Arguing that there has never been a consensus on which rights all people are entitled, Beyond Illiberalism: Rights, Rhetoric, and Reality in a Pluralistic World traces how the concept of human rights is tied to a global project rooted in colonialism and grounded in nineteenth-century liberalism and post-World War II social democratic principles.This book contends that human rights are conceived, imagined, and promoted by dominant states, organizations, and activists within...

Twickenham is chiefly known today as the home of rugby, but its heyday could be said to be in the eighteenth century when first Alexander Pope and then Horace Walpole made it their home and extolled its Arcadian setting.Captain Gray, a naval officer, acquired plots of land close to the river in Twickenham in 1718 on which he built two rows of houses, Sion Row and Montpelier Row, which survive to this day and are much admired.This book tells the story of Sion Row, which was ...

The state-directed opening of the Chinese economy in 1979 led to a number of radical transformations within Chinese society, but Western understanding of these changes is often limited by erroneous assumptions. Offering a clear picture of the vast economic and social forces of modern-day China, Professor Robert J. Shepherd addresses U.S. investment in China, China's startling economic growth, state vs. society issues in the vast republic, and the effect of social and cultural change on the...

At last, a refreshing guide to Rome brought to you by the chalk and cheese of travel writing, Robert Shepherd and Geoff Motley. Written from the heart and fuelled by local food, wine and a mischievous sense of humour, this book is by two guys who are generations apart and come at Rome from different directions. It does not lead you by the hand, but it certainly whets your appetite, encouraging you to be adventurous and find your own way with a hint or two from the guys. Absorb what they kn...

At last, a refreshing guide to Florence, with a slice of Pisa, brought to you by the chalk and cheese of travel writing, Robert Shepherd and Geoff Motley.Written from the heart and fuelled by local food, wine and a mischievous sense of humour, this book is by two guys who are generations apart and come at Florence from different directions. It does not lead you by the hand, but it certainly whets your appetite, encouraging you to be adventurous and find your own way with a hint or two from...

At last, a refreshing guide to Venice brought to you by the chalk and cheese of travel writing, Robert Shepherd and Geoff Motley. Written from the heart and fuelled by local food, wine and a mischievous sense of humour, this book is by two guys who are generations apart and come at Venice from different directions. It does not lead you by the hand, but it certainly whets your appetite, encouraging you to be adventurous and find your own way with a hint or two from the guys. Absorb what the...

Accompanying the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 program, Reflections features interviews with twelve of Britain’s most influential political figures from the last twenty years. Presented by Peter Hennessy, one of the UK’s most renowned historians, each interview not only offers an honest and frank assessment of a political career, but also acts as a biography filled with fresh insights and moments of new revelation. From one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers and three of the Conservat...

Within tourism studies, the cosmopolitan potentials of tourism have often been situated within a broader conversation about globalization, an approach that implies that cosmopolitanism is a predictable by-product of globalization and becoming more cosmopolitan should be the goal of travel. And yet a fundamental value of a cosmopolitan outlook—namely, to not only to be “at home in the world” but also to experience the world in an authentic sense—depends on the culturally embedded, parochial...

Previous studies of the practice of footbinding in imperial China have theorized that it expressed ethnic identity or that it served an economic function. By analyzing the popularity of footbinding in different places and times, Footbinding as Fashion investigates the claim that early Qing (1644–1911) attempts by Manchu rulers to ban footbinding made it a symbol of anti-Manchu sentiment and Han identity and led to the spread of the practice throughout all levels of society. Detail...

At the time of the American Revolution most of the New World still belonged to Spain and Portugal, whose captains and conquerors had been the first to come to its shores. Spain had the lion's share, but Portugal held Brazil, in itself a vast land of unsuspected resources. No empire mankind had ever yet known rivaled in size the illimitable domains of Spain and Portugal in the New World; and none displayed such remarkable contrasts in land and people. Boundless plains and forests, swamps and d...

On the BBC radio show Reflections with Peter Hennessy, the preeminent historian of British political life interviewed leading figures from the UK’s governing parties during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Bringing together transcripts of the collected interviews for the first time, The Complete Reflections features interviews the biggest names from the Thatcher era, the New Labour years, and the coalition government of the 2010s.In The Com...

“The historian,” wrote E. L. Doctorow, “will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” This book sees Peter Hennessy and Robert Shepard combine both approaches with the art of the interviewer, a craft at once sensitive and probing.Reflections collects transcripts of the best interviews from the BBC Radio 4 series Reflections with Peter Hennessy, a show on which the British political elite have spoken candidly about their careers and th...