Book cover of Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia by Eric Schluessel
Asia

Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia

At the close of the nineteenth century, near the end of the Qing empire, Confucian revivalists from central China gained control of the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang, or East Turkestan. There they undertook a program to transform Turkic-speaking Muslims into Chinese-speaking Confucians, seeking to bind this population and their homeland to the Chinese cultural and political realm. Instead of assimilation, divisions between communities only deepened, resulting in a profound estrangement that continues to this day. […Learn More]

Book cover of Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils by Dean Lomax
Archaeology

Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils

Fossils allow us to picture the forms of life that inhabited the earth eons ago. But we long to know more: how did these animals actually behave? We are fascinated by the daily lives of our fellow creatures―how they reproduce and raise their young, how they hunt their prey or elude their predators, and more. What would it be like to see prehistoric animals as they lived and breathed?
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Book cover for Oil Powers: A History of the US Saudi Alliance by Victor McFarland
Business & Money

Oil Powers: A History of the U.S. – Saudi Alliance

Since the mid-twentieth century, the United States and Saudi Arabia have built a close but often troubled alliance. In this critical history, Victor McFarland reveals the deep ties binding the leaders of the two nations. 

Connecting foreign relations and domestic politics, McFarland challenges the view that the U.S.-Saudi alliance is the inevitable consequence of American energy demand and Saudi Arabia’s huge oil reserves. Oil Powers traces the growth of the alliance through a dense web of political, economic, and social connections that bolstered royal and executive power and the national-security state. […Learn More]