Popular Asian Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (105)
61.
Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe EN
IsraelDescription:
In this groundbreaking book, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. This has been updated with a new afterword on the 2023 invasion of Gaza. 1. Palestine was an Empty Land 2. The Jews were a people with out a land 3. Zionism is Judaism 4. Zionism is not Colonialism 5. The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homelands in 1948 6. The June 1967 War was a war of 'No Choice' 7. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East 8. The Myths about the Oslo Agreement 9. The Lies we ... continue
62.
The Aquariums of Pyongyang : Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag by Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot EN
Country: Asia / 
North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history.
63.
ChinaDescription:
Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
64.
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem : A Novel by Sarit Yishai-Levi EN
Description:
Gabriela's mother Luna is the most beautiful woman in all of Jerusalem, though the two women have always struggled to connect. When tragedy strikes, Gabriela senses there's more to her mother than painted nails and lips. Desperate to understand their relationship, Gabriela pieces together the stories of her family's previous generations. But as she uncovers shocking secrets, forbidden romances, and the family curse that links the women together, Gabriela must face a past and present far more complex than she ever imagined.
65.
The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai EN
JapanDescription:
Among the wounded on the day they dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was a young doctor who, though sick himself cared for the sick and dying. Written when he too lay dying of leukemia, The Bells of Nagasaki is the extraordinary account of his experience. It is deeply moving and human story. Among the wounded on the day they dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was a young doctor who, though sick himself cared for the sick and dying. Written when he too lay dying of leukemia, The Bells of Nagasaki is the extraordinary account of his experience. It is deeply moving and human story.
66.
The Biggest Prison on Earth : A History of the Occupied Territories by Ilan Pappé EN
Description:
An in-depth examination of the Israeli occupation of Palestine analyzes the history of one of the world's longest conflicts, drawing on recently declassified materials to assess the legal and security infrastructures that were created to control the population, Palestinian resistance, daily life under occupation, peace efforts, and the potential for reconciliation and peace.
67.
The Complete Persepolis : Volumes 1 and 2 by Marjane Satrapi EN
IranDescription:
A MEMOIR OF GROWING UP AS A GIL IN REVOLUTIONARY IRAN, PERSEPOLISE PRIVIDES A UNIQUEGLIMPLSE INTO A NEARLY UNKNOWN AND UNREACHABLE WAY OF LIFE.
68.
The Corpse Walker and Other True Stories of Life in China by Yiwu Liao EN
Description:
The Corpse Walker is a collection of twenty-seven extraordinary interviews that opens a window, unlike any other, onto the lives of ordinary, often outcast, Chinese men and women. Liao Yiwu reconstructs conversations he had between 1990 and 2008 with a range of remarkable people- a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a leper, an abbot, a retired government official, a former landowner, a mortician, a feng shui master, a former Red Guard, a political prisoner, a village teacher, a blind street musician, a Falun Gong practitioner and a corpse walker. The result is an idiosyncratic, powerfu... continue
69.
The Crossing : A Story of East Timor by Luís Cardoso EN
Country: Asia / 
Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste
Description:
East Timor hit the world's newspaper headlines in August 1999 after its bloody, brave vote for independence from Indonesia - one of the great expressions of a people's democratic spirit, and its oppression. Before that - as a Portuguese colony and for 24 years of murderous Indonesian rule - it had been ignored.
70.
The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov, Andrew Bromfield EN
Country: Asia / 
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Description:
Yerzhan grows up in a remote part of Kazakhstan where the Soviets test atomic weapons. As a young boy he falls in love with the neighbour's daughter and one evening, to impress her, he dives into a forbidden lake. The radio-active water changes Yerzhan. He will never grow into a man. While the girl he loves becomes a beautiful woman.