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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General
The fifth in the CAIW series, this title reflects 50 years of
experience of Cambridge (UK)-based World of Information, which
since 1975 has followed the region's politics and economics. In the
period following the Second World War, Saudi Arabia - a curious
fusion of medieval theocracy, unruly dictatorship and extrovert
wealth - has been called a country of 'superlatives.' The
modernisation of the Kingdom's oil industry has been a smooth
process: its oilfields are highly sophisticated. However, social
modernisation has not kept pace. 'Reform', long a preoccupation
among the Peninsula's leaders does not necessarily go hand in hand
with religion.
By the late twentieth century, Japan had gained worldwide attention
as an economic powerhouse. Having miraculously risen from the ashes
of World War II, it was seen by many as a country to be admired if
not emulated. But by the early 1990s, that bubble burst in
spectacular fashion. The Japanese economic miracle was over. In
this book, John Lie argues that in many ways the Japan of today has
the potential to be even more significant than it was four decades
ago. As countries face the prospect of a world with decreasing
economic growth and increasing environmental dangers, Japan offers
a unique glimpse into what a viable future might look like-one in
which people acknowledge the limits of the economy and environment
while championing meaningful and sustainable ways of working and
living. Beneath and beyond the rhetoric of growth, some Japanese
are leading sustainable lives and creating a sustainable society.
Though he does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all cure for the
world, Lie makes the compelling case that contemporary Japanese
society offers a possibility for how other nations might begin to
valorize everyday life and cultivate ordinary virtues.
In Arthur Upham Pope and A New Survey of Persian Art, fourteen
scholars explore the legacy of Arthur Upham Pope (1881-1969) by
tracing the formation of Persian art scholarship and
connoisseurship during the twentieth century. Widely considered as
a self-made scholar, curator, and entrepreneur, Pope was credited
for establishing the basis of what we now categorize broadly as
Persian art. His unrivalled professional achievement, together with
his personal charisma, influenced the way in which many scholars
and collectors worldwide came to understand the art, architecture
and material culture of the Persian world. This ultimately resulted
in the establishment of the aesthetic criteria for assessing the
importance of cultural remains from modern-day Iran. With
contributions by Lindsay Allen, Sheila S. Blair, Jonathan M. Bloom,
Talinn Grigor, Robert Hillenbrand, Yuka Kadoi, Sumru Belger Krody,
Judith A. Lerner, Kimberly Masteller, Cornelia Montgomery, Bernard
O'Kane, Keelan Overton, Laura Weinstein, and Donald Whitcomb.
The studies in this volume explore central topics characterizing
the political, social and economic systems of Egypt and Syria under
Mamluk rule (1250-1517). Drawing on Arabic sources including
archival material, poetry and chronicles as well as modern research
literature, twelve leading scholars in the field analyze a vast
range of issues in Mamluk history and provide new perspectives on
pivotal features such as European-Mamluk diplomacy, social
relationships and identity in Mamluk society, rural and urban
economy and water management in late medieval Egypt and Syria,
reflecting major research trends in Mamluk history over the last
four decades. With contributions by Frederic Bauden, Stuart J.
Borsch, Joseph Drory, Kurt Franz, Yehosua Frenkel, Daisuke
Igarashi, Yaacov Lev, Amalia Levanoni, Li Guo, Carl F. Petry, Jo
Van Steenbergen, Koby Yosef.
Michael Loewe calls on literary and material evidence to examine
three problems that arose in administering China's early empires.
Religious rites due to an emperor's predecessors must both pay the
correct services to his ancestors and demonstrate his right to
succeed to the throne. In practical terms, tax collectors,
merchants, farmers and townsmen required the establishment of a
standard set of weights and measures that was universally operative
and which they could trust. Those who saw reason to criticise the
decisions taken by the emperor and his immediate advisors, whether
on grounds of moral principles or political expediency, needed
opportunities and the means of expressing their views, whether as
remonstrants to the throne, by withdrawal from public life or as
authors of private writings.
This book comprehensively investigates the position of China's
working class between the 1980s and 2010s and considers the
consequences of economic reforms in historical perspective. It
argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist
period that a new society had been established where the working
classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic
reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional
Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the
reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency
at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study
of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as
wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a
micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers'
protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the
reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on
Marx's concept of a transition from a 'class-in-itself' to a
'class-for-itself'. It will be valuable reading for students and
scholars of Chinese economic and social history, as well as
political economy, sociology, and politics.
In The Making of Modern Japan, Myles Carroll offers a sweeping
account of post-war Japanese political economy, exploring the
transition from the post-war boom to the crisis of today and the
connections between these seemingly discrete periods. Carroll
explores the multifarious international and domestic political,
economic, social and cultural conditions that fortified Japan's
post-war hegemonic order and enabled decades of prosperity and
stability. Yet since the 1990s, a host of political, economic,
social and cultural changes has left this same hegemonic order out
of step with the realities of the contemporary world, a
contradiction that has led to three decades of crisis in Japanese
society. Can Japan make the bold changes required to reverse its
decline?
"State, Economy and the Great Divergence" provides a new analysis
of what has become the central debate in global economic history:
the 'great divergence' between European and Asian growth. Focusing
on early modern China and Western Europe, this book offers a new
level of detail on comparative state formation that has
wide-reaching implications for European, Eurasian and global
history.Beginning with a comprehensive overview of the
historiography, Peer Vries goes on to extend and develop the
debate, critically engaging with the huge volume of literature
published on the topic to date. Incorporating new insights into the
case of Europe, he offers a compelling alternative to the
exaggerated claims to East-West equivalence, or Asian superiority,
which have come to dominate discourse surrounding this issue.This
is a vital update to a key issue in global economic history and, as
such, is essential reading for students and scholars interested in
keeping up to speed with the on-going debates.
'Ali, son of Abi Talib, Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, is the
only Companion of the Prophet who has remained to this day the
object of fervent devotion of hundreds of millions of followers in
the lands of Islam, especially in the East. Based on a detailed
analysis of several categories of sources, this book demonstrates
that Shi'ism is the religion of the Imam, of the Master of Wisdom,
just like Christianity is that of Christ, and that 'Ali is the
first Master and Imam par excellence. Shi'ism can therefore be
defined, in its most specific religious aspects, as the absolute
faith in 'Ali: the divine Man, the most perfect manifestation of
God's attributes, simultaneously spiritual refuge, model and
horizon. With contributions by Orkhan Mir-Kasimov & Mathieu
Terrier Translated from French by Francisco Jose Luis & Anthony
Gledhill
The Arabo-Islamic heritage of the Islam is among the richest, most
diverse, and longest-lasting literary traditions in the world. Born
from a culture and religion that valued teaching, Arabo-Islamic
learning spread from the seventh century and has had a lasting
impact until the present.In The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning
leading scholars around the world present twenty-five studies
explore diverse areas of Arabo-Islamic heritage in honor of a
renowned scholar and teacher, Dr. Wadad A. Kadi (Prof. Emerita,
University of Chicago). The volume includes contributions in three
main areas: History, Institutions, and the Use of Documentary
Sources; Religion, Law, and Islamic Thought; Language, Literature,
and Heritage which reflect Prof. Kadi's contributions to the field.
Contributors:Sean W. Anthony; Ramzi Baalbaki; Jonathan A.C. Brown;
Fred M. Donner; Mohammad Fadel; Kenneth Garden; Sebastian Gunther;
Li Guo; Heinz Halm; Paul L. Heck; Nadia Jami; Jeremy Johns; Maher
Jarrar; Marion Holmes Katz; Scott C. Lucas; Angelika Neuwirth;
Bilal Orfali; Wen-chin Ouyang; Judith Pfeiffer; Maurice A.
Pomerantz; Ridwan al-Sayyid ; Aram A. Shahin; Jens Scheiner; John
O. Voll; Stefan Wild.
In Ordinary Jerusalem, Angelos Dalachanis, Vincent Lemire and
thirty-five scholars depict the ordinary history of an
extraordinary global city in the late Ottoman and Mandate periods.
Utilizing largely unknown archives, they revisit the holy city of
three religions, which has often been defined solely as an eternal
battlefield and studied exclusively through the prism of
geopolitics and religion. At the core of their analysis are topics
and issues developed by the European Research Council-funded
project "Opening Jerusalem Archives: For a Connected History of
Citadinite in the Holy City, 1840-1940." Drawn from the French
vocabulary of geography and urban sociology, the concept of
citadinite describes the dynamic identity relationship a city's
inhabitants develop with each other and with their urban
environment.
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