When the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on December 10, 2010, its recipient, Liu Xiaobo, was in Jinzhou Prison, serving an eleven-year sentence for what Beijing called “incitement to subvert state power.” In Oslo, actress Liv Ullmann read a long statement the activist had prepared for his 2009 trial. It read in part: “I stand by the convictions I expressed in my ‘June Second Hunger Strike Declaration’ twenty years ago—I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrest...

The first publication of the poetry of Liu Xia, wife of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo*I didn't have a chanceto say a word before you becamea character in the news,everyone looking up to youas I was worn downat the edge of the crowdjust smokingand watching the sky.A new myth, maybe, was formingthere, but the sun was so brightI couldn't see it.*—from "June 2nd, 1989 ...

In this searing memoir, the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize tells her story of courage and defiance in the face of an Iranian government out to destroy her, her family, and her mission: to bring justice to the people and the country she loves.“Shirin Ebadi is quite simply the most vital voice for freedom and human rights in Iran.”—Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of No god but God and Zealot

Unmatched in scope and literary quality, this landmark anthology spans three thousand years, bringing together more than six hundred poems by more than one hundred thirty poets, in translations–many new and exclusive to the book–by an array of distinguished translators.Here is the grand sweep of Chinese poetry, from the Book of Songs–ancient folk songs said to have been collected by Confucius himself–and Laozi’s Dao De Jingto the vividly pictorial ...

The premise of The Tao of Zen is that Zen is really Taoism in the disguise of Buddhism-an assumption being made by more and more Zen scholars.This is the first Zen book that links the long-noted philosophical similarities of Taoism and Zen. The author traces the evolution of Ch'anThe The Tao of Zen is a fascinating book that will be read and discussed by anyone interested in both Taoism and Zen

“Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”—Thomas JeffersonThe United States Constitution—the bedrock of our country, the foundation of our federal republic—is . . . dead.You won’t hear that from the politicians who endlessly pay lip service to the Constitution. It’s the dirty little secret that bestselling authors Thomas E. Woods Jr. and Kevin R. C. Gutzman expose in this provocative new book. The ...

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first Secretary of State to declare the subjugation of women worldwide a serious threat to U.S. national security. Known as the Hillary Doctrine, her stance was the impetus behind the 2010 Quadrennial Diplomatic and Development Review of U.S. foreign policy, formally committing America to the proposition that the empowerment of women is a stabilizing force for domestic and international peace.Blending history, fieldwork, theory, and policy analysis wh...

"A magisterial book" of nearly five hundred poems from some of history's greatest Chinese poets, translated and edited by a renowned poet and scholar ( New Republic).The Chinese poetic tradition is the largest and longest continuous tradition in world literature. This rich and far-reaching anthology of nearly five hundred poems provides a comprehensive account of its first three millennia (1500 BCE to 1200 CE), the period during which virtually all its land...

Mark Felt's role in history was secured when he decided to share his views on the Watergate break-in with a young reporter on the Washington Post named Bob Woodward. He made sure that the greatest political scandal in the twentieth century, which would besmirch an entire administration and bring down a presidency, was revealed in an unchallengeable way.This absorbing account of Felt's FBI career, from the end of the great American crime wave through World War II, the cultu...

The influence of Zen Master Ikkyū (1394-1481) permeates the full field of medieval Japanese aesthetics. Though best known as a poet, he was central to the shaping and reshaping of practices in calligraphy, Noh theater, tea ceremony, and rock gardening, all of which now define Japan’s sense of its cultural tradition. Ikkyū is unique in Zen for letting his love of all appearance occupy him until it destroys any possibility for safety or seclusion. In his poetry, he turns the eye of enlighten...

Despite recent political movements to establish democratic rule in Latin American countries, much of the region still suffers from pervasive violence. From vigilantism, to human rights violations, to police corruption, violence persists. It is perpetrated by state-sanctioned armies, guerillas, gangs, drug traffickers, and local community groups seeking self-protection. The everyday presence of violence contrasts starkly with governmental efforts to extend civil, political, and legal rights...

This collection of Tibetan poetry and lyrics is accompanied by extensive commentary and offers a great insight into a rich literary culture.Tibet, remote and inaccessible, is less known to the western world for its literary than its artistic contributions to world culture. Nevertheless, it has produced a literature of enduring beauty and significance, the supreme achievement of which is the poetry of Milarepa, its greatest poet and saint.This Tibetan poetry...