(Part 3) Best asian history books according to redditors
We found 3,470 Reddit comments discussing the best asian history books. We ranked the 1,461 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
Yes, absolutely.
To begin with, don't forget that the romanticized Western image of samurai as hyper honor focused warrior monk types is pure exoticism with no real historic backing.
More to the point, like with the knights of Europe, while there was an official ideal of honor it was more prescriptive than descriptive and when you have a large group of heavily armed men some are going to be scumbags.
Further, "samurai" simply meant "person from the caste permitted to carry weapons", towards the end of the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) a great many samurai class men had no real weapon training, a minimal pension from the government, and generally survived by running up debts which were nullified every few years by government edict.
The Seven Samurai takes place earlier, in the Sengoku period (aka the Warring States Period), at a time of chaos and general confusion. There was no centralized government, no rule beyond what the local warlord decreed and could enforce, and samurai (again, meaning "people who carried weapons", not "super highly trained and deeply honorable warrior monk types") were thugs enforcing the will of their local warlord, which usually meant stealing whatever they could from the peasants and calling it taxes.
Or, worse, they were ronin. When a warlord was defeated his soldiers (samurai) often just wandered off and turned to banditry to survive. There's a lot of mythology and several stories involving deeply honorable ronin seeking adventure and vengeance for the people who betrayed their lords, but mostly in real life they were just armed and trained men who took whatever they could from the people least likely to fight back.
You might check out State of War, it's more about the somewhat earlier times than the Sengoku period, but most of what it covers applies to the later periods as well.
For an interesting, often funny, first hand, primary source, account of daily life for a poor man of samurai class during the mid Tokugawa period check Musui's Story, it's a very quick read, an autobiography written by Musui himself, who lived a quite disreputable life and busts a lot of myths of the noble honorable samurai.
TL;DR: even at the best of times, samurai were just soldiers, and historically soldiers weren't what you'd call very nice. In the worse times they were just bandits. The idea of samurai as super honorable warriors is just a myth.
I've actually had really mixed feelings about child labor after reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers. The mixed feelings come because we get to feel all smug that something is made without child labor, but all that means is that they either starve or go work in trash piles / unregulated work where they are exposed to toxic materials or other issues that are every bit as dangerous.
I ended up asking quite a few knowledgeable people and reading up on why they did not use shields. Turns out its because their armor did one of the main jobs of a shield well enough:blocking arrows.
Early japanese(like 0-500 AD) used shields, but then as far as I can tell nobody used shields because they transferred to the early O-yoroi armor(shoulderpads would act as shields)...which is the same armor used in your picture. So I guess it was under some use but as far as I could tell very rare due to the armor quality. I saw references to shields as in mobile barricades similar to pavises but nothing like hand shields, simply because the armor was good enough to block arrows and would let more people use full 2 handed weapons which are better than 1 handed weapons generally speaking(bigger pointy stick beats smaller pointy stick).
My favorite source so far is: State of War.
Some more cool things from the book:
-Twenty arrows were required to kill Imagawa Yorikuni, and it was widely regarded that decent armor would easily stop "tens of arrows"
-Two days after one soldier was shot through the hand, he showed up in service records on the front lines.
-That same guy was later shot in the foot and the arrowhead caused infection, so he was relegated to guard duty forever(soldier was called Beppu Michizane).
-Mounted warriors refrained from using swords due to skittish mounts being frightened by the shadows of them apparently? [3 written sources, but good luck finding "Buki kara mita nairanki no sento" on your own]
-Battle axes were used, and broken weapon hafts were an actual problem(part of why the giant 7 foot swords existed)
Also in mildly related topic another great book is Warriors of the Steppe which talks about horse archers. I was interested to know why they are so magically good in real life, but its mostly because Nomads are just a very tough group of people with no lands you can raid, so they can travel a long distance to burn your stuff and own no territory that you can siege traditionally, not so much magical archer powers.
Also George Crile's "Charlie Wilson's War" and Robert Baer's "Sleeping with the Devil", one of three books that formed the basis for Syriana.
Osama Bin Laden's relationship with the US is the primary reason behind September 11 conspiracy theories. The official record shows that no money ever flowed directly out of US coffers to Osama bin Laden, which might be true.
It'd be pretty fuckin' weird, though.
UBL was best buddies with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who we funded heavily. He's a cousin by marriage to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who held an essentially cabinet-level post in the Reagan White House. He was a favorite son of the Bin Laden group, which is Saudi Arabia's Halliburton. And his primary activities in Afghanistan were recruitment videos and multimedia for Saudi Arabia in order to encourage young Arabs to join the jihad.
Considering who we were giving money to in Afghanistan, not giving money to Osama Bin Laden back in the '80s would have been a colossal oversight.
This is how conspiracy theories happen: hide a little, let public misperceptions fill in the blanks. It's a lot better for the CIA to have you believe in "loose change" than to have our heavy investments in Islamic fundamentalism join the public discourse.
Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century by Peter Lorge covers the jian but not exclusively since it covers a bunch of weapons throughout Chinese history as an overview. In a nutshell, although some individuals managed to distinguish themselves in its usage, it was also widely regarded as a ceremonial weapon to distinguish officers and royalty. This is also why the jian is also typically much more decorated than, say, a spear would be, and why it's so popular in period cinema. It's a very fashionable weapon and a mark of nobility and class.
The broadsword (Dao) was the go-to for the purposes of practical warfare. Overall, the jian was largely disadvantaged on the battlefield compared to most other weapons but was common for personal self-defense for the simple reason that it was much more convenient to carry at all times than most other alternatives and usable in almost any circumstance.
> They can hide things from their own people, not really from the rest of the world. Again, the rest of the world is fully aware of how terrible it is in that country.
That wasn't my point? My point was they deflect attention away from human rights abuses by playing the western media.
> This reply doesn't seem to make any sense. Could you elaborate?
Here's what you said:
> Portraying this as about the movie and not about Americans getting pushed around and being told what they can and cannot do by NORTH KOREA is dishonest.
Which suggests that you think a private company pulling a movie is the same as nation states affecting each other. Unless by American you mean Sony in which case Sony is not even an American company, it's Japanese.
> Please, read what I'm saying and respond to that. You're making points here that are irrelevant. Stuff I never disagreed with or commented on.
I did. Honestly, you didn't make much of a point beyond claiming this is about North Korea "censoring" Americans (it's not) and refusing to believe that the DPRK is a self-aware government that issues global statements as calculated propaganda pieces.
> That is a stretch, to put it mildly. The West engages in this kind of satire all the time.
Because that's exactly how North Korea wants the West to spin it.
> We are still fully aware of the reality. Do you really think Team America came out and people stopped knowing that North Korea was a shit hole? Did the Dictator movie with Sacha Baron Cohen make people think the Middle East was a great place to live?
I never claimed those things. My answer is pretty clear in the stuff you quoted. All the human rights abuses and police state business is swept into the subconscious because the first things that people associate North Korea with are stupid memes and movie villain statements, making them see the regime as a parody of inhumanity that is too ridiculous to be believed.
I'm not interested in trying to change your mind because. It's clear you haven't done any serious research about North Korea. If you really want to get into this, I can start quoting experts on North Korea. To quote Dr. Andrei Lankov, "North Korea is not a bomb." Despite what US officials and even what uninformed academics believe, it is not insane. They know exactly what the response from the West will be when they make these statements.
> Police brutality is something that has been going on for decades to Americans. It reached a boiling point. It always strikes closer to home when it's happening to you. Which easily explains why no one takes to the streets when foreigners are getting tortured or North Koreans are suffering.
Didn't take very much to invade Iraq either, if you want to use that argument. Nor did it take much to start committing US resources to assisting Syrian rebels.
In comparison, there's far less pressure placed on our leaders to deal with North Korea, despite the fact that NATO-friendly allies inhabit the region.
> I wish you would be more intellectually honest. The dishonesty you've just tried here is incredible.
Oh boy.
> Do you really think all 914 million results are about the movie? "the interview" is a pretty fucking common set of words. Guess what? From the 3rd page on, many of the results have nothing to do with the movie at all.
Okay, good point. Google results for The Interview North Korea still nets 163 million. That's nearly twice the number of the CIA torture reports.
> Any article about the issue at all is going to mention the title of the movie. That says nothing about whether the people care about the movie or about being told what they can and cannot watch by North Korea.
If reddit is any indication, this has been a constant talking point for the last few days while the torture report was a flash in the pan.
> Please, try again. I'm sure you're capable of doing better. You don't seem like a total idiot in your posts, but you do seem very agenda driven and dishonest.
Dealing with assholes is not my strong suit. Statements like this don't help.
I was already questioning whether I should have even responded to you in the first place because I recognized you from other threads about North Korea. Just in case you delete this comment:
> Very little sympathy.
> You. Can. Not. Change. North. Korea.
> Especially as one person. Unless you are Kim Jong Un.
> Going there does no one any good. You go there to satisfy your own personal feelings. When you get caught and ransomed like this it only enhances the North Korean position and reduces everyone elses'. Countries have to bend over backwards to retrieve you and give in the NK's blackmail. Meanwhile, North Korea gets to use you as whatever. Hold you up as a spy. Get food and aid to return your dumb self to your actual country.
> What good did you do any body with those acts?
This is about the most dismissive, armchair, straight up asshole things I've ever seen on this website and yet I'm sad to say I'm not shocked you got upvoted for it.
I have personal friends who were saved from concentration camps in the most hellish country on Earth because of people who infiltrated the country. The defectors of the Black Market Generation are raising global awareness and reason they're able to do this in the first place is because of people who entered the country to get them out. North Korea has had to adjust its internal propaganda because of foreigners infiltrating the country and smuggling media from the outside world. Now, experts project that the regime may not last beyond the next 25 years. All this is thanks to the work of the people you're mocking.
But I guess it's easier for you to sit there like a smug prick and tell me that the people who risked their lives to save my friends from a life of torture, starvation, and oppression went there to satisfy their "own personal feelings". I guess you know better than the people who have spent years studying North Korea and devising ways to dismantle the Kim regime, who agree that constant infiltration is the key to breaking down the DPRK.
I could say fuck you but it's Christmas Eve tomorrow. I'll be honest, I'm pretty pissed at what you wrote, but I sincerely hope this makes you examine yourself and consider that maybe what you said is probably the most dickish thing I've read in this sub.
There is an excellent book on sex selective abortion by Maria Hvistendahl called Unnatural Selection that covers this subject much more in depth. Everyone interested please read it or at least the Washington Post article about it. I would link if my phone would let me
Edit: I did watch the John Oliver episode but didn't feel he dived deep enough into the misogyny of it, especially as someone who has been invested in the genocide of female infants and the sex selective abortion issue for many years.
2nd edit: coming through with the links! Sorry for not formatting them
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/mara-hvistendahls-unnatural-selection-about-a-world-with-too-many-men/2011/06/15/AGYB7AuH_story.html
Good question! The Shah did indeed have a large secret police, SAVAK, which did all sorts of very nasty things. So that part is true.
The way I heard it (in a class on Modern Iran), the Shah saw himself as a continuation of the older Classical (pre-Islam) Persian Empires. He made large efforts to stress this relationship - his regime had a lot of pomp and circumstance - the standout example is the 2,500 year celebration of Persian Monarchy, which was conducted on the ruins of Persepolis itself. There's a couple of good videos of it on Youtube.
So the Shah (in delusion or not) saw himself as a good ruler that would modernize and westernize Iran, taking it back to the Classical glory it once had.
However, the Shah was not completely successful in these efforts- the White Revolution being the standout one. Additionally, as he had gained absolute political power (Iran was a constitutional monarchy beforehand) because of the CIA-conducted overthrow of the rather popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, the Shah never had the greatest legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people. All his callbacks to the Classical past (ignoring the thousand or so years of Islamic Persia) were both needlessly wasteful (fancy celebrations don't pay for themselves) and seen as catering to the west. Ultimately, he was generally viewed as a western puppet by many.
So he had many enemies, including both Communist (Iran did border the USSR) and Islamist opposition. Some groups even combined some of these ideologies! Regardless, the Shah faced non-violent opposition in the forms of writers, speakers, clerics, and others - Ayatollah Khomeini was one of these, but there were many others; of especial note is Ali Shariati who was essentially the lay counterpart to Khomeini. The Shah also faced some violent opposition in the form of armed guerrillas, but these groups were generally defeated by SAVAK. As such, most of the enemies of SAVAK were opposition figures, both violent and not. They could perhaps have been seen by the Shah as "mere" enemies of the state (not so sure on that one).
As such, when the Islamic Revolution occurred, and large groups of people rose up against the regime, the Shah found himself having lost the mandate of the people. Plus, gunning down crowds of protestors would not have put him down in history as a great ruler of Iran. Plus it wouldn't have looked good to the western powers that supported him - recently Pres. Carter had pressed him on human rights abuses and other issues.
As such, Shah Pahlavi did not gun down crowds of protestors, and the Pahlavi Dynasty was ultimately replaced by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
A quick note: the revolutionaries were not all Islamists, and certainly not all supported of Ayatollah Khomeini - there were many leftists, communists, moderate Islamists, and others as part of the revolution. However, Khomeini outmaneuvered these groups - including the (successful) referendum vote being for an Islamic Republic or none at all, which was boycotted by the more secular groups (to their detriment) - and in a sequence of events that mirrors Martin Niemoller's "First they came.. quote, Khomeini ended up being the Supreme Leader of Iran.
tl;dr: The Shah wanted to be seen as a great ruler harkening back to Classical Persia, both contemporaneously and in history, and gunning down crowds of protesters is rather contradictory to that.
If you're interested in reading more, I recommend reading the Iranian Revolution Wikipedia page for a start.
However, I have to recommend at least partially reading Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution by Nikki Keddie. It'll give you a great background on why Iran is the way it is today, Ayatollahs and all. It's a good book on the subject (It's the one I used!)
Charlie Wilson's War. The book is good. Haven't seen the movie.
Hahaha.... Yes. Yes people have felt this way before. I am not laughing because your question is funny - I'm laughing because those in the profession of arms, self included, have been feeling this way since the cradle of civilization in the war after the first war.
I'mma step on my soap box for a bit:
Speaking as a guy who has been in for awhile and been to the places that you've mentioned - anybody worth their salt has had those same feelings about the conflict(s) before them. I imagine most pilots over Iraq would have preferred to have been dropping bombs over the shit instead. Pilots from the 'Nam era talk about the glory days over MiG alley, and pilots over Korea will tell tales of victories and lost friends over Europe. Every Marine everywhere will always drive an extra mile for Chesty. In Korea the Glorious Glosters were literally wiped out while holding on to the greatness bestowed upon the badges of their regiment... earned 150 years earlier in Egypt against Napoleon's forces. The old soldiers storming Normandy hoped to honor those lost at Meuse-Argonne, and I could keep going on and on and on.
And now, speaking as a guy on the internet with no authority over you, I'm giving you homework. Amazon links are attached, but check your local library. Read about a soldier who was furious that he joined too late after WWII. Read about a small generation of men who was told the war was over, and that there was no need to train hard during peace. Read about some Air Force nonners who were promised protection on a lonely mountain top... in a country they weren't supposed to be in. Read about the fictional - yet all too true lesson that war is hardly ever over and that things never change.
I don't have a non-douchy, yet motivational way to say this... so hear goes: Your job, whether we are actively involved in a major conflict or not - is to prepare to go war. Your time may come, and when it does, it's best to be as prepared as possible.
And if it doesn't... well... at least you got a baller GI Bill and some tendies.
Limited to one child, they aborted females fetuses, causing the current gender imbalance. Read about it here: https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519
Andrei Lankov, in The Real North Korea published this year, argues the opposite: that any sort of reform in North Korea threatens the stability of the regime and thus the life of the North Korean elite, and thus that the Chinese way to reform is not viable for North Korea.
Although most countries that sent troops to Korea under the UN sent only small contingents, they more than made up for it in fighting ability. They absolutely fought in major battles as a matter of routine. To ease logistical issues these units were equipped from US and occasionally British supply chains. They had the same uniforms and weapons as whoever was supplying them so they'd often be indistinguishable from US or British troops except for some distinctive patches. That said, a few contingents would wear one or two distinctive items from their original uniform, such as a beret. Ethiopians wore a pith helmet for ceremonial duties and Turks wore a greatcoat, at least in the first winter.
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A few others were mentioned before, but I'd like to single out the French UN Battalion that fought with the US 23rd Regimental Combat Team, particularly at Chipyong-ni and Heartbreak Ridge as especially fine soldiers. They were highly regarded by the Americans and South Koreans they fought with and distinguished themselves in combat. They volunteered for Korea out of a sense of gratitude to the US for WW2 and a desire to regain French martial prestige after that war.
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Belgians fought alongside the British at Gloster Ridge before and during the Chinese 5th Phase Offensive in '51. The British regarded them as wildmen. Once after leaving their camp after a night of drinking, the Belgians fired on them with smoke rounds from mortars. Everyone thought it was pretty funny.
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Turkish troops were seen as being especially ferocious by US troops, sporting big mustaches and bigger knives. Reports on their combat performance were mixed but they were generally highly regarded. At some point in the winter of 1950 they captured a large unit of South Koreans that they mistook for enemies. If you see pictures of Turks capturing smug looking Asians wearing jackets quilted in a diamond pattern, that's likely from this incident. They were also instrumental in preventing the complete encirclement of the US 2nd Infantry Division at Kunu-ri and were lost almost to a man to save the division.
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This is just a sampling. The contributions of Ethiopia, Canada, Holland, and Australia were mentioned below.
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Sources:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Round-British-Stand-Imjin/dp/1845135334/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=andrew+salmon&qid=1557427326&s=gateway&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Crucible-Chipyong-ni-Williams-Ford-University/dp/1585442321/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=chipyong-ni&qid=1557427350&s=gateway&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/This-Kind-War-Fiftieth-Anniversary/dp/1574883348/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=this+kind+of+war&qid=1557427376&s=gateway&sr=8-1
>were those from Central Asia or the Baltics conscripted or did they volunteer for service?
Both. Any conscript could volunteer to Afghanistan by submitting a letter expressing desire to serve in Afghanistan - not all were accepted. I'd estimate that <1% of 40A were volunteers and they were from all over USSR.
Conscripts from Baltics were often utilized as snipers or mechanics. Middle-Asian conscripts military quality (communication skills+technical education+elan) was low, with some very notable exceptions (SpetsNaz 'Muslim battalion' etc.). But Middle-Asians (~ -stan) outnumbered all other ethnic groups combined, with Slavic conscripts being close second and from Caucasus as third.
> did they serve in infantry roles or did Russian troops/officers tend to give them the dirty work?
They all served in every branch and service type, but Middle-Asians were often given menial jobs due to there low level of training and desire to stay away from fighting. Uzbeks were great cooks and often preferred kitchen to any other assignment. Tajiks and Turkmenis were more warlike.
>I believe I read that troops served 2 year tours; how was that like exactly?
Half-year basic training at Tashkent (usually, but not always), then 1.5 year deployment to Afghanistan. R&R (1-2 weeks) once or twice (rare) per deployment were usual, but not everyone got it.
>did they have any encounters with the locals or was that forbidden?
You cannot effectively 'forbid' any contacts with locals during war, esp. guerilla war. Formally, any interaction with locals must be sanctioned by officers and vetted by NDPA (i.e. Afghan regime) representatives.
>Outside of US intervention, could the Soviet troops have won the war?
Possible. Until ~1983, it was going that way. Then Charlie Wilson and Gulf states started to pump in money and weapons.
So the next big question would be whether Gulf state support would be enough for opposition to win or not. And without both US and Gulf state intervention - highly likely for DRA to succeed (even with hostile Pakistan and even without USSR troops).
Note that troops alone never win this kind of war. Once USSR found acceptable political solution (aka 'national reconciliation policy') - and it happened not to soon, in 1985, it was likely to succeed once hard-liners were removed from opposition - and they weren't - instead, kept receiving financial and materiel support.
EDIT:
Sources
I am dumping raw data here - ask me for detailed explanations. These are just fast-plucked samples, there were many more asians and baltics awarded.
Conscripts from Central Asia:
right off the bat -
1 ряд. Аббасов Акмал Акбарович механик-водитель в/ч п/51884. 1964г. Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N299 15.6.1990г.
2 ряд. Абдракманов Элчибек Шаршанбаевич водитель в/ч п/п 13354. 1968г. Кир.ССР Тонский р-он,с.Ворошилова. Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10198-XI 7.3.1989г.
4 ряд. Абдувалиев Адхан Мухамедганиевич ст. мех. водитель п/п 82869 1967г. Андижанская обл,г. Пахтаабад, ул. пахтакор,205. Орден Красной Звезды N299 15.06.1990г.
5 мл. с-т Абдужалилов Озодбек Абдурашидович зам. ком-ра взвода, ком-р отд. минометного взвода в/ч п/п 65753.84397. 1969г. Андижанская обл.Кургантепинский р-он,к-з Навои,21. Медаль "За отвагу" N10265-XI 4.4.1989г.
6 ряд. Абдулаев Ахрход Абибуллаевич пулеметчик мтс роты мтс б-на. в/ч п/п 54676 1969г. Чимкентская обл. г.Туркестан Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N9512-XI 7.9.1988г.
7 ряд. Абдулаев Рашид Садыков мех.-вод. в/ч пп 44585 1967г. Уз.ССР Фергенская обл. Ферганский р-н Садвин с/з ул.Механизаторов д.12 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N8886-ХI 05.05.1988г.
and till the end - dense list of Central Asian birthplaces and names:
2050 ряд. Худайбердиев Аннам Джараевич разв. 66 ОМСБ 40ОА 1965 746030 Марийская обл. Байрам-Амитский р-н п.Захнет Медаль "За отвагу" 19.12.91. NУП-3061
2051 ряд. Худайберенов Довлетмамед стрелок в/ч пп 34631 1963 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" 19.12.91. NУП-3061
2052 ряд. Худайкулов Ахар Асатович пулеметчик мотостр. роты в/ч пп 54676 1967 Бухарская обл. Алтайский р-н к-з Ленина Медаль "За отвагу" 07.09.88. N9512-ХI
2053 ряд. Худайкулов Гафур Саттарович наводчик в/ч пп 71176 1963 Медаль "За отвагу" 25.07.89. N268-I
2054 ряд. Худайназаров Абдураззак Абдурахманович мех.-вод. в/ч пп 85615 1967 Уз.ССР Новаинская обл. г.Заравшан 4 мкр. 1 общ. кв.134 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" 07.09.88. N9512-ХI
2056 ряд. Хуснутдинов Мирзаанвар Хайруллаевич водитель в/ч пп 93981 1961 г. Ташкент медаль "За отвагу" УП-2909 28.11.1991 г.
Conscripts from Baltics:
87 ряд. Кеиселис Гунар Зигисмундович разведчик-пулеметчик дес.-штурм. взв. развед. десант. роты в/ч пп 53336 в/ч пп 84397 1969г. Латвийская ССР, Алукенский р-он, Яуналуксенский с/с, х. Лучия Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10491-XI 24.5.1989г.
96 с-т Ашмонтас Зигмас Йонович водитель в/ч пп 21231 1966г. Лит. ССР, д. Гримзду Шилальского р-на Медаль "За отвагу" N10265-XI 4.4.1989г.
97 мл. с-т Ашмонтас Роландас Йонович ком. отд. авт. взвода в/ч пп 38021 1968г. Лит.ССР, Шиляльский р-н, д.Гражюрис Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N569-I 4.10.1989г.
251 ряд. Викси Индрек Эннович оператор ПТУР птв мсб в/ч пп 24785/84397 1968г. Эстонская ССР, Тартусский р-н, ул. Лия, д.4, кв.34 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10491-XI 24.05.1989г.
626 ряд. Йонушас Эдмундас Винцович снайпер мср
в/ч пп 86997 1967г Литовская ССР, Плунгенский р-н, д. Сталгос Медаль "За отвагу" N8886-XI 5.5 1988 г.
627 ряд. Каблис Жидрунас Антанавич сапер в/ч пп 58082 1969г. Литовская ССР, Родвишинский он, д. Вайнюны Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10265-XI 4.4.89
849 ряд. Кудейка Янис Хенрикович ст. наводчик МСР МСБ в/ч пп 51883 1968г. Латвииская ССР, Даугавпилский р-он, п. Вице, ул. Комсомольская, д.11 Медаль "За отвагу" N 268-I 25.7.1989г.
920 мл. с-т Лаупа Эдуард Лембитович наводчик-оператор разведоват. роты в/ч пп 24785, в/ч пп 84397 1968г. Эстонская ССР, ул. Герцена, д.28 кв.20 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10089-XI 1.2.1989г.
2059 ряд. Цилишаускас Саулюс Альгевич водит. взв. обесп. мсб в/ч пп 51932-в/ч пп 51854 1968 Литовская ССР, Юрбарский р-он, ул. Новая д. 27 Орден Красной Звезды УКN 10089-XI 1.02.89
I was in Bhopal at that time, though we lived bit further away from the impact area.
My mother's best friend & her family (5 people) ran from their home to stay with us (2 bedroom sarkari house). Mother was a nurse in 1 of the best Hospitals in the city, I remember how busy she used to be, how terrible she(as a professional, who was was used to autopsies) felt at the sheer numbers/suffering.
Every day, you heard of sickening details on news, in the rumor mill - about people dead, no one to take care of them, about leaders/politicians ignoring them etc.
There were occasional rumors about wind changing direction, more leakages. We lived miles away, but I remember 1 day, we all got onto 1 scooter & went miles further away in a village outside the city.
If you get time, read Five Past Midnight, it is a great book on the topic. Especially the sacrifice/valor of railway employees.
That was bad, but the worse was yet to come - the dirty drama over compensation, about how people who didn't deserve the money, claimed & cornered money, about how the money was spend on pretentious construction. About how, some leaders claimed that their "community" wasn't given compensation money.
What do you mean sources? Primary or secondary? Most stuff on the Vandals comes from the Roman perspective. As for secondary sources, a lot of the really good stuff is in German but if you want a survey on this subject in English, I suggest AHM Jone's The Later Roman Empire, 284-602:
A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey and George Ostrogorsky's History of the Byzantine State. Peter Heather's The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians also has some obscure tidbits that most people would not normally know. Also, who could forget the The Cambridge Ancient History series? They actually have a chapter dedicated to the Vandals.
The Making of Modern Japan.
Norman Finkelstein has not sidelined himself. The Zionists, led by the ineffable Alan Desrhowitz have tried to sideline him. However, although they succeeded in ruining his career at Depaul, they will never be able to silence him, try as they might. And do you really "agree with him plenty"? His very first achievement as an academic was to demolish the very claims which you yourself have expressed here on reddit!
You're spreading nonsense. India started the war against China.
http://www.amazon.com/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell/dp/8181581466/
&nbsp;
edit: more facts
>“Q: What in your opinion were the policies, on both sides, that brought about the basic quarrel over the border?
>Neville Maxwell(author): As far as the McMahon Line was concerned India inherited the dispute with China, which the British had created in the mid-1930s by seizing the Tibetan territory they re-named NEFA. The PRC government was prepared to accept that border alignment but insisted that it be re-negotiated, that is put through the usual diplomatic process, to wipe out its imperialist origins. Nehru refused, using London's false claim that the Simla Conference had already legitimised the McMahon Line to back up that refusal — that was his Himalayan blunder. Then in 1954 he compounded that mistake by laying cartographic claim to a swathe of territory in the north-west, the Aksai Chin, a claim which was beyond anything the British had ever claimed and on an area which Chinese governments had treated as their own for at least a hundred years. To make matters worse, he ruled that there should be no negotiation over that claim either! So Indian policy had created a border dispute and also ruled out the only way it could peacefully be settled, through diplomatic negotiation.”
It wasn't China, but Nehru who declared 1962 war: Australian journalist Neville Maxwell
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/It-wasnt-China-but-Nehru-who-declared-1962-war-Australian-journalist-Neville-Maxwell/articleshow/33094229.cms
&nbsp;
>“NEW DELHI: In a marked U-turn from the earlier stand taken by BJP, the Modi government has firmly ruled out the release of the classified Henderson Brooks report into India's humiliating military debacle against China in 1962.” “The Henderson Brooks report squarely blames the then Jawarharlal Nehru government's ill-conceived and ill-timed "Forward Policy", without proper intelligence or adequate military preparation, for India's abject defeat in 1962.”
In U-turn, Modi govt rules out release of Henderson Brooks report
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-U-turn-Modi-govt-rules-out-release-of-Henderson-Brooks-report/articleshow/38024666.cms
&nbsp;
>“This book shows how much we can be misled by the media London TIMES reporter Nevile Maxwell wrote this book solely based on the declassified documents from India's Defense Department. It shows how India's prime minister Mr. Nehru launched the "northern advance" policy disregard the historical evidence were all against India's claim. The war started by Indian army firing upon the Chinese border garrison force and ended up with India's humiliating total defeat. But ironically, we in the West always believed that Chinese, instead of India, was the aggressor.”
India's China War
http://www.amazon.com/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell/product-reviews/8181581466/
Great book on the subject: Five Past Midnight.
Offers some insights into the cause of the accident as well as the slow decline of safety in general at the plant. I was alarmed to learn that the plant in India was nearly mirrored EXACTLY by a plant in West Virginia. All the safety systems were the same, just the plant in India started to turn them all off as profits of Sevin dropped in the early eighties in India. Funny how Union Carbide didn't think to just shut the plant down and import the chemical like they did before the plant was built, rather than cut all the safety systems off when the margins got too thin.
This English book includes historical facts, opinion and proofs in line with right wing point of view. This book is good example of you can cherry picking facts in favor of right wing point of view. If you are only familiar with "comfort women =inherently bad" view point then read it, it can give you alternative view point which also supported by facts.
Ad for comfort women on Korean newspaper
payslip
Learn both sides of arguments, think yourself.
History of the Byzantine Empire
https://www.amazon.com/History-Byzantine-State-George-Ostrogorsky/dp/0813511984
Pakistan,a hard country by Anatol Lieven.?
Pakistan, A hard country
&#x200B;
https://www.amazon.com/Pakistan-Hard-Country-Anatol-Lieven/dp/1610391454
East Asians and South Asians have always influenced one another, it's amazing and culturally rich and full of history.
>Buddhism
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Dharmacakra_Discourse.jpeg
Buddha was a non-Indo Aryan Nepali. The Shakya clan of Gautama Buddha, Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka were East Asians who unified the various culturally rich kingdoms of India and Pakistan, they even defeated the Seleucid Greeks with King Parbatak of Limbuwan.
>Islam
The people who brought Islamic civilization, law, science, warfare, mathematics, astronomy, literature, architecture, cartogaphy, philosophy, surgery, lexicography, medicine, arithmetic to India were Turko-Mongol men of the Delhi sultanates and Mughal Empire.
http://prints.bl.uk/art/489644/timur-enthroned-with-his-descendants-from-babur-to-jahangir
The Mughals also defeated the Pashtuns who were known to hate Hindus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_North-West_Frontier#Treatment_of_prisoners-of-war
>According to the British officer John Masters, Pathan women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of British India during the Anglo-Afghan Wars would castrate non-Muslim soldiers who were captured, especially British and Sikhs.[37][38] Pathan women urinated into prisoners' mouths.[39] A method of execution by this is recorded: captured British soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pathan women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time. There is an incident mentioned when a Hindu man was brutally raped by a gang of Pashtun women, before they drowned him in their urine.[40][41][42][43][44][45][46] This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.[47]
>Positive Historical Legacy
Shiva, one of the primary gods in Hinduism, was a Kirata East Asian man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kir%C4%81t%C4%81rjun%C4%ABya
Kirātārjunīya (Sanskrit: किरातार्जुनीय, Of Arjuna and the Kirāta) is a Sanskrit kavya by Bhāravi, written in the 6th century or earlier. It is an epic poem in eighteen cantos describing the combat between Arjuna and lord Shiva at Indrakeeladri hills in present-day Vijayawada in the guise of a kirāta or mountain-dwelling hunter. Along with the Naiṣadhacarita and the Shishupala Vadha, it is one of the larger three of the six Sanskrit mahakavyas, or great epics.[1] It is noted among Sanskrit critics both for its gravity or depth of meaning, and for its forceful and sometimes playful expression. This includes a canto set aside for demonstrating linguistic feats, similar to constrained writing. Later works of epic poetry followed the model of the Kirātārjunīya.
The Kirātārjunīya predominantly features the Vīra rasa, or the mood of valour.[2] It expands upon a minor episode in the Vana Parva ("Forest book") in the Mahabharata: While the Pandavas are exiled in the forest, Draupadi and Bhima incite Yudhishthira to declare war with the Kauravas, while he does not relent. Finally, Arjuna, at the instruction of Indra, propitiates god Shiva with penance (tapasya) in the forest. Pleased by his austerities, Shiva decides to reward him. When a demon named Muka, in the form of a wild boar, charges toward Arjuna, Shiva appears in the form of a Kirāta, a wild mountaineer. Arjuna and the Kirāta simultaneously shoot an arrow at the boar, and kill it. They argue over who shot first, and a battle ensues. They fight for a long time, and Arjuna is shocked that he cannot conquer this Kirāta. Finally, he recognises the god, and surrenders to him. Shiva, pleased with his bravery, gives him the powerful weapon, the Pashupatastra, which later in the Mahabharata aids him against Jayadratha and the Kauravas during the Kurukshetra war.[3][4]
>While Arjuna was seeking Siva as directed by Indra, that god took on the form of a Kirata and, radiant as a GOLDEN TREE, he loomed as large as a second Mount meru. - Mahabharata By Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan
>Arjuna then looked at the being, resplendent as gold, dressed as a hunter, and accompanied by a woman, who had shot at the boar. With joy in his heart , Arjuna smilingly said to him "O you golden creature! Who are you? and why are you roaming the deserted forest along with so many women? Are you not afraid of this dreadful forest?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarkanath_Tagore
Unfortunately, the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore was involved in smuggling opium into China and selling it to the masses with British help.
>Sweet and Sour Relationship
India's most successful bodybuilder is Boby Arambam who is from Manipur and East Asian. Another great athlete from the North East is Mary Kom. Jimjang Deru is also breaking records in Indian weightlifting.
http://e-paolive.net/galleries/images/Sports/IndividualSports/2012/BobbyArambam_3/BobbyAramba_2012_3_3.jpg
Many international players in the Indian national soccer team are also from the North East
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_national_football_team#Players
40% of them are East Asian, most of them play offensive positions which require a lot of stamina, speed, strong legs, coordination and goal scoring capabilities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglensana_Singh_(footballer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lalrinzuala
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackichand_Singh (yeah, I think he's named after Jackie Chan)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holicharan_Narzary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Singh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seityasen_Singh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laldanmawia_Ralte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Vanlalsawma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Chhetri (Gurkha, top scorer, his gf is Indian-"Aryan")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeje_Lalpekhlua
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lalhlimpuia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lallianzuala_Chhangte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lalrinmuana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiborlang_Khongjee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalruatthara
The best Indian football player was Tibetan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaichung_Bhutia
India acknowledges that the athleticism of East Asians is great, but fails to treat them fairly and without discrimination and institutionalized racism, they are only there for the sake of bringing medals and sports trophies to India. Mary Kom for example was played by Priyanka Chopra instead of a North Eastern actress which is kind of like whitewashing.
>Rising Together
If we can solve this problem, then India, Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia, Russia and China can certainly rise together:
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/designation-beijing-india-test-china-killer-nuke-missile-12156
India should stop interfering in the South China Sea just to inflame tensions and project power. It's not good for pan-Asianism.
>Relations between China and India in the 1950s were very good. Nehru had extended India’s hand of friendship to the People’s Republic of China, at a time when some in the West, were hostile to it.
India under Nehru started the war of 1962 against China. China retaliated.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/It-wasnt-China-but-Nehru-who-declared-1962-war-Australian-journalist-Neville-Maxwell/articleshow/33094229.cms
>“NEW DELHI: In a marked U-turn from the earlier stand taken by BJP, the Modi government has firmly ruled out the release of the classified Henderson Brooks report into India's humiliating military debacle against China in 1962.” “The Henderson Brooks report squarely blames the then Jawarharlal Nehru government's ill-conceived and ill-timed "Forward Policy", without proper intelligence or adequate military preparation, for India's abject defeat in 1962.”
In U-turn, Modi govt rules out release of Henderson Brooks report
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-U-turn-Modi-govt-rules-out-release-of-Henderson-Brooks-report/articleshow/38024666.cms
>"This book shows how much we can be misled by the media London TIMES reporter Nevile Maxwell wrote this book solely based on the declassified documents from India's Defense Department. It shows how India's prime minister Mr. Nehru launched the "northern advance" policy disregard the historical evidence were all against India's claim. The war started by Indian army firing upon the Chinese border garrison force and ended up with India's humiliating total defeat. But ironically, we in the West always believed that Chinese, instead of India, was the aggressor.”
http://www.amazon.com/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell/product-reviews/8181581466/
>Border Dispute
To stop the armed insurgencies in occupied North East India and Kashmir and to stop the even more violent backlashes by the Indian state, the Sino-Tibetan North East and Muslim Kashmir and Communist Naxalies should be allowed to secede from India which would also be a step forward toward decolonization from British imperial legacy. Keeping these regions would be akin to neocolonialism.
When all the conflicts are solved, then this should be possible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPXmVNl4MKA
Chinese soldier returns home after 54 years in India
There is always a silver lining. Many Brahmin women from wealthy Indian families marry Chinese and South East Asian men.
http://i.imgur.com/YcA3k0v.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qgU17p3.png
u/hashtagpls
u/abcthefernest
inciting wars and killing innocent people, a long American tradition.
http://www.amazon.com/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell/dp/8181581466/
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Hope-C-I-Interventions-II--Updated/dp/1567512526/
A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link
The Illustrated History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link
Foreign Notices Of South India - Google Archives
Rashtrakutas And Their Times - Google Archives
The Wonder That Was India: 1
You can read this book for free on Anybooks app.
Edit your post and add all these links.
Historiography has been particularly useful in the development of HEMA and hasn't done any harm to the traditional asian arts either.
i feel dumb at posting this for the thousandth time, but apparently people are too busy to scroll through previous posts.
"Chinese Martial Arts - From antiquity to the twenty-first century", Peter Lorge, Cambridge University Press
Or, click on the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Martial-Arts-Antiquity-Twenty-First/dp/0521878810
This is an extremely good starting point. As a general advice, thinking in terms of styles that are currently practiced won't get you very far. But good luck anyway.
Some books:
Fairly sure that Qi Magazine can now be accessed online for free, and the Journal of Baguazhang.
I don't think that's the point ami_anai was making, though- native Chinese women may be getting more attention and resources from their families, as they are the only child onto which to lavish such, but the skewed sex ratio means that women from other countries are being kidnapped and trafficked to make up the deficit. In other words, for certain women, that scarcity drives up their value only in monetary terms- they are objectified and sold or stolen.
Mara Hvistendahl's book Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men talks about this (you can see bits and pieces here).
Most people here would have been following and researching the war, and the larger Middle East picture, online for years now. I don't think there is a quick way to get that amount of knowledge.
Books would be your best bet though for quickly catching up. I would recommend you focus on one good book on the Syrian war, one book on ISIS, and one book on the Middle East region as a whole. Should cover the basics.
I always recommend Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation as a good backgrounder on the Middle East. It's about Fisk's 40 years as a Middle East correspondent and each chapter of the 1,000+ page book looks at another war that he covered. So you'll get an idea of 2003 Iraq War, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, Lebanese Civil War, Iran-Iraq War, Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. It also covers his interviews with Bin Laden and the rise of Al Qaeda.
Will give you a good big picture of the last few decades of history and how we got here. Understanding the history of the players like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Al Qaeda is just as important as understanding the internal situation of the war.
Other than that plenty of books available on the Syria war specifically. Can take your pick. My choice would be Christopher Philips The Battle for Syria. A London based Researcher for Chatam House and Queen Mary University.
But plenty of other books available that all cover the recent war.
Haven't read any books on ISIS itself, since I've followed it since the early days. But for quickly catching up there are several books looking at the group and its rise.
Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, Updated Edition Updated Edition
by Nikki R. Keddie
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Iran-Results-Revolution-Updated/dp/0300121059
I also forgot to mention AIPAC. They're one of the big reasons you see overwhelming support for Israel in the US Congress. Just keep in mind the US government does not always represent the citizens; hell, just look what happened over the past 10 years. As well, it's important to note that the aid we give to Israel is military aid which is used to support the MIC. I don't mean to keep replying but I'll put it this way: there is a lot to know about Israeli/American affairs. If you want to know more than the typical American does about the situation, I recommend skimming the Israel Lobby (fairly dense), Finkelstein, and Chomsky.
If you're starting to read his books, I recommend picking up ["The Holocaust Industry"] (https://www.amazon.com/Holocaust-Industry-Reflections-Exploitation-Suffering/dp/1781685614/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=1781685614&amp;pd_rd_r=97d5364c-5a0c-11e8-a956-456fc52f333f&amp;pd_rd_w=16qEm&amp;pd_rd_wg=1g1Mc&amp;pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_p=7967298517161621930&amp;pf_rd_r=0T0GZ21H6HQKNTF72WSZ&amp;pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&amp;pf_rd_t=40701&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=0T0GZ21H6HQKNTF72WSZ), ["Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict"] (https://www.amazon.com/Image-Reality-Israel-Palestine-Conflict-Revised/dp/1859844421/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1526587388&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=image+and+reality+of+the+israel-palestine+conflict&amp;dpID=414Zbglcz4L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch), and [his most recent book] (https://www.amazon.com/Gaza-Inquest-into-Its-Martyrdom/dp/0520295714).
"The Holocaust Industry" isn't as provocative now as it is was when he first wrote the book, but it still solidly holds up today. An troubling insight into the "exploitation of Jewish suffering," as he states. It's fairly short compared his other works, but that's the work which brought him into the spotlight.
"Image and Reality" is a good starting point with Finkelstein on understanding the conflict, as he dissects, piece-by-piece, common false talking points and assertions over the conflict (Joan Peters, Benny Morris, Abba Eban, amongst others); his introduction to the book's second edition provides an excellent overview of the history.
Though, it'd be an understatement not to recommend his latest book. By far the largest amount of footnotes, and he affirms by his maxim of making the book as well-sourced and truthful "as is humanly possible". He details the Mavi Marmara incident, Operation Cast Lead, and Operation Protective Edge, and the inconsistent reporting of human rights organizations. The book's final statements, especially, cut deep. Certainly his best work, indeed his magnum opus.
Sometime later on I might go through "Beyond Chutzpah" (it's labeled as his "sequel" to "The Holocaust Industry"), but the three books above are a great start at the very least.
...after the war ended and ... was taken home, she told no one what had happened to her. She said she felt ashamed, afraid and isolated. She had no idea that her ordeal had been shared by thousands of other young women at dozens of military “comfort stations” throughout the Pacific. Unable to confide in her family, she remained single and childless for life.
But in 1991, when another comfort woman(Kim Hak Sun) broke a half-century of silence, ... realized that she had not been alone. She registered with the government and traveled to the base where she had been held, accompanied by Japanese historians. She was able to learn the fate of crucial individuals, including a Japanese military officer who took pity on her and was later killed in combat. And finally, she began to talk.
Why do many of women who were raped never come forward? Shame, fear no one would believe them, lack of faith in the justice system. It's easier to come forward when other women come forward. The greatest strength is knowing you're not alone. Like with what happened with the Weinstein incident.
She's a 90 year old asian lady, she passed away at the beginning of this year. She really has nothing left to gain.
Who is Yoshida? I can't find any woman name Yoshida comfort woman story.
I can't read and/or write in korean or japanese, so i won't be able to discern her names among the records that are available on amazon, and i don't have access to all the transportation records, provided that they are all still kept after 60 years.
Footage of Korean women sexually enslaved by Japanese soldiers in WWII revealed for the first time
KBS News Comfort Women Video
Well, I'd hope so, since that's what I'm trying do to! Hahaha
But, seriously, yes, they do. A little bit on the side of production¹, but a lot on the side of consumption of Japanese Pop Culture.
In fact, there's a whole new field called otakuology, which is dedicated to the study of , well, the otaku subculture.
And many "otakuologists", myself included, understand that a vital aspect of the "otaku experience" is how the internet is used. This ranges from BBS forums to twitter usage (that would be me), passing through blogging, "youtubing", fansubbing, and, of course, image boards (2ch and 4chan).
So, yeah, it is definitely possible to intersect digital anthropology and the study of Japanese Pop Culture.
¹ For instance, Michael Fisch's analysis of Densha Otoko and Ringu, Daniel Black's works on Vocaloid (or, as he says, "Virtual Idols"), and, one could argue, Hiroki Azuma's "Database Animals".
The woder that was India - https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-That-Was-India/dp/033043909X
No problem! If you ever want to know more about that part of the world and have six months to spare then Robert Fisk's The Great War For Civilisation is a great way to find out more. I will warn you though, it's not 5 year old material. No word searches, no colouring in, no pop-ups and some very big words.
I'm familiar with those dudes. If you haven't read this book, it's worth your time.
North Korean journalists can get fired for typos (reference) and the TV journalists are drama grads who are there to be a rather extreme version of Arnab Goswami. So I think North Korea isn't a good example.
OP, I would suggest spending the next one year of your life dedicating yourself to learning about India. I do not mean superficial learning about empty customs and rituals - I mean actually learning about the history of India over the last 5000 years.
I hate, hate, hate to use quotes from Westerners who have studied India (because it goes to show that we take pride when Westerners say something good about India) - but because you have such a huge inferiority complex about your race and wish you were White, I shall resort to using these examples.
>1. If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power, and beauty that nature can bestow – in some parts a very paradise on earth – I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most full developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant – I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life – again I should point to India. - Max Muller
>2. J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon witnessing the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he later said he had thought of the quotation "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds", verse 32 from chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.
>3. In the introduction to The World as Will and Representation, written in 1818, Arthur Schopenhauer stated that "the access to [the Vedas], opened to us through the Upanishads, is in my eyes the greatest advantage which this still young century enjoys over previous ones, because I believe that the influence of the Sanscrit literature will penetrate not less deeply than did the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century".
>4. In 1789 Jones published a translation of Kālidāsa's The Recognition of Sakuntala. The translation captured the admiration of many, notably Goethe, who expressed his admiration for the Sanskrit play Shakuntala. Goethe went on to borrow a device from the play for his Faust, Part One.
Spend the next one year reading about how rich your culture is. I don't mean Bollywood culture - you don't need to learn anything about that - read about History, Philosophy, the various art forms. I know India is a messed up place in many, many ways but things will improve. Every country/region goes through ups and downs. You think the US is going to be a great country 300 years from now? There was a time when the Greeks were a mighty nation and now they are reduced to nothing. There was a time when the Arabs contributed a lot to mathematics and art - now they don't have that kind if culture.
You are never going to have true self-confidence if you don't feel proud about your origins. You are lucky that you are from India - because there are many things you can find about India's glorious past to feel pride in.
I recommend this book to get started - 'The Wonder That Was India'
http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-That-India-A-L-Basham/dp/033043909X
You will see how in the Indus Valley there was actual town planning - this was when most of Europe was a complete mess. I agree that we shouldn't just find comfort in the past and the present is most important. The present day India is a complete, complete, complete mess. But how can we expect to get out of the mess if the youth do not even have self-confidence about their heritage? In the case of Indians, we need to teach our children about our glorious past so that they feel pride and then are able to dream big and change the country.
I don't know what your story is and whether or not your parents ever discussed Indian History with you beyond the British rule. Anyway, you are an adult now and live in a country where you have access to excellent public libraries. Go and immerse yourself in some serious study. You will come out a different person.
EDIT 1 - Regarding women : Just have self-confidence and try to be a good human being. Don't give a damn about what another person thinks of you, and this quality will attract women.
I wrote this part last, but I'm going to put it at the top so that you will read it. I feel like I wrote much more than I needed to on this, and it's a bit late when I did write this, so I hope I didn't overlook anything too important or stay on one topic for too long. Let me know if you have any questions or if you'd like me to condense this.
I'm afraid I really only sound like I know more than I do on the subject, but most of what I have learned comes from Husain Haqqani's "Magnificent Delusions" and I could be wrong on things.
I think a good thing to start on is the creation of the national identity of Pakistan. As we all know, Pakistan was created to be a state for the Muslims of the former British territory. Before the partition in 1947, there had never been a Pakistan. There are few things that hold this young nation together. What defines Pakistan's national identity is their devotion to Islam and their fear of India.
You probably know the territorial dispute over Kashmir, it's existed since the partition and is the biggest strain on rapprochement between Pakistan and India. Kashmir is majority Muslim, but is a part of India. Pakistanis believe that it belongs it is Pakistani because of this majority, and have fought several wars with India and supported many insurgencies in the region. I don't have a source for this, and neither does Haqqani's book, but it is believed that India possibly wanted to include Kashmir to prove India was a secular state, and not the Hindi imperials that Pakistan sees them as today. Kashmir is one of the issues that has always united Pakistanis and distracted the population from the states underlying problems, be it it's stagnant economy or its overly bloated military.
To deal with these insecurities, Pakistan's elite believed they needed a strong army to combat India, and saw the United States as the perfect friend to this start-up nation. Pakistan attempted to pitch itself and its proximity to the Soviets as a freedom-loving, pious Muslims who could fight the godless communist menace and halt their influence in the South Asian region. Early on, the United States was open to relations with Pakistan, but was not too interested in arming them with an absurdly large grocery list of military equipment (100 M-47/48 tanks, 4 submarines, 12 B-57s, 25 F-5s, 1000 trucks, and artillery and communications equipment and much much more). America had fulfilled some of their requests along with wheat aid, and this was the beginning of a long, awkward relationship of which neither party shared the same goals.
Throughout the Cold War, the the United States felt that Pakistan did not do enough to combat communism in the region while Pakistan did not think the United States was supportive enough of Pakistan and too close with India. I may be overlooking some of Pakistan's contributions, but the most they had done during the Cold War before was lease a listening post that the US had used to intercept Soviet communications, and they were also important in opening up relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, at least until the Afghan-Soviet War.
At this time, the US had thought the Paks were seeking nuclear proliferation and were close to their goal, but General Zia, the dictator at that time, had told President Reagan that he had no knowledge of a nuclear program, and Reagan took his word on it, but we see how that turned out in 1990. Reagan did not want to believe that the Paks were building a bomb because of the great proxy war that was, for the most part, the responsibility of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency. A lot of people get the misconception that the United States had created Al Qaeda from this war, and every time I hear that, it drives me mad. The ISI was given almost complete autonomy over this operation, and their role was the training of the Muj and the distribution of weapons and money to the militants fighting the Soviets. The United States had an agreement that whatever Saudi Arabia would spend, America would equal that. America's role was for the most part, supplying money and weapons for the ISI to distribute. I don't want this to sound like I'm trying to shift the blame to anyone, but Pakistan had played a phenomenal role in that war, and this was probably their greatest contribution to the Cold War.
A couple quick links, and a recommendation that you find This Kind of War, and / or Clay Blair's "The Forgotten War". The first is available for free download if you Google around.
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I'd also suggest A History of the Byzantine State by the Yugoslavian Byzantinist George Ostrogorsky. While older than Treadgold's work(which is also very good), it's cheaper and shorter yet is still considered a definitive history--I read Ostrogorsky's during multiple Byzantine history courses and found the writing style very accessible and not overly concerned with minutae while still providing lots of detail.
In 2008 Meir Shahar, from Tel Aviv University published a fantastic book on exactly what you're interested in.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Shaolin-Monastery-History-Religion/dp/082483349X
There's also Peter Lorge's book (history prof at Vanderbilt), Chinese Martial Arts, an overall history of the subject to which Shaolin is pertinent but tangential.
http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Martial-Arts-Antiquity-Twenty-First/dp/0521878810/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=002H816HNWXX66N4P46H
Most everything written on the subject is hagiography, but the above two are works of history, if that's what you're looking for.
If you want to learn about how Iran got to where it is today / events that shaped it's views I think Modern Iran by Nikki Keddie. You don't get that "YOU MUST HATE IRAN THEY ARE EVIL" junk in it. You just get how Iran sort of came to be in the modern era.
The Coup is a great Book to expand on exactly how Iran/U.S. relations got messed up. Long story short the CIA overthrew their democratically elected leader, and ever since then they have been pissed, but this goes into detail about it and does a great job explaining everything.
If you want to watch some documentaries. I HIGHLY recommend you watch "Bitter Lake" that explains Saudi's rise to power/Afghanistan and how things got messed up.
Another interesting documentary is the The Man who Changed the World about Khomeni
Those are pretty good starting points to understand Iran.
The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen is excellent.
You mean bosozoku and post-bubble economy?
I found a link for the book (https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651#immersive-view_1479918284037).
The unfortunate thing about these types of books is that, while they may offer an interesting insight into the time the book was written, the information is perishable. Speed Tribes of Japan was written over 20 years ago, so a LOT has changed in Japan since then.
I'm glad you're thinking about this period and these issues, so please take my reply as encouragement to continue rather than discouragement. I've discussed the problems with the idea of "sakoku" and what you're calling the Christian samurai revolt here and here. Please read over those and then come back to this.
So you have some fundamental problems with your premise that you would need to rethink (and get away from popular history books on Japan, they're terrible and misleading). But I think you can still make a paper out of the contact end. At this point, there's little point on focusing on isolation because almost no culture group is entirely isolated from every other culture group. It rarely happens, and in Japan's case, never happened.
Your example with the system of alternating attendance had more to do with the centralization and control needed post Sekigahara as well, so to warn you up front, you can't connect that to "isolation." Though, keeping all of that in mind, you might look at the Satsuma clan. I think that could lead you to a very interesting paper, but that's all the hint I'm going to give you since this is for homework. If you want to ask about resources you can start with, or if you have any questions about my other comments, I'm happy to help and answer, but I'm going to leave you on your own for making connections past that. This book is probably your best place to start.
Hope that helps.
Robert Fisk: The Great War for Civilization.
Nikki Keddie: Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution
Ira Lapidus: A History of Islamic Societies
And other good ones I know of that were mentioned in here:
A History of the Arab People" by Hourani
"All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer
The Palestinian People: A History
The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land
This is all a good place to start, I think.
There's the reading list in the side-bar, but that doesn't really have secondary books on Hinduism.
There's Gavin Flood's An Introduction to Hinduism. I haven't read it yet, but it's the only thing I got off the top of my head. If you want, I can look through the copy I found on the sidewalk and tell you about it.
But Flood seems to have a pretty good pedigree. But I don't know if he's a Hindu. I would also recommend Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. I have it, and his intro goes into Hindu concepts. This book also seem well-received, though I don't have it.
There's a public domain book called The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India. There's also The Wonder that was India, which is good. And apparently the same guy wrote The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism.
Most Indian history books talk about Hinduism, so maybe the Cambridge History of India?
As an English major in college, I've been inundated with fiction for years. Now I'm on a big non-fiction and essay kick.
At present I would recommend Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, a marvelous piece of literary non-fiction set in the slums of Mumbai, and a tidy selection of Foucault that I like to take chunks out of between other books.
I have yet to read it, but I've seen great reviews about This Kind of War by T.R. Fehrenbach. Here is the Amazon page if you want to look at it.
For a great example of Congress running foreign policy, see
Charlie Wilson's War(book), or
Charlie Wilson's War(movie)
Anyways, thanks for the links. If the Senate one passes (and it looks like it's been incorporated into the first House one already) it will be interesting to see what comes out of the increase in numbers of reporters in that area.
This Kind of War by T.R. Fehrenbach is kind of the classic Korean War history from the UN/American side, told mostly in first-person combat narratives.
The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam contains some 'stories from the front', but also covers the political and strategic thinking that led to US involvement and conduct of the war.
Somewhat surprisingly, one of the best accounts I've ever read of the air war in Korea was in a few chapters of First Man - the biography of Neil Armstrong by James Hansen. Armstrong was an aviator with the US Navy during the war, and the book's description of day-to-day life for a combat pilot on a carrier was really fascinating. Plus it's just an incredibly good book.
That's interesting. I've only torrented music once, and that's because it wasn't available otherwise.
Growing up in a place where there wasn't a live music scene at all, I've never looked at music in anything but the long-term sense, comparing crystallized recordings from across wildly different musical eras and contexts. It's this that allows me to look at a chill-out track by Yoshinori Sunahara and say, hey, this sounds a bit like Lofticries by Purity Ring . That's probably a pretty useless connection to make, but I enjoy making it. The converse of this is that I've never learned to enjoy music as a moment, as a unique personal expression that comes only once between you and the players and then is forever lost. There might be something truly magical in that, that I will never know. I'm just a database animal.
Anyway, it's good that you've found music that speaks to you, but be aware that when I am elected next month I will get back at you by raping your ears with The Protomen, indie game soundtracks, and mod tunes.
e: also klezmer, Balkan brass, and Balkan folk. And a better example of comparing different musics might be Vlastimir Pavlović Carevac playing the Serbian folksong Bojarka vs. Smetana's Vltava/Die Moldau. Turns out, Vltava is based on an Italian melody that spread to Czech and became a folk song there. In fact, it became a folk song in a bunch of places. I'm just an amateur, but I'd hazard a guess that Bojarka has the same origin.
You should wonder why.
Afterall, we have a lot in common and shared values: Democracy, rule of law, separation of state and religion, constitutional values, etc.
BUT, the US has got this nasty habit of cohabiting with Pakistan, and turning a blind eye to Pakistan's Jihad with India. Also, ARMING the crazy Pakistanis with sophisticated weaponry, from F16 to Radars.
We don't hate USA, but we are wary of its machinations. The only bad thing is: average americans who are all for fair play have no idea of what your Govt. does.
Search for the 'Blood telegraphs'.
also, this: Pakistan-US:BFF
The increasing separation and isolation of the Western from the Eastern Empire up until the Justinian revival/Gothic War in Italy really complicates this question. Because at a certain point in the West being Catholic as opposed to Gothic-aligned Arian is going to be a bigger issue than being "pagan," but those dimensions of the Roman Civic institutions in which a traditional aristocratic career would happen is dynamic throughout those centuries. So it's possible that in the West it would have been easier to remain "pagan" than it would in the East because of a more primary antagonism between Arian and Catholic groups. In the East, I imagine that by the early 6th century, Christian groups (broadly speaking) had taken over––but that is MUCH easier in the context of Constantinople/Eastern Empire than it is in Rome. For the Eastern Empire, you might check into the older work of JJ Norwich, whose History of Byzantium is very readable and kind of summarizing. You might also check out the older study by G. Ostrogorsky (https://www.amazon.com/History-Byzantine-State-George-Ostrogorsky/dp/0813511984). For Western contexts, the best stuff I know about comes from Papal historians; Kristina Sessa's recent study (https://www.amazon.com/Formation-Papal-Authority-Antique-Italy/dp/1107423481/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1475172320&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Sessa+Rome) would probably be quite illuminating.
>Take a look at multiple sources and history books... Japan is not as blood thirsty of a country as you seem to think. They do not have a military anymore. They do not sit around threatening every south east Asian country anymore (that privilege belongs to a few other countries in the area)
Japan is an incredibly peaceful country right now. They sure weren't in the days of the samurai. Most of the period of the samurai they weren't even represented by the Katana. Only in the Edo when samurai became neo-Confucian bureaucrats did they use the Katana to represent themselves.
Unless you have a Masters or PhD on Japanese history, I'm pretty sure I have read more books on the subject than you have.
Nitobe Inazo is a Meiji politician, not a feudal lord or samurai. It was Meiji people that codified Bushido, just like Chivalry was codified by Victorians. In their actual time period of practice (people started romanticizing about the samurai in 13th century), they were simply various collections of fictional or semi-fictional stories (Heike, Heiji, Hougen) and moral family lessons (Katou, Kuroda, Kasuga - who first used the term Bushido some time in the late 16th century) that greatly varied in content and are not reflective of the average samurai or daimyo.
>In the world of the warrior, seppuku was a deed of bravery that was admirable in a samurai who knew he was defeated, disgraced, or mortally wounded. It meant that he could end his days with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The cutting of the abdomen released the samurai’s spirit in the most dramatic fashion, but it was an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes the samurai who was performing the act asked a loyal comrade to cut off his head at the moment of agony.
Seppuku was rare, and by far the most common reason for it was execution, either for breaking the law in times of peace or forced on a rival in times of war.
What did Ronin do in times of civil unrest? Rape, burn, murder, and pillage. At least in "peaceful" times they might just resort to farming, craft, and other odd jobs, or if that didn't work banditry. Heck Ronin and Samurai were probably the biggest human cause of civil unrest in "peaceful" periods with their debt riots.
You can search r/Askhistorians, and you'll get the same answer from every other Japan specialist. If that's not enough for you, you can listen to these podcasts:
Busting the Myths of the Samurai Part 1 and Part 2
You can't Spell "Bushido"without "Bull"
If that's still not enough, there's always these books:
Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan
Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan
State of War: The Violent Order of Fourteenth-Century Japan
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal is a good book that covers the incident from multiple perspectives.
Exploding Mangoes was the first book I read about Pakistan. Here's a list:
A little dry for my taste but I couldn't recommend this more. This book charts the social consequences of state policies and economic factors over the whole time period from '47 to now.
Very important book if you want to avoid the conspiracy theories floating about Taliban and our role in their rise.
Interested in Pakistan army's relationship with mullahs over the years? This is a must-read.
Title is self explanatory.
A very informative and interesting two part series on what joins the non-Arab muslims of the world, with a large portion about Pakistan. Written by Nobel Laureate for Literature Naipaul, behnoi of Maj. Gen. Ameer Faisal Alvi who was assassinated in 2008 in Islamabad.
A good overview of what makes Pakistan run the way it does.
Haven't read it but have heard good things about it.
Haven't read it yet.
Wow, that is a huge topic.
A few books to look at:
I particularly like Kinmouth's book, but it is not as easy to find these days. If you are at a university library they may have it. Jansen is one of the legends in the field and though his approach may be a bit less nuanced than modern texts, it is of great value.
What level/class is this paper though?
I've heard great things about "Showa", a graphic novel that covers Japanese history between 1926 and 1989:
https://www.amazon.com/Showa-1926-1939-History-Japan/dp/1770461353
Edit:
Also recommend "Speed Tribes" By Karl Taro Greenfield. Easy read:
https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542859841&sr=8-1&keywords=speed+tribes
Heh. "Systemless Sourcebook" ... I would honestly say textbooks.
Like I have a fantastic 1951 "psychology" textbook which I read as heavy influence for running Mage: The Ascension and eventually Paranoia. There's huge numbers of niche "sourcebooks" for every setting if you're willing to look in to old or out of date textbooks on Amazon (the newest edition: $300! two editions ago? $30).
e.g. This'un or perhaps this social studies classic or like if you want it dry I've got u fam
Just a thought! You might be surprised the massive amount of inspiration that can be got just by trawling through a few local Salvation Army/Good Wills and looking through the stacks of dusty textbooks they may have.
Σε αυτό θα αναφέρεσαι φαντάζομαι. Φαίνεται ενδιαφέρον αν και φοβάμαι μήπως είναι "στεγνό" σαν τρόπο γραφής. Ευχαριστώ πάντως θα ναι στα υπόψην μου.
The wonder that was India by a l basham.
here is an amazon link.
if you are looking for detailed answer, I'd highly recommend reading Pakistan: A hard country
Thank you.
I would suggest one book that you might find interesting. Actually gets into the programs and highlights Asia, where there are now 160 million or so missing females.
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519
Do you have a link to the Agenda 21 info?
Speed Tribes is a fascinating book about the Japanese underworld.
Here are a few good ones that I have read and would definitely reccomend.
Speed Tribes: Days and Night's with Japan's Next Generation
by Karl Taro Greenfeld
> http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1267655889&amp;sr=8-1
Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West
by T.R. Reid
> http://www.amazon.com/Confucius-Lives-Next-Door-Teaches/dp/0679777601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1267655960&amp;sr=1-1#noop
Black Passenger Yellow Cabs: Of Exile And Excess In Japan
by Stefhen F. D. Bryan
> http://www.amazon.com/Black-Passenger-Yellow-Cabs-Excess/dp/0615268102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1267656194&amp;sr=1-1
those should keep you busy for a while.
Jake Aldenstein (first non Japanese reporter for a major Japanese newspaper) wrote a book called Tokyo Vice, which has elements of what you are looking for. Its mostly about his life as a gaijin reporter, versus just being a gaijin.
>writings on NGE's impact on anime and western culture
I don't know whether this will be any good to you as I've only seen the first volume of this (I think there are six so far) but if you can find this, it's probably your best bet for that kind of stuff. Not really sure on contents of any given issue, but you can probably find that info somewhere. 'Essay' probably means university, and that means university library, which means inter-library loan is an option too.
Another one to definitely read: Otaku - Japan's Database Animals, by Hiroki Azuma. Don't worry, it's translated very well. This is dense stuff but fascinating, and reads like a design doc for TVTropes; it also focuses significantly on Eva. A must-read for you, I think, given your focus. Certainly a favourite of mine - it changed how I see all media.
Yeah, it's true. Nonfiction wasn't included in their list. How about:
Is Katherine Boo a [poor, Indian, slum-dweller] (http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Beautiful-Forevers-Mumbai-Undercity/dp/1400067553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375289859&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=katherine+boo)?
Is Emory Thomas a [confederate sympathizer] (http://www.amazon.com/Robert-E-Lee-A-Biography/dp/0393316319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375289595&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=robert+e+lee+biography)?
Etc., etc.
It could be argued that to write about what you're faithfully familiar with is perhaps more detrimental to objective journalism or historical storytelling than what is foreign to you!
A couple to get you started...
Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (updated 2006)
Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet (2nd edition, 2008)
So it's clear to me that you don't really know all that much about Iran or the Iranian people, but I can suggest some reading material so that you can further educate yourself if you so choose to. I found these books to be quite informative.
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You should distinguish cases army personnel did rape/abduction and civilian agency did illegal recruitment.
Why the hell those brothel owners pay so much money to women who were kidnapped. About 20 times of factory workers. By the way those brothels korean women were working for were operated by korean owners, while Japanese women working for were operated by Japanese owners.
Did you read? This is mostly wartime records of American, Duch, Australian. Do you think they down play comfort women issue for imperial Japan?
wartime military records on comfort women
Pakistan: A Hard Country by Anatol Lieven
Orientalism by Edward Said
The second one is not South Asia specific but rather how we are viewed in occidental intellectual traditions.
Thanks for the comment, very interesting to read. I'm now slightly more knowledgeable, and just a hair more dunk to make this a great impulse buy!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0674009916?pc_redir=1414055008&amp;robot_redir=1
China wasn't strong in any way except in terms of ground military defense until starting in like the early-mid 1990s.
Also, you have to have read some pretty fucked up history books to think China, which had 2000 troops that were nowhere within 2000KM of a resupply line on the other side of the biggest mountainrange in the world, would start a war with India. India started the Sino Indian war and got its ass wrecked, to save face they keep trying to convince themselves China attacked them out of the blue. It's embarassing really, and makes me question your insinuation that Pakistan started the wars with India.
British Imperialism in China and Tibet is central understanding the 1962 India-China Border War.
>Between 1903 to 1947, "Christian" Britain imperialists invaded Tibet, massacred 2,000 to 3,000 Tibetans with machine guns, plundered a lot of its national treasures, and stole it as a colony. This was possible because British "gentlemen" waged two illegal Opium Wars against China to deal illegal drugs (opium. The British used Tibet as a buffer state to protect their other colony, India. To gain public approval of these anti-human actions, Britain selectively crafted a mythical image of Tibet (even though it’s a feudal theocracy where 95% of the population are serfs) in contrast to a tumultuous China (a turmoil caused DIRECTLY by white imperialists including Britain, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, America, Sweden, Norway, Italy, the Dutch, Austria-Hungarian empire, Belgium, and Russia. Also, Imperial Japan.
>In 1914, the British drew the McMahon Line, which has a very confusing history but has created on-going tensions between Tibet, India, and China.
>● In 1914, the "Christian" British representative, Henry McMahon drew a MacMahon line with Tibetan local authority that gifted 90 thousand square kilometers of land from China (south eastern border) to India. This is Chinese land being reassigned without permission of the Chinese government. IT's illegal and invalid.
>● In 1960, Chinese premier Zhou en lai tried to peacefully resolve the border dispute with Indian premier Nehru, but India refused any reasonable proposal from China.
>● In 1962, India military troops stirred up conflicts on the border, but was defeated by China's military.
>A Brief History of the Sino-Indian Border Dispute and the role of Tibet
https://blog.hiddenharmonies.org/2010/03/26/a-brief-history-of-the-sino-indian-border-dispute-and-the-role-of-tibet/#more-13801
>“Q: What in your opinion were the policies, on both sides, that brought about the basic quarrel over the border?
>Neville Maxwell(author): As far as the McMahon Line was concerned India inherited the dispute with China, which the British had created in the mid-1930s by seizing the Tibetan territory they re-named NEFA. The PRC government was prepared to accept that border alignment but insisted that it be re-negotiated, that is put through the usual diplomatic process, to wipe out its imperialist origins. Nehru refused, using London's false claim that the Simla Conference had already legitimised the McMahon Line to back up that refusal — that was his Himalayan blunder. Then in 1954 he compounded that mistake by laying cartographic claim to a swathe of territory in the north-west, the Aksai Chin, a claim which was beyond anything the British had ever claimed and on an area which Chinese governments had treated as their own for at least a hundred years. To make matters worse, he ruled that there should be no negotiation over that claim either! So Indian policy had created a border dispute and also ruled out the only way it could peacefully be settled, through diplomatic negotiation.”
>It wasn't China, but Nehru who declared 1962 war: Australian journalist Neville Maxwell
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/It-wasnt-China-but-Nehru-who-declared-1962-war-Australian-journalist-Neville-Maxwell/articleshow/33094229.cms
>“NEW DELHI: In a marked U-turn from the earlier stand taken by BJP, the Modi government has firmly ruled out the release of the classified Henderson Brooks report into India's humiliating military debacle against China in 1962.”
“The Henderson Brooks report squarely blames the then Jawarharlal Nehru government's ill-conceived and ill-timed "Forward Policy", without proper intelligence or adequate military preparation, for India's abject defeat in 1962.”
>In U-turn, Modi govt rules out release of Henderson Brooks report
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-U-turn-Modi-govt-rules-out-release-of-Henderson-Brooks-report/articleshow/38024666.cms
>“This book shows how much we can be misled by the media
London TIMES reporter Nevile Maxwell wrote this book solely based on the declassified documents from India's Defense Department. It shows how India's prime minister Mr. Nehru launched the "northern advance" policy disregard the historical evidence were all against India's claim. The war started by Indian army firing upon the Chinese border garrison force and ended up with India's humiliating total defeat. But ironically, we in the West always believed that Chinese, instead of India, was the aggressor.”
India's China War
http://www.amazon.com/Indias-China-War-Neville-Maxwell/product-reviews/8181581466/
The shitstorm makes perfect sense when it you recognize it is the type of mistake KanColle made rather than the mistake itself. The problem is that Kantai Collection is a game that is almost five years old, and that thrives on its community interactions. Most of the endearment towards characters are generated by fan-made content. I have changed my opinions on many different characters based on reading various fan manga and artwork. Kantai Collection is the best example you can find of the database model work put forward by Hiroki Azuma in his book.
The collective interaction that is Kantai Collection means that the developers need to be responsive to fan feedback if they want the work to be successful. Intrepid's character design was a tone deaf move that was dismissive of fans' desires. It showed that the developers either didn't listen to their fans, or thought they could get away with ignoring their fans. It breaks the illusion that the fans are partners in this enterprise as opposed to subordinates.
To put it in perspective, the feelings that fans experienced over Intrepid is the same feeling that causes rebellions and revolts in the real world. The Stamp Act of 1765 is what galvanized many of the American colonialist into opposing the Crown, and British inability to effectively respond and compromise resulted in the American Revolution.
I don't use that example to say that Intrepid's design is the same as the American Revolution, but to say that humans have clear and predictable psychological responses to actions by those in authority. This incident won't cause a revolution or revolt, but it could very well destroy the Kantai Collection franchise if the developers can't effectively respond. KanColle's saving grace is that there isn't strong competition. Azur Lane is the closest thing, but it has its own flaws and isn't in a position to exploit Kantai Collection.
Ostrogorsky's History of the Byzantine State is the best one-volume overview of Byzantine history that I've read.
As mentioned above, John Julius Norwich's three book set is pretty much the gold standard for easily readable Byzantine history. Don't let the three volumes scare you, they're only about 500 pages each.
His book goes into more detail about the rural peasantry. I just finished it. Great read, as he refuses to make blanket generalizations about any aspect of the country, and goes into lengthy explanations about specific situations.
The rural population is doing fairly well, largely as a result of illegal businesses, which local authorities have, for the most part, simply begun to allow to exist. Lankov explains that to allow them to do very well, like the peasantry of Vietnam and China, would be to invite governmental collapse. Several chapters in the book are devoted to the idea that Kim Jong Un is in a tight spot, because the people want to develop their economy, but that would increase interaction with the outside world, which would cause a revolt. The big secret the NK government is trying to keep right now is just how much better South Korea is doing, economically. The NK population know the south is better off, but they have no idea just how much. They think that the South currently has about twice their wealth, but in exchange for this, they live under the jackboot of the US, and they have sacrificed their national honor. The actual difference is closer to 40-1, and there's very little US interference in the Southerner's lives. This is the great secret that the NK government needs to keep quiet, and more economic development will let the cat out of the bag.
On North Korean along with the Vice ones you've already seen I can recommend the following that you can find on Netflix:
Inside North Korea Lisa Ling (sister of Laura Ling, who was trapped in North Korea) travels to North Korea with an eye surgeon who is doing humanitarian work there. There's a really great scene after all of the patients get their bandages unwrapped.
Crossing the Line About Americans who defected to North Korea during the Korean War and live/lived in Pyongyang. Really interesting stuff.
Kim Jong Il's Comedy Club / The Red Chapel This one is about Korean-Danish comedians who go to Pyongyang to do a very peculiar comedy routine. It's full of awkward moments but there's some pretty insightful stuff in there.
A State of Mind I haven't seen this one, and it's not on Netflix, but it's the same director as Crossing the Line (he's earned DPRK's trust and is allowed access for movies). It's about North Korean girls preparing for the Mass Games.
Also two books I would recommend are Nothing to Envy about ordinary citizens lives during the famine of North Korea and The Real North Korea which explains why politically, North Korea has no choice but to continue the current path.
I don't have any recommendations for China, sorry.
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Link text: Five Past Midnight.
This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).
I'm Sure that this references elsewhere in this right but I'm too lazy to search for it so here is again. Read this book
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Past-Midnight-Bhopal-Industrial/dp/0446530883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1397092196&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=union+carbide+bopal
> Hillary Clinton has already admitted to the US helping create Al Qaeda.
Why is this important? Al-Qaeda's origin has been openly traced back to the U.S. training Afghans to fight the Soviets in the late 70's/80's, and certainly isn't some "secret" that was revealed by Clinton.
Look into Operation Cyclone or Charlie Wilson's War for more info.
This does not fit exactly, but in Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, the first time it is mentioned what the "Beautiful Forevers" are really paints a very vivid picture for me.
I'm not sure when this discussion became about how much Iran has "CONTINUALLY DEFIED" the "international community", but since you make it so, let's talk about that. If I take the bold step of interpreting "CONTINUALLY DEF[YING]" the international community as being in breach of a UN resolution, I can only find one Iranian action that appears to be in contravention of UN resolution - and that concerns a delayed disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility. I welcome any fact-checkers in this area, but I couldn't find anything else. Basically, if true, this means Iran are saints of the Middle East. That's a pretty good record, all things considered.
And then we find that the UN has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than it has all other nations combined. Don't you find that staggering? Somehow you believe that Iran is some crazy, rogue threat to the region - a country that hasn't invaded anyone for 300 years. Who else has that record - who among the countries that are lining up to condemn Iran (admittedly, occasionally for good cause) can claim a similar record of non-violence? Or even of UN compliance? All the while, there is a nuclear power in the Middle East - a secretive nuclear power - that has a known record of violent aggression, that has invaded all of its neighbours in recent history and whose government has an expansionist agenda. That combination should scare the shit out of you, but apparently it doesn't warrant a passing mention.
Honestly, before lecturing others, I'd do a spot of your own research. Off the top of my head, I can't recommend highly enough Robert Fisk's excellent tome, "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East" - it covers the recent history of this region in meticulous detail and one can genuinely claim to have a basic understanding of the issues involved today after reading this book. It's invaluable.
I have read some books on North Korea.The followings are some books which may be useful for you:The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-North-Korea-Stalinist/dp/0199964297 www.amazon.cn/mn/detailApp/ref=asc_df_07425567941222674/?asin=0742556794&tag=douban-23&creative=2384&creativeASIN=0742556794&linkCode=df0 http://www.amazon.cn/mn/detailApp/ref=asc_df_03133817551224294/?asin=0313381755&amp;tag=douban-23&amp;creative=2384&amp;creativeASIN=0313381755&amp;linkCode=df0
not really sure in what grade or class you are, but i don't think these 5 questions will cut it. if you want to go into the topic why people like anime i recommend you giving Otaku - Japans Database Animals a read: http://www.amazon.com/Otaku-Japans-Database-Hiroki-Azuma/dp/0816653526
If interested in the Iran-Iraq war, Robert Fisk has a couple of chapters on it, in his The great war for civilization.
There is also a book on comfort women based on military records, which seems quite factual, unemotional and journalistic.
https://www.amazon.com/Wartime-Military-Records-Comfort-Women-ebook/dp/B01NC0KEB4#customerReviews
Try these written by ex- Pakistan's Ambassador to United States, Hussain Haqqani
And perhaps The Blood Telegram, a memoir of Archer Blood who was an American Diplomat in East Pakistan.
The disaster, reaction and aftermath are all heartbreaking to read about. I hope the families affected by it are seeing brighter days as time goes on. I read this book on it a long time ago (10ish years back) but from what I remember it was a beautifully written story set against the backdrop of the tragedy.
I, too, was looking for some really good Japanese history books and in my searches I found that these are among the best: A History of Japan, by George Sansom.
They start with pre-history and go up to 1867. Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond this year is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply. For later events, The Making of Modern Japan (Amazon), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice. Since this history begins at 1600, there are overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives.
An alternative presented by t-o-k-u-m-e-i:
>The best overview text in terms of presentation and interpretation for 1600 to the present is Gordon's A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
>The Jansen book is also good, but I (and most of the profs I know) feel that Gordon's interpretation is better
In short, this set is a good buy and is likely to remain a standard text for decades to come.
I've only just recently started reading the first book of the series and I find it very insightful. It starts by describing the geography of Japan and how that shaped and molded the early Japanese and their sensibilities.
Amazon Links:
A History of Japan to 1334
A History of Japan, 1334-1615
A History of Japan, 1615-1867
Google Books Previews:
A History of Japan to 1334
A History of Japan, 1334-1615
A History of Japan, 1615-1867
Author:
Sir George Bailey Sansom
Edit:
The author also has a shorter book published earlier which focuses primarily on culture.
Amazon - Japan: A Short Cultural History
Google Books - Japan: A Short Cultural History
Edit2:
Added an alternative suggestion for the history from 1800 onward given by t-o-k-u-m-e-i.
They drove an increase in abortions in Japan...for one year.
The more interesting fact is that up until the 50s or so, abortion wasn't really a viable method of birth control in Japan (Buddhism, obviously, isn't hip to the whole 'ending of life' thing) until introduced as a case study by American and global population concerns.
Check out "Unnatural Selection" for more.
http://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Hvistendahl-Mara/dp/1610391519
Is Speed Tribes still considered relevant? Dunno.
Lots of people saw it backfiring, but Rep Charlie Wilson had lots of clout in the CIA and Reagan White House and overrode those concerns ("I'm elected and you're not"). Source: My dad (deceased) who provided Reagan's daily defense intelligence briefings and corroborated in accounts in http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Wilsons-War-Extraordinary-Congress/dp/0802143415
It's unfortunately hard to find good books on Indian history that do justice to its cultural diversity and philosophy. Most western perspectives bring all Hindu beliefs under the banner of 'Hinduism', for example, which warps one's viewpoint when comparing it to Abrahamic faiths. Indian perspectives tend to suffer from a puerile jingoism centered around the idea that India is the oldest surviving civilization in the world.
Having said that, here's a set of books I found fairly well balanced:
I can't speak with any real authority, since I haven't read it, but according to this fellow's take on it, the origin of martial arts being seen as a spiritual endeavor can be traced back to Confucius, and I believe he speaks on this philosophy in The Analects. I would start here.
Wikipedia. Give me a fucking break. Try reading some books.
Here are some suggestions.
http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Israel-Myths-Realities/dp/0679720987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1257019998&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1257020162&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Fateful-Triangle-Palestinians-Updated-Classics/dp/0896086011
http://www.amazon.com/Image-Reality-Israel-Palestine-Conflict-Revised/dp/1859844421/ref=pd_sim_b_1
http://www.amazon.com/Question-Palestine-Edward-W-Said/dp/0679739882/ref=pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Beautiful-Forevers-Mumbai-Undercity/dp/1400067553
Here is the mobile version of your link
Please do read a bit more - Kashmir is just a proxy, root cause is religious. After Kashmir it'll be Punjab, then other states. Pakistan is a terrorist nation and has been involved in terrorism since it's inception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_state-sponsored_terrorism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleed_India_with_a_Thousand_Cuts
"We will wage 1000 wars against India" - Bhutto
https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Delusions-Pakistan-History-Misunderstanding/dp/1610393171
https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-End-Pakistan-Armys-Way/dp/0199892709
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Japanese view on comfort women mostly correspond with war time records by allies, why did they need to distort fact in favor of Japan?
Including who did recruitment and who owned business, how business work.