Asian Art

On New Year's Eve, 1941, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were bombing the Philippine capital of Manila, where journalists Mel and Annalee Jacoby had married just a month earlier. The couple had worked in China as members of a tight community of foreign correspondents with close ties to Chinese leaders; if captured by invading Japanese troops, they were certain to be executed. Racing to the docks just before midnight, they barely escaped on a freighter.

This two-volume anthology conveniently contains useful academic tools for studying the combative arts. Each chapter will prove special to all interested in the intellectual side to the martial arts. Some chapters provide fine details for categorizing the variety of what we commonly refer to as "martial arts." Other chapters focus on the martial arts as living culture and social implications. The quality of instruction can either encourage negative traits such as violence or allow a practitioner to experience a self-transformation that improves character. The paperback edition is available ...

Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was an established Urdu short story writer and a rising screenwriter in Bombay at the time of India's partition in 1947, and he is perhaps best known for the short stories he wrote following his migration to Lahore in newly formed Pakistan. Ayesha Jalal draws on Manto's stories, sketches, and essays, as well as a trove of his private letters, to present an intimate history of partition and its devastating toll.

Amy has always loved art, but lately her drawings have been less than impressive. There's no passion, no personality, no...magic. Until Amy visits her Lao Lao, her grandmother, and finds an ancient paintbrush that brings anything Amy creates to life! Now her creation Luna has taken over her bedroom and is running through the streets of Flushing, Queens. What awaits: an international adventure filled with an ancient Chinese legend, a greedy adversary and ghastly beasts!

Donn Draeger was the most influential martial artist/scholar of the 20th century. His more than twenty books and long list of accomplishments support this argument. For this reason, we are publishing this anthology of articles that focus on this outstanding person. Although short in length, this book is rich in content covering the inspiring life and contributions of a leading pioneer in the Asian martial traditions. The author of the first chapter, Robert W. Smith, was a close confidant of Draeger during his career. With Draeger, Smith co-authored the classic Asian Fighting Arts (later ...

Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times's most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals.

Jiyoung “Gigi” Shin loves to create, from her zany outfits to self-executed haircuts. She dreams of becoming an artist and doodles every chance she gets—at school instead of taking notes, in choir instead of singing, and at home instead of homework. Art is her way of escaping her boring life in suburban Middle of Nowhere, Texas. Unfortunately, her working class, immigrant parents want her to focus on her studies and pursue something more “practical.” Gigi only really feels like herself in art class and at lunch with her best friends, Carolina and Zeina.

Most Americans think of the Taliban and al Qaeda as a bunch of bearded fanatics fighting an Islamic crusade from caves in Afghanistan. But that doesn't explain their astonishing comeback along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Why is it that eight years after we invaded Afghanistan, the CIA says that these groups are better armed and better funded than ever? Seeds of Terror will reshape the way you think about America's enemies, revealing them less as ideologues and more as criminals.

Most learn about martial arts through movies and print publications, primarily fictional. “Fiction is drama, the blood of drama is conflict, and martial arts are rooted in conflict,” writes James Grady in chapter one. Good fiction uses martial arts well, while poor writing skills can be plain boring! This anthology is a collection of fifteen articles that cover the richness and depth of Asian martial arts in both movies and literature. After looking over the array of topics, I decided to utilize writings by James Grady for the two introductory chapters. Grady is an internationally ...

What martial arts are associated with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar (Burma)? What makes them unique when compared with other Asian martial systems? This anthology is a convienent collection that focuses on the martial arts of these areas, such as the familiar art of Muay Thai, and lesser-known arts of Than Quyen of Vietnam, Burmese bando, and Cambodian leth wei. In chapter one, the David Allan brings readers inside the Lumphini Stadium in Bangkok to witness the fighters’ kickboxing skills and etiquette through text and photographs. He also records how musicians play and the ...

Revised and updated, and with each page alive with facts, history and inspiration, Be More Japan unlocks the secrets behind modern Japanese living - whether you're eating sushi in London or enjoying the cherry blossoms in San Francisco. And if you're dreaming of a future trip to Japan, this book will get you closer to your destination before you've even departed.

Melony Yoshimura’s parents have always been overprotective. They say it’s because a demonic spirit called the Amanjaku once preyed upon kids back in Japan, but Melony suspects it’s just a cautionary tale to keep her in line. So on her twelfth birthday, Melony takes a chance and wishes for the freedom and adventure her parents seem determined to keep her from.

Simple meditation for busy people on-the-go If you are serious about meditation, then here are 20 short and simple meditations conveniently packed into this light, easy-to-carry book so that one can take it everywhere, on-the-go. Reading this right now, perhaps you are now where I was, ready to start looking for different ways to meditate and contemplate. Finding what is right for you by trying different ways. I was there too and now I trust that you too will find your life's purpose through one or more of the simple yet powerful meditation methods I've shared in this book." It’s not ...

“Pioneer” — as a noun is defined as “a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.” As a verb, it means “develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity).” This anthology gives the reader the experience of the explorers who went to foreign lands to discover and learn about a specific field of knowledge and skills:the Asian martial arts.The eight chapters included here share a common root in the pioneers' desire to travel far and wide in search for practical martial arts useful in the street as well as for ...

The themes in this book—drawn from Chinese history, culture, and martial arts experience—are entwined in a fictional narrative to animate events envisaged to have occurred during the mid-eighteenth century. From the outset, a thin veil separates fact from fiction. Our story starts with a discovery. While conducting research at the Vatican Library on the Jesuit missions in China, two scholars find a folder of papers written in Chinese among documents belonging to Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766), a painter at the royal court in Beijing. The papers turn out to be written by a fellow ...

Originally written in the fifth century, The Art of War is a masterpiece of military strategy and Chinese philosophy that has influenced countless leaders, both on the battlefield and in the boardroom. The exhortations and advice from The Art of War have echoed throughout the centuries as pieces of timeless wisdom, no matter the foe you may be facing.

Born in Britain, Saira Shah was inspired by her father's dazzling stories to rediscover the now lost life their forebears knew for 900 years within sight of orchards, snow-topped mountains, and the minarets of Kabul. This is Saira, part sophisticated and sensitive Western liberal, part fearless (even fierce) life-gulping Afghan, falling in love with her ancestral myth, chasing Afghanistan.

Combative forms of movement meet all the criteria required to be called “arts”. Additionally, items associated with martial art theory and practice can be shown in a variety media and appreciated as objets d’art in their own right. This anthology presents the aesthetic side of the martial arts as they are found in numerous examples of material culture and items of fine art. An often neglected but incredibly rich area for seeing martial themes represented in art are museum collections. Five of the fourteen chapters in this book deal with museum collections. In many museums you can find...

This two-volume anthology conveniently contains useful academic tools for studying the combative arts. Each chapter will prove special to all interested in the intellectual side to the martial arts. Some chapters provide fine details for categorizing the variety of what we commonly refer to as "martial arts." Other chapters focus on the martial arts as living culture and social implications. The quality of instruction can either encourage negative traits such as violence or allow a practitioner to experience a self-transformation that improves character. NOTE: print edition is a single volume.

The riveting story of China's rise from economic ruin to global giant in the four decades is illuminated by another, equally fascinating, narrative beneath its surface - the story of the country's emerging artistic avant-garde and the Chinese people's ongoing struggle for freedom of expression. By following the stories of nine contemporary Chinese artists, The Phoenix Years shows how China's rise unleashed creativity, thwarted hopes, and sparked tensions between the individual and the state that continue to this day.