"It is impossible to understand China today without understanding the Cultural Revolution," Tania Branigan writes. During this decade of Maoist fanaticism between 1966 and 1976, children turned on parents, students condemned teachers, and as many as two...

Interviewing the turbulent recent events in China with her own personal life story and those of family, friends, and acquaintances, the author creates an evocative portrait of China and its people

A deeply reported investigation into the battle over identity in China, chronicling the state oppression of those who fail to conform to Xi Jinping's definition of who is "Chinese," from an award-winning NPR correspondent.In the hot summer months of...

The astonishing story of the billionaire businessman Jimmy Lai who became one of Hong Kong’s leading activists for democracy and is today China’s most famous political prisoner.Jimmy Lai escaped mainland China when he was twelve years old, at the height...

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE"A murder mystery, travelogue, and deeply felt homage to Romig's adopted country. Reading it will inform and outrage you. (It will also make you crave a dosa)."—Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City“Romig makes for a...

A captivating biography of one of the world's greatest adventurers, the itinerant Mughal Princess Gulbadan, based on her long-forgotten memoir Longlisted for the Cundill History Prize * Finalist, Georgia Author of the Year Award * Shortlisted for...

This major new biography of Mao uses extensive Russian documents previously unavailable to biographers to reveal surprising details about Mao's rise to power and his leadership in China.

A provocative new account of how India moved relentlessly from its hope-filled founding in 1947 to the dramatic economic and democratic breakdowns of today. When Indian leaders first took control of their government in 1947, they proclaimed the ideals of...

The emotionally wrenching yet ultimately uplifting memoir of a Chinese woman struggling to win the love and acceptance of her family.Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent...

A provocative defense of a forgotten Chinese approach to identity and differenceHistorically, the Western encounter with difference has been catastrophic: the extermination and displacement of aboriginal populations, the transatlantic slave trade, and...

In the series Collection of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Handscrolls: Calligraphy, 10 masterpieces from famous masters — mostly of the Song Dynasty — are collected, covering mainstream scripts such as regular script, semi-cursive script, cursive...

- A series of masterpieces of calligraphy from famous masters of two Chinese dynasties, presented in the traditional format of a handscroll- Includes important postscripts and observations of the works from later generationsThe series contains a...

Looking at the Far East and American ambition in China through the lens of literature.In the imaginations of early Americans, the Middle Kingdom was the wealthiest empire in the world. Its geographical distance did not deter commercial...

A richly diverse collection of classical Indian terms for expressing the many moods and subtleties of emotional experienceWords for the Heart is a captivating treasury of emotion terms drawn from some of India’s earliest classical languages. Inspired by...

A monumental intellectual history of the pivotal figure of Hindu nationalismVinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966) was an intellectual, ideologue, and anticolonial nationalist leader in India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule, one...

A groundbreaking history of fengshui’s roles in public life and law during China’s last imperial dynastyToday the term fengshui, which literally means “wind and water,” is recognized around the world. Yet few know exactly what it means, let alone its...

Secrets of the Samurai is the definitive study of the martial arts of feudal Japan, explaining in detail the weapons, techniques, strategies, and principles of combat that made the Japanese warrior a formidable foe.The work begins with a panoramic survey...

From the acclaimed author of The Gunpowder Age, a book that casts new light on the history of China and the West at the turn of the nineteenth centuryGeorge Macartney's disastrous 1793 mission to China plays a central role in the prevailing narrative of...

Before the advent of synthetic fibers and cargo containers, jute sacks were the preferred packaging material of global trade, transporting the world's grain, cotton, sugar, tobacco, coffee, wool, guano, and bacon. Jute was the second-most widely consumed...