The 3nd of 3 volumes includes hundreds of pages and photographs presenting the richness of Okinawan martial traditions, from the original combatives to those influenced by Chinese and mainland Japanese martial art styles. The variety of topics shown in the table of contents indicate the depth and breath in the chapters, along with the authors who are well-known for their meticulous research and practical skills in specific arts. Each volume will prove enjoyable reading and permanent at-han...

In "The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War," Ali Ahmad Jalali offers a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the guerrilla warfare techniques employed by the Afghan Mujahideen during the conflict with Soviet forces from 1979 to 1989. Written with meticulous attention to detail, Jalali's work combines firsthand accounts, strategic assessments, and a critical exploration of the socio-political environment of Afghanistan. The literary style interweaves ...

A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us an insider’s view of this stunning metropolis. He approaches the city from unexpected angles, taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs, following the life of a bar dancer raised amid poverty and abuse, opening the door into the inner sanctums of Bollywood, and delving into the stories of the countless villagers who come in search of a better life and end up living on the sidewalks.As each individual story unfol...

Revenge. Murder. Honor. These are the ingredients of one of the greatest samurai legends of all time: The Forty-Seven Ronin—the legend of samurai who take revenge on a court official who leaves them leaderless.With a gripping narrative, HistoryCaps takes you back in time for a look at perhaps the greatest samurai tales in the history of Japan.HistoryCaps is an imprint of BookCaps Study Guides. With each book, a brief period of history is recapped. We publish a wide array of...

Who can foretell India's future? Mr. Joshi is a fortune teller in a slum in south Delhi who uses a soothsaying green parrot to make predictions. When Adam Roberts visited him in 2012, Joshi's parrot declared that India was destined to become the most powerful nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The parrot also foretold that India would win the soccer World Cup.Parrots may not be the preeminent political authority, but many Indians were just as confident. So Adam Roberts spen...

Bangladesh is a new name for an old land whose history is little known to the wider world. A country chiefly famous in the West for media images of poverty, underdevelopment, and natural disasters, Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel's history reveals the country's vibrant, colourful past and its diverse culture as it navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that have created modern Bangladesh. The story begins with the early geological hist...

In The Nation’s Tortured Body Brian Keith Axel explores the formation of the Sikh diaspora and, in so doing, offers a powerful inquiry into conditions of peoplehood, colonialism, and postcoloniality. Demonstrating a new direction for historical anthropology, he focuses on the position of violence between 1849 and 1998 in the emergence of a transnational fight for Khalistan (an independent Sikh state). Axel argues that, rather than the homeland creating the diaspora, it has been th...

In "Rulers of India: Albuquerque," H. Morse Stephens delves into the life and contributions of Afonso de Albuquerque, the notable Portuguese nobleman who played a pivotal role in establishing Portuguese colonial power in the Indian Ocean during the 16th century. The book exhibits a meticulous blend of historical analysis and narrative prose, capturing the complexities of early modern imperialism with precision and clarity. Stephens employs a vivid literary style that resonates with the vib...

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community represents the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), a charismatic leader whose claims of spiritual authority brought him into conflict with most other Muslim leaders of the time. The controversial movement originated in rural India in the latter part of the 19th century and is best known for challenging current conceptions of Islamic orthodoxy. Despite missionary success and expansion throughout the world, particularly in Western Europe, North America...

This book is the first comprehensive study of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI).The rise of Pakistan-backed religious extremist groups in Afghanistan, India, and Central Asia has focused international attention on Pakistan’s premier intelligence organization and covert action advocate, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate or ISI. While ISI is regarded as one of the most powerful government agencies in Pakistan today, surprisingly little has been writte...

In Hydraulic City Nikhil Anand explores the politics of Mumbai's water infrastructure to demonstrate how citizenship emerges through the continuous efforts to control, maintain, and manage the city's water. Through extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Mumbai's settlements, Anand found that Mumbai's water flows, not through a static collection of pipes and valves, but through a dynamic infrastructure built on the relations between residents, plumbers, politicians, engineers, and the...