Download or read book Premodern Travel in World History written by Stephen Gosch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-12-12 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features some of the greatest travellers in human history – people who undertook long journeys to places they knew little or nothing about. From Roman tourists, to the establishment of the Silk Road; an epic trek round China and India in the seventh century, to Marco Polo and through to the first speculations on space travel, Premodern Travel in World History provides an overview of long-distance travel in Afro-Eurasia from around 400BCE to 1500. This survey uses succinct accounts of the most epic journeys in the premodern world as lenses through which to examine the development of early travel, trade and cultural interchange between China, central Asia, India and southeast Asia, while also discussing themes such as the growth of empires and the spread of world religions. Complete with maps, this concise and interesting study analyzes how travel pushed and shaped the boundaries of political, geographical and cultural frontiers.
Download or read book The Personal History of a Bukharan Intellectual written by Sharīf Jān Makhdūm Ṣadr Z̤iyāʼ and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2004 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Diary" offers priceless documentation and guidance for an understanding of the rigidity that characterized the Bukharan Amirate throughout its tumultuous final decades of existence, ca. 1880-1920.
Download or read book A Gravity s Rainbow Companion written by Steven C. Weisenburger and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adding some 20 percent to the original content, this is a completely updated edition of Steven Weisenburger's indispensable guide to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. Weisenburger takes the reader page by page, often line by line, through the welter of historical references, scientific data, cultural fragments, anthropological research, jokes, and puns around which Pynchon wove his story. Weisenburger fully annotates Pynchon's use of languages ranging from Russian and Hebrew to such subdialects of English as 1940s street talk, drug lingo, and military slang as well as the more obscure terminology of black magic, Rosicrucianism, and Pavlovian psychology. The Companion also reveals the underlying organization of Gravity's Rainbow--how the book's myriad references form patterns of meaning and structure that have eluded both admirers and critics of the novel. The Companion is keyed to the pages of the principal American editions of Gravity's Rainbow: Viking/Penguin (1973), Bantam (1974), and the special, repaginated Penguin paperback (2000) honoring the novel as one of twenty "Great Books of the Twentieth Century."
Download or read book Putin s Grand Strategy written by Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Bringing together a group of leading American and European experts, this is the first book-length study of Russian President Vladimir Putin's effort to create a Eurasian Union. The book indicates the ideological origins and character of this project; focusing not only on Putin's strategic objectives but the tactics he employs to achieve them. The volume stresses the high degree of coordination that has been achieved among sectors of the Russian state that are accustomed to function as sovereign bureaucracies. Subsequent chapters analyze the response of eleven post-Soviet states to Putin's initiative, as well as the attitudes towards it of China, Europe, and the United States. The book suggests that the project, if successful, would jeopardize the gains of two decades of independence in countries ranging from Moldova to Tajikistan, but also traces the processes by which those potentially affected have already worked to limit, dilute,and even undermine it even before it comes into being"--Publisher's web site.
Download or read book A Diplomatic History of the Caspian Sea written by G. Mirfendereski and published by Springer. This book was released on 2001-08-10 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a series of short stories that both inform and amuse, this book transports the reader across the windswept shores of the Caspian Sea and provides a provocative view of the wars, peace, intrigues, and betrayals that have shaped the political geography of this important and volatile region. The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the eclipsing of the old Iranian-Soviet regime of the sea have given rise to new challenges for the regional actors and unprecedented opportunities for international players to tap into the area's enormous oil and gas resources, third in size only behind Siberia and the Persian Gulf. This book explores the historical themes that inform and animate the more immediate and familiar discussions about petroleum, pipelines, and ethnic conflict in the Caspian region.
Download or read book God Lives in St Petersburg written by Tom Bissell and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Young Americans abroad in Central Asia find themselves pushed to their limits in these acclaimed, prize-winning stories by one of our most exciting and talented new authors. Combining bleak humor, ironic insight, deep compassion, and unflinching moral and ethical inquiry, Tom Bissell gives us a gripping collection that is both timeless and profoundly relevant to today’s complex world.
Download or read book Central Asia and the Silk Road written by Stephan Barisitz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a comprehensive overview of the pre-modern economic history of Central Asia and the Silk Road, covering several millennia. By analyzing an abundance of sources and materials, it illustrates the repeated economic heydays of the Silk Road, during which it linked the Orient and Occident for many centuries. Nomadic steppe empires frequently dominated Central Asia, molded its economy and influenced trade along the Silk Road. The book assesses the causes and effects of the wide-ranging overland trade booms, while also discussing various internal and external factors that led to the gradual economic decline of Central Asia and eventual demise of the Silk Road. Lastly, it explains how the economic decline gave rise to Chinese and Russian colonialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Detailed information, e.g. on the Silk Road’s trajectories in various epochs, is offered in the form of numerous newly drafted maps.
Download or read book An Eleventh Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-10-28 with total page 800 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acquired by the Bodleian Library in 2002, the Book of Curiosities is now recognized as one of the most important discoveries in the history of cartography in recent decades. This eleventh-century Arabic treatise, composed in Egypt under the Fatimid caliphs, is a detailed account of the heavens and the Earth, illustrated by an unparalleled series of maps and astronomical diagrams. With topics ranging from comets to the island of Sicily, from lunar mansions to the sources of the Nile, it represents the extent of geographical, astronomical and astrological knowledge of the time. This authoritative edition and translation, accompanied by a colour facsimile reproduction, opens a unique window onto the worldview of medieval Islam. An extensive glossary of star-names and seven indices, on birds, animals and other items have been added for easy reference.
Download or read book The Roger Federer Story written by Rene Stauffer and published by New Chapter Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regarded by many as the greatest tennis player in the history of the sport, this authoritative biography is based on many exclusive interviews with Federer and his family as well as the author's experience covering the international tennis circuit for many years. Completely comprehensive, it provides an informed account of the Swiss tennis star from his early days as a temperamental player on the junior circuit, through his early professional career, to his winning major tennis tournaments, including the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. Readers will appreciate the anecdotes about his early years, revel in the insider's view of the professional tennis circuit, and be inspired by this champion's rise to the top of his game.
Download or read book The Shaping of Persian Art written by Yuka Kadoi and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-07-18 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the impact of the Persian style is undeniably reflected in most aspects of the art and architecture of Islamic Central Asia, this Perso-Central Asian connection was chiefly formed and articulated by the Euro-American movement of collecting and interpreting the art and material culture of the Persian Islamic world in modern times. This had an enormous impact on the formation of scholarship and connoisseurship in Persian art, for instance, with an attempt to define the characteristics of how the Islamic art of Iran and Central Asia should be viewed and displayed at museums, and how these subjects should be researched in academia. This important historical fact, which has attracted scholarly interest only in recent years, should be treated as a serious subject of research, accepting that the abstract image of Persian art was not a pure creation of Persian civilization, but that it can be the manifestation of particular historical times and charismatic individuals. Attention should therefore be given to various factors that resulted in the shaping of “Persian” imagery across the globe, not only in terms of national ideologies, but also within the context of several protagonists, such as scholars, collectors and dealers, as well as of the objects themselves. This volume brings together Islamic Iranian and Central Asian art experts from diverse disciplinary and professional backgrounds, and intends to offer a novel insight into what is collectively known as Persian art.
Download or read book A History of the Tajiks written by Richard Foltz and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive and up to date history, from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian times to the post-Soviet period, Richard Foltz traces the complex linguistic, cultural and political history of the Tajiks, a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group from the modern-day Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. In eight chapters, the author explores the revitalisation of Persian culture under the Samanid Empire in the Tajik heartlands of historical Khorasan and Transoxiana; analyses the evolution of the politics of Tajik identity; and traces the history of the ethnic Tajik diaspora today.
Download or read book Sacred Sites of the Southern Kyrgyzstan written by Gulʹnara Amanovna Aĭtpaeva and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trinity s Child written by William W. Prochnau and published by Putnam Publishing Group. This book was released on 1983 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Adventure Tourism written by Colin Beard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the past, present and future of adventure tourism, Adventure Tourism: the new frontier examines the product, the adventure tourist profile, and issues such as supply, geography and sustainability. International case studies are used to illustrate these issues, including: Gorilla watching holidays,Trekking on Mount Everest, Diving holidays, and Outward Bound packages. Analysis of the development and nature of adventure tourism accompanies these studies, ensuring that the title is useful both for undergraduate and postgraduate students of tourism and for professionals involved in managing adventure tourism enterprises. There is also a companion website with additional cases, which can be found at www.bh/com/companions/0750651865.
Download or read book Immoral Memories written by Sergei Eisenstein and published by Peter Owen Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), creator of such masterpieces as Battleship Potemkin, Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, was perhaps the greatest of all film directors. He wrote his autobiography in 1946, two years before his death, and it is a work of major importance in the light it sheds on his personality and mercurial genius. Vivid, eccentric and free-ranging, Immoral Memories is written in a style reminiscent of the brilliant visual effects of montage and dynamic progression that characterize its author's film-making technique. He recounts his life in Russia from the time of the Revolution, during which he served in the Bolshevik army as a volunteer, his travels in the West and his encounters with a remarkable medley of individuals during his long career. He gives us unique insights, too, into his triumphs and tribulations. His disappointments and despair were exemplified by the banning of the film Ivan the Terrible, Part II, which was not released until fifteen years after his death. And he never expected his autobiography to be published in Russia. Yet in answer to his query "Has there been life" he replied that there had been "life lived acutely, joyously, tormentedly, at times even sparkling, unquestionably colourful, and such a life that, I suppose, I would not exchange for another""--Publisher's description.
Download or read book Genetic Nature Culture written by Alan H. Goodman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-11-06 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Individual essays address issues raised by the science, politics, and history of race, evolution, and identity; genetically modified organisms and genetic diseases; gene work and ethics; and the boundary between humans and animals. The result is an entree to the complicated nexus of questions prompted by the power and importance of genetics and genetic thinking, and the dynamic connections linking culture, biology, nature, and technoscience. The volume offers critical perspectives on science and culture, with contributions that span disciplinary divisions and arguments grounded in both biological perspectives and cultural analysis.
Download or read book Murder in Samarkand written by Craig Murray and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-05-24 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Craig Murray arrived in Uzbekistan to take up his post in 2002, he was a young ambassador with a brilliant career and a taste for whisky and women. But after hearing accounts of dissident prisoners being boiled to death and innocent people being raped and murdered by agents of the state, he started to question both his role and that of his country in so-called 'democratising' states. Following his discovery that the British government was accepting information obtained under torture, Murray could no longer maintain a diplomatic silence. When he voiced his outrage, Washington and 10 Downing Street decided he had to go. But Uzbekistan had changed the high-living diplomat and there was no way he was going to go quietly. In this candid and at times shocking memoir, Murray lays bare the dark and dirty underside of the War on Terror.
