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

The Story of China - Michael Wood Cover Art

The Story of China

The Story of China The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream by Michael Wood

A single volume history of China, offering a look into the past of the global superpower and its significance today. Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world's oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years. After a century and a half of foreign invasion, civil war, and revolution, China has once again returned to center stage as a global superpower and the world's second largest economy. But how did it become so dominant? Wood argues that in order to comprehend the great significance of China today, we must begin with its history. The Story of China takes a fresh look at the Middle Kingdom in the light of the recent massive changes inside the country. Taking into account exciting new archeological discoveries, the book begins with China's prehistory—the early dynasties, the origins of the Chinese state, and the roots of Chinese culture in the age of Confucius. Wood looks at particular periods and themes that are now being reevaluated by historians, such as the renaissance of the Song with its brilliant scientific discoveries. He paints a vibrant picture of the Qing Empire in the 18th century, just before the European impact, a time when China's rich and diverse culture was at its height. Then, Wood explores the encounter with the West, the Opium Wars, the clashes with the British, and the extraordinarily rich debates in the late 19th century that pushed China along the path to modernity. Finally, he provides a clear up-to-date account of post-1949 China, including revelations about the 1989 crisis based on newly leaked inside documents, and fresh insights into the new order of President Xi Jinping. All woven together with landscape history and the author's own travel journals, The Story of China is the indispensable book about the most intriguing and powerful country on the world stage today.

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Pacific - Simon Winchester Cover Art

Pacific

Pacific Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by Simon Winchester

One of Library Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2015 Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast, including Seattle, San Francisco, and the long cluster of towns down the Silicon Valley. Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us—tremendous earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis—but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s sixteenth-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made. In telling the story of the Pacific, Simon Winchester takes us from the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, the Yangtze River to the Panama Canal, and to the many small islands and archipelagos that lie in between. He observes the fall of a dictator in Manila, visits aboriginals in northern Queensland, and is jailed in Tierra del Fuego, the land at the end of the world. His journey encompasses a trip down the Alaska Highway, a stop at the isolated Pitcairn Islands, a trek across South Korea and a glimpse of its mysterious northern neighbor. Winchester’s personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives. This masterwork of modern history explores ten pivotal moments that define our tomorrow: The Atomic Ocean: Begins with the Cold War's secret nuclear tests that transformed the Pacific into the world’s proving ground for thermonuclear weapons. Geopolitical Analysis: Charts the dramatic shift of global power from the Atlantic to the Pacific, examining the ascent of China and the changing role of the United States. Geological Power: Connects the ocean’s violent tectonics—from the Ring of Fire’s volcanoes to devastating tsunamis—to the forces that shape human destiny. Exploration and Travelogue: Follows Winchester on his own journeys across the Pacific, from a tense visit to North Korea to being jailed in Tierra del Fuego. End of Empire: Witnesses the twilight of colonial power as the great European empires recede from the Pacific, leaving new nations to forge their own futures.

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Among the Headhunters - Robert Lyman Cover Art

Among the Headhunters

Among the Headhunters An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival in the Burmese Jungle by Robert Lyman

The dramatic true story of twenty Americans fighting to survive after their plane crashes in a treacherous Burmese jungle during World War II. "This is an extraordinary story of the sudden confrontation of two civilizations on the edge of the British Empire which ended in harmony and affection. It is excellently told, exciting, vivid, and moving." —Alan MacFarlane, author of Riddle of the Modern World , The Savage Wars of Peace , and Empire of Tea Flying the notorious "Hump" route between India and China in 1943, a twin-engine plane suffered mechanical failure and crashed in a dense mountain jungle, deep within Japanese-held territory. Among the passengers and crew were celebrated CBS journalist Eric Sevareid, an OSS operative who was also a Soviet double agent, and General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell's personal political adviser. Against the odds, all but one of the twenty-one people aboard the doomed aircraft survived—it remains the largest civilian evacuation of an aircraft by parachute. But they fell from the frying pan into the fire. Disentangling themselves from their parachutes, the shocked survivors discovered that they had arrived in wild country dominated by a tribe with a special reason to hate white men. The Nagas were notorious headhunters who routinely practiced slavery and human sacrifice, their specialty being the removal of enemy heads. Japanese soldiers lay close by, too, with their own brand of hatred for Americans. Among the Headhunters tells—for the first time—the incredible true story of the adventures of these men among the Naga warriors, their sustenance from the air by the USAAF, and their ultimate rescue. It is also a story of two very different worlds colliding—young Americans, exuberant apostles of their country's vast industrial democracy, coming face-to-face with the Naga, an ancient tribe determined to preserve its local power based on headhunting and slaving. "Beautifully written and researched, it is both highly relevant and a testimony to the power of the human spirit." —James Holland, author of The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941 "Robert Lyman brings the skills of a born storyteller and the erudition of an historian to this wonderful book. His long engagement with and affection for the people of the Burmese jungle shine through. It is a gripping and immensely humane book." —Fergal Kane, author of Season of Blood and Road of Bones

4

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.

5

The Rising Sun - John Toland Cover Art

The Rising Sun

The Rising Sun The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland

“[ The Rising Sun ] is quite possibly the most readable, yet informative account of the Pacific war.”— Chicago Sun-Times This Pulitzer Prize–winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, “a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened—muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox.” In weaving together the historical facts and human drama leading up to and culminating in the war in the Pacific, Toland crafts a riveting and unbiased narrative history. In his Foreword, Toland says that if we are to draw any conclusion from The Rising Sun , it is “that there are no simple lessons in history, that it is human nature that repeats itself, not history.” “Unbelievably rich . . . readable and exciting . . .The best parts of [Toland’s] book are not the battle scenes but the intimate view he gives of the highest reaches of Tokyo politics.”— Newsweek

6

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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War without Mercy - John Dower Cover Art

War without Mercy

War without Mercy Race and Power in the Pacific War (NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER) by John Dower

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • AN AMERICAN BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A monumental history that has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States.” In this monumental history, Professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific War—race—while writing what John Toland has called “a landmark book ... a powerful, moving, and evenhanded history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan.”   Drawing on American and Japanese songs, slogans, cartoons, propaganda films, secret reports, and a wealth of other documents of the time, Dower opens up a whole new way of looking at that bitter struggle of four and a half decades ago and its ramifications in our lives today. As Edwin O. Reischauer, former ambassador to Japan, has pointed out, this book offers “a lesson that the postwar generations need most ... with eloquence, crushing detail, and power.”

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The Pillow Book - Sei Shonagon & Meredith McKinney Cover Art

The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon & Meredith McKinney

A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.

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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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Postcards from Tomorrow Square - James Fallows Cover Art

Postcards from Tomorrow Square

Postcards from Tomorrow Square Reports from China by James Fallows

“Americans need not be hostile toward China's rise, but they should be wary about its eventual effects. The United States is the only nation with the scale and power to try to set the terms of its interaction with China rather than just succumb. So starting now, Americans need to consider the economic, environmental, political, and social goals they care about defending as Chinese influence grows.” —from “China Makes, the World Takes” Since December 2006, The Atlantic Magazine 's James Fallows has been writing some of the most discerning accounts of the economic and political transformation occurring in China. The ten essays collected here cover a wide-range of topics: from visionary tycoons and TV-battling entrepreneurs, to environmental pollution and how China subsidizes our economy. Fallows expertly and lucidly explains the economic, political, social, and cultural forces at work turning China into a world superpower at breakneck speed. This eye-opening and cautionary account is essential reading for all concerned not only with China's but America's future role in the world.

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The Two Koreas - Don Oberdorfer & Robert Carlin Cover Art

The Two Koreas

The Two Koreas A Contemporary History by Don Oberdorfer & Robert Carlin

An acclaimed history of the Korean Peninsula from World War II to the present day North Korea is an impoverished, famine-ridden nation, but it is also a nuclear power whose dictator Kim Jong-un regularly threatens his neighbors and adversaries, the United States in particular, with destruction. Even though Kim and President Donald Trump's responses to him dominate the daily headlines, the idea that North Korea is a menace is not a new one. Indeed, ever since Korea was first divided at the end of World War II, the tension between its northern and southern halves has riveted-and threatened to embroil -- the rest of the world. In this landmark history, veteran journalist Don Oberdorfer and Korea expert Robert Carlin grippingly describe how a historically homogenous people became locked in a perpetual struggle for supremacy -- and how other nations including the United States have tried, and failed, to broker a lasting peace.

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Lion City - Jeevan Vasagar Cover Art

Lion City

Lion City Singapore and the Invention of Modern Asia by Jeevan Vasagar

A compelling, illuminating and evocative history of Singapore—the world's most successful city-state. In 1965, Singapore's GDP per capita was on a par with Jordan. Now it has outstripped Japan. After the Second World War and a sudden rupture with newly formed Malaysia, Singapore found itself independent - and facing a crisis. It took the bloody-minded determination and vision of Lee Kuan Yew, its founding premier, to take a small island of diverse ethnic groups with a fragile economy and hostile neighbours and meld it into Asia's first globalised city. Lion City  examines the different faces of Singaporean life - from education and health to art, politics and demographic challenges - and reveals how in just half a century, Lee forged a country with a buoyant economy and distinctive identity. It explores the darker side of how this was achieved too; through authoritarian control that led to it being dubbed 'Disneyland with the death penalty'. Jeevan Vasagar, former Singapore correspondent for the  Financial Times , masterfully takes us through the intricate history, present and future of this unique diamond-shaped island one degree north of the equator, where new and old have remained connected.  Lion City  is a personal, insightful and definitive guide to the city, and how its extraordinary rise is shaping East Asia and the rest of the world.

13

Korea - Eugene Y. Park Cover Art

Korea

Korea A History by Eugene Y. Park

While popular trends, cuisine, and long-standing political tension have made Korea familiar in some ways to a vast English-speaking world, its recorded history of some two millennia remains unfamiliar to most. Korea: A History addresses general readers, providing an up-to-date, accessible overview of Korean history from antiquity to the present. Eugene Y. Park draws on original-language sources and the up-to-date synthesis of East Asian and Western-language scholarship to provide an insightful account. This book expands still-limited English-language discussions on pre-modern Korea, offering rigorous and compelling analyses of Korea's modernization while discussing daily life, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ history, and North Korean history not always included in Korea surveys. Overall, Park is able to break new ground on questions and debates that have been central to the field of Korean studies since its inception.

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Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan - Jonathan Manthorpe Cover Art

Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan

Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan by Jonathan Manthorpe

For over 400 years, Taiwan has suffered at the hands of multiple colonial powers, but it has now entered the decade when its independence will be won or lost. At the heart of Taiwan's story is the curse of geography that placed the island on the strategic cusp between the Far East and Southeast Asia and made it the guardian of some of the world's most lucrative trade routes. It is the story of the dogged determination of a courageous people to overcome every obstacle thrown in their path. Forbidden Nation tells the dramatic story of the island, its people, and what brought them to this moment when their future will be decided.

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《尋找人吃人見証》 - 依娃 Cover Art

《尋找人吃人見証》

《尋找人吃人見証》 by 依娃

人吃人,狗吃狗,老鼠餓得啃石頭。——農村俗語。 1958年～1962年的中國大饑荒,餓死數千萬農民,全國各地發生過數以萬計的人吃人事件。餓到極點的饑民吃死屍、吃活人、甚至殺吃自己的孩子,慘絕人寰! 動物尚不吃自己的同類,人何以吃人?虎毒尚不食子,人何以殺吃親生骨肉?人吃人,親相食,那是中國歷史上最黑暗、最野蠻、最殘酷、人間煉獄般的毛澤東年代。 作家、大饑荒調研者依娃一次次跋山涉水於河西走廊,東至荒漠酒泉,西到山區天水。她來到大饑荒時期人吃人非常嚴重的臨夏回族自治州、餓死三分之一人口的通渭縣,一個鄉、一個村走訪,在回族老奶奶的熱炕上,在村口曬太陽的老爺爺身邊,在田間地頭、農家小院, 她詢問、探究、記錄當年人吃人的見証:“吃人的是誰?”“被吃的叫什麼名字?”“你親眼看見了嗎?”…… 浮誇虛報,口糧被高徵購搜空了;野菜、草根、榆樹皮被挖完吃盡了;乞討受攔,要飯被截;許多村莊十戶九空,關門絕戶……“他不吃人,他就要餓死了!”這些飽經滄桑的老人,耳聞甚至目睹生存壓倒一切、動物性吞噬人性的慘景。 《尋找人吃人見証》為作者“大饑荒三部曲”的第三本。這是一本令人不忍翻閱的書;這又是一本中國人必須閱讀的書——我們有責任正視和銘記那一頁血淋淋的歷史,因為那些被迫吃人的人,那些被吃掉的人,都是我們的同胞,是我們的同類,是人。 這些文字是審判毛政權反人類罪的証詞。 作者簡介 本名宋琳,作家,大饑荒調研者。居住美國麻州。 出生於陝西省富平縣流曲鄉農民家庭,渡過貧寒童年,七歲時被姑母過繼領養。後在金融機構任職多年,1993年隨夫赴美。曾獲第一屆新世紀華文文學獎、《讀者》徵文獎等。出版多部散文集。 受楊繼繩《墓碑》觸動及家族的緣故,自2010年開始調查中國1958～1962年大饑荒真相,走訪了甘、陝二十多個縣,二百五十多名幸存者。採訪、整理了口述歷史《尋找大饑荒倖存者》(2013年)《尋找逃荒婦女娃娃》(2014年)。《尋找人吃人見証》為大饑荒三部曲第三本。

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《尋找逃荒婦女娃娃》 - 依娃 & 胡傑 Cover Art

《尋找逃荒婦女娃娃》

《尋找逃荒婦女娃娃》 by 依娃 & 胡傑

這是一本一個女兒苦心寫作,奉獻給七十歲母親的書。這是截至目前唯一的一部有關1958年～1963年甘、陝逃荒婦女、兒童的口述歷史專著。 “到陝西逃活命去!”“到陝西就能吃飽!”大饑荒的重災區甘肅省餓死130多萬人口,十萬多年齡在16歲～50歲之間的婦女,家裡餓死了父親、丈夫、兄弟姐妹,在家無顆糧,坐以待斃的情況下,她們拖兒帶女翻山越嶺,有些獨自扒火車逃荒,有些在人販子的帶領、安排下逃荒,有些在親戚、老鄉的同往下,步行、爬火車、乞討、半路被攔截收容……千辛萬苦來到當時“五風”刮得稍微溫和一點的陝西。黑人黑戶,就沒有糧食定量,她們唯一的生存之路,就是嫁給陝西最窮的、年紀大的、身體殘疾的或喪妻的男人,以求有個地方睡覺,有個地方吃飯,以求能把她們帶來的孩子撫養成人,以求活命。甚至不少七、八歲的未成年兒童獨自逃荒,在陝西給人當兒子活下來,慘不忍聞。 “到火車站就有男人等著領,給我一個饃,我就跟上回去了。”“我要飯到這個村裡,人家問了問,我就再沒有走。”“我是人販子領來的,人家賣了一百元。”“給我父親一斗包穀,就行了”…… 三年來,作者走訪了陝西省的戶縣、周至、眉縣、富平、武功等地,採訪了80多名當年的逃荒婦女、兒童。錄音口述、拍攝照片……記錄、搶救這塊大饑荒研究中尚無人開墾的“荒地”。這本書記錄了那些逃自甘肅的甘谷、通渭、秦安等十多個縣的婦女、兒童所遭受的連年饑瑾、曲折艱難的逃荒過程、屈辱無奈的求生故事。字字泣血,句句涕淚。 甘、陝一家親,多少妻離子散?多少骨肉分離?多少血淚傷痛?至今仍鮮為人知她們的哭訴與她們的控訴! 在本書中,中國畫家首次以系列繪畫形式表達對50年代末-60年代初這場大饑荒的深切關注。 各界名家推薦辭 祝賀你的書出版,這是一場戰鬥,是真相和謊言的戰鬥,真相必勝,真理必勝。 ——著名學者、記者、《墓碑》作者楊繼繩 依娃把被壓在最低層的人的話一字不差地展示給世人,很震撼,很有力。這樣的書不是太多,而是太少太少了,它應當成為每一個人的必讀書。讓世界知道,在"偉大、光榮、正確"的中國共產黨統治下的土地上,到底都發生了些什麼?!讓世界知道,比捷克特萊津和波蘭奧斯威辛規模更大,更駭人聽聞的人類獸行的始作俑者們,沒有謝罪,沒有懺悔。 ——著名美學家、作家、《尋找家園》作者高爾泰 這是您對民族災難的心血記錄。製造一場上千萬人死亡的饑荒的元凶和罪犯,一定逃不過歷史的懲罰!因為有你們的書為證。 ——《開放》雜誌總編輯金鐘 記錄大饑荒的歷史,並不是一件輕省的工作。捍衛納粹集中營記憶的大屠殺幸存者、詩人保羅·策蘭縱身跳進塞納河,書寫南京大屠殺的作家張純如不堪憂鬱症的折磨自殺身亡。依娃當然知道這些血肉模糊的前車之鑒,但她還是義無反顧地出發了。冒著巨大的風險,開始了這段漫長的採訪旅程。 ——著名政論作家余傑 你完成了一個有關中國人的神聖使命,而且幾乎是不可能完成的使命。沒有人能夠有你這樣的勇敢和毅力!從寫這部書開始的時候,你就決定了承受壓力和寂寞。你是為了人類的良心寫作,為了歷史的良心寫作。 ——海外文藝評論家陳瑞琳

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BYD - Joseph Yang Cover Art

BYD

BYD Portrait of a Chinese Conglomerate by Joseph Yang

Discover the astonishing rise of BYD, from a modest battery workshop in Shenzhen to the world’s leading electric‑vehicle manufacturer. This book traces the vision of founder Wang Chuanfu, whose relentless focus on mastering every component—from lithium‑ion chemistry to in‑house semiconductors—turned a skeptic’s gamble into a global industrial powerhouse. Readers will follow the company’s daring pivot from reverse‑engineered copies to award‑winning designs, learning how each breakthrough built the foundation for today’s Blade Battery and DM‑i Super Hybrid systems. Explore the strategic decisions that shaped BYD’s destiny: the bold acquisition of a struggling state‑owned car maker, the early bet on lithium iron phosphate when others chased cobalt‑rich chemistries, and the vertical integration that gave the firm unprecedented control over cost, supply chain, and innovation. Through detailed chapters on the F3’s market‑domination, the F3DM’s pioneering plug‑in hybrid, and the electric bus revolution that transformed cities from Shenzhen to London, you’ll see how BYD turned challenges into opportunities and built a diversified conglomerate that spans batteries, buses, rail transit, and even chip manufacturing. Gain insight into the cultural and philosophical drivers behind the brand. The book unpacks the evolution of the “Build Your Dreams” slogan from a pragmatic naming workaround to a guiding ethos that fuels a work‑culture of intense dedication, engineering pride, and a belief in technological self‑reliance. It also examines how BYD’s marketing shifted from pure price competition to aspirational storytelling, leveraging design leadership, safety demonstrations, and global sponsorships to reshape perceptions in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Understand the complexities of BYD’s global ascent amid geopolitical headwinds. The narrative details the company’s response to European anti‑subsidy investigations, the impact of U.S. tariffs, and its strategy of localizing production in Hungary, Brazil, Thailand, and Mexico to bypass trade barriers while building trust as a regional employer. Readers will appreciate how BYD’s rise mirrors broader shifts in industrial policy, state‑enterprise relations, and the new economics of clean technology competition. Finally, look ahead to the next frontiers BYD is confronting: solid‑state battery research, AI‑driven vehicle intelligence, and the expansion of its energy‑storage and semiconductor divisions into global markets. Whether you are an entrepreneur, technology enthusiast, student of industrial strategy, or simply curious about the forces reshaping transportation, this book offers a comprehensive, behind‑the‑scenes portrait of a Chinese conglomerate that is not only building cars but also constructing a vision for a zero‑emission future. Prepare to be informed, inspired, and equipped with the lessons of a company that turned ambition into reality.

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The Case for India - Will Durant Cover Art

The Case for India

The Case for India by Will Durant

From a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author of The Story of Civilization , a comprehensive account of India's struggles under British rule.  When groundbreaking historian Will Durant traveled to India as part of his research for his landmark The Story of Civilization ,   he was confronted by the devastating effects of British rule on the subcontinent. Moved by the starvation and poverty he witnessed, Durant put aside the book he was working on to make a passionate appeal for Indian independence.  The Case for India  describes the economic plunder of India by Great Britain through unfair trade practices and excessive taxes. Durant revealed how India was forced to bear the weight of Britain's global expenses and how the social and political strife between Hindus and Muslims was exacerbated by British rule. He also explores the profound teachings of Gandhi and the rich cultural history of India, arguing that the ancient traditions of India will be lost under British occupation. A powerful indictment of colonialism, The Case for India served as an important polemic during the Indian Independence movement. 

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The Mongol Empire - Michael Prawdin Cover Art

The Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire Its Rise and Legacy by Michael Prawdin

In his prologue to The Mongol Empire, Michael Prawdin sets the stage for the last and mightiest onslaught of the nomads upon the civilized world. He tells of the many rejoicings in Europe over the successes of the Crusaders in A.D. 1221. But little did Europe know that two decades later, the Mongol hordes organized by Genghis Khan would turn the Middle East into a heap of ruins and spread terror throughout the West. A work of enduring scholarship and literary excellence, The Mongol Empire is a classic on the rise and fall of the world's largest empire. It describes the incredible ascent of the Mongol people, which, through the political and military genius of Genghis Khan, overwhelmed and subdued the nations of most of the world. It demonstrates the transformation of barbarous nomads into the most efficient rulers of their time and describes the crumbling of their vast empire and the assumption of its legacy by the formerly subjugated China and Russia. Maurice Collis in Time and Tide said of The Mongol Empire: "It has the rare merit of being both scholarly and exciting...The entire world comes on to his canvas, romantic and fantastical persons pass in our view, and at the conclusion we realize that we have seen the whole of what Marco Polo saw only in part. " while The Observer commented, "it is a fine book, full of dramatic occasion well used, clear in proportions."

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Fall of Civilizations - Paul Cooper Cover Art

Fall of Civilizations

Fall of Civilizations Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul Cooper

"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."―The Times Based on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse. Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.

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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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Brief History of Japan - Jonathan Clements Cover Art

Brief History of Japan

Brief History of Japan Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun by Jonathan Clements

This fascinating history tells the story of the people of Japan, from ancient teenage priest-queens to teeming hordes of salarymen, a nation that once sought to conquer China, yet also shut itself away for two centuries in self-imposed seclusion. First revealed to Westerners in the chronicles of Marco Polo, Japan was a legendary faraway land defended by a fearsome Kamikaze storm and ruled by a divine sovereign. It was the terminus of the Silk Road, the furthest end of the known world, a fertile source of inspiration for European artists, and an enduring symbol of the mysterious East. In recent times, it has become a powerhouse of global industry, a nexus of popular culture, and a harbinger of post-industrial decline. With intelligence and wit, author Jonathan Clements blends documentary and storytelling styles to connect the past, present and future of Japan, and in broad yet detailed strokes reveals a country of paradoxes: a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions; a democracy with an emperor as head of state; a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes resting on the world's most active earthquake zone; a fast-paced urban and technologically advanced country whose land consists predominantly of mountains and forests. Among the chapters in this Japanese history book are: The Way of the Gods: Prehistoric and Mythical Japan A Game of Thrones: Minamoto vs. Taira Time Warp: 200 Years of Isolation The Stench of Butter: Restoration and Modernization The New Breed: The Japanese Miracle

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The Terra Cotta Army - John Man Cover Art

The Terra Cotta Army

The Terra Cotta Army China's First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation by John Man

"A virtuoso historical investigation" of the discovery and history of the sculptures of the first emperor of China's army ( Kirkus Reviews) . The Terra Cotta Army is an account of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made. Over seven thousand life-size figures of warriors and horses were interred in the mausoleum of the first emperor of China'and each figure was individually carved. Weaving together history and a first-hand account of his experiences in China, John Man tells the fascinating story of how and why these astonishing figures were created in the third century BC, and how they have become a symbol of China's history, culture, and society. "John Man conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live." — Guardian

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Tarawa - Robert Sherrod Cover Art

Tarawa

Tarawa The Incredible Story of One of World War II's Bloodiest Battles by Robert Sherrod

In the summer of 1943, at the height of World War II, battles were exploding all throughout the Pacific theater. In mid-November of that year, the United States waged a bloody campaign on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll, the most heavily fortified Japanese territory in the entire Pacific. They were fighting to wrest control of the island to stage the next big push toward Japan—and one journalist was there to chronicle the horror. Dive into war correspondent Robert Sherrod’s battlefield account as he goes ashore with the assault troops of the U.S. Marines 2nd Marine Division in Tarawa. Follow the story of the U.S. Army 27th Infantry Division as nearly 35,000 troops take on less than 5,000 Japanese defenders in one of the most savage engagements of the war. By the end of the battle, only seventeen Japanese soldiers were still alive. This story, a must for any history buff, tells the ins and outs of life alongside the U.S. Marines in this lesser-known battle of World War II. The battle itself carried on for three days, but Sherrod, a dedicated journalist, remained in Tarawa until the very end, and through his writing, shares every detail.

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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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The Secret War - Max Hastings Cover Art

The Secret War

The Secret War Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings

"Monumental." --New York Times Book Review NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From one of the foremost historians of the period and the acclaimed author of Inferno and Catastrophe: 1914, The Secret War is a sweeping examination of one of the most important yet underexplored aspects of World War II—intelligence—showing how espionage successes and failures by the United States, Britain, Russia, Germany, and Japan influenced the course of the war and its final outcome. Spies, codes, and guerrillas played unprecedentedly critical roles in the Second World War, exploited by every nation in the struggle to gain secret knowledge of its foes, and to sow havoc behind the fronts. In The Secret War, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters and some extraordinary sagas of intelligence and resistance, to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history. But who really pulled the strings, and what secrets actually changed the course of the war? The Spymasters and Their Agents: Meet the worldwide cast of characters, from spymasters like William Donovan and Stewart Menzies to notorious agents like Richard Sorge, Kim Philby, and the mysterious 'Cicero'. The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park: Go inside the secret world of Alan Turing and the codebreakers who battled to crack the German Enigma machine and unlock the vital 'Ultra' intelligence that shaped Allied strategy. A Global Espionage History: Examine the successes and failures of every major power's intelligence services—including Britain's MI6, America's OSS, Germany's Abwehr, and the Soviet NKVD—in an unprecedented global context. Guerrilla Warfare and Resistance: Discover the untold stories of partisans and resistance movements, and Hastings's unflinching assessment of how much these secret armies actually contributed to the final outcome of the war.

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Unit 731 - Hal Gold Cover Art

Unit 731

Unit 731 Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program by Hal Gold

This is a riveting and disturbing account of the medical atrocities performed in and around Japan during WWII. Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of the continent. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments. In the first part of Unit 731: Testimony author Hal Gold draws upon a painstakingly accumulated reservoir of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities. The second half of the book consists almost entirely of the words of former unit members themselves, taken from remarks they made at a traveling Unit 731 exhibition held around Japan in 1994-95. These people recount their vivid first-hand memories of what it was like to cut open pregnant women as they lay awake on the vivisection table, inject plague germs into healthy farmers, and carry buckets of fresh blood and organs through corridors to their appropriate destinations. Unit 731: Testimony represents an essential addition to the growing body of literature on the still-unfolding story of one of the most infamous "military" outfits in modern history. By showing how the ethics of normal men and women, and even an entire profession, can be warped by the fire of war, this important book offers a window on a time of human madness, in the hope that such days will never come again.

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China Marine - E.B. Sledge Cover Art

China Marine

China Marine by E.B. Sledge

From the respected author of one of the best books on World War II combat, comes an equally captivating saga of battle recovery, healing, and homecoming.  China Marine is the long-awaited sequel to E. B. Sledge’s critically acclaimed memoir, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. Picking up where his previous memoir leaves off, Sledge, a young marine in the First Division, traces his company’s movements and charts his own difficult passage to peace following his horrific experiences in the Pacific. He reflects on his duty in the ancient city of Peiping (now Beijing) and recounts the difficulty of returning to his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, and resuming civilian life haunted by the shadows of close combat. Distinguished historians have praised Sledge’s first book as the definitive rifleman’s account of World War II, ranking it with the Civil War’s Red Badge of Courage and World War I’s All Quiet on the Western Front. Although With the Old Breed ends with the surrender of Japan, marines in the Pacific were still faced with the mission of disarming the immense Japanese forces on the Asian mainland and reestablishing order. For infantrymen so long engaged in the savage and surreal world of close combat, there remained the personal tasks of regaining normalcy and dealing with suppressed memories, fears, and guilt.  In China Marine , E. B. Sledge completes his story and provides emotional closure to the searing events detailed in his first memoir. He speaks frankly about the real costs of war, emotional and psychological as well as physical, and explains the lifetime loyalties that develop between men who face fear, loss, and horror together. That bond becomes one of the newfound treasures of life after battle. With his hallmark style of simplicity, directness, and lack of sentimentality, “Sledgehammer” has given us yet another great document of war literature.

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Samurai! - Saburo Sakai Cover Art

Samurai!

Samurai! by Saburo Sakai

Saburo Sakai became a living legend in Japan during World War II. Pilots everywhere spoke in awe of his incredible exploits in the air. Sakai enjoyed a singular and most cherished reputation among fighter pilots. Of all Japan’s aces, Saburo Sakai is the only pilot who never lost a wingman in combat. This is an astounding performance for a man who engaged in more than two hundred aerial melees, and it explains the fierce competition, sometimes approaching physical violence, among the other pilots who aspired to fly his wing positions. The reader will doubtless be surprised to learn that Saburo Sakai never received recognition by his government in the form of medals or decorations. The awarding of medals or other citations was unknown to the Japanese. Recognition was given only posthumously. Where the aces of other nations, including our own, were bedecked with rows of colorful medals and ribbons, awarded with great ceremony, Saburo Sakai and his fellow pilots flew repeatedly in combat without ever knowing the satisfaction of such recognition...

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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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The Classic of Tea 茶經 - Lu Yu Cover Art

The Classic of Tea 茶經

The Classic of Tea 茶經 by Lu Yu

"The Classic of Tea" (茶經) is the first monograph of the earliest, most complete and most comprehensive introduction of tea in China and the world . It is known as the tea encyclopedia , written by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty . This book is about the history, origin, current situation, production technology of tea production, as well as the comprehensive theory of tea drinking techniques and tea ceremony principles. It is an epoch-making tea school monograph, an incisive agronomic book, and a book on tea culture .

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Chinese Martial Arts - Peter Lorge Cover Art

Chinese Martial Arts

Chinese Martial Arts From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century by Peter Lorge

In the global world of the twenty-first century, martial arts are practised for self-defense and sporting purposes only. However, for thousands of years, they were a central feature of military practice in China. This book charts the history of combat in China from the Bronze Age to the present.

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The History of Song Dynasty (Part II): 二十四史 宋史(中)(Twenty-four Histories Book 13) - China 24 Histories Cover Art

The History of Song Dynasty (Part II): 二十四史 宋史(中)(Twenty-four Histories Book 13)

The History of Song Dynasty (Part II): 二十四史 宋史(中)(Twenty-four Histories Book 13) by China 24 Histories

The Twenty-Four Histories (Chinese: 二十四史) are the Chinese official historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qian established many of the conventions of the genre. Starting with the Tang dynasty, each dynasty established an official office to write the history of its predecessor using official court records. As fixed and edited in the Qing dynasty, the whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words. It is considered one of the most important sources on Chinese history and culture.  The title "Twenty-Four Histories" dates from 1775 which was the 40th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. This was when the last volume, the History of Min gwas reworked and a complete set of the histories produced. The Twenty Four Histories include: •Early Four Historiographies (前四史) •Records of the Grand Historian (史記, Shǐ Jì), compiled by Sima Qian 司馬遷 in 91 BC •Book of Han (漢書, Hàn Shū), compiled by Ban Gu 班固 in 82 •Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志, Sānguó Zhì), compiled by Chen Shou 陳壽 in 289 •Book of Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhàn Shū), compiled by Fan Ye 范曄 in 445[2] •Book of Song (simplified Chinese: 宋书; traditional Chinese: 宋書; pinyin: Sòng Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Shen Yue 沈約 in 488 •Book of Qi (simplified Chinese: 齐书; traditional Chinese: 齊書; pinyin: Qí Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Xiao Zixian 蕭子顯 in 537 •Book of Wei (simplified Chinese: 魏书; traditional Chinese: 魏書; pinyin: Wèi Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled by Wei Shou 魏收 in 554 •Eight Historiographies complied in Tang Dynasty (唐初八史) •Book of Liang (梁書, Liáng Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Yao Silian 姚思廉 in 636 •Book of Chen (陳書, Chén Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Yao Silian in 636 •Book of Northern Qi (北齊書, Běi Qí Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled by Li Baiyao 李百藥 in 636 •Book of Zhou (周書, Zhōu Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled under Linghu Defen 令狐德棻 in 636 •Book of Sui (隋書, Suí Shū), compiled under Wei Zheng 魏徵 in 636 •Book of Jin (晉書, Jìn Shū), compiled under Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 in 648 •History of the Southern Dynasties (南史, Nán Shǐ), compiled by Li Yanshou 李延壽 in 659 •History of the Northern Dynasties (北史, Běi Shǐ), compiled by Li Yanshou in 659 •Old Book of Tang (唐書, Táng Shū), compiled under Liu Xu 劉昫 in 945 •Old History of the Five Dynasties (五代史, Wǔdài Shǐ), compiled under Xue Juzheng 薛居正 in 974 •New History of the Five Dynasties (新五代史, Xīn Wǔdài Shǐ), compiled under Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩 in 1053 •New Book of Tang (新唐書, Xīn Táng Shū), compiled under Ouyang Xiu in 1060 •Three Historiographies compiled in Yuan Dynasty (元末三史) •History of Liao (遼史, Liáo Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a 脫脫 in 1343[3] •History of Jin (金史, Jīn Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a in 1345 •History of Song (宋史, Sòng Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a in 1345 •History of Yuan (元史, Yuán Shǐ), compiled under Song Lian 宋濂 in 1370 •History of Ming (明史, Míng Shǐ), compiled under Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉 in 1739

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The East is Still Red - Carlos Martinez Cover Art

The East is Still Red

The East is Still Red Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century by Carlos Martinez

China provides a powerful living example of what can be achieved under a socialist system; by a Marxist-led government firmly grounded among the people. The East is Still Red explains the escalating hostility by the imperialist powers towards China and clears up various popular misconceptions. All available evidence indicates that not only is the Communist Party of China committed to Marxism, but it is a leading force for the development and enhancement of Marxism in the 21st century. If the first century of human experience of building socialism teaches us anything, it is that the road from capitalism to socialism is a long and complicated one, and that 'actually existing socialism' varies enormously according to time, place and circumstances. China is building a form of socialism that suits its conditions, using the means it has at its disposal, in the extraordinarily challenging circumstances of global imperialist hegemony. Carlos Martinez provides a concise, deeply researched and well argued account that China's remarkable rise can only be understood by acknowledging its socialist past, present and future. 

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Muslim Zion - Faisal Devji Cover Art

Muslim Zion

Muslim Zion Pakistan as a Political Idea by Faisal Devji

"Offers a detailed analysis of the various political and ideological forces that were at play in the buildup to Pakistan's creation." ( Los Angeles Review of Books) Pakistan is both the embodiment of national ambitions fulfilled and, in the eyes of many observers, a failed state.  Muslim Zion  cuts to the core of the geopolitical paradoxes entangling Pakistan to argue that India's rival has never been a nation-state in the conventional sense. Pakistan is instead a distinct type of political geography, whose closest ideological parallel is the state of Israel. A year before the 1948 establishment of Israel, Pakistan was founded on a philosophy that accords with Zionism in surprising ways. Faisal Devji understands Zion as a political form rather than a holy land, one that rejects hereditary linkages between ethnicity and soil in favor of membership based on an idea of belonging. Like Israel, Pakistan came into being through the migration of a minority population, inhabiting a vast subcontinent, who abandoned old lands in which they feared persecution to settle in a new homeland. Just as Israel is the world's sole Jewish state, Pakistan is the only country to be established in the name of Islam. Revealing how Pakistan's troubled present continues to be shaped by its past,  Muslim Zion  is a penetrating critique of what comes of founding a country on an unresolved desire both to join and reject the world of modern nation-states. "A trenchant analysis . . . of Islamic politics." ? Publishers Weekly "Intellectual history as a page-turner." —Noah Feldman, author of  Cool War: The Future of Global Competition "Brilliantly written, deeply felt . . . an important contribution." —Anatol Lieven, author of  Pakistan: A Hard Country "A remarkable book." — New Republic

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The Jungle War Against the Japanese - Tim Heath Cover Art

The Jungle War Against the Japanese

The Jungle War Against the Japanese From the Veterans Fighting in Asia, 1941–1945 by Tim Heath

The jungle war against the Japanese was arguably one of the worst terrors that could be inflicted upon a young soldier who had never been away from home before, let alone be faced with a brutal, sadistic and uncompromising enemy in an alien environment. Based on the accounts of three culturally different veterans, Tim Heath investigates the war against the Japanese, primarily in the jungles of Asia during the Second World War. From the first jungle forays, through to the defeats, the victories, the massacre of indigenous populations, the war crimes and the final elements of the war in the jungle which led to ultimate victory over the Japanese, this volume is a unique attempt at telling the story from a fresh perspective. The way in which the individuals who have contributed to this volume speak might imply a sanitized view toward the act of killing in times of war. Yet to truly understand this mind-set one has to relive their experiences of that claustrophobic hell. The book examines the factors which initially made the Japanese such brutally efficient exponents of warfare in jungle terrain, the natural hazards encountered in the jungle environment, the techniques that the British had to master in order to become at least equal to their enemy and what it was like to have to live and fight knowing your enemy was never far away from you. It was a war where methods and tactics had to be developed through hard experience along with strong leadership, which was initially lacking on the part of the British. The rule became a simple one: the jungle is neutral. It favours neither friend nor foe. It favours only he who is prepared to adapt to it the best and utilize it to his best advantage. You cannot fight the jungle itself; if you do you will almost certainly die trying.

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History of Song Dynasty (Part I): 二十四史 宋史(上) (Twenty-four Histories Book 14) - China 24 Histories Cover Art

History of Song Dynasty (Part I): 二十四史 宋史(上) (Twenty-four Histories Book 14)

History of Song Dynasty (Part I): 二十四史 宋史(上) (Twenty-four Histories Book 14) by China 24 Histories

The Twenty-Four Histories (Chinese: 二十四史) are the Chinese official historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qian established many of the conventions of the genre. Starting with the Tang dynasty, each dynasty established an official office to write the history of its predecessor using official court records. As fixed and edited in the Qing dynasty, the whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words. It is considered one of the most important sources on Chinese history and culture.  The title "Twenty-Four Histories" dates from 1775 which was the 40th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. This was when the last volume, the History of Min gwas reworked and a complete set of the histories produced. The Book of Book of Song and South Qi Dynasty (宋书;南齐书) is the sixth volume of The Twenty Four Histories. The Twenty Four Histories include: •Early Four Historiographies (前四史) •Records of the Grand Historian (史記, Shǐ Jì), compiled by Sima Qian 司馬遷 in 91 BC •Book of Han (漢書, Hàn Shū), compiled by Ban Gu 班固 in 82 •Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志, Sānguó Zhì), compiled by Chen Shou 陳壽 in 289 •Book of Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhàn Shū), compiled by Fan Ye 范曄 in 445[2] •Book of Song (simplified Chinese: 宋书; traditional Chinese: 宋書; pinyin: Sòng Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Shen Yue 沈約 in 488 •Book of Qi (simplified Chinese: 齐书; traditional Chinese: 齊書; pinyin: Qí Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Xiao Zixian 蕭子顯 in 537 •Book of Wei (simplified Chinese: 魏书; traditional Chinese: 魏書; pinyin: Wèi Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled by Wei Shou 魏收 in 554 •Eight Historiographies complied in Tang Dynasty (唐初八史) •Book of Liang (梁書, Liáng Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Yao Silian 姚思廉 in 636 •Book of Chen (陳書, Chén Shū)—Southern Dynasties, compiled by Yao Silian in 636 •Book of Northern Qi (北齊書, Běi Qí Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled by Li Baiyao 李百藥 in 636 •Book of Zhou (周書, Zhōu Shū)—Northern Dynasties, compiled under Linghu Defen 令狐德棻 in 636 •Book of Sui (隋書, Suí Shū), compiled under Wei Zheng 魏徵 in 636 •Book of Jin (晉書, Jìn Shū), compiled under Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 in 648 •History of the Southern Dynasties (南史, Nán Shǐ), compiled by Li Yanshou 李延壽 in 659 •History of the Northern Dynasties (北史, Běi Shǐ), compiled by Li Yanshou in 659 •Old Book of Tang (唐書, Táng Shū), compiled under Liu Xu 劉昫 in 945 •Old History of the Five Dynasties (五代史, Wǔdài Shǐ), compiled under Xue Juzheng 薛居正 in 974 •New History of the Five Dynasties (新五代史, Xīn Wǔdài Shǐ), compiled under Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩 in 1053 •New Book of Tang (新唐書, Xīn Táng Shū), compiled under Ouyang Xiu in 1060 •Three Historiographies compiled in Yuan Dynasty (元末三史) •History of Liao (遼史, Liáo Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a 脫脫 in 1343[3] •History of Jin (金史, Jīn Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a in 1345 •History of Song (宋史, Sòng Shǐ), compiled under Toqto'a in 1345 •History of Yuan (元史, Yuán Shǐ), compiled under Song Lian 宋濂 in 1370 •History of Ming (明史, Míng Shǐ), compiled under Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉 in 1739

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戰後台灣史 - 蔡石山 Cover Art

戰後台灣史

戰後台灣史 一個新國家的向望 by 蔡石山

唯有讀懂戰後歷史,才能透澈了解今日的台灣! 吳重雨(前國立交通大學校長) 陳翠蓮(國立台灣大學歷史學系教授) 簡明仁(財團法人大眾教育基金會董事長) ──一致推薦 ──一九四五年日本宣布投降後,到國民政府正式接收前,七十天的權力真空期間,發生什麼左右了島嶼日後的命運? ──台灣歷經戒嚴、白色恐怖、民主化浪潮,美國到底站在什麼位置?當六項保證寫入歷史,美國究竟改變了什麼? ──從加工出口區到科技產業,從代工島嶼到晶片重鎮,一個被外交孤立的島嶼,為什麼能掌握世界科技關鍵?

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Rain of Ruin - Richard Overy Ph.D. Cover Art

Rain of Ruin

Rain of Ruin Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan by Richard Overy Ph.D.

“Richard Overy [is] one of the world’s finest military historians and probably the best historian of World War II writing in English today.” —Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Army retired, Twentieth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army magazine A leading historian of World War II sheds new light on the purposes and impact of the U.S. incendiary and atomic bombing of Japan’s cities in 1945. With the development of the B-29 “Superfortress” in summer 1944, strategic bombing, a central component of the Allied war effort against Germany, arrived in the Pacific theater. In 1945 Japan experienced the three most deadly bombing attacks of the war. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned the city’s most densely populated sector, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than one million homeless. The attack was part of a months-long campaign of incendiary bombing that destroyed almost two-thirds of Japan’s cities. The two atomic blasts in August killed hundreds of thousands in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of them civilians. The bombing brought a destabilizing devastation that, combined with a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, induced Japan, as they put it, to terminate the war. Many at the time and since have credited American air power, and especially the two atomic bombs, with Japan’s surrender. But Richard Overy tells a different, more dimensional story. Drawing on his expertise on the war and its bombing campaigns, he delivers a precise recounting of these aerial attacks, and a balanced, informed assessment of how and why they occurred. Overy is astute on the Allied decision-making, and, notably, integrates the Japanese leadership as well. He ably navigates the dramatic endgame of the war, which featured factional infighting within the Japanese cabinet, a scramble by American officials to formulate an acceptable version of “unconditional surrender,” and the crucial role played by the emperor, Hirohito. The atomic bombing emerges as impactful but not decisive in this rich, multilayered history

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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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明朝那些事儿(上) - 当年明月 Cover Art

明朝那些事儿(上)

明朝那些事儿(上) by 当年明月

我早就从一些年轻朋友的口中听说有一部《明朝那些事儿》,听说它在网上受到了广泛的欢迎。朋友们问我,你怎么看待这种写法呢?我说,历史是千百万人的历史,是大家的历史,每个人都有解读历史的权力。而且,从来每个人由于立场和学养的不同,所看到的历史都是不同的。我们既不能要求历史写作的手法千人一面,又不能要求对历史的结论定于一尊。如同我们听歌唱,无论是学院派的美声的、民族的,还是山野的原生态的,都有存在的价值。其根本在于歌唱者的态度是严肃的,所献出的是精品。换句话说,无论是学院派的美声的、民族的,还是山野的原生态的歌唱者,如果其态度是不严肃的,所献出的不是精品,也是得不到欢迎的。 作者当年明月说:自己的写法是“以史料为基础,以年代和具体人物为主线,并加入了小说的笔法和对人物的心理分析,以及对当时政治经济制度的一些评价”,并且说,其作品“不是小说,不是史书”,“姑且叫做《明札记》”。这的确是别开生面的,是一种创造。我热情地支持这种探索和创造!期待他把这三百年写完。 让我们以更为轻松的状态走进历史吧。 作者当年明月写轻松的历史,其实并不轻松;大家轻松地读历史,希望真的很轻松。

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Tanks in Hell - Oscar E. Gilbert Cover Art

Tanks in Hell

Tanks in Hell A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa by Oscar E. Gilbert

An extraordinary slice of untold WWII history: how unproven Marines driving untested Sherman tanks turned the tide against Japan in the Battle of Tarawa. In May 1943, a self-described "really young, green, ignorant lieutenant" assumed command of a new US Marine Corps company. His even younger Marines were learning to operate an untested weapon, the M4A2 "Sherman" medium tank. Just six months later, the company would be thrown into one of the ghastliest battles of World War II.   On November 20, 1943, the 2nd Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the powerful Japanese defenses on the atoll of Tarawa. In that blood-soaked invasion, a single company of Sherman tanks—of which only two survived—played a pivotal role in achieving a legendary victory.   In this fascinating study, Oscar E. Gilbert and Romain V. Cansiere use official documents, memoirs, and interviews with veterans, as well as personal and aerial photographs, to follow Charlie Company from its formation. Tracing the movement, action, and fall of individual tanks, Tanks in Hell offers "a personal, beach-level view of the Marine island campaign" (Marine Corps History).  

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The Secret History of the Mongol Queens - Jack Weatherford Cover Art

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford

“A fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan” ( Booklist ) by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan “Enticing . . . hard to put down.”—Associated Press The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. The daughters of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section about the queens from the Secret History of the Mongols , and, with that one act, the dynasty of these royals had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens , a groundbreaking and magnificently researched narrative, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

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The Way of the Samurai - Miyamoto Musashi, Yamamoto Tsunetomo & Inazo Nitobe Cover Art

The Way of the Samurai

The Way of the Samurai The Book of Five Rings, Hagakure: Book of the Samurai, Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Miyamoto Musashi, Yamamoto Tsunetomo & Inazo Nitobe

Presented here in one volume are three of the seminal texts relating to the Japanese 'Way of the Samurai', essential reading for anyone interested in the Samurai culture of Japan. 'Go Rin No Sho', or 'The Book of Five Rings' is a famous text written by the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi in 1645, concerning Martial Arts, in particular Kenjitsu and the art of Zen. Miyamoto Musashi uses language that is as sharp and decisive as his sword - delivering in unfaltering steps the most direct path towards the objective - to cut down your opponent and emerge unscathed and victorious. 'Hagakure' provides a peerless view into the mindset and morality of the Japanese Samurai. Written by the Samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the early 18th Century, the text illustrates the concept of 'Bushido'. 'Bushido' translates literally as 'the way of the warrior', and is the Japanese word used to describe the ancient code of the Samurai. It is a complex and chivalric code of behavior that prizes loyalty and honor above all, but also champions the qualities of dedication, frugality, and mastery of martial arts. Fundamental to 'the Way of the Warrior', is the concept of a 'good death'.   Tsunetomo urges his Samurai readers to assume themselves already dead, to completely remove the fear of death, giving them the freedom to act rapidly and decisively, regardless of whether the actions might result in their own demise. The three books in this volume have been beautifully arranged with color images and an interactive table of contents for ease of navigation.

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China - John Keay Cover Art

China

China A History by John Keay

An authoritative account of five thousand years of Chinese history. "Exquisitely written." — Guardian Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the recent economic transformation of the country. Crisp, judicious, and engaging, China is the classic single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand the present and future of this immensely powerful nation.

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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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The Theogony of Hesiod - Hesiod Cover Art

The Theogony of Hesiod

The Theogony of Hesiod by Hesiod

The “Theogony” is essentially a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods and the universe, organized as a narrative that tells about the creation of the world out of Chaos and about the gods that shaped the cosmos. To some extent, it represents the Greek mythology equivalent of the book of Genesis in the Hebrew and Christian "Bible", as it lists the early generations and genealogy of the gods, titans and heroes since the beginning of the universe. Interestingly, Hesiod claims in the work that he (a poet, and not some mighty king) had been given the authority and responsibility of disseminating these stories by the Muses directly, thus putting himself almost in the position of a prophet. In formal terms, the poem is presented as a hymn in 1,022 lines invoking Zeus and the Muses, in the tradition of the hymnic preludes with which an ancient Greek rhapsode would begin his performance at poetic competitions. The final written form of the “Theogony” was probably not established until the 6th Century BCE, however, and some editors have concluded that a few minor episodes, such as the Typhoeus episode in verses 820-880, is an interpolation (a passage introduced later). It should perhaps be seen not a definitive source of Greek mythology, but rather as a snapshot of a dynamic tradition of myths as it stood at that particular time. Greek mythology continued to change and adapt after this time, and some of the stories and attributes of the various gods have likewise transformed over time.

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Fragile Cargo - Adam Brookes Cover Art

Fragile Cargo

Fragile Cargo The World War II Race to Save the Treasures of China's Forbidden City by Adam Brookes

The “gripping and meticulously researched” ( The Times , London) true story of the determined museum curators who saved the priceless treasures of China’s Forbidden City in the years leading up to World War II and beyond. Spring 1933: The silent courtyards and palaces of Peking’s Forbidden City, for centuries the home of Chinese emperors, are tense with fear and expectation. Japan’s aircrafts drone overhead, its troops and tanks are only hours away. All-out war between China and Japan is coming, and the curators of the Forbidden City are faced with an impossible question: how will they protect the vast imperial art collections in their charge? A difficult and monumental decision is made: to safeguard the treasures, they will need to be evacuated. The magnificent collections contain a million pieces of art—objects that carry China’s deepest and most ancient memories. Among them are irreplaceable artefacts: exquisite paintings on silk, rare Ming porcelain, and the extraordinary Stone Drums of Qin, which are adorned with 2,500-year-old inscriptions of cultural significance. For sixteen years, under the quiet leadership of museum director Ma Heng, the curators would go on to transport the imperial art collections thousands of miles across China—up rivers of white water, across mountain ranges, and through burning cities. In their search for safety the curators and their fragile, invaluable cargo journeyed through the maelstrom of violence, chaos, and starvation that was China’s Second World War. Told for the first time in English and playing out across a vast historical canvas, this “compelling story of art, war, and adventure” (Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs: 1613-1918 ) follows the small group of men and women who, when faced with war’s onslaught on civilization, chose to resist.

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The Doctor and the Saint - Arundhati Roy Cover Art

The Doctor and the Saint

The Doctor and the Saint Caste, Race, and Annihilation of Caste: The Debate Between B. R. Ambedkar and M. K. Gandhi by Arundhati Roy

The little-known story of Gandhi's reluctance to challenge the caste system, and the man who fought fiercely for India's downtrodden. Democracy hasn't eradicated caste, argues bestselling author and Booker Prize–winner Arundhati Roy—it has entrenched and modernized it. To understand caste today in India, Roy insists we must examine the influence of Gandhi in shaping what India ultimately became: independent of British rule, globally powerful, and marked to this day by the caste system. Roy states that for more than a half century, Gandhi's pronouncements on the inherent qualities of black Africans, Dalit "untouchables," and the laboring classes remained consistently insulting, and he also refused to allow lower castes to create their own political organizations and elect their own representatives. But there was someone else who had a larger vision of justice—a founding father of the republic and the chief architect of its constitution. In  The Doctor and the Saint , Roy introduces us to this contemporary of Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, who challenged the thinking of the time and fought to promote not merely formal democracy, but liberation from the oppression, shame, and poverty imposed on millions of Indians by an archaic caste system. This is a fascinating and surprising look at two men—one of whom has become a worldwide symbol and the other of whom remains unfamiliar to most outside his native country. Praise for Arundhati Roy "Arundhati Roy is incandescent in her brilliance and her fearlessness." —Junot Díaz "The fierceness with which Arundhati Roy loves humanity moves my heart." —Alice Walker

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Samurai - Stephen Turnbull Cover Art

Samurai

Samurai The Japanese Warrior's [Unofficial] Manual by Stephen Turnbull

Combines the latest research with contemporary lives, descriptions, and reconstructions to provide a dramatic picture of what it was like to be a samurai. So you think you’d like to be a samurai? It’s 1615 and the samurai, Japan’s elite fighting class, are at the zenith of their powers. Trained in every manner of combat, from sword fighting and archery to karate and jujitsu, the samurai warrior is the emperor’s last line of defense against the lewd and sordid barbarians of Japan and beyond. This handy manual tells you everything you need to know about maintaining the honor of the samurai class both on and off the battlefield. • How to master the Way of the Warrior • Whom you should kill, and what to do with the heads afterward • What the cultured samurai does between battles • How to storm or lay siege to a castle • How to conduct a tea ceremony with Zen-like composure • How to prepare for entry into the White Jade Pavilion after your death

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