Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam, but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta. Over the centuries, numerous kingdoms, dynasties, and states have ruled over -- and fought for -- what is now Vietnam. The bloody Cold War-era conflict between Ho Chi Minh's communist-backed Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the American-backed Republic of Vietnam was only the most recent instance when war divided and transformed Vietnam.A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. It is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.

    In fact, they were merely experiencing the same feeling that many British people have felt every day for years.Fifty years ago, people in leafy North London and people in working-class Northern towns could vote for a Labour party that broadly encompassed all of their interests. Today their priorities are poles apart.In this groundbreaking and timely book, Goodhart shows us how people have come to be divided into two camps: the 'Anywheres', who have 'achieved' identities, derived from their careers and education, and 'Somewheres', who get their identity from a sense of place and from the people around them, and who feel a sense of loss due to mass immigration and rapid social change.In a world increasingly divided by Brexit and Trump, Goodhart shows how Anywheres must come to understand and respect Somewhere values to stand a fighting chance against the rise of populism.

    At the same time, they provide practical guidance in following the Buddhist path, starting from the most basic motivation and culminating in the direct experience of reality beyond the reach of conceptual mind. The root text is a teaching in verse written in the nineteenth century by Patrul Rinpoche, one of the outstanding teachers of his day. In the accompanying commentary, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–1991)—lineage holder of the Nyingma school and one of the great expounders of the Dharma in Europe and North America—expands upon the text with his characteristic compassion and uncompromising thoroughness. Patrul Rinpoche's fresh and piercing verses combined with Khyentse Rinpoche's down-to-earth comments offer a concise yet complete examination of the Buddhist path.

    40 line drawings. Index.

    Anyone looking to improve his or her vocabulary and anyone who loves words will be enthralled by this unique and impressive thesaurus that provides only the most unusual -- or is it recondite? --words for each entry.

    It shows how Duncan (1034-40) emerged from 'the union of the four peoples' as the first king of a united Scotland and provides detailed, reign-by-reign accounts from then on. Above all Professor Mackie reveals how the Scots long pursued an independent line - in religion, law, culture and foreign policy - that helped them keep at bay the Romans, the French and the English.

    Caputo in this wide-reaching exploration of what the traditional term 'hermeneutics' can mean in a postmodern, twenty-first century world. As a contemporary of Derrida's and longstanding champion of rethinking the disciplines of theology and philosophy, for decades Caputo has been forming alliances across disciplines and drawing in readers with his compelling approach to what he calls "radical hermeneutics." In this new introduction, drawing upon a range of thinkers from Heidegger to the Parisian "1968ers" and beyond, he raises a series of probing questions about the challenges of life in the postmodern and maybe soon to be 'post-human' world.'

    But what is this secret quality they exude, exactly? Executive and CEO coach Kristi Hedges demystifies this elusive trait, revealing that leadership presence is the intersection of outward influencing skills and internal mental conditioning. Using her I-Presence model, the author shows how anyone-regardless of position or personality-can strengthen their impact. Readers will learn how to build trust as the foundation for leadership, eschew perfectionism for authenticity, banish limiting thoughts and behaviors, and galvanize their team through visionary, inspiring communications. Stellar technical knowledge, a strong work ethic, excellent presentation skills-none of these tangible traits puts people on the career fast track as readily as a compelling presence. Filled with profiles of leaders with powerful presence and the latest neuroleadership research translated into actionable habits, this authoritative guide puts a little-understood, but potentially game-changing, tool within everyone's reach.

    For more than two centuries, American and Chinese statesmen, merchants, missionaries, and adventurers, men and women, have profoundly influenced the fate of these nations. While we tend to think of America's ties with China as starting in 1972 with the visit of President Richard Nixon to China, the patterns—rapturous enchantment followed by angry disillusionment—were set in motion hundreds of years earlier.Drawing on personal letters, diaries, memoirs, government documents, and contemporary news reports, John Pomfret reconstructs the surprising, tragic, and marvelous ways Americans and Chinese have engaged with one another through the centuries. A fascinating and thrilling account, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom is also an indispensable book for understanding the most important—and often the most perplexing—relationship between any two countries in the world.--us.macmillan.com

    Join four of today's most acclaimed romantic storytellers - Fern Michaels, Janet Dailey, Sharon Sala, and Deborah Bedford - on breathtaking journeys back to lost lives and unfulfilled desires, for second chances at once-in-a-lifetime passions. Feel the heat, abandon you inhibitions, and follow your heart...Come home.Includes:The Journey by Fern MichaelsHeading Home by Janet DaileyThe Return of Walker Lee by Sharon SalaRockabye Inn by Deborah Bedford

    . . These are some of the patients who descend to the basement consulting room of Doctor Ichiro Irabu, an obese, eccentric neurologist with an injection fetish, an Oedipus complex. and a pea-green Porsche. This collection of five wacky stories has been adapted for TV and the movies in Japan.Hideo Okuda won the prestigious Naoki Prize in 2004."It helps put into perspective the annoyances and disappointments we all face in modern society as well as giving the reader a chance to reflect on ways to make his or her life a bit better." -- The Daily Yomiuri"My favorite was 'Cell,' a story in which high school student becomes addicted to his cell phone...The story offers great insight for every one of us, from Luddite to geek, regarding this pervasive contemporary phenomenon." -- Hillel Wright, Metropolis Japan"Sardonic and funny." -- JapanVisitor.com"So while In the Pool has many laugh-aloud moments, at a deeper level, this comedic collection has some intellectual backbone. These are stories about characters tamping down their neuroses and getting on about life." -- hackwriters.com"It's hilarious...By these off-the-wall portrayals of ordinary people in seemingly harmless but nonetheless extraordinary predicaments, In the Pool delivers a good time indeed." -- Mark Schriber, The Japan Times

    McCloskey s systematic treatment provides a range of insights and practical advice for better writing by scholars in every field.

    Just research. The technical approach. One that delivers the content necessary for a hidden culture to seem plausible, even if it’s not. Readers expect perfection from me. They need to be taken on a journey. That’s my job as a writer. Trouble is, I know nothing about my new subject matter - kink.Blaine Jacobs is his name. He’s my research. A man who seems as logical and focused as me. A man who agrees to help. A man who, regardless of his stature in the community, seems to offer a sense of realism to this strange section of society.And even if he does occasionally interrupt my data with dark brooding eyes and a questionably filthy mouth, what does it matter? It’s just research, isn’t it? It’s not real. None of this is. Nothing will come of it or change my mind.So why am I confused?I’m becoming lost.Falling apart.And Blaine Jacobs, no matter how calm he might have seemed at first, now appears to linger on the edges of sanity, pushing my boundaries with every whispered word.

    The riveting and entertaining thriller follows a husband-and-wife con team on the run from the Mob, a soldier of fortune between jobs, a two-bit operator with grandiose dreams of tribal dynasty, a sultry CIA operative with divided loyalties, and the most dazzling defector ever to hurl a split-fingered fastball––twentieth-century buccaneers who wash up on a tiny island in the Caribbean and turn it into a multinational cash machine—but then the shooting starts.Somebody is trying to invade the island, and that somebody could be anybody: the CIA, NSC or IRS; the most powerful, corrupt bank in the U.S. or the South American cocaine mafia—or it could just be the Los Angeles incarnation of the devil himself, a shadowy figure with a checkered past named Fat Jimmy…Reviews:“Island has more thrills than The Butcher’s Boy and more laughs than Metzger’s Dog, and it makes you feel good to read it. A pure delight, start to finish.” – Lawrence Block.“Thomas Perry’s Island is the tourist trap to end all tourist traps—a fearsomely funny oasis where Gilligan wouldn’t survive the first luau, but where Ivan Boesky or Oliver North might feel right at home. A wild and terrific book.” – Carl Hiaasen

    should not allow its foreign policy to be paralyzed by fear of another Vietnam. Reissue. NYT.