Originally published in 1815, Major William Thorn's The Conquest of Java describes the military and naval elements of the British expeditionary force to Java in 1811.It was a time of unrest in Europe. Napoleon was at the height of his power and had taken control of Holland and its colonies in Asia. In August 1810, Britain's Lord Minto, Governor General of India, was ordered by the English East India Company to expel "the enemy" from the Island of Java....

A bestselling historian shows how the British Empire created the modern world.**“Scrupulous scholarship and a rattling good tale.” —**Wall Street JournalThe British Empire was the largest in all history, its reach the nearest thing to world domination ever achieved. By the eve of the Second World War, over a fifth of the world's land surface and nearly a quarter of the world's population were under some form of British rule. Yet fo...

The fascinating story of the exceptional maritime explorer, Matthew Flinders - the man who put Australia on the map.Shipwrecks, storms, death and danger - Matthew Flinders encountered it all on his courageous quest to circumnavigate and chart the treacherous Terra Australis coastline.From the drama of epic voyages and devastating shipwrecks; his part in the naming of Australia; his cruel imprisonment by the French on Mauritius for six long and harrowing yea...

From the bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic, this thrilling biographical account of the life and legacy of Winston Churchill is a "nail-biter and top-notch character study rolled into one" (The New York Times).At the age of twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England. He arrived in South Africa in 1899, valet and crates of vintage wine in tow, to cover the brutal colonial w...

A "compassionate and penetrating" landmark history of Vietnam and the Vietnam War ( New York Times Book Review)."Fitzgerald's Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning study of the Vietnam War remains essential reading thirty years after its initial publication." — Library JournalThis magisterial work, based on Frances FitzGerald's many years of research and travels, takes us inside the history of Vietnam—the tradition...

Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of the World's Largest ArchipelagoIndonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the Island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching ba...

This book tells the story of Bali-the "paradise island of the Pacific"-its rulers and its people, and their encounters with the Western world.Balinese history tells a fascinating story. For a thousand years, the peculiar splendor of BalineseHindu culture came very close to satisfying the social, religious and artistic needs of the people. The arrival of European visitors in the 1920s and 1930s soon made the island's magical charms known to the outside world, and f...

The startling economic and political answers behind Europe's historical dominanceBetween 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe. But why did Europe establish global dominance, when for centuries the Chinese, Japanese, Ottomans, and South Asians were far more advanced? In Why Did Europe Conquer the World?, Philip Hoffman demonstrates that conventional explanations—such as geography, epidemic disease, and the Industrial Revolution—fail to...

In this compelling history of the men and ideas that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates and analyses how, within a hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the philanthropic, ...

The political theorist and author of After Progress examines the future of U.S. dominance on the world stage in this persuasive and provocative book.The decline and fall of America's global empire is the central feature of today's geopolitical landscape. How we respond to this reality will determine much of our future trajectory, with implications that reach far beyond the limits of one nation's borders. In Decline and Fall, John Michael Greer exam...

Shortlisted for the NZ Post Award this fascinating, innovative biography is of a true original and significant figure in NZ's early colonisation. "I love doubters: of a truly honest doubter I have great hope." Printer, botanist and missionary, William Colenso was a nineteenth-century maverick, a true original. He protested at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, arguing that Maori did not fully understand its implications. He became a troubled conscience during the whit...

This book tells the story of Bali—the "paradise island of the Pacific"—its rulers and its people, and their encounters with the Western world.Bali is a perennially popular tourist destination. It is also home to a fascinating people with a long and dramatic history of interactions with foreigners, particularly after the arrival of the first Dutch fleet in 1597. In this first comprehensive history of Bali, author Willard Hanna chronicles Bali through the centuries a...