This book will reshape the way we think about Islam's relationship with the West. What if Islam never existed? To some, it's a comforting thought: no clash of civilizations, no holy wars, no terrorists. Here, political scientist and expert on the Muslim world Graham E. Fuller guides us through history, geopolitics, and religion to investigate whether or not Islam is indeed the cause of some of today's most emotional and important international crises....

"In How the World Made the West, Oxford historian and classicist Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the "civilizational" thinking regarding the origins of Western culture and thought-that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Upending two centuries of conventional historiography and troubling the waters of our Western origin story, she locates the roots of the West in everything...

"Beyond the Tiger Mom" is a brilliant book hard-hitting and brutally honest but also balanced, insightful, and funny." Amy Chua, author of "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom" Dispel the hype and myths about Asian parenting and uncover the practical with this effective parenting guide. Help your child achieve maximum academic potential Train your child to expand his or her attention span Find the right balance between work and play Help your child see failure...

Examines the opening and development of the silk route and the effects of trade between the East and the West.

An analysis of the writings of historical military strategists including Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz about warfare and instructions on applying these lessons to modern martial arts and combat.

"The riveting, secret story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China. Spies is the history of the secret war that Russia and the West have been waging for a century. Espionage, sabotage, and subversion were the Kremlin's means to equalize the imbalance of resources between the East and West before, during, and after the Cold War. There was nothing "unprecedented" about...

A collection of nine stories. In At the Auction of the Rubby Slippers, the author reflects on the role of auctioneers in establishing "the value of our pasts, of our future, of our lives," while an allegory on the immigrant experience is entitled Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship.

"How is Islam adapting to the rapid changes of the 21st century? Despite political unrest and terrorism, the author argues that many Muslim societies are successfully developing their own versions of modern life. In contrast to the secular liberal model that prevails in the West, Islam is demonstrating alternative ways to be modern while maintaining a distinctly Muslim worldview. Professor Edis, an American physicist with a secular viewpoint who was...

Dispatched to the influential Japanese port of Dejima in 1799, ambitious clerk Jacob de Zoet resolves to earn enough money to deserve his wealthy fiancee, an effort that is challenged by his relationship with the midwife daughter of a samurai.