Asia

There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly and so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway....

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400....

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism....

From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior....

Legendary 17th century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi’s exposition of sword fighting, strategy and zen philosophy....

This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire....

Don't miss this opportunity to embrace a deeper understanding of life under the rising sun. Uncovering Japanese Mythology is your passport to a world that has thrived for over 2,000 years....

The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan....

A gripping, behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and contending forces in Tokyo during the volatile decade that led to World War II, as seen through the eyes of the American ambassador who attempted to stop the slide to war....

Award-winning historian Sean McMeekin investigates the evolution of Communism from a seductive ideal of a classless society into the ruling doctrine of tyrannical regimes.

The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb....

A landmark, magisterial history of the trial of Japan’s leaders as war criminals—the largely overlooked Asian counterpart to Nuremberg.

The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company....

Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing 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....

Between 1958 and 1962, 45 million Chinese people were worked, starved or beaten to death. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up with and overtake the West in less than fifteen years. It led to one of the world's greatest catastrophes.

A riveting narrative, Dereliction of Duty focuses on a fascinating cast of characters: President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, and other aides who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the US Congress, and the American public....

One of the US government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise - and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us....

Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat....

The most authoritative biography of Mao ever written....

In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the USSR and inspiring copycat terror programs....

Uncover the true story of the man who unified medieval Japan....

Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world while ignoring the other....

From one of the most admired reporters covering China today comes a vital new account of the life and political vision of Xi Jinping, the authoritarian leader of the People’s Republic whose hard-edged tactics have set the rising superpower on a collision with Western liberal democracies.

As one of the most potent turning points in the country's modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today's China seeks to put behind it....

A biography of Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, one of the twentieth century's most powerful and controversial figures, Victorious in Defeat provides a detailed portrait of a man who ranks with Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, and Gandhi as leaders who shaped our world....

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, the world was certain that Communism was dead. Today, three decades later, it is clear that it was not. While Russia may no longer be Communist, Communism and sympathy for Communist ideas have proliferated across the globe. In To Overthrow the World, Sean McMeekin investigates the evolution of Communism from a seductive ideal of a classless society into the ruling doctrine of tyrannical regimes.

In this vividly rendered historical narrative, M. G. Sheftall layers the stories of hibakusha—the Japanese word for atomic bomb survivors—in harrowing detail, to give a minute-by-minute report of August 6, 1945, in the leadup and aftermath of the world-changing bombing mission of Paul Tibbets, Enola Gay, and Little Boy.

Genghis Khan built a formidable land empire, but he never crossed the sea. Yet by the time his grandson Kublai Khan had defeated the last vestiges of the Song empire and established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, the Mongols controlled the most powerful navy in the world. How did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea? Based on ten years of research and a lifetime of immersion in Mongol culture and tradition, Emperor of the Seas brings this little-known story vibrantly to life.

Xi Jinping rules over 1.4 billion people and the second biggest economy on earth. He commands huge armed forces and runs a technology programme meant to dominate the globe. His ambition is to take the place of the United States and to change the world order. Xi's life story is full of drama: plots, purges, murders, a power struggle and a pandemic. The book, based on new sources, leads the listener from the poor, isolated China of the 1950s to the modern economic and military juggernaut of today.

Midway is the most famous naval battle of the Pacific War, and one of the most mythologized. The traditional view of the battle, popularized in its immediate aftermath and surviving through to the present day, is of a heavily outnumbered American force snatching victory in the face of overwhelming odds. This view is simplistic and, in many respects, wrong. Pacific War expert Mark Stille provides a detailed analysis of this pivotal battle, and argues that Midway was neither a miraculous American victory, nor a product of good fortune.

The relationship between Britain and China has shaped the modern world. Chinese art, philosophy, and science have had a profound effect upon British culture, while the long history of British exploitation is still bitterly remembered in China today. But how has their interaction changed over time? From the early days of the East India Company through the violence of the Opium Wars to present-day disputes over Hong Kong, Kerry Brown charts this turbulent and intriguing relationship in full.

Forged during the tumultuous aftermath of Partition in 1947, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) has grown to become the preeminent intelligence service in Pakistan. Its capabilities are comprehensive, its remit covers both foreign and domestic intelligence, and it is one of the most feared and respected agencies of the Global South. Pakistan's ISI provides an up-to-date and detailed introduction to the ISI and its historical evolution.

Active US involvement in what became known as the Vietnam War (in Vietnam, this conflict is remembered as the American War) began in 1961 and spanned a period of twelve years until the Paris Peace Talks finally brought the deployment of American combat troops to an end in early 1973. Unfortunately, the peace talks didn’t also lead to the end of the civil war between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

Discover the majestic landscapes, ancient traditions, and the relentless quest for freedom in this captivating journey. Explore the spiritual and everyday life of Tibetan civilization, from the mysterious beginnings of its people to their ongoing struggles under Chinese rule.

Zen, haiku, martial arts, sushi, anime, manga, film, video games . . . Japanese culture has long enriched our Western way of life. Yet from a Western perspective, Japan remains a remote island country that has long had a complicated relationship with the outside world. Japan—an archipelago strung like a necklace around the Asian mainland—is considerably farther from Asia than Britain is from Europe. The sea has provided an effective barrier against invasion and enabled the culture to develop in unique ways.

2025年の大河ドラマの主人公は、蔦屋重三郎！蔦屋重三郎の実像とは？田沼時代と現代の共通点とは？東洲斎写楽を世に送り出し、権力にも屈しなかった「江戸のメディア王」の魅力と、彼の生きた時代を読み解く一冊。

弟・義経との小さな行き違いを大騒動に発展させて権力を手にし、鎌倉幕府を確立した源頼朝。抜擢されたことで激務に追われ、上司・信長への不満を溜めていった明智光秀。

Piracy and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World demonstrates that piracy is key to explaining the surprising longevity of Spain's Asian empire, which survived the Age of Revolutions and endured almost to the end of the nineteenth century. It offers important new insight into piracy's impact on the trajectory of globalization and European imperial expansion in maritime Asia.

This clearly written and engrossing book presents a global narrative of the origins of the modern world from 1400 to the present. Unlike most studies, which assume that the “rise of the West” is the story of the coming of the modern world, this history, drawing upon new scholarship on Asia, Africa, and the New World and upon the maturing field of environmental history, constructs a story in which those parts of the world play major roles, including their impacts on the environment.

Was passiert wirklich in China? – China-Korrespondentin Lea Sahay bietet in diesem Hörbuch exklusive Einblicke in Politik, Wirtschaft und den chinesischen Traum. Lange schien Pekings neo-kommunistische Politik aufzugehen. Die Verbindung von Wachstum, Nationalismus und sozialer Kontrolle sah aus wie eine erfolgreiche Alternative zu westlicher Demokratie und Marktwirtschaft. Doch heute zeigt die Fassade der zweitgrößten Wirtschaftsmacht der Welt Risse: Der Tech-Boom ist vorbei, die Immobilienblase geplatzt und das Gesundheitssystem kollabiert.