east and west

"Spies is the history of the secret war that Russia and the West have been waging for a century. Espionage, sabotage, and subversion were the Kremlin's means to equalize the imbalance of resources between the East and West before, during, and after the Cold War. There was nothing "unprecedented" about Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. It was simply business as usual, new means used for old ends. The Cold War started long before 1945. But the West fought back after World War II, mounting its own shadow war, using disinformation, vast intelligence networks, and new technologies against the Soviet Union. Spies is an inspiring, engrossing story of the best and worst of mankind: bravery and honor, treachery and betrayal. The narrative shifts across continents and decades, from the freezing streets of St. Petersburg in 1917 to the bloody beaches of Normandy; from coups in faraway lands to present-day Moscow where troll farms, synthetic bots, and weaponized cyber-attacks being launched on the woefully unprepared West. It is about the rise and fall of eastern superpowers: Russia's past and present and the global ascendance of China. Mining hitherto secret archives in multiple languages, Calder Walton shows that the Cold War started earlier than commonly assumed, that it continued even after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, and that Britain and America's clandestine struggle with the Soviet government provides key lessons for countering China today. This fresh reading of history, combined with practical takeaways for our current great power struggles, make Spies a unique and essential addition to the history of the Cold War and the unrolling conflict between the United States and China that will dominate the 21st century"--.

Examines differences between the ways Westerners and East Asians think, describing specific cognitive patterns regarding mathematics, language, and other subjects, and discussing the implications of these differences for international politics.

"From ancient laws laid down by King Hammurabi, through the mighty Persian empire, terrifying Huns, and the rise of Europe, to two world wars and politics today, "The Silk Roads" moves through time and history sewing together threads from different peoples, empires, and continents into a broad-spanning history"--Back cover.

Describes the cultural style exhibited by the people who lived along the ancient trading routes, which linked East with West.

"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the growth of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols and the Black Death to the Great Game and the fall of Communism, the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East. The Silk Roads vividly captures the importance of the networks that crisscrossed the spine of Asia and linked the Atlantic with the Pacific, the Mediterranean with India, America with the Persian Gulf. By way of events as disparate as the American Revolution and the horrific world wars of the twentieth century, Peter Frankopan realigns the world, orientating us eastwards, and illuminating how even the rise of the West 500 years ago resulted from its efforts to gain access to and control these Eurasian trading networks. In an increasingly globalized planet, where current events in Asia and the Middle East dominate the world's attention, this magnificent work of history is very much a work of our times" --.

"Explores the history of contact between the Muslim and Western civilizations during the fourteen centuries since Islam was established"--.

Traces the origins of the conflict between the East and West, exploring how tensions between the world's halves have evolved and changed over the last 2,500 years and highlighting crucial events and battles that have shaped the conflict.

"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations"--Provided by publisher.

" ... [argues] that [the] current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state ... The West has led these revolutions, but [is] now ... in the midst of a fourth revolution, and it is Western government that is in danger of being left behind ... Drives home a powerful argument: that countries' success depends overwhelmingly on their ability to reinvent the state. And that much of the West--and particularly the United States--is failing badly in its task. China is making rapid progress with government reform at the same time as America is falling badly behind ... "--Publisher.

Presents a comprehensive study of the siege of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks, and describes how Mehmet II defeated Constantine XI with new weaponry which included gunpowder and a twenty-seven-foot-long cannon called the Basilica.