A multidisciplinary environmental history of early China’s political systems, featuring newly available Chinese archaeological dataThis book is a multidisciplinary study of the ecology of China’s early political systems up to the fall of the first empire in 207 BCE. Brian Lander traces the formation of lowland North China’s agricultural systems and the transformation of its plains from diverse forestland and steppes to farmland. He argues that the growth of states ...

1989, London.Julia Dylan is running a successful security consultancy. When an eccentric academic disappears on his quest to find Spanish gold, Julia is hired to find him.Her husband Thomas, is stuck in MI6 writing reports no one will ever read. When he’s suddenly sent to Turkey to find a consignment of hijacked Russian missiles, suspicions grow.Thomas and Julia find their paths leading to Madeira, it can’t be a coincidence. Someone is pulling their strings, but why...

Julia Dylan’s aunt, Eveline Sadeghi, vanishes while sailing from Kefalonia to Syracuse in Sicily.Julia and her new husband Thomas abandon their honeymoon and join the search. In Syracuse they encounter a suspiciously well-informed detective who is investigating the murder of an Iranian journalist. Thomas is convinced that Eveline's disappearance is somehow connected.Julia’s uncle, the Director General of Defence Intelligence, asks MI6 to investigate but MI6 has higher priorities. The CIA h...

榮獲美國歷史學會詹姆斯‧亨利‧布雷斯特德獎（James Henry Breasted Prize）第一部西方科學視角的早期中國環境史專書國在山河破！自然生態對人類發出的深沉吶喊，重新思索「農業」是否為人類生存最好的選擇？人類從狩獵採集到農耕養殖，是自然演進？或人為操弄？人類是眾多動物中的區區一種，竟發展為支配所有物種？本書從早期中國的環境生態著手，探究地理環境、國家戰爭、社會制度，王權如何讓多元生態系轉為單一生態系？如何讓「以農立國」的概念深植人心？農業的發展帶來政治權力的拓展？勞動力增加促進國家集權的穩定？本書跨足歷史、考古、環境等學科，透過發出在「農業主導中國前，中國的自然生態為何」的哉問，視角從「中國傳統農業史觀」轉向「政治是否重構環境生態」，先秦至秦朝的歷史對於理解歷朝以至現代在改造環境上的運作，有著重要的意義。早期中國從仰韶文化開始，到龍山文化、再到商、周時期，作者討論原本豐富多樣的生態系統，如何在人類社會...

A British spy is assassinated in Argentina. Can Tom Dylan find out why? Despite having failed disastrously in his first mission in Holland, Thomas Dylan is sent to Chicago to retrieve a stolen secret US Navy gadget, the Griffin Interrogator. This mission is a success until he is attacked and the gadget stolen again and Tom is sent to Brazil to retrieve it once more.It turns out that the whole mission is phoney and Thomas has been chasing a fake. Thomas finally realizes he is being used by ...

In Angola the largest tank battle since WWII is taking place. South African troops are battling to preserve apartheid.Ministers want MI6 to provide support, discreetly. Thomas Dylan is sent to the front line, but death is soon much closer to home. After thirty years in British Intelligence, Adam Joseff has retired to his stamp collection. His loyalty is beyond question... until he is murdered in the Caribbean. Then the questions start.Has Joseff betrayed his country? Or has he been betraye...

'Brian Landers is the real deal'Andrew Raymond, author of the Novak and Mitchell thrillersWinter 1981.Poland is in turmoil. The Communist regime is close to collapse and the CIA wants to help it on its way. They ask for MI6 assistance but insist the MI6 Station in Warsaw is not involved. Why not? And who will the Americans accept? MI6 agent Thomas Dylan is sent from Moscow. His wife has just witnessed a murder and the Russian authorities want her out of the country. But when Thomas and Jul...

Reviews the development of CA systems globally and elaborates on science underlying the key CA system components.Assesses the latest evidence on improving soil and crop health and CA system resilience through the application of the core CA system principles.Includes case studies reviewing current science on optimising CA cropping systems involving cereal, legume, horticultural and tree crops as well as integrating livestock in CA systems.

China has a vast written history that records the countless ways people have observed, transformed, and preserved their environments over the centuries. This sourcebook, the first ever to document China’s environmental history, presents translations of hundreds of texts spanning more than three thousand years, displaying the diversity of how humans have related to the world around them.China’s Environmental History features texts translated from Chinese and eight other lan...

Synthesizes multiple perspectives on Asian forests from early history to the near presentForests have histories that need to be told. This examination of wood and woodlands in East and Southeast Asia brings together case studies from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Sumatra to explore continuities in the history of forest management across these regions as well as the distinctive qualities of human-forest relations within each context. With a general introduction t...

Across early modern Europe, the growing scientific practice of dissection prompted new and insightful ideas about the human body. This collection of essays explores the impact of anatomical knowledge on wider issues of learning and culture.