The Knew York Times

by Fa-Hien

The record of personal observations gathered by the Chinese priest Fa-hien during the travels he made at the beginning of the fifth century in Central Asia, the Punjab, India, Ceylon and thence back by sea to China, were repeatedly published, apparently under different titles, in the course of the fifth and following centuries and when the Buddhist canon was authoritatively fixed by the Sung dynasty, this record was included in the Tripitaka with the sanction of the Sung and subsequently the King dynasties. Both the Corean and Japanese editions of the Buddhist Tripitaka also include Fa-hien's Record among the canonical writings of Northern Buddhism. The text suffered, in the course of time, slight corruptions, but the differences existing between the secular editions, as contained in various Confucian cyclopedias, and the canonical editions of the Buddhist churches of China, Corea and Japan, are very small. Dr. Legge was, so far as we know, the first translator of this work who took pains to collate the principal existing recensions of the Chinese text, and he has now produced, on the basis of the Corean edition, a text which may be considered as critically established.

by Osamu Dazai

Recipient of the 2018 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation A new, definitive translation of the postwar classic known to the west as No Longer Human—a tortured vision inspiring the likes of Junji Ito and Bungo Stray Dogs Osamu Dazai is one of the most famous—and infamous—writers of 20th-century Japan. A Shameful Life (Ningen Shikkaku) is his final published work and has become a bestselling classic for its depiction of the tortured struggle of a young man to survive in a world that he cannot comprehend. Paralleling the life and death of Dazai himself, the delicate weaving of fact and fiction remorselessly documents via journals the life of Yozo, a university student who spends his time in increasing isolation and debauchery. His doomed love affairs, suicide attempts, and constant fear of revealing his true self haunt the pages of the book and reveal a slow descent into madness. This dark tale nevertheless conveys something authentic about the human heart and its inability to find its true bearing. Gibeau's translation cements A Shameful Life's place in the existentialist literary canon from Dostoevsky to Camus. Fans of Bungo Stray Dogs will recognize Osamu Dazai as one of the characters named after the giants of Japanese literature. Those familiar with the numerous adaptations in graphic novels and animation can experience the source material in faithful, modern prose.

by Tony Whitten

Java and Bali are the best known of all the islands in Indonesia, and nowhere else in the country are ecological issues so acute. This book provides invaluable ecological data, so that development activities can be viewed in light of their ecological and social impacts.These eagerly-awaited volumes are the result of four years of research into the status of Indonesian coastal and marine ecosystems. They chart the extraordinary treasure trove of the areas marine biodiversity, and discuss the problems that have resulted from current population pressures and economic development.

by William Edward Brown

The History of the Central Brooks Range uses rare primary sources in order to provide a chronological examination and history of the Koyukuk region--including anthropological descriptions of the Native groups that make the Central Brooks Range and its surroundings their home. The history of early exploration, mining, and the Klondike all overflow into the story of the Koyukuk region and its rich cultural heritage, and William E. Brown provides a fascinating history of the extraordinary ways of survival employed by pioneers in this rugged northern land. Supplemented with detailed descriptions by Robert Marshall, The History of the Central Brooks Range is further enhanced by over 150 beautiful full-color illustrations--from early exploration to the creation of the Gates of the Arctic National Park--making this an essential volume for anyone interested in Alaska Native studies.

by Gilbert M. Joseph

The Mexico Reader is a vivid and comprehensive guide to muchos Méxicos—the many varied histories and cultures of Mexico. Unparalleled in scope, it covers pre-Columbian times to the present, from the extraordinary power and influence of the Roman Catholic Church to Mexico’s uneven postrevolutionary modernization, from chronic economic and political instability to its rich cultural heritage. Bringing together over eighty selections that include poetry, folklore, photo essays, songs, political cartoons, memoirs, journalism, and scholarly writing, this volume highlights the voices of everyday Mexicans—indigenous peoples, artists, soldiers, priests, peasants, and workers. It also includes pieces by politicians and foreign diplomats; by literary giants Octavio Paz, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Carlos Fuentes; and by and about revolutionary leaders Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. This revised and updated edition features new selections that address twenty-first-century developments, including the rise of narcopolitics, the economic and personal costs of the United States’ mass deportation programs, the political activism of indigenous healers and manufacturing workers, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mexico Reader is an essential resource for travelers, students, and experts alike.

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Collection of the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) on the Pacific region. Pieces cover travel writing, autobiography, history, poetry, fables, letters, speeches, prayers, and fiction incorporating romance, violence and magic. Includes illustrations. Editor is a literary commentator and scholar who has written on Pacific literature since 1981. Previous titles include 'Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature' and 'Running in Literature'.

by Christian Habicht

A Greek who lived in Asia Minor during the second century A.D., Pausanias traveled through Greece and wrote an invaluable description of its classical sites that is a treasure trove of information on archaeology, religion, history, and art. Although ignored during his own time, Pausanias is increasingly important in ours--to historians, tourists, and archaeologists. Christian Habicht offers a wide-ranging study of Pausanias' work and personality. He investigates his background, chronology, and methods, and also discusses Pausanias' value as a guide for modern scholars and travellers, his attitude toward the Roman world he lived in, and his reception among critics in modern times. A new preface summarizes the most recent scholarship.

by Christopher Merrill

Merrill, a poet and journalist, spent much of the past decade traveling through the Balkans; here, in a powerful and enigmatic account, he chronicles those travels. Taking the title for his book from a piece by Slovenia's best-known living poet, Tomaz salamun, he tells a story of the war-torn region through the lives of its literary and cultural communities.

by John Steinbeck

Steinbeck and Capa’s account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing. Featuring newly reset, high-resolution black and white photography by Robert Capa A Penguin Classic Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune. This rare opportunity took the famous travelers not only to Moscow and Stalingrad – now Volgograd – but through the countryside of the Ukraine and the Caucasus. Hailed by the New York Times as “superb” when it first appeared in 1948, A Russian Journal is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document. What they saw and movingly recorded in words and on film was what Steinbeck called “the great other side there … the private life of the Russian people.” Unlike other Western reporting about Russia at the time, A Russian Journal is free of ideological obsessions. Rather, Steinbeck and Capa recorded the grim realities of factory workers, government clerks, and peasants, as they emerged from the rubble of World War II—represented here in Capa’s stirring photographs alongside Steinbeck’s masterful prose. Through it all, we are given intimate glimpses of two artists at the height of their powers, answering their need to document human struggle. This edition features an introduction by Steinbeck scholar Sus

by Madelon Powers

This study recreates the daily life of the bar room from 1870 to 1920, exploring what it was like to be a regular in the old-time saloon of pre-prohibition industrial America.

by James A. Connor

Set against the backdrop of the witchcraft trial of his mother, this fascinating biography of Johannes Kepler, "the Protestant Galileo" and 16th-century mathematician and astronomer, reveals the surprisingly spiritual nature of the quest of early modern science.

by Philip Nobel

A behind-the-scenes look at the redevelopment plans for the World Trade Center site examines the deceptions and betrayals as factions and institutions converge to create a new culture at Ground Zero.

by Orhan Pamuk

The Museum of Innocence - set in Istanbul between 1975 and today - tells the story of Kemal, the son of one of Istanbul's richest families, and of his obsessive love for a poor and distant relation, the beautiful Fusun, who is a shop-girl in a small boutique. In his romantic pursuit of Füsun over the next eight years, Kemal compulsively amasses a collection of objects that chronicles his lovelorn progress-a museum that is both a map of a society and of his heart. The novel depicts a panoramic view of life in Istanbul as it chronicles this long, obsessive love affair; and Pamuk beautifully captures the identity crisis experienced by Istanbul's upper classes that find themselves caught between traditional and westernised ways of being. Orhan Pamuk's first novel since winning the Nobel Prize is a stirring love story and exploration of the nature of romance. Pamuk built The Museum of Innocence in the house in which his hero's fictional family lived, to display Kemal's strange collection of objects associated with Fusun and their relationship. The house opened to the public in 2012 in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul. 'Pamuk has created a work concerning romantic love worthy to stand in the company of Lolita, Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.' --Financial Times

by Eamonn Gearon

The Sahara is the quintessence of isolation, epitomizing both remoteness and severity of environment unlike any other place on the face of the earth. Replete with myths and fictions, it is a wild land, dotted with oases and camel trains trudging through sand dunes that roll like the waves on a sea, as far as the distant horizon. But this is just part of the picture. The largest desert in the world, the Sahara ranges from the river Nile running through Egypt and Sudan in the east, to the Atlantic coast from Morocco to Mauritania in the west; stretching from the Atlas Mountains and the shores of the Mediterranean in the north, to the fluid Sahelian fringe that delineates the desert in the south. Invaders and traders have come and gone for millennia, but the Sahara is also the place that some people call home. While larger than the United States, this vast area contains only three million people. Africans and Arabs, Berber and Bedu, Tuareg and Tebu. Eamonn Gearon explores the history, culture and terrain of a place whose name is familiar to all, but known to few.