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.

Constructs a history of a heretical untouchable community over the last 200 years, the Satnamis of Central India, who combine features of a caste and a sect to challenge the tenor of ritual power that defines Hinduism. Discusses issues of caste and untouchability, sect and kinship, and myths as part

In these 5000 pages Archive Editions presents a key selection of facsimile original British government documents detailing the history and development of Bahrain between 1820 and 1960. The set includes a map box containing 12 maps dated 1828-1955 including three sheets of the table of the Ruling Al Khalifah ('Utbi) family of Bahrain. These British records are of particular interest because the British were in the unique position of being at the heart of government in the Gulf states. They administered Bahrain's foreign and defence affairs through treaty relations from as early as 1820 and despite a convention acknowledging the independence of Bahrain agreed in 1913, right up to the British withdrawal in 1971.

What can body measurements tell us about living standards in the past? In this collection of essays on height and weight data from eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Europe, North America, and Asia, fourteen distinguished scholars explore the relation between physical size, economic development, and standard of living among various socioeconomic groups. Analyzing differences in physical stature by social group, gender, age, provenance, and date and place of birth, these essays illuminate urban and rural differences in well-being, explore the effects of market integration on previously agricultural societies, contrast the experiences of several segments of society, and explain the proximate causes of downturns and upswings in well-being. Particularly intriguing is the researchers' conclusion that the environment of the New World during this period was far more propitious than that of Europe, based on data showing that European aristocrats were in worse health than even the poorest members of American society. The most comprehensive and detailed gathering of this kind of anthropometric research to date, this book will be vital for demographers, economists, historians, physical anthropologists, sociologists, and human biologists.

The book provides an insight into the lives of Khusro Mirza Beg, a scion of a princely family of Georgia, who was adopted by Mir Karam Ali Khan Talpur, and Fareedun, also from Georgia, whose paths fatefully crossed thousands of miles away, in distant Sindh. The author traces the historical background that led to the author's ancestors migration from Georgia in the early 1800's to Sindh, and focuses on Khusro's life as a young man, and his relationship with the Mirs of Sindh, and continues with the family history until the twentieth century.

In 1638, the ruler of Japan ordered a crusade against his own subjects, a holocaust upon the men, women and children of a doomsday cult. The sect was said to harbour dark designs to overthrow the government. Its teachers used a dead language that was impenetrable to all but the innermost circle of believers. Its priests preached love and kindness, but helped local warlords acquire firearms. They encouraged believers to cast aside their earthly allegiances and swear loyalty to a foreign god-emperor, before seeking paradise in terrible martyrdoms. The cult was in open revolt, led, it was said, by a boy sorcerer. Farmers claiming to have the blessing of an alien god had bested trained samurai in combat and proclaimed that fires in the sky would soon bring about the end of the world. The Shogun called old soldiers out of retirement for one last battle before peace could be declared in Japan. For there to be an end to war, he said, the Christians would have to die. This is a true story.