In modern Japan, anti-establishment ideas have related in many ways to Japan’s capitalist development and industrialisation. Activist and intellectual Ishikawa Sanshirō exemplifies this imagination, connecting European and Japanese thought during the first decades of the twentieth century. This book investigates the emergence of a strand of non-violent anarchism, reassessing in particular the role of geographical thought in modern Japan as both a vehicle of political dissent and a basis fo...

Little is known about the African women who came to Europe from the 1870s onwards, nor do we dare to imagine them as wealthy, elegantly dressed individuals with refined tastes and fluent in several languages. The Krio Fernandino represented a multisited, multilocal, transnational, transcontinental and Afropolitan community that lived between Africa and Europe from the late 19th century onwards. This book explains how the Krio Fernandino, and particularly their women, transcended the barriers ...

Indonesia declared its independence on 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese capitulation that marked the end of World War II in Asia. Refusing to recognize Indonesian independence, the Netherlands attempted to gain control over the decolonization process by force, leading to four years of arduous negotiations and bitter warfare.

In 2005, the Dutch government declared that the Netherlands had been ‘on the wrong side of history’ and should not have engaged in this war. However, to th...

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: a fascinating and revelatory cultural history of hypochondria, from Hippocrates to wellness influencers.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, often referred to as ‘the father of the atomic bomb,’ left us with a grim legacy. The nuclear advancements he helped create became a pivotal factor in shaping the 20th century, influencing global power dynamics and transforming modern warfare.

A brilliant yet contentious physicist, Oppenheimer was eventually viewed as a threat to the U.S. government due to his perceived communist sympathies, leading to his forced resignation as the nation’s nuclear advisor. His l...

Whether as an epic battleground or a cradle of civilizations, Europe has left an enduring imprint on the history of the world for over two millennia.

From megalithic civilizations through ancient times, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of nationalism, two world wars and the years that followed, this book looks beyond a series of distinct national histories to offer the history of Europe as an often shared experience across one continent.

This book delves into events such a...

Israel: An Anti-Textbook to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth is The Case for Israel for fans of Drunk History and the Skimm: a personal, accessible, conversational “anti-textbook” moving chronologically from Biblical times to today, from one of Israel's most prominent activists and celebrities—now in trade paperback!

In the twenty-first century, terms such as globalization, global, and world function as key words at the cusp of new frontiers in both historical writing and literary criticism. Practitioners of these disciplines may appear to be long time intimate lovers when seen from pre and early modern time periods, only to divorce with the coming of Anglophone world history in the twenty-first century. In recent years, works such as Martin Puchner’s The Written World, Maya Jasanoff’s The Dawn Watch,...