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Destined for war: Can America and China escape Thucydides's trap? by Graham AllisonWhen Athens went to war with Sparta some 2,500 years ago, the Greek historian Thucydides identified one simple cause: a rising power threatened to displace a ruling one, leading inexorably to conflict. In the past 500 years, great powers have found themselves in 'Thucydides's Trap' 16 times. In 12 of the 16; from war between the French and the Hapsburgs in the 16th century to the two world wars of the 20th, the results have been catastrophic. Today, the same structural forces propel China and the US toward a cataclysm of unseen proportions, even as both sides insist that such a war could never occur.
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Extra time: 10 lessons for an ageing world by Camilla CavendishThe world is undergoing a dramatic demographic shift. By 2020, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 65 and over will outnumber children aged five and under. But our systems are lagging woefully behind this new reality. In Extra Time, Camilla Cavendish embarks on a journey to understand how different countries are responding to these unprecedented challenges.
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Holding the line: The naval air campaign in Korea by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Tells the full story of the US Navy and Marine Corps' war in Korea from the first day of the war to the last, not only chronicling the front-line action, but also describing the technical development of aircraft and shipboard operations, and how these all affected the broader strategic situation on the Korean Peninsula.
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Nothing to envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea by Barbara DemickAfter the death of the country's great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, famine descended, and Nothing to Envy weaves together the stories of adversity and resilience of six residents of Chongin, North Korea's third-largest city. From extensive interviews and with tenacious investigative work, Barbara Demick has recreated the concerns, culture and lifestyles of North Korean citizens in a gripping narrative, and vividly reconstructed the inner workings of this extraordinary and secretive country.
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Attila the Hun: Arch-enemy of Rome by Ian HughesRising to the Hunnic kingship around 434, Attila the Hun dominated European history for the next two decades. Integral to the narrative is analysis of the history of the rise of the Hunnic Empire; the reasons for the Huns' military success; relations between the Huns and the two halves of the Roman Empire; Attila’s rise to sole power; and Attila’s doomed attempt to bring both halves of the Roman Empire under his dominion.
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A History of Crete by Chris MooreyThe island of Crete has been of paramount strategic importance for thousands of years. For much of its long history, the island has been ruled by foreign invaders - the Mycenaeans, Dorians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, Ottoman Turks and, briefly, the Third Reich. There have been two periods of the island’s independence: the vibrant apogee of the Minoan civilization and the brief period of autonomy before union with Greece at the beginning of the twentieth century. Chris Moorey, who has lived in Crete for over twenty years, provides an engaging and lively account of the island spanning from the Stone Age to the present day.
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The Arabs: A history by Eugene RoganRogan's book is remarkable for its geographical sweep, covering the Arab world from North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula, and for the depth in which it explores every facet of modern Arab history. Charting the evolution of Arab identity from Ottomanism to Arabism to Islamism, it covers themes including the conflict between national independence and foreign domination, the Arab-Israeli struggle and the peace process, Abdel Nasser and the rise of Arab Nationalism, the political and economic power of oil and the conflict between secular and Islamic values. This multilayered, fascinating and definitive work is the essential guide to understanding the history of the modern Arab world and its future.
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The shining path: Love, madness, and revolution in the Andes by Orin StarnA narrative history of the unlikely Maoist rebellion that terrorized Peru long after the fall of global communism. The tale of the Shining Path may be the most gripping saga in modern Latin American history, but its full story has never been told. Described by a U.S. State Department cable as 'cold-blooded and bestial,' this band of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionaries mounted a guerrilla war in the 1980s that led to more than 60,000 deaths or disappearances.
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Amritsar, 1919: An empire of fear and the making of a massacre by Kim A. Wagner The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 was a seminal moment in the history of the British Empire, yet it remains poorly understood. In this dramatic account, Kim A. Wagner details the perspectives of ordinary people and argues that General Dyer's order to open fire at Jallianwalla Bagh was an act of fear. Situating the massacre within the "deep" context of British colonial mentality and the local dynamics of Indian nationalism, Wagner provides a genuinely nuanced approach to the bloody history of the British Empire.
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Iron, fire, and ice : the real history that inspired Game of thrones by Ed WestA young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father's death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance of her young son, not yet fully grown but already a sadist who takes delight in watching executions. Sound familiar? It may read like the plot of Game of Thrones. Yet that was also the story of the bloodiest battle in British history, fought at the culmination of the War of the Roses.
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| When women ruled the world: Six queens of Egypt by Kara CooneyA sweeping yet accessible survey of six queens who ruled in times of crisis throughout ancient Egypt's 3,000 year history. Starring the "big three" queens Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Hatshepsut, as well as the little-known Merneith, Neferusobek, and Tawosret. Reviewers say: This evocative history "will enchant those wishing to imagine what ancient Egyptian court life was like" |
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| Rome: A history in seven sackings by Matthew KnealeThis book explains how 2,000 years of the Eternal City's history have been shaped by invading forces, from the chariot-riding Gauls in 387 B.C.E. to the Nazi occupation during WWII. The city has changed so greatly that there have been many Romes, each of which would be largely unrecognizable to Romans of other times.
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| A history of food in 100 recipes by William SitwellFirst published in the U.K., this quirky and insightful Brit-centric culinary history traces the origins and cultural significance of 100 dishes, from ancient Egyptian breads (complete with instructive wall paintings) to celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal's signature meat fruit. Given the vast breadth of time periods covered, not every recipe in this chatty volume is instructive or practical for modern cooking. |
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