John Keay

‘There is no one-volume book in print that carries so much valuable information on London and its history.’ Illustrated London News The London Encyclopaedia is the most comprehensive book on London ever published. In its first new edition in over ten years, completely revised and updated, it comprises some 6,000 entries, organised alphabetically, cross-referenced and supported by two large indexes – one for the 10,000 people mentioned in the text and one general – and is illustrated with over 500 drawings, prints and photographs. Everything that is important in the history and culture of the capital is documented, whether vanished or extant, from its first settlement to the present day. ‘Written in very accessible prose with a range of memorable quotations and affectionate jokes…a monumental achievement written with real love.’ Financial Times ‘If I had my way this book would be in every cab in London.’ London Cabbie News

'John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes' Dan Snow'Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is' Michael PalinHistory has not been kind to Himalaya. Empires have collided here, cultures have clashed. Buddhist India claimed it from the south, Islam put down roots in its western approaches, Mongols and Manchus rode in from the north, and, from the east, China continues to absorb what it prefers not to call Tibet. Hunters have decimated its wildlife and mountaineers have bagged its peaks. Today, machinery gouges minerals out of its rock.Roughly the size of Europe, the region is one of the most seismically active on the planet. Summers bring avalanches, rainfall triggers landslides and winters obliterate trails. Glaciers retreat, rivers change course and whole lakes quietly evaporate.To some, Himalaya is an otherworldly realm, profoundly life-changing, yet forbidding and forbidden. It has mesmerised scholars and mystics, sportsmen and spies, pilgrims and mapmakers who have mingled with the farmers and traders on the ‘Roof of the World’.Himalaya is the story of one of the last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and improbable achievements of its pioneers. Ranging from botany to trade, from the Great Game to today’s geopolitics, John Keay draws on a lifetime of exploration and study to enlighten and delight with this lively biography of a region in crisis.

The most authoritative and highly regarded single-volume history of India - from ancient time to the modern day. Five millennia of the sub-continent's social, economic, political and cultural history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East.

Defining a distinct style of painting produced in India during the British period and influenced by European artistic norms, this catalogue of Company Paintings in the TAPI (Textiles & Art of the People of India) Collection is a unique illustration of the social milieu prevailing in India in the nineteenth century. Tracing the origins and evolution of this genre of painting, the volume shines a fresh beam on subjects commissioned to be painted by officials of the East India Company, such as occupations, customs, dress, bazaars, festivals and daily life of ordinary people, a world removed from the elite and princely environment that was the chosen subject of Indian miniature artists. The catalogue of the TAPI Collection of Company Paintings highlights works from the major regions where such paintings were produced - Murshidabad, Calcutta, Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, Punjab, Kutch, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madras, Kerala and the Andhra Coast. It comprises a rich and accurate record of the diverse modes of dress and manners of the people before the advent of photography. This catalogue documents the first-ever exhibition on the subject to be held in India, being a collaboration between TAPI and CSMVS (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India).

Imagine spending thirteen years fighting and travelling in disguise in the deserts of Inner Asia, then another thirteen years as an officer in the Sikh army. Suppose, too, that while 'long separated from the world' you had acquired a reputation for conduct utterly unacceptable in civilised society. Many would reckon you a scoundrel and liar, despite your protests. Lively reminiscences - such as saving the city of Lahore in 1841 by singlehandedly killing 300 invaders - and numerous scars would not impress them. Gardner's story, like Marco Polo's, changed people's understanding of the world. The urge to contest or authenticate his account contributed to the scientific and political penetration of a vast chunk of Asia. Readers will see the whole region, from the Caspian to Tibet, in a new light and gain a fresh perspective on its last years under native rule. Keay's credentials for writing the biography of Gardner are unrivalled.

An epic narrative history that compares and contrasts the fortunes of all the countries that make up South Asia.

Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the reader up to present-day India, John Keay's India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today.In charting the evolution of the rich tapestry of cultures, religions, and peoples that comprise the modern nations of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, Keay weaves together insights from a variety of scholarly fields to create a rich historical narrative. Wide-ranging and authoritative, India: A History is a compelling epic portrait of one of the world's oldest and most richly diverse civilizations.

The most authoritative and highly regarded single-volume history of India â?? from ancient time to the modern day. Five millennia of the sub-continentâ??s social, economic, political and cultural history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East.

Three thousand years of Chinese history in an accessible and authoritative single volume.

The story of both a dramatic journey retracing the historic voyage of France�s greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river, and a portrait of the river and its peoples today.

Sowing the Wind tells of how and why this happened. The subject is painful and essentially sombre, but John Keay illuminates it with lucid analysis and anecdotes. This is that rarest of works, a history with humour, an epic with attitude, a dirge that delights. Here are unearthed a host of unregarded precedents, from the Gulf's first gusher to the first aerial assault on Baghdad, the first of Syria's innumerable coups, and the first terrorist outrages and suicide bombers. Little known figures--junior officers, contractors, explorers, spies--contest the orthodoxies of Arabist giants like T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, Glubb Pasha and Loy Henders Four Roosevelts juggle with the fate of nations. Authors as alien as E.M. Forster and Arthur Koestler add their testimony. And in Antonius and Weizmann, the Mufti and Begin, Arab is inexorably juxtaposed with Jew. Pertinent, scholarly and irreverent, Sowing the Wind provides an ambitious insight into the making of the world's most fraught arena.

Two hundred years ago, India was seen as a place with little history and less culture.Today it is revered for a notable prehistory, a magnificent classical age and a cultural tradition unique in both character and continuity. How this extraordinary change in perception came about is the subject of this fascinating book.

India was seen as a place with little history and less culture 200 years ago. Today it is revered for a notable prehistory, a magnificent classical age and a cultural tradition. How this extraordinary change in perception came about is the subject of this book by the author of "India: A History".