"How did a single manhunt spark the modern era of multinational capitalism? Henry Avery was the seventeenth century's most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular--and wildly inaccurate--reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Avery's most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a new model for the global...

The well-illustrated story of the building of the Taj Mahal, one of the world's most beautiful monuments, and the Mughal dynasty in India whose 5th emperor built it.

"When the first Mughal emperor, Babur came from Persia to rule over India, he bought camel loads full of musk and damask roses with him. His love affair with roses was such that each one of Babur's daughters was given a rose related name: Gulchihra (rose-cheeked), Gulrukh (rose-faced), Gulbadan (rose-body) and Gulrang (rose colour), and his chefs sought to please him by feeding chickens with rose water to scent the flavour of their dishes. Such is...

Beginning in 1627, Princess Jahanara, first daughter of Shah Jahan of India's Mogul Dynasty, writes in her diary about political intrigues, weddings, battles, and other experiences of her life. Includes historical notes on Jahanara's later life and on the Mogul Empire.

"In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and most cherished wife of the Emperor Jahangir. While other wives were secluded behind walls, Nur ruled the vast Mughal Empire alongside her husband, and governed in his stead as his health failed and his attentions wandered from matters of state"--Amazon.com. In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian...

"The emperor is dead; long live the emperors! The assassinated Shah Jahan lies entombed beside his beloved wife in the Taj Mahal, while their progeny drag the Mughal Empire into a three-sided struggle over the succession to the Peacock Throne. The diplomatic and trade mission from the United States of Europe is openly siding with Princess Jahanara and her brother Dara Shikoh. The mission, made up largely of Americans transplanted in time by the Ring...

"On a cool evening in Kolkata, India, beneath a full moon, as the whirling rhythms of traveling musicians fill the night, college professor Alok encounters a mysterious stranger with a bizarre confession and an extraordinary story. Tantalized by the man's unfinished tale, Alok will do anything to hear its completion. So Alok agrees, at the stranger's behest, to transcribe a collection of battered notebooks, weathered parchments, and once-living skins....