundred centuries for the West to catch up, and overtake, the Middle East. Why does it seem different now? Why does Osama bin Laden see 1918, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, as the year everything changed? These issues are explained in historical detail here, in a way that deliberately seeks to go behind the rhetoric to the roots of present conflicts. A Brief History of the Middle East is essential reading for an intelligent reader wanting to understand what one of the world's key regions is all about. Fully updated with a new section on the Iraq Invasion of 2003, the question of Iran and the full context of the Isreali/Palestine conflict.

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Legends of the Samurai - Hiroaki Sato Cover Art

Legends of the Samurai

Legends of the Samurai by Hiroaki Sato

This authoritative history of Japan's elite warrior class separates fact from myth as it chronicles centuries of samurai combat, culture, and legend. In Legends of the Samurai , Hiroaki Sato examines the history of these medieval Japanese warriors, as well as the many long-standing myths that surround them. In doing so, he presents an authentic and revealing picture of these men and their world. Sato's masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments are accompanied by insightful commentary. With incisive historical research, this volume chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.

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The Samurai Warrior - Ben Hubbard Cover Art

The Samurai Warrior

The Samurai Warrior The Golden Age of Japan's Elite Warriors 1560–1615 by Ben Hubbard

During Japan’s Warring States period, centuries of strife had left the country divided and leaderless. Those who filled the power vacuum were the daimyo, warlords who ruled over the clans and provinces of Japan. Serving their daimyo, the samurai were the ultimate warriors at a time when military prowess won out over hereditary power and position. The nature of warfare itself changed—romantic ideas of mounted duels and battlefield decorum became as rare as aristocratic samurai leaders. Marching in to replace them were the common foot soldiers, the ashigaru, armed with pikes and matchlock rifles. The Samurai Warrior examines the fighting men of this key period in Japanese history. Divided into six chapters, the book describes the unification under the Tokugawa bakufu, the major battles of the era, the weapons and armor used, the social structure of Japanese society, myths about the samurai, and finally the decline of the samurai amidst the modernization of the Meiji period. Including more than 200 photographs, illustrations, paintings, and maps, The Samurai Warrior is a colourful, accessible study of Japan’s famous but often misunderstood warrior elite.

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Japanese Legends: Samurai, Spirits, Myths & the Sacred Stories of Japan - History Brought Alive Cover Art

Japanese Legends: Samurai, Spirits, Myths & the Sacred Stories of Japan

Japanese Legends: Samurai, Spirits, Myths & the Sacred Stories of Japan by History Brought Alive

Discover the Ancient Myths, Warrior Codes, and Sacred Traditions That Shaped Japan Enter a land of gods, samurai, and spirits—where ancient stories still echo today. Japanese Legends isn't just another dry history book—it reveals how sacred myths still shape Japan's festivals, rituals, and national identity. Whether you're drawn to samurai history, yokai tales, or the traditions of shrines and emperors, this book offers a fresh, accessible way to explore the myths and legends that built Japan. Inside this book, you'll discover: • Ancient creation myths: How Izanagi and Izanami formed the islands and set the stage for divine rule •A timeline of Japanese myths —plus key symbols and what they mean today • The rise of the samurai: From peasant warriors to elite fighters bound by the code of bushido •How Zen training helped samurai stay calm, focused, and mentally sharp—even in the heat of battle, as taught by masters like Miyamoto Musashi •Kami and yokai: Spirits in rivers, forests, and shrines that still shape daily life •Haunted legends: Vengeful ghosts, cursed wells, and chilling tales in theatre and anime • Dragons, oni, and mythical beasts —still seen in rituals, festivals, and pop culture • Emperors and shoguns: How myth was used to hold power and legitimize rule •Why spirits, rituals, and sacred festivals still thrive in modern Japan All of this and much, much more… So if you're fascinated by ancient Japanese history, the power of myth, or the warrior spirit of the samurai and shogun —this book is your gateway to the sacred and the legendary. Click Add to Cart and immerse yourself in the myths, spirits, and stories that continue to shape Japan today.

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紅太陽是怎樣升起的 - 高華 Cover Art

紅太陽是怎樣升起的

紅太陽是怎樣升起的 延安整風運動的來龍去脈 by 高華

延安整風運動是深刻影響二十世紀中國歷史進程的重大事件,這是由毛澤東親自領導的中共黨內第一次大規模政治運動,也是建國後歷次政治運動的濫觴。毛澤東在延安整風中運用他所創造的思想改造和審幹、肅反兩種手段,全面清除了中共黨內存留的五四自由民主思想的影響,徹底轉換了中共的「俄化」氣質,重建了以毛澤東為絕對主宰的上層結構,奠定了黨的全盤毛澤東化的基礎,其間所產生的一系列概念、範式在1949年後改變了億萬中國人的生活和命運。本書作者歷時十餘年,搜尋考辨大量歷史資料,在此基礎上,從實證研究的角度,詳細剖析了延安整風的前因後果及運動所涉及的各個方面,力圖再現當年這場運動的歷史真貌,是目前海內外唯一一本全面研究延安整風運動的歷史著作。

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Ghosts of the Tsunami - Richard Lloyd Parry Cover Art

Ghosts of the Tsunami

Ghosts of the Tsunami Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone by Richard Lloyd Parry

Named one of the best books of 2017 by The Guardian , NPR, GQ , The Economist , Bookforum , and Lit Hub The definitive account of what happened, why, and above all how it felt, when catastrophe hit Japan—by the Japan correspondent of The Times (London) and author of People Who Eat Darkness On March 11, 2011, a powerful earthquake sent a 120-foot-high tsunami smashing into the coast of northeast Japan. By the time the sea retreated, more than eighteen thousand people had been crushed, burned to death, or drowned. It was Japan’s greatest single loss of life since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. It set off a national crisis and the meltdown of a nuclear power plant. And even after the immediate emergency had abated, the trauma of the disaster continued to express itself in bizarre and mysterious ways. Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, lived through the earthquake in Tokyo and spent six years reporting from the disaster zone. There he encountered stories of ghosts and hauntings, and met a priest who exorcised the spirits of the dead. And he found himself drawn back again and again to a village that had suffered the greatest loss of all, a community tormented by unbearable mysteries of its own. What really happened to the local children as they waited in the schoolyard in the moments before the tsunami? Why did their teachers not evacuate them to safety? And why was the unbearable truth being so stubbornly covered up? Ghosts of the Tsunami is a soon-to-be classic intimate account of an epic tragedy, told through the accounts of those who lived through it. It tells the story of how a nation faced a catastrophe, and the struggle to find consolation in the ruins.

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