The distinguished historian of China, author of Vermeer's Hat, argues that it was not so much the Manchu invasion as climate change that brought collapse to the Ming Dynasty.
The great historian of late antiquity mixes the personal with the scholarly in telling the story of his life and work. Engagement with the non-European world has been intrinsic to his work.
The pitfalls of cultural fantasies of the north: this cultural history, rich with travellers' tales and legends, is entertaining but also disturbing as myth, reality and politics rub uncomfo... read more
A fascinating account of the group of queer young MPs who visited Berlin in the 1930s and spoke out against Hitler. Dubbed 'the glamour boys' by Chamberlain, their warnings were ignored and ... read more
Street scenes, portraits, people at work, a classroom, children: this is powerful and poignant record of Kashgar as it used to be. All the photographs were taken in 1998, on the cusp of swee... read more