Metamorphic Imagery in Ancient Chinese Art and Religion demonstrates that the concept of metamorphism was central to ancient Chinese religious belief and practices from at least the late Neolithic period through the Warring States Period of the Zhou dynasty.Central to the authors' argument is the ubiquitous motif in early Chinese figurative art, the metamorphic power mask. While the motif underwent stylistic variation over time, its formal properties remained stable, under...

Readers everywhere know that nothing soothes the spirit like sinking into a really good book. If you're one of that happy band, you'll quickly recognize the authors of this inspired reading guide as kindred spirits. Here David and John Major have chosen one hundred books that can each be delightfully consumed in one quiet evening. Covering categories from fantasy to fiction, history to humor, mystery to memoir, this addictive volume features books to match all your moods—by both celebrated...

The year 1986 marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong and the fall of the Gang of Four. A decade after the end of the Cultural Revolution, China experienced the consolidation of rural economic reform, continued progress in urban reform, a widening of the "open door" to the west, and, perhaps most important, the seemingly irreversible impact on Chinese society and culture of Deng Xiaoping's new policies. The political consequences of reform continued to create problems, as w...

This book presents a broad selection of the papers presented at IDENTA '85 on various topics, including counter-terrorism; Israel's experience with terrorism; police and terrorism; and psychological methods, forensic science and voice identification in criminal investigation. The conference on International Congress on Technologies for Police Identification & Counter-Terrorism, was held in 1985 in Jerusalem.

Joe Stilwell, known as Vinegar Joe” for his caustic personality, was stationed in Burma during World War II and famously differed in strategy from other commanders in his division. In retrospect analyses, it’s said that if he had gotten his way, the United States might have defeated the Communists in 1945 and changed the course of history.This meticulously-reached biography of Vinegar Joe presents an intimate account of his career, working as Chinese military leader Chiang Kai-she...

China Briefing, 1985 approaches the events of the previous year providing a long-term perspective on the dramatic developments of spring and summer 1984. Senior China specialists examine the student demonstrations and their aftermath in the larger context of the 40-year history of the People's Republic of China and also reflect on future directions

Ancient China: A History surveys the East Asian Heartland Region – the geographical area that eventually became known as China – from the Neolithic period through the Bronze Age, to the early imperial era of Qin and Han, up to the threshold of the medieval period in the third century CE. For most of that long span of time there was no such place as "China"; the vast and varied territory of the Heartland Region was home to many diverse cultures that only slowly coalesced, culturall...

The “spellbinding” (People) New York Times bestseller from the author of The Dovekeepers, an extraordinary novel about an electric and impassioned love affair—“an enchanting love story rich with history and a sense of place” (USA TODAY).Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as t...

Welcome to QI: The Book of the Dead, a biographical dictionary with a twist - one where only the most interesting people made it in!QI have got together six dozen of the happiest, saddest, maddest and most successful men and women from history. Celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes and marvel at their bad taste in clothes.Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of naked women, Florence Nightingale spent her last fifty years in bed, Sigmund Freud smoked twenty cig...

From the author of Children of the Camps, a look at the disturbing activities of the Kempeitai, Japan's feared military and secret police.The book opens by explaining the origins, organization, and roles of the Kempeitai apparatus, which exercised virtually unlimited power throughout the Japanese Empire. Author Mark Felton reveals their criminal and collaborationist networks that extorted huge sums of money from hapless citizens and businesses. They ran the...

A collection of reflections on writing and the nature of the writer from one the greatest American writers of the 20th century.Throughout Hemingway’s career as a writer, he maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing—that it takes off “whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk’s feathers if you show it or talk about it.”Despite this belief, by the end of his life he had done just what he intended not to do. In his novels...

The New York Times bestseller that inspired the documentary Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began on Public Television.At its height, the Battle of Shanghai involved nearly a million Chinese and Japanese soldiers while sucking in three million civilians as unwilling spectators—and often victims. It turned what had been a Japanese imperialist adventure in China into a general war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far East. U...