We in the West share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years. Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from that other perspective. With the evolution of the Muslim community at the center, his story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the struggles and ideological...

A tall, yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself 'Mogor dell'Amore', the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal, the Emperor Akbar, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the whole imperial capital. The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar's grandfather Babar: Qara Koz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery,...

"Power and Perspective: Early Photography in China seeks to rethink the global history of photography by recognizing the centrality of photography at the margins. Whereas histories of nineteenth century photography are often told through the story of a single, usually Euro-American, male hero photographer, the premise of Power and Perspective is that making a photograph is a social process. Each of the book's authors focuses on a different aspect...

In 1871, five young girls raised in traditional samurai homes during the turmoil of civil war were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan. Three of these unusual ambassadors grew up as typical American schoolgirls who quickly became very popular. They developed passionale relationship with each having cross-cultural fascination...

"Phil Wang was born in Stoke-on-Trent, raised in Malaysia, and then came of age in Bath - 'a spa town for people who find Cheltenham too ethnic'. In this brilliantly funny and incisive comic memoir he looks at what it means to be torn between two continents, bringing his trademark cynicism and wit to topics ranging from family, food and comedy to race, empire and colonialism."--Provided by publisher

The noted critic and a Palestinian now teaching at Columbia University, examines the way in which the West observes the Arabs.