How Asia Found Herself

How Asia Found Herself

Author: Nile Green

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2022-11-29

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 0300268653

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A pioneering history of cross-cultural knowledge that exposes enduring fractures in unity across the world’s largest continent The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spread printing across Asia to bring Bibles to the colonized. The unintended consequence was an Asian communications revolution: the maritime public sphere expanded from Istanbul to Yokohama. From all corners of the continent, curious individuals confronted the challenges of studying each other’s cultures by using the infrastructure of empire for their own exploratory ends. Whether in Japanese or Persian, Bengali or Arabic, they wrote travelogues, histories, and phrasebooks to chart the vastly different regions that European geographers labeled "Asia." Yet comprehension does not always keep pace with connection. Far from flowing smoothly, inter-Asian understanding faced obstacles of many kinds, especially on a landmass with so many scripts and languages. Here is the dramatic story of cross-cultural knowledge on the world’s largest continent, exposing the roots of enduring fractures in Asian unity.


Book Synopsis How Asia Found Herself by : Nile Green

Download or read book How Asia Found Herself written by Nile Green and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering history of cross-cultural knowledge that exposes enduring fractures in unity across the world’s largest continent The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spread printing across Asia to bring Bibles to the colonized. The unintended consequence was an Asian communications revolution: the maritime public sphere expanded from Istanbul to Yokohama. From all corners of the continent, curious individuals confronted the challenges of studying each other’s cultures by using the infrastructure of empire for their own exploratory ends. Whether in Japanese or Persian, Bengali or Arabic, they wrote travelogues, histories, and phrasebooks to chart the vastly different regions that European geographers labeled "Asia." Yet comprehension does not always keep pace with connection. Far from flowing smoothly, inter-Asian understanding faced obstacles of many kinds, especially on a landmass with so many scripts and languages. Here is the dramatic story of cross-cultural knowledge on the world’s largest continent, exposing the roots of enduring fractures in Asian unity.


How Asia Found Herself

How Asia Found Herself

Author: Nile Green

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2023-01-10

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 030025704X

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A pioneering history of cross-cultural knowledge that exposes enduring fractures in unity across the world's largest continent The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spread printing across Asia to bring Bibles to the colonized. The unintended consequence was an Asian communications revolution: the maritime public sphere expanded from Istanbul to Yokohama. From all corners of the continent, curious individuals confronted the challenges of studying each other's cultures by using the infrastructure of empire for their own exploratory ends. Whether in Japanese or Persian, Bengali or Arabic, they wrote travelogues, histories, and phrasebooks to chart the vastly different regions that European geographers labeled "Asia." Yet comprehension does not always keep pace with connection. Far from flowing smoothly, inter-Asian understanding faced obstacles of many kinds, especially on a landmass with so many scripts and languages. Here is the dramatic story of cross-cultural knowledge on the world's largest continent, exposing the roots of enduring fractures in Asian unity.


Book Synopsis How Asia Found Herself by : Nile Green

Download or read book How Asia Found Herself written by Nile Green and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-10 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering history of cross-cultural knowledge that exposes enduring fractures in unity across the world's largest continent The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spread printing across Asia to bring Bibles to the colonized. The unintended consequence was an Asian communications revolution: the maritime public sphere expanded from Istanbul to Yokohama. From all corners of the continent, curious individuals confronted the challenges of studying each other's cultures by using the infrastructure of empire for their own exploratory ends. Whether in Japanese or Persian, Bengali or Arabic, they wrote travelogues, histories, and phrasebooks to chart the vastly different regions that European geographers labeled "Asia." Yet comprehension does not always keep pace with connection. Far from flowing smoothly, inter-Asian understanding faced obstacles of many kinds, especially on a landmass with so many scripts and languages. Here is the dramatic story of cross-cultural knowledge on the world's largest continent, exposing the roots of enduring fractures in Asian unity.


What about Asia?

What about Asia?

Author: Josine Stremmelaar

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 9053569596

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As Asia has become more prominent on the international scene in recent decades—economically, politically, and culturally—the scholarly discipline of Asian studies has grown commensurately. But major questions remain about the scope of the discipline and its goals. What about Asia? both surveys the current state of the debate on Asian studies and suggests several fruitful directions for future exploration, especially through the use of multiregional and interdisciplinary approaches.


Book Synopsis What about Asia? by : Josine Stremmelaar

Download or read book What about Asia? written by Josine Stremmelaar and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Asia has become more prominent on the international scene in recent decades—economically, politically, and culturally—the scholarly discipline of Asian studies has grown commensurately. But major questions remain about the scope of the discipline and its goals. What about Asia? both surveys the current state of the debate on Asian studies and suggests several fruitful directions for future exploration, especially through the use of multiregional and interdisciplinary approaches.


The End of the Asian Century

The End of the Asian Century

Author: Michael R. Auslin

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2017-01-10

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 030022446X

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An urgently needed risk map of the many dangers that could derail Asia s growth and stability Since Marco Polo, the West has waited for the Asian Century. Today, the world believes that Century has arrived. Yet from China s slumping economy to war clouds over the South China Sea and from environmental devastation to demographic crisis, Asia s future is increasingly uncertain. Historian and geopolitical expert Michael Auslin argues that far from being a cohesive powerhouse, Asia is a fractured region threatened by stagnation and instability. Here, he provides a comprehensive account of the economic, military, political, and demographic risks that bedevil half of our world, arguing that Asia, working with the United States, has a unique opportunity to avert catastrophe but only if it acts boldly. Bringing together firsthand observations and decades of research, Auslin s provocative reassessment of Asia s future will be a must-read for industry and investors, as well as politicians and scholars, for years to come.


Book Synopsis The End of the Asian Century by : Michael R. Auslin

Download or read book The End of the Asian Century written by Michael R. Auslin and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgently needed risk map of the many dangers that could derail Asia s growth and stability Since Marco Polo, the West has waited for the Asian Century. Today, the world believes that Century has arrived. Yet from China s slumping economy to war clouds over the South China Sea and from environmental devastation to demographic crisis, Asia s future is increasingly uncertain. Historian and geopolitical expert Michael Auslin argues that far from being a cohesive powerhouse, Asia is a fractured region threatened by stagnation and instability. Here, he provides a comprehensive account of the economic, military, political, and demographic risks that bedevil half of our world, arguing that Asia, working with the United States, has a unique opportunity to avert catastrophe but only if it acts boldly. Bringing together firsthand observations and decades of research, Auslin s provocative reassessment of Asia s future will be a must-read for industry and investors, as well as politicians and scholars, for years to come.


How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

Author: Mohsin Hamid

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 110160378X

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"Mr. Hamid reaffirms his place as one of his generation's most inventive and gifted writers." –Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "A globalized version of The Great Gatsby . . . [Hamid's] book is nearly that good." –Alan Cheuse, NPR "Marvelous and moving." –TIME Magazine From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West, the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy’s quest for wealth and love His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a radically inventive storyteller with his finger on the world’s pulse. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia meets that reputation—and exceeds it. The astonishing and riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon, it steals its shape from the business self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over “rising Asia.” It follows its nameless hero to the sprawling metropolis where he begins to amass an empire built on that most fluid, and increasingly scarce, of goods: water. Yet his heart remains set on something else, on the pretty girl whose star rises along with his, their paths crossing and recrossing, a lifelong affair sparked and snuffed and sparked again by the forces that careen their fates along. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a striking slice of contemporary life at a time of crushing upheaval. Romantic without being sentimental, political without being didactic, and spiritual without being religious, it brings an unflinching gaze to the violence and hope it depicts. And it creates two unforgettable characters who find moments of transcendent intimacy in the midst of shattering change.


Book Synopsis How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by : Mohsin Hamid

Download or read book How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia written by Mohsin Hamid and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mr. Hamid reaffirms his place as one of his generation's most inventive and gifted writers." –Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "A globalized version of The Great Gatsby . . . [Hamid's] book is nearly that good." –Alan Cheuse, NPR "Marvelous and moving." –TIME Magazine From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West, the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy’s quest for wealth and love His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a radically inventive storyteller with his finger on the world’s pulse. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia meets that reputation—and exceeds it. The astonishing and riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon, it steals its shape from the business self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over “rising Asia.” It follows its nameless hero to the sprawling metropolis where he begins to amass an empire built on that most fluid, and increasingly scarce, of goods: water. Yet his heart remains set on something else, on the pretty girl whose star rises along with his, their paths crossing and recrossing, a lifelong affair sparked and snuffed and sparked again by the forces that careen their fates along. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a striking slice of contemporary life at a time of crushing upheaval. Romantic without being sentimental, political without being didactic, and spiritual without being religious, it brings an unflinching gaze to the violence and hope it depicts. And it creates two unforgettable characters who find moments of transcendent intimacy in the midst of shattering change.


The Crown and the Capitalists

The Crown and the Capitalists

Author: Wasana Wongsurawat

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2019-11-18

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0295746262

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Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.


Book Synopsis The Crown and the Capitalists by : Wasana Wongsurawat

Download or read book The Crown and the Capitalists written by Wasana Wongsurawat and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.


The Nursery

The Nursery

Author: Asia Mackay

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.

Published: 2019-09-05

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1785765663

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LONGLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT (CWIP) PRIZE. KILLING EVE MEETS MICK HERRON IN THIS GRIPPING AND WITTY PAGE-TURNER ABOUT HAVING IT ALL, KEEPING IT ALL AND SURVIVING IT ALL. 'Brilliant' HUGH GRANT 'Takes spy fiction to a new level' CLAIRE ALLAN Lex Tyler is trying to have it all, but being a working mother is so much more difficult when you're a secret agent for an underground branch of the security services. Platform Eight have been tasked with tracking down and eliminating the traitor in MI6 who has been selling information to the highest bidder through a headhunting website for the criminal underworld that connects intelligence operatives with all manner of bad people with a simple right swipe. Deals get made. Secrets get sold. Missions fail. Agents die. It's down to Lex and her team to identify and eliminate the traitor before they assassinate China's Minister of Commerce and ruin relations between the UK and China forever. But when your husband doesn't know exactly what your job entails and the future of the intelligence services rests on your shoulders, can one working mother save the day? This is one mission that Lex cannot afford to fail.


Book Synopsis The Nursery by : Asia Mackay

Download or read book The Nursery written by Asia Mackay and published by Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LONGLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT (CWIP) PRIZE. KILLING EVE MEETS MICK HERRON IN THIS GRIPPING AND WITTY PAGE-TURNER ABOUT HAVING IT ALL, KEEPING IT ALL AND SURVIVING IT ALL. 'Brilliant' HUGH GRANT 'Takes spy fiction to a new level' CLAIRE ALLAN Lex Tyler is trying to have it all, but being a working mother is so much more difficult when you're a secret agent for an underground branch of the security services. Platform Eight have been tasked with tracking down and eliminating the traitor in MI6 who has been selling information to the highest bidder through a headhunting website for the criminal underworld that connects intelligence operatives with all manner of bad people with a simple right swipe. Deals get made. Secrets get sold. Missions fail. Agents die. It's down to Lex and her team to identify and eliminate the traitor before they assassinate China's Minister of Commerce and ruin relations between the UK and China forever. But when your husband doesn't know exactly what your job entails and the future of the intelligence services rests on your shoulders, can one working mother save the day? This is one mission that Lex cannot afford to fail.


Written on Water

Written on Water

Author: Eileen Chang

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2023-05-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1681375761

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Now back in print, these witty, insightful ssays on fashion, cinema, wartime, and everyday life demonstrate why Eileen Chang was and is a major icon of twentieth-century Chinese literature. Eileen Chang is one of the most celebrated and influential modern Chinese novelists and cultural critics of the twentieth century. First published in 1944, and just as beloved as her fiction in the Chinese-speaking world, Written on Water collects Chang’s reflections on art, literature, war, urban culture, and her own life as a writer and woman, set amid the sights and sounds of wartime Shanghai and Hong Kong. In a style at once meditative and vibrant, Chang writes of friends, colleagues, and teachers turned soldiers or wartime volunteers, and her own experiences as a part-time nurse. She also reflects on Chinese cinema, the aims of the writer, and the popularity of the Peking Opera. Chang engages the reader with her sly and sophisticated humor, conversational voice, and intense fascination with the subtleties of everyday life. In her examination of Shanghainese food, culture, and fashions, she not only reveals but also upends prevalent attitudes toward women, presenting a portrait of a daring and cosmopolitan woman bent on questioning pieties and enjoying the pleasures of modernity, even as the world convulses in war and a revolution looms.


Book Synopsis Written on Water by : Eileen Chang

Download or read book Written on Water written by Eileen Chang and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2023-05-02 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now back in print, these witty, insightful ssays on fashion, cinema, wartime, and everyday life demonstrate why Eileen Chang was and is a major icon of twentieth-century Chinese literature. Eileen Chang is one of the most celebrated and influential modern Chinese novelists and cultural critics of the twentieth century. First published in 1944, and just as beloved as her fiction in the Chinese-speaking world, Written on Water collects Chang’s reflections on art, literature, war, urban culture, and her own life as a writer and woman, set amid the sights and sounds of wartime Shanghai and Hong Kong. In a style at once meditative and vibrant, Chang writes of friends, colleagues, and teachers turned soldiers or wartime volunteers, and her own experiences as a part-time nurse. She also reflects on Chinese cinema, the aims of the writer, and the popularity of the Peking Opera. Chang engages the reader with her sly and sophisticated humor, conversational voice, and intense fascination with the subtleties of everyday life. In her examination of Shanghainese food, culture, and fashions, she not only reveals but also upends prevalent attitudes toward women, presenting a portrait of a daring and cosmopolitan woman bent on questioning pieties and enjoying the pleasures of modernity, even as the world convulses in war and a revolution looms.


On Not Speaking Chinese

On Not Speaking Chinese

Author: Ien Ang

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-08

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1134512929

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In this major new book, leading cultural thinker Ien Ang engages with urgent questions of identity in an age of globalisation and diaspora. The starting point for Ang's discussion is the experience of visiting Taiwan. Ang, a person of Chinese descent, born in Indonesia and raised in the Netherlands, found herself "faced with an almost insurmountable difficulty" - surrounded by people who expected her to speak to them in Chinese. She writes: "It was the beginning of an almost decade-long engagement with the predicaments of `Chineseness' in diaspora. In Taiwan I was different because I couldn't speak Chinese; in the West I was different because I looked Chinese". From this autobiographical beginning, Ang goes on to reflect upon tensions between `Asia' and `the West' at a national and global level, and to consider the disparate meanings of `Chineseness' in the contemporary world. She offers a critique of the increasingly aggressive construction of a global Chineseness, and challenges Western tendencies to equate `Chinese' with `Asian' identity. Ang then turns to `the West', exploring the paradox of Australia's identity as a `Western' country in the Asian region, and tracing Australia's uneasy relationship with its Asian neighbours, from the White Australia policy to contemporary multicultural society. Finally, Ang draws together her discussion of `Asia' and `the West' to consider the social and intellectual space of the `in-between', arguing for a theorising not of `difference' but of `togetherness' in contemporary societies.


Book Synopsis On Not Speaking Chinese by : Ien Ang

Download or read book On Not Speaking Chinese written by Ien Ang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-08 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major new book, leading cultural thinker Ien Ang engages with urgent questions of identity in an age of globalisation and diaspora. The starting point for Ang's discussion is the experience of visiting Taiwan. Ang, a person of Chinese descent, born in Indonesia and raised in the Netherlands, found herself "faced with an almost insurmountable difficulty" - surrounded by people who expected her to speak to them in Chinese. She writes: "It was the beginning of an almost decade-long engagement with the predicaments of `Chineseness' in diaspora. In Taiwan I was different because I couldn't speak Chinese; in the West I was different because I looked Chinese". From this autobiographical beginning, Ang goes on to reflect upon tensions between `Asia' and `the West' at a national and global level, and to consider the disparate meanings of `Chineseness' in the contemporary world. She offers a critique of the increasingly aggressive construction of a global Chineseness, and challenges Western tendencies to equate `Chinese' with `Asian' identity. Ang then turns to `the West', exploring the paradox of Australia's identity as a `Western' country in the Asian region, and tracing Australia's uneasy relationship with its Asian neighbours, from the White Australia policy to contemporary multicultural society. Finally, Ang draws together her discussion of `Asia' and `the West' to consider the social and intellectual space of the `in-between', arguing for a theorising not of `difference' but of `togetherness' in contemporary societies.


Land Beyond the River

Land Beyond the River

Author: Monica Whitlock

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 146687239X

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Along the banks of the river once called Oxus lie the heartlands of Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Catapulted into the news by events in Afghanistan, just across the water, these strategically important, intriguing and beautiful countries remain almost completely unknown to the outside world. In this book, Monica Whitlock goes far beyond the headlines. Using eyewitness accounts, unpublished letters and firsthand reporting, she enters into the lives of the Central Asians and reveals a dramatic and moving human story unfolding over three generations. There is Muhammadjan, called 'Hindustani', a diligent seminary student in the holy city of Bukhara until the 1917 revolution tore up the old order. Exiled to Siberia as a shepherd and then conscripted into the Red Army, he survived to become the inspiration for a new generation of clerics. Henrika was one of tens of thousands of Poles who walked and rode through Central Asia on their way to a new life in Iran, where she lives to this day. Then there were the proud Pioneer children who grew up in the certainty that the Soviet Union would last forever, only to find themselves in a new world that they had never imagined. In Central Asia, the extraordinary is commonplace and there is not a family without a remarkable story to tell. Land Beyond the River is both a chronicle of a century and a clear-eyed, authoritative view of contemporary events.


Book Synopsis Land Beyond the River by : Monica Whitlock

Download or read book Land Beyond the River written by Monica Whitlock and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Along the banks of the river once called Oxus lie the heartlands of Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Catapulted into the news by events in Afghanistan, just across the water, these strategically important, intriguing and beautiful countries remain almost completely unknown to the outside world. In this book, Monica Whitlock goes far beyond the headlines. Using eyewitness accounts, unpublished letters and firsthand reporting, she enters into the lives of the Central Asians and reveals a dramatic and moving human story unfolding over three generations. There is Muhammadjan, called 'Hindustani', a diligent seminary student in the holy city of Bukhara until the 1917 revolution tore up the old order. Exiled to Siberia as a shepherd and then conscripted into the Red Army, he survived to become the inspiration for a new generation of clerics. Henrika was one of tens of thousands of Poles who walked and rode through Central Asia on their way to a new life in Iran, where she lives to this day. Then there were the proud Pioneer children who grew up in the certainty that the Soviet Union would last forever, only to find themselves in a new world that they had never imagined. In Central Asia, the extraordinary is commonplace and there is not a family without a remarkable story to tell. Land Beyond the River is both a chronicle of a century and a clear-eyed, authoritative view of contemporary events.