The eighteenth Tarot card is the Moon, and those who raise their arms to her know she offers Mercy and Severity in equal measure. This is the great river at night, where wolves howl and all doors are open. All futures are possible, and every truth is elusive. This is the source and passion of Eighteen: Stories of Mischief & Mayhem. These twenty-four stories from voices—old and new—celebrate the inevitability of fate, the horror of prophecy, and the shivering delight of not knowing...

何謂真實？誰說了算？我們該怎麼活？這是千百年來圍繞著西方世界「東方迷戀」的三個大哉問。從亞歷山大大帝到披頭四，從資源的掠奪到真理與靈魂的求索，有哪些事物讓西方人沉醉於亞洲的光芒中？自古希臘時代開始，西方與亞洲的交會大多充斥著奇異生物與巨人的荒誕傳說、極遠地區運來絲綢與香料的傳奇，以及對於遙遠未知的帝國感到的憂慮或不安。儘管二十世紀亞洲大半地區在經歷數百年戰事之後落入西方勢力的統治，但亞洲的思想、藝術與精神影響，卻在此時開始對西方進行回擊。《東方迷戀史》志在探索這部豐富交織的故事，勾勒這段混淆、迷茫卻非常重要的亞洲與西方關係史。自馬可．波羅以降，亞洲是西方人衷心迷戀的對象，但是西方對亞洲的認識卻又同時充滿缺陷。中國、印度和日本既被視為偉大的文明，卻又基於某些褊狹粗淺的觀點，認定是被西方超越並拋在腦後的地區。東方曾是西方人眼中充滿財富與驚奇的迷人之地、前景可期的基督教傳教對象，甚至成為西方人汲取新智慧的泉源。克里斯多福．哈定以細膩的鋪陳，為讀者展開一片由天才、冒險家、...

Journey through the bustling wilds of Delhi, the pastoral road to Agra, and experience the sweeping spiritual beauty of Kathmandu in Christopher Ochs's debut book, Into the East.This three-part travel narrative spans three different visits: the first two to Delhi, India and the third a more in-depth experience as an honourary citizen in Delhi with a side journey to Kathmandu, Nepal.Christopher Ochs offers readers a look into the daily life, people, and traditions of these p...

Amid global concern over democratic backsliding, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are often viewed as exceptions—stable, healthy democracies. Yet illiberal trends have been quietly growing in each country since the early 2010s. South Korea’s martial law crisis in December 2024 shocked the world, and all three East Asian democracies face rising threats to elections, the rule of law, and civil and political rights.Drawing on extensive multilingual research, Christopher Carothers traces...

Western civilization began in the Middle East: Judaism and Christianity, as well as Islam, were born there. For over a millennium, the Islamic empires were ahead of the West in learning, technology and medicine, and were militarily far more powerful. It took another three hundred centuries for the West to catch up, and overtake, the Middle East.Why does it seem different now? Why does Osama bin Laden see 1918, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, as the year everything changed? The...

Explores the rediscovery of Rendlesham, revealing its role in early East Anglian power.Lost for centuries, the site of the East Anglian royal settlement at Rendlesham is now giving up its secrets. Noted by the Venerable Bede as a place of royal baptism in the seventh century CE, its location has been pin-pointed and its archaeology investigated. The settlement flourished from the early fifth century CE, but was at its peak between the late sixth and early eighth ce...

At the age of only 36, Sir Mark Sykes was signatory to the Sykes-Picot agreement, one of the most reviled treaties of modern times. A century later, Christopher Sykes’ lively biography of his grandfather reassesses his life and work, and the political instability and violence in the Middle East attributed to it.The Sykes–Picot agreement was drawn by the eponymousBritish and French diplomats in 1916 to determine the divideof the collapsing empire in th...

An unprecedented analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria’s ongoing civil war“One of the best informed and non-partisan accounts of the Syrian tragedy yet published.”—Patrick Cockburn, IndependentSyria’s brutal, long-lasting civil war is widely viewed as a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the fray. Bu...

The essential guide to geopolitics in the modern Middle EastThe Middle East is in crisis. The shocking events of the war in Gaza have rocked the entire region. More than a decade ago, the Arab Spring had raised hopes of a new beginning but instead ushered in a series of civil wars, coups, and even harsher autocracies. Tensions were exacerbated by the meddling of outsiders, as regional and global powers sought to further their interests. The United States, for so lo...

'A rich history… Harding writes with energy and insight, wearing a tremendous amount of learning lightly' - Rana Mitter, Financial TimesThis 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 encountersFrom the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most...

Welcome to a world of tracksuits, Kalashnikovs and organised crime.After the fall of communism, the most dangerous Mafia you've never heard of ran Poland as its own private playground and wallowed in all the luxury that Eastern Europe had to offer – until someone at the heart of the gang turned traitor and brought everything crashing down in a bloody round of murder and betrayal.Today Poland is a prosperous modern democracy standing proud at the Slavic edge...

SARS from East to West is the production of international collaboration investigating the first major pandemic in the new millennium, SARS. As the only major outbreak of a deadly infectious disease in modern times, the SARS case is an excellent example of an emerging contagious disease in an interdependent and interconnected world and provided the bases for how subsequent pandemics, like the bird flu and swine flu, are viewed and managed.Eva-Karin Olsson and Lan Xue bring together ...