Popular Asian Political Books
Find political books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (27)
1.
A Burning by Megha Majumdar EN
IndiaDescription:
For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise-to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies-and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. This is an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe. They seek to rise-to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies. One is Jivan, a Muslim girl from the slums accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train bec... continue
2.
Banker To The Poor : Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus EN
Country: Asia / 
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Description:
The inspirational story of how Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus invented microcredit, founded the Grameen Bank, and transformed the fortunes of millions of poor people around the world. Muhammad Yunus was a professor of economics in Bangladesh, who realized that the most impoverished members of his community were systematically neglected by the banking system -- no one would loan them any money. Yunus conceived of a new form of banking -- microcredit -- that would offer very small loans to the poorest people without collateral, and teach them how to manage and use their loans to create succes... continue
3.
Dawn : Stories by Selahattin Demirtas EN
TurkeyDescription:
A new book from Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint, SJP for Hogarth: Written from behind bars, the unforgettable collection from one of Turkey’s leading politicians and most powerful storytellers. In this essential collection, Selahattin Demirtaş’s arresting stories capture the voices of ordinary people living through extraordinary times. A cleaning lady is caught up in a violent demonstration on her way to work. A five-year-old girl attempts to escape war-torn Syria with her mother by boat. A suicide bombing shatters a neighborhood in Aleppo. And in the powerful story, 'Seher', a young factory wo... continue
4.
Games Without Rules by Tamim Ansary EN
Country: Asia / 
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Today, most Westerners still see the war in Afghanistan as a contest between democracy and Islamist fanaticism. That war is real; but it sits atop an older struggle, between Kabul and the countryside, between order and chaos, between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan: a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam. Now, Tamim Ansary draws on his Afghan background, Muslim roots, and Western and Afghan sources to explain history from the inside out, and to illuminate the long, internal struggle that the outside world has never fully understood.... continue
5.
Golden Age : A Novel by Wang Xiaobo EN
ChinaDescription:
"At the time Wang was writing, novels about the Cultural Revolution tended to be fairly conventional tales of how good people suffered nobly during this decade of madness. The system itself was rarely called into question. Wang’s book was radically different . . . The idea of how to stand up to power underlies Golden Age." —Ian Johnson, The New York Times Book Review Like Gary Shteyngart or Michel Houellebecq, Wang Xiaobo is a Chinese literary icon whose satire forces us to reconsider the ironies of history. “Apparently, there was a rumour that Chen Qingyang and I were having an affair. She wa... continue
6.
Growing Up bin Laden : Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World by Najwa bin Laden, Omar bin Laden, Jean Sasson EN
SyriaDescription:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia In their own words, Osama bin Laden's wife and son tell the astonishing story of the man they knew—or thought they knew—before September 11, 2001. The world knows Osama bin Laden as the most wanted terrorist of our time. But people are not born terrorists, and bin Laden has carefully guarded the details of his private life—until now, when his first wife and fourth-born son break the silence to take us inside his strange and secret world. In spine-tingling detail, Jean Sasson tells their... continue
7.
Homo Deus : by Yuval Noah Harari EN
IsraelDescription:
THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLERSapiensshows us where we came from. Homo Deusshows us where we?re going.Yuval Noah Hararienvisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deusexplores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond - from overcoming death to creating artificial life.It asks the fundamental questions- how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold?'Homo Deuswill shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before? Daniel Kahneman
8.
Country: Asia / Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Description:
The Dattas have lived in Bangladesh all their lives. Despite being members of a small Hindu community, they refuse to leave the country. And then, on 6 December 1992, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya is demolished by a mob of Hindu fundamentalists. The nightmare inevitably arrives at the Dattas' doorstep, and their world begins to fall apart.
9.
Mama Hissa's Mice by Saud Alsanousi EN
KuwaitDescription:
From the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction comes an apocalyptic and caustically funny novel about the power of friendship in a war-torn world that NPR calls "rich and resonant." Growing up together in the Surra section of central Kuwait, Katkout, Fahd, and Sadiq share neither ethnic origin nor religious denomination--only friendship and a rage against the unconscionable sectarian divide turning their lives into war-zone rubble. To lay bare the ugly truths, they form the protest group Fuada's Kids. Their righteous transgressions have made them targets of both Sunni and Shi'a ... continue
10.
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin EN
Description:
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural Maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation. From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of ... continue