How the rise of the West was a temporary exception to the predominant world order What accounts for the rise of the state, the creation of the first global system, & the dominance of the West? The conventional answer asserts that superior technology, tactics, & institutions forged by Darwinian military competition gave Europeans a decisive advantage in war over other civilizations from 1500 onward. In contrast, Empires of the Weak argues that Europeans actually had no general military superiority in the early modern era. J. C. Sharman shows instead that European expansion from the late fifteenth to the late eighteenth centuries is better explained by deference to strong Asian & African polities, disease in the Americas, & maritime supremacy earned by default because local l&-oriented polities were largely indifferent to war & trade at sea. Europeans were overawed by the mighty Eastern empires of the day, which pioneered key military innovations & were the greatest early modern conquerors. Against the view that the Europeans won for all time, Sharman contends that the imperialism of the late nineteenth & early twentieth centuries was a relatively transient & anomalous development in world politics that concluded with Western losses in various insurgencies. If the twenty-first century is to be dominated by non-Western powers like China, this represents a return to the norm for the modern era. Bringing a revisionist perspective to the idea that Europe ruled the world due to military dominance, Empires of the Weak demonstrates that the rise of the West was an exception in the prevailing world order. ...

In October 1492, an Italian-born, Spanish-funded navigator discovered a new world, thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. In Empire`s Crossroads, Carrie Gibson, unfolds the story of the Caribbean from Columbus`s first landing on the island he named San Salvador to today`s islands
- largely independent, but often still in thrall to Europe & America`s insatiable desire for tropical luxuries. From the early years of settlement to the age of sugar & slavery, during which vast riches were generated for Europeans through the enforced labour of millions of enslaved Africans, to the great slave rebellions of the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries & the long, slow progress towards independence in the modern era, Gibson offers a vivid, panoramic view of this complex & contradictory region. From Cuba to Haiti, from Jamaica to Trinidad, the story of the Caribbean is not simply the story of slaves & masters
- but of fortune-seekers, tourists, scientists & pirates. It is not only a story of imperial expansion
- European & American
- but also of life as it is lived in the islands, both in the past & today.



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In Empire`s Crossroads, Carrie Gibson offers readers a vivid, authoritative & action-packed history of the Caribbean. For Gibson, everything was created in the West Indies: the Europe of today, its financial foundations built with sugar money: the factories & mills built as a result of the work of slaves thousands of miles away; the idea of true equality as espoused in Saint Domingue in the 1790s; the slow progress to independence; & even globalization & migration, with the ships passing to & fro taking people & goods in all possible directions, hundreds of years before the term `globalization` was coined. From Cuba to Haiti, from Dominica to Martinique, from Jamaica to Trinidad, the story of the Caribbean is not simply the story of slaves & masters
- but of fortune-seekers & pirates, scientists & servants, travellers & tourists. It is not only a story of imperial expansion
- European & American
- but of global connections, & also of life as it is lived in the islands, both in the past & today.


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In seventh-century China a young girl from the humble Wu clan entered the imperial gynaecium, housing ten thousand concubines. Inside the Forbidden City, she witnessed seductions, plots, murders, & brazen acts of treason
- but shrewdly masterminded her way to the ultimate position of power. From there she instigated positive reforms in government & culture. & yet, from the moment of her death to the present day, her name has been sullied, her story distorted, & her memoirs obliterated by men taking vengeance on a women who dared become Emperor. This amazing historical novelisation reveals a fascinating, complex figure who in many ways remains modern to this day.
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This is from the bestselling author of Wild Swans & Mao: The Unknown Story. In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Empress Dowager Cixi
- the most important woman in Chinese history
- brought a medieval empire into the modern age. Under her, the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state & it was she who abolished gruesome punishments like `death by a thousand cuts` & put an end to foot-binding. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative & cruel despot & also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace & the harem of Beijing`s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs
- with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences. Packed with drama, fast-paced & gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China & an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world`s population, & as a unique stateswoman. ” Powerful”. (Simon Sebag Montefiore). ” Truly authoritative”. (New York Times). ” Wonderful”. (Sunday Times). It is shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize.


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In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble & widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth & favourite wife of the Emperor Jahangir who ruled the Mughal Empire. An astute politician as well as a devoted partner, she issued imperial orders; coins of the realm bore her name. When Jahangir was imprisoned by a rebellious nobleman, the Empress led troops into battle & rescued him. The only woman to acquire the stature of empress in her male-dominated world, Nur was also a talented dress designer & innovative architect whose work inspired her stepson`s Taj Mahal. Nur`s confident assertion of talent & power is revelatory; it far exceeded the authority of her female contemporaries, including Elizabeth I. Here, she finally receives her due in a deeply researched & evocative biography. ...

This title features striking, unique aerial photography of the largest truly-deserted expanses of land on Earth. Aerial photographer George Steinmetz, shooting from a motorized paraglider, has created an unparalleled portrait of Rub`al-Khali, or `the Empty Quarter`, one of the largest
- & harshest
- sand deserts in the world. Although only a fraction of the size of its giant neighbour, the Sahara, the Empty Quarter`s punishing terrain has rarely been captured on film & never from such a striking perspective. Old maps, satellite images & a dose of Arabic hospitality enabled Steinmetz to venture where few had ever been before, revealing through his photographs a true wilderness, without a single permanent human habitation or known point of water & preserved by its harsh climate & extreme remoteness, as well as a fascinating tradition of a hardy people living at its edges. For experienced travellers or explorers who have heard of Rub`al-Khali, entering the heart of the Arabian Desert is truly the ultimate experience.

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A 379km long cycle route along the Ems, with additional 100kms along the Dortmund
- Ems canal. Detailed maps show the route &
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Ems Cycle Route, a 380-km long route from the source of the Ems to the North Sea, presented by Verlag Esterbauer in a German language guide with maps at 1:50, 000 showing the route & its variants including an alternative starting point in Dortmund reaching the Ems along the Dortmund – Ems Canal. Extensive information is conveyed by symbols, indicating road surface, campsites & other accommodation, repair workshops, recreational facilities, places of interest, etc. A list of various types of accommodation facilities is included. NB. This section of the Baltic Coast Route is also covered in the Bikeline series by an English language guide “ Iron Curtain Cycle Route Part 2: Usedom to the German/ Czech Border” with mapping at 1:85, 000.IMPORTANT
- PLEASE NOTE BEFORE ORDERING
- ALL THE TEXT IN THIS TITLE IS GERMAN ONLY. MAP LEGEND

Includes:: ENGLISH (please see our sample image) & the information provided on the maps is sufficient to use this title without any knowledge of German.ABOUT THE BIKELINE SERIES: all the titles have been meticulously researched & are highly regarded in their native Germany. Most titles, as indicated in their individual descriptions, also include a separate section listing selected accommodation, from hotels to campsites, youth hostels & rooms in private houses, all with addresses, telephone numbers & price range. Information on towns along each route

Includes:: a list of places of interest, with opening hours, etc. Several of the guides also have street plans. To see the list of other titles in the Bikeline series please click on the series link.





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East Frisia on a waterproof, tear-resistant, GPS compatible cycling map at 1:75, 000 from the ADFC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club
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