The Great Game has not changed though the players have: Keay looks at the history of this contested and remote area and at those that have roamed its wildernesses.
The author has been travelling in China for 30 years. This is her first book, and it is a compelling portrait of the country's culture and its recent mutations.
The grandmother in question was Vietnamese, and exiled in the Vietnam war. A good-looking book on this healthy and nourishing cuisine. Has Ducasse's imprimatur so should be excellent.
Culinary archaeology following the trails of ancient maritime trade through Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Iran and the Emirates. Transporting stuff.
Xi Jinping is head of the CCP, head of state and commander-in-chief of the military, with an indefinite period in office; he's centralised power, increased state control of the economy and i... read more
Takes the reader from the earliest written accounts to the present in vivid portraits. The empress Masako is there, and presumably princess Murasaki Shikibu, whose diary is not only fascina... read more