History books
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William Dalrymple: ‘If I ever want to show off to a nephew, I tell them about being shot at’
The historian on being stunned silent by Mick Jagger, his favourite sandwich filling and the seventh century I…
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‘Once again, the west turns away’: a new book recounts the fall and rise of the Taliban
Esteemed foreign correspondent Jon Lee Anderson’s new book offers a full accounting of life in Afghanistan fro…
- Books, Culture, Economics, Higher education, History books, India, Karl Marx, Labour, London School of Economics and Political Science, Politics, Politics past, South and Central Asia, World news
Lord Desai obituary
Economist who reassessed Karl Marx’s view of the durability of capitalism and wrote on Indian culture and hist…
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Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple review – the many partitions of southern Asia
A deeply researched history that examines colonial and post-colonial faultlines, from Aden to MyanmarEarlier t…
- Asia Pacific, Books, Culture, History books, Japan, Nuclear weapons, Science, Second world war, US military, Weapons technology
‘You don’t brag about wiping out 60‑70,000 people’: the men who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
This summer will mark 80 years since the attacks stunned the world. Today, every one of the crew members who c…
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Qiu Xigui obituary
Paleographer, historian and expert on ancient Chinese writingQiu Xigui, who has died aged 89, first made his m…
- Astronomy, Books, Buddhism, Colonialism, Culture, Hinduism, History books, India, Religion, Science, South and Central Asia, World news
‘In Britain, we are still astonishingly ignorant’: the hidden story of how ancient India shaped the west
The flow of knowledge to Europe on maths, astronomy and much more has gone unacknowledged by historians. In AD…
- Belgium, Books, Climate crisis, Colonialism, Culture, Europe, Fossil fuels, History books, Indonesia, Statues, World news
End fossil-fuel era to address colonial injustices, urges prominent historian
West should address ‘colonisation of the present’ and not focus on past, argues David Van ReybrouckCities in t…
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Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji review – charming, genre-defying study
The academic’s discursive, wonderfully enjoyable account of South Asia’s journey from a British colony to thre…
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教科書では書けない韓国歴史 オランダ人が記した真実、李氏朝鮮時代の生活と風習「朝鮮幽囚記」ハメルKorean history that cannot be written in textbooks The truth written by the Dutch, the life and customs of Mr. Lee during the Joseon era
教科書では書けない韓国歴史 オランダ人が記した真実、李氏朝鮮時代の生活と風習「朝鮮幽囚記」ハメル【なるためJAPAN】 Hendrick Hamel, 1630 – 1692 Premodern Korean…
- Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Books, Brazil, Culture, Egypt, Global development, History books, India, Middle East and North Africa, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Politics books, South and Central Asia, Travel, Vietnam, World news
Books that explain the world: Guardian writers share their best nonfiction reads of the year
From a Jacobean traveller’s travails in Sindh to the tangled roots of Nigeria, our pick of new nonfiction book…
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Jonathan Mirsky obituary
Journalist and historian of China who went from admiring the regime to being one of its sternest criticsJonath…
- Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Biden administration, Books, Culture, Donald Rumsfeld, Freedom of information, George Bush, History books, Politics books, South and Central Asia, Trump administration, US foreign policy, US military, US national security, US news, US politics, World news
The Afghanistan Papers review: superb exposé of a war built on lies
Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post used freedom of information to produce the definitive US version of the …
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Amartya Sen: what British rule really did for India
It is true that before British rule, India was starting to fall behind other parts of the world – but many of …
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Charles Allen obituary
Author of Plain Tales from the Raj, and historian concerned with ’relearning’ the role of orientalists in sout…