Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141975040
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness by : Ibn Fadlan

Download or read book Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness written by Ibn Fadlan and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 922 AD, an Arab envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Viking customs, dress, table manners, religion and sexual practices, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation. Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0140455078
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness by : Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān

Download or read book Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness written by Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between the 9th and 14th centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. This translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520243854
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by : Ross E. Dunn

Download or read book The Adventures of Ibn Battuta written by Ross E. Dunn and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ross Dunn's classic retelling of the travels of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim of the 14th century.

Mission to the Volga

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Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479829757
Total Pages : 108 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis Mission to the Volga by : Ahmad Ibn Fadlan

Download or read book Mission to the Volga written by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in Arabic. A pioneering text of peerless historical and literary value. In its pages, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. In this colorful documentary from the tenth century, the enigmatic Ibn Fadlan relates his experiences as part of an embassy sent by Caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, body painting, and a striking account of a ship funeral. Together, these anecdotes illuminate a vibrant world of diversity during the heyday of the Abbasid Empire, narrated with as much curiosity and zeal as they were perceived by its observant beholder.

The Book of Contemplation

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141919175
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis The Book of Contemplation by : Usama ibn Munqidh

Download or read book The Book of Contemplation written by Usama ibn Munqidh and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2008-07-03 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume comprises lightly annotated translation of a key medieval Arabic text that bears directly on the Crusades and Crusader society and the Muslim experience of them.

The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199323852
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction by : James A. Millward

Download or read book The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction written by James A. Millward and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-10 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images, this Very Short Introduction illuminates the historical background against which the silk road flourished, shedding light on the importance of old-world cultural exchange to Eurasian and world history. On the one hand, historian James A. Millward treats the silk road broadly, to stand in for the cross-cultural communication between peoples across the Eurasian continent since at least the Neolithic era. On the other, he highlights specific examples of goods and ideas exchanged between the Mediterranean, Persia, India, and China, along with the significance of these exchanges. While including silks, spices, and travelers' tales of colorful locales, the book explains the dynamics of Central Eurasian history that promoted Silk Road interactions--especially the role of nomad empires--highlighting the importance of the biological, technological, artistic, intellectual, and religious interchanges across the continent. Millward shows that these exchanges had a profound effect on the old world that was akin to, if not on the scale of, modern globalization. He also disputes the idea that the silk road declined after the collapse of the Mongol empire or the opening of direct sea routes from Europe to Asia, showing how silk road phenomena continued through the early modern and modern expansion of the Russian and Chinese states across Central Asia. Millward concludes that the idea of the silk road has remained powerful, not only as a popular name for boutiques and restaurants, but also in modern politics and diplomacy, such as U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's "Silk Road Initiative" for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

From the Meadows of Gold

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 9780141025353
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (253 download)

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Book Synopsis From the Meadows of Gold by : Masʻūdī

Download or read book From the Meadows of Gold written by Masʻūdī and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries - and also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own.

The Book of John Mandeville

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Author :
Publisher : Medieval Institute Publications
ISBN 13 : 1580444377
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis The Book of John Mandeville by : C David Benson

Download or read book The Book of John Mandeville written by C David Benson and published by Medieval Institute Publications. This book was released on 2007-08-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of John Mandeville has tended to be neglected by modern teachers and scholars, yet this intriguing and copious work has much to offer the student of medieval literature, history, and culture. [It] was a contemporary bestseller, providing readers with exotic information about locales from Constantinople to China and about the social and religious practices of peoples such as the Greeks, Muslims, and Brahmins. The Book first appeared in the middle of the fourteenth century and by the next century could be found in an extraordinary range of European languages: not only Latin, French, German, English, and Italian, but also Czech, Danish, and Irish. Its wide readership is also attested by the two hundred fifty to three hundred medieval manuscripts that still survive today. Chaucer borrowed from it, as did the Gawain-poet in the Middle English Cleanness, and its popularity continued long after the Middle Ages.

The Mongols

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Author :
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 019984089X
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mongols by : Morris Rossabi

Download or read book The Mongols written by Morris Rossabi and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mongols carved out the largest land-based empire in world history, stretching from Korea to Russia in the north and from China to Syria in the south in the thirteenth century. Along with their leader Chinggis Khan they conjure up images of plunder and total destruction. Although this book does not ignore the devastation and killings wrought by the Mongols, it also reveals their contributions to governance, arts, culture, and the promotion of trade. The Mongol peace resulted in considerable travel and relations among numerous merchants, scientists, artists, missionaries, and entertainers of different ethnic groups. It is no accident that Europeans, including Marco Polo, first reached China in this period. Eurasian and perhaps global history starts with the Mongol empire.

Voyage Aux Regions Équinoxiales Du Nouveau Continent, Tome Neuvième

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Author :
Publisher : Wentworth Press
ISBN 13 : 9780469229006
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Voyage Aux Regions Équinoxiales Du Nouveau Continent, Tome Neuvième by : Alexander Von Humboldt

Download or read book Voyage Aux Regions Équinoxiales Du Nouveau Continent, Tome Neuvième written by Alexander Von Humboldt and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Ibn Khaldun

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Ibn Khaldun by : Yves Lacoste

Download or read book Ibn Khaldun written by Yves Lacoste and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ibn Khaldun, the most celebrated thinker of the Muslim Middle Ages, is the subject of this intriguing study. Lacoste opens with a general description of the Maghreb in the later Middle Ages, focusing primarily on mercantile trade, especially in gold, and the social and economic structures of tribal life. He unravels Khaldun's fascinating biography--born of an aristocratic family in Tunis in 1332, he had an extraordinary diplomatic and military career in the turbulent wars and politics of Western Islam in the fourteenth century; withdrew to a desert retreat in 1375, and finally emigrated to Egypt. Lacoste then turns his attention to Ibn Khaldun's majestic Universal History, arguably the greatest single synthesis produced by medieval thought anywhere. His account of Ibn Khaldun's thought is a remarkable, sympathetic work of recovery, not only uncovering its basic categories but exploring its contemporary relevance to an understanding of the Arab world. Thinkers as diverse as Ernest Gellner and Arnold Toynbee have paid tribute to the lasting fertility of Ibn Khaldun's work. English-speaking readers now have an opportunity to appreciate some of the richness and diversity of the Arab intellectual heritage.

The Book of Marvels and Travels

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191629103
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis The Book of Marvels and Travels by : John Mandeville

Download or read book The Book of Marvels and Travels written by John Mandeville and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Another island in the Great Ocean has many sinful and malevolent women, who have precious gems in their eyes.' In his Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and on into Asia, and the many wonderful and monstrous peoples and practices in the East. He tells us about the Sultan in Cairo, the Great Khan in China, and the mythical Christian prince Prester John. There are giants and pygmies, cannibals and Amazons, headless humans and people with a single foot so huge it can shield them from the sun . Forceful and opinionated, the narrator is by turns bossy, learned, playful, and moralizing, with an endless curiosity about different cultures. Written in the fourteenth century, the Book is a captivating blend of fact and fantasy, an extraordinary travel narrative that offers some revealing and unexpected attitudes towards other races and religions. It was immensely popular, and numbered among its readers Chaucer, Columbus, and Thomas More. Anthony Bale's new translation emphasizes the book's readability, and his introduction and notes bring us closer to Mandeville's medieval worldview. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Pontius Pilate

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Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0375505202
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (755 download)

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Book Synopsis Pontius Pilate by : Ann Wroe

Download or read book Pontius Pilate written by Ann Wroe and published by Random House. This book was released on 2000-04-07 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pontius Pilate arrived in Judaea in the year 26, sent to collect taxes and oversee the firm establishment of Roman law. His ten-year term was a time of relative peace in this fractious new outpost of the Roman Empire, where violence was not uncommon. He was not loved and not quite feared, and might have vanished into obscurity had he not come to preside, with some reluctance, over the most famous trial in history. In this brilliant biography, a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize and a masterpiece of scholarship and imagination, Ann Wroe brings Pilate and his world to life. Working from classical sources, she reconstructs his origins and upbringing, his career in the military and life in Rome, his confrontation with Christ, and his long journey home. We catch glimpses of him pacing the marble floors in Caesarea, sharpening his stylus, getting dressed shortly before sunrise on the day that would seal his place in history. What were the pressures on Pilate that day? What did he really think of Jesus? Pontius Pilate lets us see Christ's trial for the first time, in all its confusion, from the point of view of his executioner. Pontius Pilate is a historical figure, like Cleopatra and Alexander, who has been endlessly mythologized through the ages. For some he is a saint, for others the embodiment of human weakness, an archetypal politician willing to sacrifice one man for the sake of stability. Each generation has pressed onto Pilate the imprint of its anxieties and its faith. He has haunted—and continues to haunt—our imagination. From the Evangelists and the Copts (for whom he was a saint, martyred himself on the Cross) to more recent philosophers, artists, novelists, and politicians, Pilate has been resurrected in different guises for two thousand years. Ann Wroe brings man and myth to life in a book that expands the possibilities of the biographical form and deepens our understanding of the mysteries of faith. It has often been said that Pontius Pilate was fingered by God to carry out the divine plan of salvation, just as clearly as Christ was. Ann Wroe shows how, in his hesitation before God, in his skepticism, his anxiety to do his job and exonerate himself of guilt, Pilate's story is very much our own.

Three Tigers, One Mountain

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Author :
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1250114071
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Three Tigers, One Mountain by : Michael Booth

Download or read book Three Tigers, One Mountain written by Michael Booth and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Almost Nearly Perfect People, a lively tour through Japan, Korea, and China, exploring the intertwined cultures and often fraught history of these neighboring countries. There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, “Two tigers cannot share the same mountain.” However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his latest entertaining and thought provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, is the enmity between these three “tiger” nations, and what prevents them from making peace. Currently China’s economic power continues to grow, Japan is becoming more militaristic, and Korea struggles to reconcile its westernized south with the dictatorial Communist north. Booth, long fascinated with the region, travels by car, ferry, train, and foot, experiencing the people and culture of these nations up close. No matter where he goes, the burden of history, and the memory of past atrocities, continues to overshadow present relationships. Ultimately, Booth seeks a way forward for these closely intertwined, neighboring nations. An enlightening, entertaining and sometimes sobering journey through China, Japan, and Korea, Three Tigers, One Mountain is an intimate and in-depth look at some of the world’s most powerful and important countries.

Stay, Illusion!

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Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307950484
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

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Book Synopsis Stay, Illusion! by : Simon Critchley

Download or read book Stay, Illusion! written by Simon Critchley and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The figure of Hamlet haunts our culture like the Ghost haunts him. Arguably, no literary work, not even the Bible, is more familiar to us than Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Everyone knows at least six words from the play; often people know many more. Yet the play—Shakespeare’s longest—is more than “passing strange” and becomes deeply unfamiliar when considered closely. Reading Hamlet alongside other writers, philosophers, and psychoanalysts—Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Freud, Lacan, Nietzsche, Melville, and Joyce—Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster consider the political context and stakes of Shakespeare’s play, its relation to religion, the movement of desire, and the incapacity to love.

The Language of Genes

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Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385474288
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (854 download)

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Book Synopsis The Language of Genes by : Steve Jones

Download or read book The Language of Genes written by Steve Jones and published by Anchor. This book was released on 1995-06-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that two of every three people reading this book will die for reasons connected with the genes they carry? That our DNA gradually changes with age, which is why older parents are more likely to give birth to children with genetic defects than younger parents? That each individual is a kind of living fossil, carrying within a genetic record that goes back to the beginnings of humanity? In The Language of Genes, renowned geneticist Steve Jones explores the meanings and explodes the myths of human genetics, offering up an extraordinary picture of what we are, what we were, and what we may become. “An essential book for anyone interested in the development and possible future of our species.”—Kirkus Reviews “This is one of the most insightful books on genetics to date and certainly the most entertaining.”—The Wall Street Journal

Popol Vuh

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0684818450
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (848 download)

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Book Synopsis Popol Vuh by :

Download or read book Popol Vuh written by and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1996 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most extraordinary works of the human imagination and the most important text in the native languages of the Americas, Popul Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life was first made accessible to the public 10 years ago. This new edition retains the quality of the original translation, has been enriched, and includes 20 new illustrations, maps, drawings, and photos.