Tsunayoshi (1646-1709), the fifth Tokugawa shogun, is one of the most notorious figures in Japanese history. Viewed by many as a tyrant, his policies were deemed eccentric, extreme, and unorthodox. His Laws of Compassion, which made the maltreatment of dogs an offense punishable by death, earned him the nickname Dog Shogun, by which he is still popularly known today. However, Tsunayoshi's rule coincides with the famed Genroku era, a period of unprecedented cultural growth and prosperity that Japan would not experience again until the mid-twentieth century. It was under Tsunayoshi that for the first time in Japanese history considerable numbers of ordinary townspeople were in a financial position to acquire an education and enjoy many of the amusements previously reserved for the ruling elite. Based on a masterful re-examination of primary sources, this exciting new work by a senior scholar of the Tokugawa period maintains that Tsunayoshi's notoriety stems largely from the work of samurai historians and officials who saw their privileges challenged by a ruler sympathetic to commoners. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey's insightful analysis of Tsunayoshi's background sheds new light on his personality and the policies associated with his shogunate. "The Dog Shogun" is a thoroughly revisionist work of Japanese political history that touches on many social, intellectual, and economic developments as well. As such it promises to become a standard text on late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century Japan.

In the wake of the Indian Mutiny, the 1860s and 1870s marked an important period of change and imperial consolidation for the British. Here the author examines the imperial policies of Robert Cecil, the third marquis of Salisbury, who served as secretary of state for India for two administrations during this key era, which marked a significant turning point for relations with the local princes. Clearly defining the office of secretary of state, Salisbury was responsible for policies designed to ensure the smooth running of an empire whose administration was made more difficult by the British Parliament, which possessed the right to oversee Indian affairs. Hoping to prevent a frontier war, Salisbury stressed the importance of promoting progressive change in such a way as to avoid arousing Indian opposition. This conservative approach to Indian government was able to countenance radical ideas, but it did give rise to the hostility of Western-educated Indians who sought more say in the governing of India. At this time, their opposition lacked weight, but Salisbury warned of future dangers should the British fail to promote the welfare of the Indian peasant and to solve India's financial difficulties. Salisbury would carry with him ideas developed at this time to his future posts as foreign secretary and prime minister. Brumpton's study complements existing research into imperial ideology and the official mind of India under the British.

The years 1978 and 1979 were dramatic throughout south and western Asia. In Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty was toppled by an Islamic revolution. In Pakistan, Zulfigar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the military regime that toppled him and which then proceeded to implement an Islamization programme. Between the two lay Afghanistan whose "Saur Revolution" of April 1978 soon developed into a full scale civil war and Soviet intervention. The military struggle that followed was largely influenced by Soviet-US rivalry but the ideological struggle followed a dynamic of its own.;Drawing on a wide range of sources, including such previously unused archival material as British Intelligence reports, this is a detailed study of the Afghan debate on the role of Islam in politics from the formation of the modern Afghan state around 1800 to the present day.

In earlier times, for the Chinese, Korea was 'the country of courteous people from the east', and for westerners 'the land of the morning calm' or 'hermit kingdom'. In this fascinating collection of writings on times past in Korea the author helps to lift the veil on this once closed country, providing the reader with a wide selection of first-hand accounts by travellers who 'discovered' Korea - some as snapshots by those passing through, others more detailed evaluations of Korean culture and everyday life by those who spent time there. The collection covers a period of over 400 years - from Hendrik Hamel's journal of the 1600s to early 20th century records, such as Roy C. Andrew's 1918 published account of his expedition, entitled Exploring Unknown Corners of the 'Hermit Kingdom'.

This volume of the Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan series, published under the Japan Library imprint, collects the work of Richard Storry on contempory issues and the history of Japan.

In the spring of 1865, when Japan was in the grip of a major civil war, 18 samurai and an interpreter risked their lives to embark secretly on a voyage to the unknown lands of the barbarian west. Their destination was Britain - at the hub of a vast empire. These were the Satsuma students, some of them still in their teens, all carrying orders from their domains to travel abroad. It was an extraordinary and daring expedition. Their experience of life in the west not only transformed their perception of the outside world, but through their diverse activities in later life, had a profound impact on commerce, education and culture in Meiji Japan. First published in 1974, Inuzuka Takaaki's study is still the classic work on the Satsuma students' revealing tale of discovery.

From the commercial and industrial transformation of Osaka in the late 19th century to the role and status of Japanese multinationals in Europe: these two themes represent both the time-span and the breadth of this volume which draws on a cross-section of key papers given at the 1994 triennial conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies (Economics/Economic Social History section) at Copenhagen.

Recent studies of South India in the 19th- and 20th-centuries concentrate primarily on political and social issues. Studies of specifically religious developments, of religious encounter, institutions and movements, particularly of the 19th-century, have been few in number. The prupose of this study is to examine religious institutions, trends and developments in parts of South-east India, focusing on the Tanjore and Trichonopoly districts - areas famous for cultural and religious activity. It is recalled that neither Hinduism and Christianity were totally static forms of religious organization, ritual or belief, but were living traditions always in the process of change and adaptation. Thus, one of the major concerns of this book deals with continuities, conversion and change.

This work includes topics such as international relations affecting Japan, Russia, China and Korea in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Developed in close collaboration with Ian Nish, this book contains a wide and substantial cross-section of writings, thematically structured around essays in the special areas of Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Continuing the context of Anglo-Japanese exchange and historic connections from the first volume, Volume II incorporates a further 20 studies of key personalities. This includes: Edmund Morel, pioneer railway builder in Meiji Japan; Alexander Shand, an important figure in the development of Japanese banking; Lafcadio Hearn, the great interpreter of Japanese culture; Rev Dr John Batchelor, whose work with the Ainu people of northern Japan is well-known; and, more recently, Shigeru Yoshida, Japan's first post-war prime minister, and Christmas Humphreys, founder of the Buddhist Society, whose work and writings provided a jey post-war bridge in East-West understanding.

The theme of this volume which is being reissued completely revised and enlarged in the concept of feudalism. Here we have a significant collection ofe ssays by T.J. Byres and by a distinguished group of historians in response to an article by Harbans Mukhia on " was there feudalism in indian history?". This book based on historical scholarship with regard to theoretical formulations on a range of non western countries, from which exciting comparative perspectives emerge.

After Aurangzeb Alamgir, history has been singularly unkind to the later Mughals. Even the school history books do not talk of them. But the period with its vicious court intrigues, recalcitrant and independent provincial governors and a ruling class that has become corrupt, and unscrupulous make a gripping story and parallels can be drawn with the political scene of today.

the essays in the book relate to colonial history of Calcutta, architecture and politics of New Delhi, australian multicultural theatre, feudalism in european history, schooling of english workers's children from the 1780s to 1870s, world system before capitalism, contemporary chinese writers, Ur- Mahabharata translations and protests against Vietnam war in Australia.

Contributions from eminent scholars collected here share a concern with state intervention and its effect on community formation in Bengal. Ruling elites have different priorities in the different policies adopted in Bengal under the co, the state of Pakistan, the state of pakistan, the state of Bangladesh. These policies have different impact on various communities and caste hierarchies.

On the eve of the twentieth century, few places were as exciting as Shanghai.  Once a wildness of swamps, Asia's "Sin City" evolved into a dazzling modern-day Babylon: redolent with the sickly sweet smell of opium; teeming with illicit sex, crime, and poverty; rife with corruption and glamorous wealth.  In this vibrant history, Stella Dong follows the rise and fall of the city's booming international port, gateway to China's heartland.  In intricate, colorful detail, she examines the misdeeds of its criminal underworld, the passions of its citizens decadent appetites, and the revolutionary spirit of its many political refugees.  Best of all, she captures the essence of the city as if it were a person who had lived a fascinating and tumultuous life.

In "Frontier Fictions," Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet looks at the efforts of Iranians to defend, if not expand, their borders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and explores how their conceptions of national geography influenced cultural and political change. The "frontier fictions," or the ways in which the Iranians viewed their often fluctuating borders and the conflicts surrounding them, played a dominant role in defining the nation. On these borderlands, new ideas of citizenship and nationality were unleashed, refining older ideas of ethnicity.

Kashani-Sabet maintains that land-based conceptions of countries existed before the advent of the modern nation-state. Her focus on geography enables her to explore and document fully a wide range of aspects of modern citizenship in Iran, including love of homeland, the hegemony of the Persian language, and widespread interest in archaeology, travel, and map-making. While many historians have focused on the concept of the "imagined community" in their explanations of the rise of nationalism, Kashani-Sabet is able to complement this perspective with a very tangible explanation of what connects people to a specific place. Her approach is intended to enrich our understanding not only of Iranian nationalism, but also of nationalism everywhere.

The monumental work that assured T.E. Lawrence's place in history as "Lawrence of Arabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also a colorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man who helped shape the Middle East as it exists today.

Ward argues that the Dutch East India Company empire manifested itself through multiple networks that amalgamated spatially and over time into an imperial web whose sovereignty was effectively created and maintained but always partial and contingent. Networks of Empire proposes that early modern empires were comprised of durable networks of trade, administration, settlement, legality, and migration whose regional circuits and territorially and institutionally based nodes of regulatory power operated not only on land and sea but discursively as well. Rights of sovereignty were granted to the Company by the States General in the United Provinces. Company directors in Europe administered the exercise of sovereignty by Company servants in its chartered domain. The empire developed in dynamic response to challenges waged by individuals and other sovereign entities operating within the Indian Ocean grid. By closely examining the Dutch East India Company's network of forced migration this book explains how empires are constituted through the creation, management, contestation, devolution and reconstruction of these multiple and intersecting fields of partial sovereignty.

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic clash between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea, " "acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar. Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality. Empires of the Sea is a story of extraordinary color and incident, and provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.

In November 1841 Sir William Macnaghten reduced his payments of what were effectively bribes to the leaders of particular factions in Afghanistan--the precipitation of the events described in this book. The first part provides extracts of the official government account of events between October 1841 and January 1842; the second is extracted from the diaries of two of the survivors--Lieutenant Vincent Eyre and Lady Florentia Sale, both of whom were finally released in September 1842 after eight months of being moved around the region in dread fear of their lives. They provide critical and moving accounts of one of the most appalling captivities in history.

Japan, during most of its history, has been ruled by its all-powerful Emperors. But in the 16th century - called by the Japanese the Age of Warring Clans - regional potentates were endlessly fighting one another with their small armies of samurai warriors.Hideyoshi, who called himself the Swordless Samurai, is the Japanese Horatio Alger. He was of peasant origin, but by bonding to powerful Lord Nobunaga, and by being useful to him day and night, Hideyoshi secured a powerful patron. Much later, Hideyoshi broke all class barriers and ultimately became the most powerful man in Japan.Hideyoshi has long been immortalised - so much so that every schoolboy in Japan is taught the moral that good judgement, keen intelligence, and sharp wits will win out over your adversaries almost every time.Hideyoshi's leadership and success precepts are embedded in the narrative as Hideyoshi wins many bloodless battles. He also won many victories, and analyzes his rise to supreme leadership. His sense of what it took -drive, shrewdness, anticipation, and determination - is readily understandable to a western businessman or businesswoman today.