Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2006

History, Geography & Area Studies, Africa Top

A new and complete history of Zululand, and its destruction at the hands of the British in 1879. Although the Zulus never had any quarrel with their British neighbors, the rulers of the Cape Colony could not conceive of them as anything but a threat. In 1879, under dubious pretences, the British finally crossed the Buffalo River, and embarked on a bloody war that was to rock the very foundations of the British Empire. The story is studded with tales of incredible heroism, drama and atrocity on both sides: the Battle of Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift, where a handful of British troops beat off thousands of Zulu warriors; and Ulundi, where the Zulus were finally crushed in a battle that was to herald some of the most shameful episodes in British Colonial history. Comprehensive, vast in scope, and filled with original and up-to-date research, this is a book that is set to replace all standard works on the subject.

The monumental palace of Kano, Nigeria, was built circa 1500 and is today inhabited by more than one thousand persons. Historically, its secluded interior housed hundreds of concubines whose role in the politics, economics, and culture of Kano city-state has been largely overlooked. In this pioneering work, Heidi J. Nast demonstrates how human-geographical methods can tell us much about a site like the palace, a place bereft of archaeological work or relevant primary sources. Drawing on extensive ethnographic work and mapping data, "Concubines and Power presents new evidence that palace concubines controlled the production of indigo-dyed cloth centuries belore men did. The women were also key players in the assessment and collection of the state's earliest grain taxes, forming a complex and powerful administrative hierarchy that used the taxes for palace community needs. Social forces undoubtedly shaped and changed concubinage for hundreds of years, but Nast shows how the women's reach extended far beyond the palace walls to the formation of the state itself.

Writing African History is an essential work for anyone who wants to write, or even seriously read, African history. It will replace Daniel McCall's classic Africa in Time PerspectiveI/> as the introduction to African history for the next generation and as a reference for professional historians, interested readers, and anyone who wants to understand how African history is written.Africa in Time PerspectiveI/> was written in the 1960s, when African history was a new field of research. This new book reflects the development of African history since then. It opens with a comprehensive introduction by Daniel McCall, followed by a chapter by the editor explaining what African history is (and is not) in the context of historical theory and the development of historical narrative, the humanities, and social sciences. The first half of the book includes chapters on sources of historical data, including oral tradition (David Henige) and oral history (Barbara Cooper), indigenous written documents (John Hunwick) precolonial European documents (John Thornton) and colonial and mission documents (Toyin Falola), as well as chapters on archaeology (Susan Keech McIntosh), biology (Dorothea Bedigian), physical anthropology (S.O.Y. Keita) and historical linguistics (Christopher Ehret). The second half of the book includes chapters about different perspectives on history. Covered in this section are social science (Isaac Olawale Albert), art history (Henry John Drewal), Africanizing history (Diedre L. Badejo), economic history (Masao Yoshida), local history (Bala Achi), memory and history (Donatien DIBWE dia Mwembu), world systems theory (William G. Martin), African links to the African d.phpora (Joseph E. Holloway), and gender perspectives (Kathleen Sheldon). The editor's final chapter explains how to combine various sorts of evidence into a coherent account of African history. Writing African History will become the most important guide to African history for the 21st century.

Beginning in the sixth century BCE, Persian kings ruled a vast, culturally diverse empire that stretched from northern Libya to central Asia. The regime and its rich multicultural traditions prospered for 250 years until its invasion, and eventual defeat, by Alexander the Great's army in 331 BCE. While the triumph of Alexander is well known, the kingdom that he conquered is less so. The Persian Empire is one of the few accounts available, a comprehensive historical survey that as an accompaniment to an exhibition at the British Museum provides an accessible portrayal of the world's first land-based dynastic kingdom. In her cultural and political history of the development of this dynasty, Lindsay Allen---classicist and scholar of ancient Iran--surveys written sources, art objects, warfare, politics, and archaeological sites, supplementing the historical framework with descriptions of daily life during Persian rule. She traces the evolution of the monarchy, showing how it fostered unprecedented international communication and cultural exchange, and describes how the Persian exp into Greece in the early fifth century BCE became a defining moment that establishednbsp;a European identity unique fromnbsp;an Asian one. Examining the rediscovery of the royal capitals at Persepolis and Susa, Allen illuminates the legacy of Persian imperial traditions. Throughout, lavish illustrations bring to life the traditions of this ancient Middle Eastern civilization and finally place Alexander's invasion within a Persian context. As the subject experiences renewed interest, The Persian Empire promises to be the definitive work on one of the most powerful dynasties in ancient history.

Preface Abbreviations Introduction Diodorus Siculus: Life and Background The Bibliotheke I: Composition, Antecedents, Influences The Bibliotheke II: Aims, Achievements, Criticism The Persian Wars and the Pentekontaetia Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 11: 480-451 B.C.E. Translation and Commentary, Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheke Book 12.1.1-12.37.1: 450-431 B.C.E. Appendix A: The Terminal Date of the Bibliotheke Appendix B: Athenian Losses in the Egyptian Campaign Maps 1-8 Chronological Table Bibliography Index

Map Introduction Abbreviations I: Ancient Authors Abbreviations II: Multi-volume Reference Works Abbreviations III: Modern Works A to Z Glossary Concordance Bibliography Family trees

The very preservation of so much of Pompeii after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 has made it difficult to reconstruct its long earlier history. There are signs of Etruscan presence in the sixth century BC, and the town expanded as early as the late third century BC. After the Social War and the siege of Pompeii, a colonia was planted there and a major building program followed-which was to be enhanced in the early Empire after the instability of the civil wars. Roger Ling describes the day-to-day life of the city's in-habitants on the eve of the fatal eruption, as well as the eruption itself and its aftermath. the city was rediscovered in the late sixteenth century and since then archaeologists have discovered more and more of the city's past. the author concludes with an assessment of the conflicting demands of conservation and public access.

List of Illustrations List of Maps Timeline Introduction 1. Sources and Approaches 2. The Social Context of Eating 3. Religion 4. Staple Foods: Cereals and Pulses 5. Meat and Fish 6. Wine and the Symposium 7. Food in Ancient Thought 8. Food and Medicine 9. Food in Literature Bibliography Index

India is a land of enormous diversity. Cross-cultural influences are everywhere in evidence, in the food people eat, the clothes they wear, and in the places they worship. This was ever the case, and at no time more so than in the India that existed from 1200 to 1750, before the European intervention. This beautifully illustrated book takes the reader on a journey across the political, religious and cultural landscapes of medieval India. It is fluently composed, with a cast of characters that will educate students and general readers alike.

Isami's House represents three centuries of Japanese history, masterfully woven and narrated through the family history of one prominent family, the Matsuura of Fukushima prefecture.

The empire of the Qara Khitai, which was one of the least known and most fascinating dynasties in the history of Central Asia, existed for nearly a century before it was conquered by the Mongols in 1218. Arriving in Central Asia from China, the Qara Khitai ruled over a mostly Muslim population. Their history affords a unique window onto the extensive cross-cultural contacts between China, Inner Asian nomads and the Muslim world in the period preceding the rise of Chinggis Khan. Using an extensive corpus of Muslim and Chinese sources, Michal Biran comprehensively examines the political, institutional and cultural histories of the Qara Khitai for the first time. Her book explores a range of topics including the organization of the army, the position of women, the image of China in Muslim Central Asia,the religions of the Qara Khitai and the legacy they left for the Mongols. Crucially she asks why they did not, unlike their predecessors and successors in Central Asia, embrace Islam. The book represents a groundbreaking contribution to the field of Eurasian history for students of the Islamic world, China and Central Asia.

This volume charts a course through neverbefore-surveyed historical territory: Japan's medieval population, a topic so challenging that neither Japanese nor foreign scholars have investigated it in a comprehensive way. And yet, demography is an invaluable approach to the past because it provides a way-often the only way-to study the mass of people who did not belong to the political or religious elite. By synthesizing a vast cache of primary and secondary sources, William Wayne Farris constructs an important analysis of Japan's population from 1150 to 1600 and considers social and economic developments that were life and death issues for ordinary Japanese. Impressive in his g.php of detail and the scope of his inquiry, Farris makes the argument that, although this age initially witnessed the continuation of a centuries-old demographic stasis, a far-reaching transformation began around 1280 and eventually gained momentum until it swept through the Japanese archipelago. Between 1280 and 1600, Japan's population approximately trebled, growing from 6 million to 17 million. Crucial to the demographic breakthrough was the resolution of two central problems facing both the rulers and the ruled. The first was how to supply a burgeoning population with sufficient food; the second, how to keep the peace. Japan's Medieval Population will be required reading for specialists in pre-modern Japanese history, who will appreciate it not only for its thought-provoking arguments, but also for its methodology and use of sources.

Drawing on more than a quarter century of field and documentary research in rural North China, this book explores the contested relationship between village and state from the 1960s to the start of the twenty-first century.nbsp;The authors provide a vivid portrait of how resilient villagers struggle to survive and prosper in the face of state power in two epochs of revolution and reform. Highlighting the importance of intra-rural resistance and rural-urban conflicts to Chinese politics and society in the Great Leap and Cultural Revolution, the authors go on to depict the dynamic changes that have transformed village China in the post-Mao era.nbsp; nbsp; This book continues the dramatic story in the authors’ prizewinning Chinese Village, Socialist State.nbsp; Plumbing previously untapped sources, including interviews, archival materials, village records and unpublished memoirs, diaries and letters, the authors capture the struggles, pains and achievements of villagers across three generations of social upheaval.nbsp;

This is the spiritual biography of one of Japan's foremost thinkers, Uchimura Kanzo, who died in 1930 and whose ideas influenced contemporary historians, political scientists, and international religious followers. Known as the originator and proponent of a particularly "Japanese" form of Christianity known as mukyokai, Kanzo attempted to purge the Protestantism that was flowing into Japan from the accretions to the biblical faith that had developed after several centuries of Western history. In his lifetime, Kanzo was a well-known figure, becoming famous in Europe. His major English-language works were translated into numerous languages. Best known among these works, How I Became a Christian attracted much criticism and attention. After his death, however, Uchimura's reputation grew significantly. His Christian followers produced an enormous canon of literature, influencing the cosmopolitan intellectual milieu far beyond that of any other Japanese Christian thinker. Through the prism of this exceptional man's life, Howes charts what it meant to live in Japan during the rise of Christianity. It was also a time of increasing modernization. During Uchimura's life, Japan developed into a leading world power, and one year after his death its military propelled its people into a disastrous war. Students and scholars of Asian studies, as well as readers interested in Japanese religion and culture, will find Japan's Modern Prophet a tour de force.

When the major powers sent troops to the Korean peninsula in June of 1950, it supposedly marked the start of one of the last century's bloodiest conflicts. Allan Millett, however, reveals that the Korean War actually began with partisan clashes two years earlier and had roots in the political history of Korea under Japanese rule, 1910-1945. The first in a new two-volume history of the Korean War, Millett's study offers the most comprehensive account of its causes and early military operations. Millett traces the war's origins to the post-liberation conflict between two revolutionary movements, the Marxist-Leninists and the Nationalist-capitalists. With the U.S.-Soviet partition of Korea following World War II, each movement, now with foreign patrons, asserted its right to govern the peninsula, leading directly to the guerrilla warfare and terrorism in which more than 30,000 Koreans died. Millett argues that this civil strife, fought mostly in the South, was not so much the cause of the Korean War as its actual beginning. Millett describes two revolutions locked in irreconcilable conflict, offering an evenhanded treatment of both Communists and capitalists-nationalists. Neither movement was a model of democracy. He includes Korean, Chinese, and Russian perspectives on this era, provides the most complete account of the formation of the South Korean army, and offers new interpretations of the U.S. occupation of Korea, 1945-1948. Millett's history redefines the initial phase of the war in Asian terms. His book shows how both internal forces and international pressures converged to create the Korean War, a conflict that still shapes the politics of Asia.

China is known for its deep veneration of history. Far more than a record of the past, history to the Chinese is the magister vitae (teacher of life): the storehouse of moral lessons and bureaucratic precedents. Mirroring the Past presents a comprehensive history of traditional Chinese historiography from antiquity to the mid-Qing period. Organized chronologically, the book traces the development of historical thinking and writing in Imperial China, beginning with the earliest forms of historical consciousness and ending with adumbrations of the fundamentally different views engendered by mid-nineteenth-century encounters with the West. The historiography of each era is explored on two levels: first, the gathering of material and the writing and production of narratives to describe past events; second, the thinking and reflecting on meanings and patterns of the past. Significantly, the book embeds within this chronological structure integrated views of Chinese historiography, bringing to light the purposive, didactic, and normative uses of the past. Examining both the worlds of official and unofficial historiography, the authors lay bare the ingenious ways in which Chinese scholars extracted truth from events and reveal how schemas and philosophies of history were constructed and espoused. They highlight the dynamic nature of Chinese historiography, revealing that historical works mapped the contours of Chinese civilization not for the sake of understanding history as disembodied and theoretical learning, but for the pragmatic purpose of guiding the world by mirroring the past in all its splendor and squalor.

From about 1600 to 1800, the Qing empire of China expanded to unprecedented size. Through astute diplomacy, economic investment, and a series of ambitious military campaigns into the heart of Central Eurasia, the Manchu rulers defeated the Zunghar Mongols, and brought all of modern Xinjiang and Mongolia under their control, while gaining dominant influence in Tibet. The China we know is a product of these vast conquests.Peter C. Perdue chronicles this little-known story of Chinaýs expansion into the northwestern frontier. Unlike previous Chinese dynasties, the Qing achieved lasting domination over the eastern half of the Eurasian continent. Rulers used forcible repression when faced with resistance, but also aimed to win over subject peoples by peaceful means. They invested heavily in the economic and administrative development of the frontier, promoted trade networks, and adapted ceremonies to the distinct regional cultures.Perdue thus illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by Chinaýs frontier expansion. The Beijing government today faces unrest on its frontiers from peoples who reject its autocratic rule. At the same time, China has launched an ambitious development program in its interior that in many ways echoes the old Qing policies.China Marches West is a tour de force that will fundamentally alter the way we understand Central Eurasia.