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One of the defining moments of world history had been brought about by a tiny number of people, including Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery prime minister-to-be; 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 without delay. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWithin hours of the midnight chimes, however, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIndian Summer depicts the epic sweep of events that ripped apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and reveals the secrets of the most powerful players on the world stage: the Cold War conspiracies, the private deals, and the intense and clandestine love affair between the wife of the last viceroy and the first prime minister of free India. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith wit, insight and a sharp eye for detail, Alex von Tunzelmann relates how a handful of people changed the world for ever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alex von Tunzelmann","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48487043006762,"sku":"9781471166440","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781471166440.jpg?v=1716210887"},{"product_id":"red-memory-the-afterlives-of-chinas-cultural-revolution-by-tania-branigan-9781783352661","title":"Red Memory : The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWinner of the Cundill History Prize 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the British Academy Prize for Non-Fiction 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA Sunday Times Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn indelible exploration of the Cultural Revolution and how it shapes China today, Red Memory uncovers forty years of silence through the rarely heard stories of individuals who lived through Mao's decade of madness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Very good and very instructive.' 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Yet official suppression and personal trauma have conspired in national amnesia: it exists, for the most part, as an absence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRed Memory explores the stories of those driven to confront the era, who fear or yearn for its return. What happens to a society when you can no longer trust those closest to you? What happens to the present when the past is buried, exploited or redrawn? And how do you live with yourself when the worst is over?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tania Branigan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48487064305962,"sku":"9781783352661","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781783352661.jpg?v=1716211134"},{"product_id":"wounded-tigris-a-river-journey-through-the-cradle-of-civilisation-by-leon-mccarron-9781472156211","title":"Wounded Tigris : A River Journey through the Cradle of Civilisation","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2024\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'As epic as it is engaging' Tom Holland\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Jaunty, highly informative and ultimately sobering' New York Review of Books\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A fine book... 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Harl's exhaustively researched book will ensure they rejoin the narrative of world history' Marc David Baer, Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These tribes produced some of the world's greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among others. 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A huge achievement\" The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the nineteenth century the British reaped huge profits by exporting vast quantities of opium from India, waged wars to defend its access to markets, and created a devastating addiction crisis in China. A sweeping story of greed and power, Smoke and Ashes reveals how opium created the wealth of modern cities like Mumbai, Singapore and Shanghai, as well as many of America's most powerful families and institutions, and is a part of Ghosh's personal history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Ghosh triumphs in laying out the shame of the British Empire's opium trade for all to see\" Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"This gave me a deeper chill than any TV series about the opioid crisis. . . The writing is sublime, the research thorough, the eye for story superb\" Sunday Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Superlative . . . synthesise[s] a wealth of research with remarkable intellectual clarity\" The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Expansive and thoughtful\" Peter Frankopan, The Spectator\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amitav Ghosh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55123147063669,"sku":"9781529349269","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781529349269.jpg?v=1740744560"},{"product_id":"the-light-of-asia-a-history-of-western-fascination-with-the-east-by-christopher-harding-9780141992273","title":"The Light of Asia : A History of Western Fascination with the East","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rich history. Harding writes with energy and insight, wearing a tremendous amount of learning lightly' - Rana Mitter, Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis rich and enjoyable book by the acclaimed author of Japan Story explores the many ways in which Asia has influenced Europe and North America over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most part of outrageous tales of strange beasts and monsters, of silk and spices shipped over vast distances and an uneasy sense of unknowable empires fantastically far away. 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Naipaul's classic account of his journeys through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. \"The believers\" are the Muslims he met on those journeys, young men and women battling to regain the original purity of their faith in the hope of restoring order to a chaotic world. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a uniquely valuable insight into modern Islam and the comforting simplifications of religious fanaticism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"His travel writing is perhaps the most important body of work of its kind in the second half of the century.\" - Martin Amis, author of Time's Arrow and The Zone of Interest\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"V.S. 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It is a history of ambition and betrayal, of forgotten wars and unlikely alliances, of borders carved with ink and fire. And, above all, it is the story of how the map of modern Asia was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSam Dalrymple's stunning history is based on deep archival research, previously untranslated private memoirs, and interviews in English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Konyak, Arabic and Burmese. From portraits of the key political players to accounts of those swept up in these wars and mass migrations, Shattered Lands is vivid, compelling, thought-provoking history at its best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A stunning achievement. Shattered Lands reframes the story of South Asia with rare empathy and elegance, breathing life into the legacies of the partitions that shape a quarter of our world today' Thant Myint-U\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'This richly researched, vividly written book tells the story of how a colossal and powerful Empire was broken up into many distinct nation-states. An impressive debut by a gifted and very energetic young writer' Ramachandra Guha\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sam Dalrymple","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55429592973685,"sku":"9780008466817","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780008466817.jpg?v=1748501893"},{"product_id":"fly-wild-swans-my-mother-myself-and-china-by-jung-chang-9780008661069","title":"Fly, Wild Swans : My Mother, Myself and China","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe long-awaited sequel to Wild Swans, the multi-million copy international bestselling sensation\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Painful. Astonishing. Honest. Profoundly revealing as a portrait both of a family and of the deeper traumas that lie at the heart of modern China' Rory Stewart\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Another wonder book from Jung Chang. I am quite blown away by it' Lady Antonia Fraser\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJung Chang's Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother - 'three daughters of China'. The book opens in 1909 with her grandmother's birth - and foot-binding - when China was under the last emperor, moving through Mao Zedong's rule, especially the Cultural Revolution during which Jung's parents were subjected to horrendous ordeals because of their courage. It finishes in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping officially ended the Mao era and started the 'reforms'. Jung, at that propitious juncture, became one of the first Chinese to leave Communist China for the West.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNearly half a century on, China has risen from a decrepit and isolated state to a global power, the challenger to the United States' dominant position in the world. Through those decades, Jung's life has been intimately entwined with her native land. Her experiences dealing with the regime in those years were rich and revealing - especially so because all her books were (and are) banned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFly, Wild Swans is the follow-up to Wild Swans and brings the story of Jung's family - along with that of China - up to date. The book is in many ways Jung's love letter to her mother. It is inevitably also about her grandmother and father, both of whom died tragically in the Cultural Revolution but are often recalled in this book. In fact, the past is never far away in Jung's subsequent life. It has shaped her, and moulded the present China, and what's more, it promises to herald the future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChina is now at another watershed moment with the era of Chairman Xi Jinping greatly affecting the lives of Jung and her mother. Fly, Wild Swans is Jung's heartfelt response to that experience, and a book filled with drama, love, curiosity and incredible history - both personal and global. Ultimately uplifting, told in Jung's clear, honest and compelling voice, it is memoir writing at its best.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jung Chang","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55429593104757,"sku":"9780008661069","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780008661069.jpg?v=1748501901"},{"product_id":"the-golden-road-how-ancient-india-transformed-the-world-by-william-dalrymple-9781408864432","title":"The Golden Road : How Ancient India Transformed the World","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe instant Sunday Times bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA Waterstones and Times History Book of the Year\n\u003cbr\u003eA Spectator and History Today Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian ideas, from the award-winning, bestselling author and co-host of the chart-topping Empire podcast\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve\" Spectator\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Dazzling ... Not just a historical study but also a love letter\" Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"An outstanding new account ... The most compelling retelling we have had for generations\" Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIndia is the forgotten heart of the ancient world. In the millennium and a half from c. 250 BC to 1200 AD, Indian art, religion, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world - a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere, William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India's oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the culture and technology of not only its ancient world, but of the world as we know it today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise for William Dalrymple and The Anarchy\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A superb historian with a visceral understanding of India\" The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Magnificently readable, deeply researched and richly atmospheric\" Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Dalrymple","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55429597757813,"sku":"9781408864432","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781408864432.jpg?v=1748502168"},{"product_id":"crusaders-by-dan-jones-9781781858899","title":"Crusaders","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the bestselling author of The Templars. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Voyages, battles, sieges and slaughter: Dan Jones's tumultuous and thrilling history of the crusades is one of the best' Sunday Times. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A powerful story brilliantly told. Dan Jones writes with pace, wit and insight' Helen Castor. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A fresh and vibrant account of a conflict that raged across medieval centuries' Jonathan Phillips. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDan Jones, best-selling chronicler of the Middle Ages, turns his attention to the history of the Crusades - the sequence of religious wars fought between the late eleventh century and late medieval periods, in which armies from European Christian states attempted to wrest the Holy Land from Islamic rule, and which have left an enduring imprint on relations between the Muslim world and the West. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the loss of the last crusader outpost in the Levant in 1302-03, and from the taking of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099 to the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, Crusaders tells a tale soaked in Islamic, Christian and Jewish blood, peopled by extraordinary characters, and characterised by both low ambition and high principle. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDan Jones is a master of popular narrative history, with the priceless ability to write page-turning narrative history underpinned by authoritative scholarship. Never before has the era of the Crusades been depicted in such bright and striking colours, or their story told with such gusto. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise for The Templars: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A fresh, muscular and compelling history of the ultimate military-religious crusading order, combining sensible scholarship with narrative swagger' Simon Sebag Montefiore. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Dan Jones has created a gripping page-turner out of the dramatic history of the Templars' Philippa Gregory. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'The story of the Templars, the ultimate holy warriors, is an extraordinary saga of fanaticism, bravery, treachery and betrayal, and in Dan Jones they have a worthy chronicler. The Templars is a wonderful book!' Bernard Cornwell. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Told with all Jones's usual verve and panache, this is a dramatic and gripping tale of courage and stupidity, faith and betrayal' Mail on Sunday. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'This is another triumphant tale from a historian who writes as addictively as any page-turning novelist' Observer. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'The Templars is exhilarating, epic, sword-swinging history' TLS. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Jones carries the Templars through the crusades with clarity and verve. This is unabashed narrative history, fast-paced and full of incident... Jones tells their story extremely well' Sunday Times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dan Jones","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55429601591669,"sku":"9781781858899","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781781858899.jpg?v=1748502308"},{"product_id":"the-damascus-events-the-1860-massacre-and-the-destruction-of-the-old-ottoman-world-by-eugene-rogan-9781802063202","title":"The Damascus Events : The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"A superb account of the 1860 Damascus massacres - much neglected nowadays but central to the creation of the modern Middle East\" - Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A stunning portrait of the Ottoman Empire and of Damascus during a time of crisis. Absolutely riveting\" - Peter Frankopan\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis remarkable book recreates one of the watershed moments in the history of the Middle East: the ferocious outbreaks of disorder across the Levant in 1860 which resulted in the massacre of thousands of Christians in Damascus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEugene Rogan brilliantly recreates the lost world of the Middle East under Ottoman rule. The once mighty empire was under pressure from global economic change and European imperial expansion. Reforms in the mid-nineteenth century raised tensions across the empire, nowhere more so than in Damascus. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA multifarious city linked by caravan trade to Baghdad, the Mediterranean and Mecca, the chaos of languages, customs and beliefs made Damascus a warily tolerant place. Until the reforms began to advantage the minority Christian community at the expense of the Muslim majority.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut in 1860 people who had generally lived side by side for generations became bitter enemies as news of civil war in Mount Lebanon arrived in the city. Under the threat of a French expeditionary force, the Ottomans dealt with the disaster effectively and ruthlessly - but the old, generally quite tolerant Damascene world lay in ruins. It would take a quarter of a century to restore stability and prosperity to the Syrian capital.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is both an essential book for understanding the emergence of the modern Middle East from the destruction of the old Ottoman world, and a uniquely gripping story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Eugene Rogan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55429603230069,"sku":"9781802063202","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781802063202.jpg?v=1748502397"},{"product_id":"broken-threads-my-family-from-empire-to-independence-by-mishal-husain-9780008531720","title":"Broken Threads : My Family from Empire to Independence","description":"\u003cp\u003eA Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOrwell Prize for Political Writing Finalist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the Westminster Book Awards\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'One of the best memoirs I've read in years' Sathnam Sanghera\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Beautifully written, emotional and deeply personal, yet universal. One can't help but be moved by this story of upheaval and transformation' Sadiq Khan\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn extraordinary family memoir from acclaimed newsreader and journalist, Mishal Husain, uncovering the story of her grandparents' lives amidst empire, political upheaval and partition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'I witnessed the dwindling glow of the British Empire. I saw small men entrusted with great jobs, playing with the destiny of millions'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe lives of Mishal Husain's grandparents changed forever in 1947, as the new nation states of India and Pakistan were born. For years she had a partial story, a patchwork of memories and anecdotes: hurried departures, lucky escapes from violence and homes never seen again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDecades later, the fragment of an old sari sent Mishal on a journey through time, using letters, diaries, memoirs and audio tapes to trace four lives shaped by the Raj, a world war, independence and partition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMumtaz rejects the marriage arranged for him as he forges a life with Mary, a devout Catholic from an Anglo-Indian family, while Tahirah and Shahid watch the politics of pre-partition Delhi unfold at close quarters. As freedom comes, bonds fray and communities are divided, leaving two couples to forge new identities, while never forgetting the shared heritage of the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Husain has written an arresting family memoir. Her explanation of partition is more level-headed than that of many professional historians' The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A spectacular achievement. It is an incisive and carefully researched historical account, and as moving and true a personal narrative' Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'[Husain] has managed to make such a complex story so accessible' Observer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'I was so moved by this stirring and deeply moving account that is at once a love story as well as a chronicle of one of the most cataclysmic events in South Asia' Barkha Dutt\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Like silks in the precious fragment of the heirloom sari of its title, Broken Threads is woven from rich sources. It is a beautiful book, informed and informative, cool and factual, poetic and elegiac' Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A deeply engrossing book. 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Featuring a stellar cast, extraordinary drama and an epic sweep, Three Revolutions raises fundamental questions about the nature of political power, the limits of idealism and the role of the journalist - questions that remain of utmost urgency today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon Hall","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719941538165,"sku":"9780571367153","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780571367153.jpg?v=1754128650"},{"product_id":"the-woman-warrior-by-maxine-hong-kingston-9781035063680","title":"The Woman Warrior","description":"\u003cp\u003eA strange, enchanting book . . . unbeatable' - The Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Dizzying, elemental' - John Leonard, The New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA classic memoir set during the Chinese revolution of the 1940s and inspired by folklore, providing a unique insight into the life of an immigrant in America. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout her childhood, Maxine Hong Kingston listened to her mother's mesmerizing tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upwards. 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It won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1976 and is widely hailed as a feminist classic. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart of the Picador Collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maxine Hong Kingston","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719947960693,"sku":"9781035063680","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781035063680.jpg?v=1754128724"},{"product_id":"the-eyes-of-gaza-a-diary-of-resilience-by-plestia-alaqad-9781035070251","title":"The Eyes of Gaza : A Diary of Resilience","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Please read this joyful, tragic account of life in Gaza\" - Miriam Margolyes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Transforms pain into poetry\" - Rupi Kaur\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn early October 2023, Palestinian Plestia Alaqad was a recent graduate with dreams of becoming a successful journalist. 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It recounts a harrowing experience, but it is not a heart-breaking lamentation. Rather, it is a deeply intimate love letter to a girl's home: demolished before her eyes, yes, but forever present in her heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Left me both devastated and inspired\" - Macklemore\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plestia Alaqad","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719947993461,"sku":"9781035070251","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781035070251.jpg?v=1754128724"},{"product_id":"the-endless-country-a-personal-journey-through-turkeys-first-hundred-years-by-sami-kent-9781529099270","title":"The Endless Country : A Personal Journey Through Turkey's First Hundred Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eCaptivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey's past and present' - Mishal Husain\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience . . . The book is alive on every page' - Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Endless Country takes a journey through Turkey's past - the nation the author's father left decades ago and he returns to as a young man. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not about Erdogan or Atatürk, the two towering Presidents who have book-ended that history, and at times have appeared impossible to escape. Instead Sami Kent's book goes deep beyond them, revealing a history as rich, layered and absurd as his family's favourite dessert, künefe: a shredded wheat pastry with a core of melted cheese, a topping of pistachios, and a drowning of syrup. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom tiny weightlifters to the world's biggest prison, from a failed socialist commune to a wildly successful orchid ice cream, the book is a tribute to the sheer bewildering diversity of Turkey's past: its people, their ideas and their struggles. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'This is surely how history should be told - human, fun, alive' - The Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sami Kent","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719965688181,"sku":"9781529099270","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781529099270.jpg?v=1754128880"},{"product_id":"the-bells-of-nagasaki-by-takashi-nagai-9781529952605","title":"The Bells of Nagasaki","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"A book that everyone should read\" The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA harrowing, heart-rending first-hand account of the bombing of Nagasaki - and the acts of human kindness left in its wake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn 9th August 1945, the Japanese city of Nagasaki is hit by an atomic bomb. Forty thousand people are killed instantly. Doctor Takashi Nagai is not one of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePulling himself, broken and bloodied, from the wreckage that was once the city's university hospital, Takashi bundles together a tattered group of survivors. Doctors, nurses, students, each with their own losses, their own fears for the future: they work tirelessly at the impossible task of aiding the countless wounded and easing the deaths of those they cannot save. They remain determined to heal their fallen city, to find solace and hope among the rubble, even as a strange and growing sickness begins to claim them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEyewitness to one of the most fatal events in human history, this is Takashi's record, written from his sickbed - a chilling historical document, and undeniable evidence of the capacity for human kindness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePublished now in the UK to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith an introduction from Richard Lloyd Parry\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Takashi Nagai","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719973716341,"sku":"9781529952605","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781529952605.jpg?v=1754128943"},{"product_id":"forgotten-searching-for-palestine-s-hidden-places-and-lost-memorials-by-raja-shehadeh-9781805222415","title":"Forgotten : Searching for Palestine’s Hidden Places and Lost Memorials","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Shehadeh's books are like beacons held up against the darkness\" Observer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A heartbreaking, hopeful look at how Palestinian culture endures\" Irish Times \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eForgotten is a search for hidden or neglected memorials and places in historic Palestine - now Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories - and what they might tell us about the land and the people who live on our small slip of earth between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom ancient city ruins to the Nabi 'Ukkasha mosque and tomb, acclaimed writers and researchers Raja Shehadeh and Penny Johnson ask: what has been memorialised, and what lies unseen, abandoned or erased - and why? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhether standing on a high cliff overlooking Lebanon or at the lowest land-based elevation on earth at the Dead Sea, they explore lost connections in a fragmented land. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn elegiac, elegant prose, Shehadeh and Johnson grapple not only with questions of Israeli resistance to acknowledging the Nakba - the 1948 catastrophe for Palestinians - but also with the complicated history of Palestinian commemoration today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Raja Shehadeh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55719996719477,"sku":"9781805222415","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781805222415.jpg?v=1754129168"},{"product_id":"land-between-the-rivers-a-5000-year-history-of-iraq-by-bartle-bull-9781838957872","title":"Land Between the Rivers : A 5000-Year History of Iraq","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Elegant, erudite, ambitious, inventive - a remarkable blend of research, imagination and first-hand experience.\" Rory Stewart\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A sweeping and superbly written epic\" Wall Street Journal \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A work of great ambition... an account that is informed, filled with insights and a cracking read too.\" Peter Frankopan\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIraq is where civilisation was born, where East and West have mixed and clashed since long before Alexander, and it was here by the waters of Babylon where Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by extensive reporting from the region and a decade delving deep into its history, Land Between the Rivers chronicles Iraq's uniquely central role on the global stage throughout the past five millennia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe begin the story with ancient Sumer and Gilgamesh building the walls of Uruk ('Iraq') to make a great name for himself at the edge of historical time. We end it in 1958, as the last royal family of Iraq is slaughtered on the steps of a small palace in Baghdad, the most effervescent, free and promising capital in the Middle East.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBartle Bull's remarkable, sweeping achievement reminds us that the region defined by the land between the rivers has, throughout history, played host to the contest pitting humanism against the machinations of power and fate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Conceptual originality and laudable ambition... Inspired by firsthand experience of the region.\" New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A sweeping and superbly written epic... He is a more compassionate, and much better informed, heir to Gertrude Bell... Throughout his account, Mr. Bull highlights the human, and humanist, threads in the political tapestry.\" Wall Street Journal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Dazzling erudition and narrative flair come together in this superb history of Iraq... essential reading\" Justin Marozzi, author of Islamic Empires\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Panoptic, fearless and beautifully written\" Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House and The Islamic Enlightenment\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bartle Bull","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55720007008629,"sku":"9781838957872","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781838957872.jpg?v=1754129274"},{"product_id":"shalimar-by-davina-quinlivan-9781908213907","title":"Shalimar","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn her mid-twenties, shortly before her father's death, Davina Quinlivan moved from her family home in west London to begin a transitory life in the countryside: here she felt restless and rootless, stuck between Deep England and the technicolour memories of her family's migration story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning in colonial India and Burma, from the indigenous tribes from which the women in Quinlivan's family are descended, and reaching the streets of Southall and Ealing, the stories of her ancestors persisted in the tales, the language, the cooking and culture of her family. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eQuinlivan conjures a place between continents and worlds in a lyrical debut of migration, and homecoming, marking the arrival of an exceptional new voice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Davina Quinlivan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55859063947637,"sku":"9781908213907","price":16.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781908213907.jpg?v=1756389079"},{"product_id":"breakneck-chinas-quest-to-engineer-the-future-by-dan-wang-9780241729175","title":"Breakneck : China's Quest to Engineer the Future","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew York Times Bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e*Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom an indispensable voice on China comes a riveting, first-hand account of China's seismic progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor close to a decade, Dan Wang has been observing China's tumultuous and astounding growth. The state has constructed towering bridges, gleaming railways and sprawling factories to improve economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChina has grown so quickly in part by beating America at its own game: capitalism and harnessing the restless energy of a vast population. Here Wang blends political and economic analysis with reportage into a provocative new framework for understanding China - one that helps us see America more clearly, too. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhereas China is an engineering state, relentlessly building big, the United States has transformed into a lawyerly society, stalling every attempt to make change, both good and bad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs relations between the US and China are tense and uncertain and the potential for dreadful conflict looms, Wang offers an inventive new way of thinking about the two superpowers. Breakneck reveals that each country points towards a better path for the other. How much better the world would be, he argues, if Americans could live in a society not only governed by lawyers, and Chinese citizens could live with a state that values their individual liberties.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dan Wang","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56049750147445,"sku":"9780241729175","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780241729175.jpg?v=1759507107"},{"product_id":"eat-the-buddha-life-death-and-resistance-in-a-tibetan-town-by-barbara-demick-9781783782659","title":"Eat the Buddha : Life, Death, and Resistance in a Tibetan Town","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLonglisted for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the Best Books of the Year in Financial Times, Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, Spectator\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'You simply cannot understand China without reading Barbara Demick on Tibet' Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1950, China claimed sovereignty over Tibet, leading to decades of unrest and resistance. Barbara Demick chronicles the Tibetan tragedy from Ngaba, a defiant town on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the stories of Ngaba's last princess and those who experienced the struggle sessions of Mao's revolution to the experiences of today's monks and townsfolk suffering repression under China's rule, Demick paints a riveting portrait of Tibet past and present as it fights for its identity against one of the most powerful countries in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Barbara Demick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56049754210677,"sku":"9781783782659","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781783782659.jpg?v=1759507202"},{"product_id":"mao-the-unknown-story-by-jon-halliday-9780099507376","title":"Mao: The Unknown Story","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe most authoritative life of Mao ever written, by the bestselling author of Wild Swans, Jung Chang and her husband, historian Jon Halliday. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative life of Mao ever written. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is full of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned and blackmailed to get his way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao's rule, in peacetime. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCombining meticulous history with the story-telling style of Wild Swans, this biography makes immediate Mao's roller-coaster life, as he intrigued and fought every step of the way to force through his unpopular decisions. Mao's character and the enormity of his behaviour towards his wives, mistresses and children are unveiled for the first time. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is an entirely fresh look at Mao in both content and approach. It will astonish historians and the general reader alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"This a bombshell of a book\", Chris Patten, The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"The first great political biography of the twenty-first century\" Spectator\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jon Halliday","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56201756934517,"sku":"9780099507376","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780099507376.jpg?v=1761991249"},{"product_id":"the-ottomans-by-diana-darke-9780500298183","title":"The Ottomans","description":"\u003cp\u003eExquisitely written and lavishly illustrated, this delightful book brings five centuries of Ottoman culture to life. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Diana Darke constantly amazes the reader with fascinating facts and points of relevance between the Ottoman past and the present day\" - Eugene Rogan, author of The Fall of the Ottomans\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt its height, the Ottoman Empire spread from Yemen to the gates of Vienna. Western perceptions of the Ottomans have often been distorted by Orientalism, characterizing their rule as oppressive and destructive, while seeing their culture as exotic and incomprehensible. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on a lifetime's experience of living and working across its former provinces, Diana Darke offers a unique overview of the Ottoman Empire's cultural legacy one century after its dissolution. She uncovers a vibrant, sophisticated civilization that embraced both arts and sciences, whilst welcoming refugees from all ethnicities and religions, notably Christians and Jews.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDarke celebrates the culture of the Ottoman Empire, from its aesthetics and architecture to its scientific and medical innovations, including the first vaccinations. She investigates the crucial role that commerce and trade played in supporting the empire and increasing its cultural reach, highlighting the significant role of women, as well as the diverse religious values, literary and musical traditions that proliferated through the empire. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ottomans: A Cultural Legacy presents the magnificent achievements of an empire that lasted over 600 years and encompassed Asian, European and African cultures, shedding new light on its complex legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Diana Darke","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56201756967285,"sku":"9780500298183","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780500298183.jpg?v=1761991251"},{"product_id":"life-and-afterlife-in-ancient-china-by-jessica-rawson-9780141994512","title":"Life and Afterlife in Ancient China","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn epic new history of Ancient China told through the prism of a dozen extraordinary tombs. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe three millennia up to the establishment of the first imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC cemented many of the distinctive elements of Chinese civilisation still in place today: an extraordinarily challenging geography and environment, formidable infrastructure, a society based on the strict hierarchy of the family, a shared written script of characters, a cuisine founded on rice and millet, a material culture of ceramics, bronze, silk and jade, and a unique concept of the universe, in which ancestors continue to exist alongside the living. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRecords of these early achievements, and their diverse and unexpected expressions, often lie not in written history, but in how people marked the end of their lives: their dwellings for the afterlife. Tombs, and the treasures within them, are almost the only artefacts to survive from Ancient China; their scale and sophistication rivals their equivalents in Ancient Egypt. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJessica Rawson, one of the most eminent Western scholars of China, explores twelve grand tombs - each from a specific historical moment and place - showing how they reveal wider political, dynastic and cultural developments, culminating in the lavish ambition of the First Emperor's monument, guarded by his army of terracotta warriors. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully illustrated and drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, \"Life and Afterlife in Ancient China\" illuminates a constellation of beliefs about life and death very different from our own and provides a remarkable new perspective on one of the oldest civilisations in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jessica Rawson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56426025288053,"sku":"9780141994512","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780141994512.jpg?v=1764699943"},{"product_id":"a-short-history-of-japan-by-christopher-harding-9780241563199","title":"A Short History of Japan","description":"\u003cp\u003eA history that somehow manages to be at once succinct and sweeping: essential reading for anyone interested in this most fascinating of countries' - Tom Holland\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'The perfect introduction to [Japan's] intriguing society is Christopher Harding's lively new A Short History of Japan... The book is short, yes - but its scope is long, deep and rich' - Rana Mitter, History Extra, History Books of the Year 2025\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this enormously enjoyable introduction to a remarkable country, Christopher Harding traces Japan's rich history over several millennia. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with its earliest coastal communities through to the spread of Buddhism, the rise of the warlords, the promise and menace of the West and Japan's own empire-building, Harding explores how a distinctly Japanese society and culture was forged. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on the latest scholarship, A Short History of Japan moves beyond traditional tourist-board clichés to consider Japan's own view of its past, values and culture, from ceramics and theatre to food and architecture. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a sensory, tactile history conveying to the reader much about Japan's special nature. Harding skilfully shows how these everyday details are intimately bound up with the bigger historical picture, as an expression of the values that have been extraordinarily successful in helping the country to cope with centuries of radical change.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Christopher Harding","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56426029810037,"sku":"9780241563199","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780241563199.jpg?v=1764700036"},{"product_id":"nine-lives-in-search-of-the-sacred-in-modern-india-by-william-dalrymple-9781408878194","title":"Nine Lives : In Search of the Sacred in Modern India","description":"\u003cp\u003eLonglisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Beautifully written, ridiculously erudite, warm and open-hearted\" The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Compelling and poignant\" Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is travel writing at its best\" Observer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInternationally bestselling William Dalrymple takes us to the heart of an undiscovered India.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet - then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWilliam Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Dalrymple","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56426031710581,"sku":"9781408878194","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781408878194.jpg?v=1764700109"},{"product_id":"running-in-the-family-by-michael-ondaatje-9781784877811","title":"Running in the Family","description":"\u003cp\u003eDuring certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed... 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Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \"Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms,\" former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHistorically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on his extensive travels and research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gerard Russell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56680182055285,"sku":"9781471114717","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781471114717.jpg?v=1769796159"},{"product_id":"arabian-sands-by-wilfred-thesiger-9780141442075","title":"Arabian Sands","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of T. E. Lawrence, Wilfred Thesiger spent five years wandering the deserts of Arabia, producing Arabian Sands, \"a memorial to a vanished past, a tribute to a once magnificent people.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction by Rory Stewart. Wilfred Thesiger, repulsed by what he saw as the softness and rigidity of Western life—\"the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets\"—spent years exploring in and around the vast, waterless desert that is the \"Empty Quarter\" of Arabia. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTravelling amongst the Bedu people, he experienced their everyday challenges of hunger and thirst, the trials of long marches beneath the relentless sun, the bitterly cold nights, and the constant danger of death if it was discovered he was a Christian \"infidel.\" He was the first European to visit most of the region, and just before he left the area, the process that would change it forever had begun—the discovery of oil. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis edition contains an introduction by Rory Stewart discussing the dangers of Thesiger's travels, his unconventional personality, and his insights into the Bedouin way of life. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (1910–2003) was a British travel writer born in Addis Ababa in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Thesiger is best known for two travel books: Arabian Sands (1959), which recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins, and The Marsh Arabs (1964), an account of the traditional peoples who lived in the marshlands of southern Iraq. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you enjoyed Arabian Sands, you might like T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Thesiger is perhaps the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the British travellers among the Arabs.\" — Sunday Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Following worthily in the tradition of Burton, Lawrence, Philby and Thomas, it is, very likely, the book about Arabia to end all books about Arabia.\" — Daily Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wilfred Thesiger","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56680182088053,"sku":"9780141442075","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780141442075.jpg?v=1769796159"},{"product_id":"worlds-of-islam-a-global-history-by-james-mcdougall-9780241528488","title":"Worlds of Islam : A Global History","description":"\u003cp\u003eA brilliant and captivating work ... There is simply no better book on Islam in history' Eugene Rogan\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. In \"Worlds of Islam,\" James McDougall explores its origins and transformations from Late Antiquity to the digital age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSweeping and authoritative, \"Worlds of Islam\" narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James McDougall","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56680183726453,"sku":"9780241528488","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9780241528488.jpg?v=1769796211"},{"product_id":"my-dear-kabul-the-extraordinary-diary-of-an-afghan-womens-writing-group-during-the-fall-of-kabul-as-heard-on-r4s-book-of-the-week-by-untold-narratives-cic-9781399727990","title":"My Dear Kabul : The extraordinary diary of an Afghan women's writing group during the fall of Kabul,  as heard on R4's Book of the Week","description":"\u003cp\u003e* A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A real-time, moving and intimate portrait of a year living under the Taliban' Dua Lipa's Service95\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'An intimate, courageous chronicle of life' Observer, Book of the Day\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A hugely important book' Bernardine Evaristo\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'A deeply moving collective memoir' Lyse Doucet\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn August 2021, as the Taliban approached the gates of Kabul, twenty-one women writers in Afghanistan messaged their WhatsApp group chat: they asked what news others had heard and if everyone was safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese women had been brought together as a writing group and were about to publish their first collection of short stories. Some were students, some newly married, one was a grandmother; all were afraid of what was now to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the next year, in their makeshift online refuge, they shared the day-to-day reality of life after the Taliban retook Afghanistan. This is their collective diary, forming a powerful chorus of resistance and solidarity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Fascinatingly detailed and fiercely brave' Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Its courage is momentous' Ali Smith\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Untold Narratives CIC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56895062409589,"sku":"9781399727990","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/4075\/2426\/files\/9781399727990.jpg?v=1773317760"}],"url":"https:\/\/sherlockandpages.com\/collections\/asia-and-the-middle-east-history-books.oembed?page=3","provider":"Sherlock \u0026 Pages","version":"1.0","type":"link"}