Today in Podcast - 30 June 2011

In Our Time
In Memoriam
Melvyn and guests discuss one of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's greatest poem's, 'In Memoriam A.H.H.'. Written as a tribute to his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly and tragically at the age of 22, the poem offers an insight into Tennyson's deepest feelings of grief and loss. As well as being a heart-rending elegy, the poem also considers the new geological ideas that were coming to light at the time and the questions this knowledge raised about the history of the Earth as outlined in the Bible. Melvyn is joined by Dinah Birch, Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Liverpool University; Seamus Perry, Fellow and Tutor in English at Balliol College, University of Oxford; and Jane Wright, Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol.
(review, feed)

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Death Throes of the Republic VI
In a massive finish to the "Dan Carlin version" of the fall of the Roman Republic, conspiracies, civil wars, beatniks of antiquity and a guy named Caesar figure prominently. Virtually everyone dies.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Kurukshetra, Day 2
Episode 63 - The second day of battle comes and goes. If the first day went to the Kauravas, the 2nd day certainly belonged to the Pandavas. The day ends with Bhimasena and Arjun dominating the field, and the Kaurava soldiers crapping their pants. The cream of Kalinga manhood has been exterminated on the field, and even their enemies are forced to admire the way the two brothers cleared the field of all comers.
(review, feed)

Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapter 30
In which Leah and Rachel begin an unusual competition and Jacob asks Laban for some pay.
(review, feed)

Reith Lectures 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi: Liberty 28 Jun 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi discusses what freedom means in the first of her 2011 Reith Lectures, entitled Liberty. The Burmese pro-democracy leader reflects on her own experience under house arrest in Burma, exploring the universal human aspiration to be free and the spirit which drives people to dissent. She also comments on the Arab Spring, comparing the event that triggered last December's revolution in Tunisia with the death of a student during a protest in Burma in 1988.
(review, feed)

The Economist
China's presence in Europe
China's economic expansion into Europe is gathering pace
(review, feed)

TED Talks
A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script - Rajesh Rao
Rajesh Rao is fascinated by "the mother of all crossword puzzles": How to decipher the 4000 year old Indus script. At TED 2011 he tells how he is enlisting modern computational techniques to read the Indus language, the key piece to understanding this ancient civilization.
(review, feed)

Just to let you know

These days it is more difficult than ever for me to keep up my blog. With the new job I have (since March) and a couple of changes with regards to my PC availability an internet connection at home, extremely little time is left to actually post to the blog. It is literally down to a couple of minutes per day. As a result, you have seen in the past months, fewer posts and more posts of the kind that can be produced quickly. My apologies for that.

I do not think it is going to change in the foreseeable future, so while I try to maintain as much as I can, I am thinking of how to increase the activity from my side. And while you, my readers are at it, do not hesitate to write in your feedback. Your influence will be great.

Thanks in advance,

Anne

Reith Lectures 2011

Here is a quick heads-up to let you know that this years' Reith Lectures are about to begin and will be podcast again as in previous years. The feed is the same as in previous years. The speakers will be Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former MI5 director-general Baroness Manningham-Buller. There will be five lectures in total and the subject will be "Securing Freedom".

If you are looking back into the lectures of the past, I want to recommend you listen to the 2009 series which were an outstanding performance by Harvard professor Michael Sandel.


Previously about the Reith Lectures 2010:
Reith Lectures 2010 (2),
Reith Lectures 2010.

About the Reith Lectures in 2009:
A new politics of the common good,
The bioethics concern,
Morality in Politics,
Morality and the Market.

Today in Podcast - 23 June 2011

New Books In History
Christopher Krebs, “A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich”
Beginning about half a millennium ago, people began to say all kinds of wrongheaded things about Tacitus’s thin volume: that Tacitus was writing about “Germans” (he wasn’t); that he knew a lot about “Germans” (he didn’t); that he uniformly praised “Germans” (nope); that the traits he ascribes to “Germans” can be found among modern German-speakers (wrong again).
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Kurukshetra, Day 1: Concluded
Episode 62 - Let's admit it, we were all impatient for this war to get started. Like the characters in the story, we concluded many episodes back that there was never going to be a peaceful solution, and it would take nothing less than a massive bloodletting to make sure the bad guys were punished and the good guys got their rightful honors.
(review, feed)

Witness
Fermat's Last Theorem
Solving the problem that had intrigued mathematicians for centuries.
(review, feed)

In Our Time
Malthusianism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the ideas of Thomas Malthus, the Victorian clergyman whose work, 'An Essay on the Principle of Population', forecast that soon the population would outstrip food supply. His philosophy regarding population became known as 'Malthusianism'. But was there any truth in his predictions and what impact did his essay have at the time? Melvyn is joined by Karen O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Birmingham; Mark Philp, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford; and Emma Griffin, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of East Anglia.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 22 June 2011

The China History Podcast
Adventurer Zhang Qian
In this episode we look at the life of one of the bravest and greatest adventurers of ancient times. Zhang Qian was selected by the Han Dynasty Emperor Wu to make a political alliance with a distant central Asian people, the Yuezhi. Zhang Qian's thirteen year journey to the west between 138 BC and 126 BC brought back massive amounts of intelligence and understanding about those distant lands beyond Han China's frontiers. This great adventurer and national hero of China paved the way for the explosion of two way trade that followed in his footsteps and led to the development of the Silk Road.
(review, feed)

Oxford Biographies
Dick Whittington, merchant and mayor of London
Sir Richard Whittington was four times Lord Mayor of London, a Member of Parliament and a sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 16 June 2011

In Our Time
Wyclif and the Lollards
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval philosopher, John Wyclif, and his later followers, the Lollards. Wyclif disputed the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and his ideas were condemned as heretical and his supporters persecuted. Dubbed the ‘morning star of the Reformation’ Wyclif was also the first person to translate the Bible fully into English. Melvyn is joined by Sir Anthony Kenny, philosopher and former Master of Balliol College, Oxford; Anne Hudson, Emeritus Professor of Medieval English at the University of Oxford; and Rob Lutton, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Nottingham.
(review, feed)

London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
Reconsidering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
The lecture will look at various aspects, some of them innovative, of the 1948 War, the first between the Arabs and Israel. Benny Morris is professor of Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is the author of several books on Israeli history, including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Kurukshetra, Day 1: War is Hell
Episode 61 - It is the morning of the first day of battle. Already Krishna has revealed his great song to Arjuna, and now there are some final formalities, as Yuddistira runs to his elders on the enemy side for their blessings. Krishan tags along and tries to tempt Karna over to the Pandava side, just until Bhisma is dead. It must have been tempting, since it would have given him the chance to even kill the old bugger. But Karna is too loyal to go for such an under-handed thing. He turns Krishna down without a second thought.
(review, feed)

Het Marathoninterview
Afshin Elian, rechts(e)filosoof
Uit ervaring en studie is Afshin Ellian overtuigd van de schoonheid van de verlicht-liberale traditie, deze laat de meeste ruimte aan het belangrijkste voor de mens: Vrijheid. Als rechtsgeleerde טn als dichter streeft hij naar dit ideaal en legde dat ook al uit op vrijdag 19 juli 2002 aan Elles de Bruin.
(review, feed)

Hoor! Geschiedenis
Geschiedenis is als muziek
Een essay over het karakter van geschiedenis en de menselijke beleving van tijd
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 15 June 2011

The Korea Society
China's Approach to North Korea
On May 5th, 2011, Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, visited The Korea Society to discuss the history, status, and foreign-policy implications of China’s relationship with North Korea.
(review, feed)

The Economist
Joshua Landis on the Syrian regime
The director of the Center for Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma explains why Syria faces a long struggle
(review, feed)



London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
The Fabric of Our Social World
How do we create our world through shared experiences? What are the psychological and physiological mechanisms that underlie our abilities to relate to and interact with others? Chris Frith is emeritus professor of psychology in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL. Alex Gillespie is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling. Dermot Moran is professor of philosophy at University College Dublin.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 14 June 2011

Science Times
Your brain on drugs, underwater spiders and sex and social media
David Corcoran interviews the head of the National Institute of Drug Abuse on the science of addiction; the Observatory columnist talks about spiders that spin diving bells and Denise Grady and Tara Parker Pope discuss sex in the social media age.
(review, feed)

Inspired Minds
Stephane Lafleur - Filmmaker
The Canadian film director and writer, has contributed to the creation of more than 30 independent short films. His latest feature film Familiar Ground is a deceptively simple but powerful sibling drama, with plenty of laughs.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 13 June 2011

The History of Rome
Wash Away Your Sins
Constantine was baptized on his deathbed after arranging a plan for succession.
(review, feed)

The Tolkien Professor
WC Faerie Course, Session 16
Andrew Lang Session 1, in which we discuss "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella," and "Aladdin."
(review, feed)

EconTalk
Buchholz on Competition, Stress, and the Rat Race
Todd Buchholz, author of Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in the book. Buchholz argues that competition and striving for excellence is part of our evolutionary inheritance. He criticizes attempts to remake human beings into gentle creatures who long to return to an Eden-like serenity. He argues that it is action, creativity, and planning for the future that makes us happy. The discussion includes the implications of our interest in the future for theater and story-telling.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 12 June 2011

Notes On History
You’d Think Being Remembered Would Be a Perk of the Office
Rutherford B. Hayes. James G. Blaine. Chester A. Arthur. One of these three men was never President of the United States (though he wanted to be), but most Americans wouldn’t know which one. Today we’re going to look over the post Civil War presidencies and look at why we just don’t remember these men. Even the one with Mutton Chops
(review, feed)

Tapestry
Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji has been inspiring - and infuriating - people with her thoughts on Islam for the better part of the last decade. And with the release of her second book, Allah, Liberty and Love, she is continuing along her path of what she calls her "dare-devil expedition".
(review, feed)

Veertien Achttien
Paolo Monelli en de besmeurde sneeuwvelden
Oostenrijkers en Italianen bekampen elkaar in de Trentino op grote hoogte. 'Hier te moeten sterven lijkt men op een veroordeelde die in het geniep wordt gewurgd', peinst Alpenjager Paolo Monelli
(review, feed)

A Quiet Mind - Guest Post by Owen

This is a guest post by Owen from Podcast Reviews. Many thanks to Owen for his contribution.

In "A Quiet Mind", host Robert Jackson documents his journey from a corporate employee to a full time truth seeker on a quest for a simplified, spiritually fulfilling life. (feed)

Robert shares his thoughts on a range of topics related to mindfulness, awareness, meditation and positive thinking with practical advice from a largely Eastern viewpoint on how anyone, regardless of occupation or location, can better achieve a quiet mind. Robert has a comforting, compassionate tone and speaks at a leisurely pace which complements the subject matter and gives the listener time to reflect on these deep universal issues.

Personal favourite past episodes are "Bow in gratitude" released September 2010, "A Guided Meditation to open the heart to giving" released May 2009 and "Breeeeeeeathe" released May 2007 which are still available in the archive - though each episode is a delight and a much needed reminder to take time to slow down in an otherwise non stop western society.

Now it its 6th year and approaching 100 episodes, "A Quiet Mind" is consistently in the iTunes top Religion and Spirituality podcast section having gained a loyal following of subscribers.

Today in Podcast - 11 June 2011

New Books in Public Policy
Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, “This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
In their new book, This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), the husband and wife team of Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin recount their experiences working as reporters in Jerusalem during the eventful last decade. Myre, the editor of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and his wife Griffin, Pentagon Correspondent at Fox News, tell gripping stories from individuals involved in the conflict, as well as from their own struggles in raising a young family in the midst of bus bombings and terror attacks. In our interview, we talk about Ariel Sharon’s affinity for Pringles, openly bringing automatic weapons into banks, and kidnappers who let their victims hold their weapons. Read all about it, and more, in Myre and Griffin’s engaging new book.
(review, feed)

Het Marathoninterview
Henk Vonhoff, VVD-politicus
VVD-coryfee Henk Vonhoff is vorige zomer overleden. Hij was een echte ouderwetse VVD-er: liberaal, deftig met een karakteristiek stemgeluid en mooie volzinnen boezemde hij ontzag in totdat het hufterdom de macht greep. Op 12 juli 2002 was hij al gepensioneerd, maar noch immer imposant en nog niet teleurgesteld door Trotse Rita.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 10 June 2011

Elucidations
Christopher Peacocke discusses the perception of music
In this episode, Christopher Peacocke discusses what it is to hear emotion in music.
(review, feed)

London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
The Evolution of the Individual
Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor of philosophy at Harvard University and winner of the 2010 Lakatos Award (for his book Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection) will talk about the evolution of the individual.
(review, feed)

Distillations
Under the Sea
Today Distillations welcomes guest producer Ari Daniel Shapiro, host of the podcast Ocean Gazing, who takes us on a tour of the ocean, revealing how optics can evaluate long-term changes in the oceanic environment and the effects of carbon dioxide on coral reefs.
(review, feed)

Ciencia y Genios
¿Tienen inteligencia las máquinas?. Alan Turing
Alan MathisonTuring (1912 – 1954) es considerado como uno de los fundadores de la ciencia de la computación, fue matemático, filósofo, hábil decodificador, visionario y homosexual. Cuando la informática estaba en pañales, el soñaba con poderosas computadoras capaces de retar al ser humano en aquello que más le enorgullece: su inteligencia.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 9 June 2011

In Our Time
Origins of Infectious Disease
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of infectious disease. History is littered with deadly outbreaks of infection, some of which have come close to wiping out entire populations. Mass movement is a significant development in the spread of disease, as is modern agriculture and our proximity to animals. The last century has seen welcome breakthroughs in controlling and even eradicating some diseases – but could the end of infection be a realistic possibility? Melvyn is joined by Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College London; Sir Roy Anderson, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College, London; and Mark Pallen, Professor of Microbial Genomics at the University of Birmingham.
(review, feed)

London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
Why Nations Fail
Countries grow economically if they can build inclusive economic institutions. They stagnate if they have exclusive institutions. It is political conflicts and how they are resolved which determines the path a society follows. James Robinson is David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 8 June 2011

Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapters 28-29
In which Jacob has an unexpected encounter and gets a taste of his own medicine.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 7 June 2011

New Books In History
Elizabeth Abel, “Signs of the Times: The Visual Politics of Jim Crow”
I think this is really interesting. Among the thousands of iconic and easily recognizable photographs of segregated water fountains in the American South, you will almost never find one that features a black woman, a white woman or a white man drinking. They are nearly all of black men drinking.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
The Gita, part 2: The Godhead
Episode 60 - This concludes Krishna's dialog with Arjun about Dharma, Bhakti, Yoga, and the Gunas. During the course of this, Arjun is granted divine sight, and is able to catch a glimpse of Krishna's true appearance; it nearly blows his mind.
(review, feed)

Het Marathoninterview
W. A. Wagenaar, getuige-deskundige
De man die als psycholoog zo goed kon uitleggen hoe het geheugen werkt, raakte, door een tumor, het afgelopen jaar zelf in de war. De druk in zijn hoofd was zo hoog, dat hij de weg kwijt raakte en in ekstergekras klassieke muziek hoorde. En net toen Demjanjuk dan toch veroordeeld werd, stierf hij eind april. Dankzij de catalogus der Marathoninterviews is hier nogmaals Willem Wagenaar over de (on)betrouwbaarheid van ons geheugen op 5 juli 2002.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 6 June 2011

The State We're In
BE A MAN
Men grappling with what it means to be a man, including the story of the father of a murdered teenager who counselled his son's friends against seeking revenge. The son of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl talks about getting out from his father's shadow. And a man who found making the coffin for his distant father, an odd gesture of love.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 5 June 2011

History According to Bob
French Indochina War 1952-1953
This show is about the next phase in the French Indochina War during 1952-1953.
(review, feed)

Veertien Achttien
Sir Herbert Plumer en de devotie van Zero Hour
Op 7 juni 1917, midden in de nacht, zijn negentien knallen tot in Parijs en Londen te horen. De Mijnenslag bij Mesen is losgebroken. Het wordt een triomf voor Sir Herbert Plumer, een kundig generaal.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 4 June 2011

Philosophy Bites
John Mikhail on Universal Moral Grammar
Do we have an innate predisposition to form certain sorts of moral judgements? John Mikhail thinks we do. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, in an interview with David Edmonds, he explains why.
(review, feed)

Office Hours
Annette Lareau on Unequal Childhoods
This week on Office Hours: Annette Lareau, who was at the University of Minnesota a few weeks back to give a talk at the Sociology Department’s annual Sociological Research Institute. While Lareau was in town, we had a chance to chat with her about her current research on how parents decide where to live and where to send their kids to school, and on the success of her bestselling book, Unequal Childhoods, as well as giving us a preview of the forthcoming second edition.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 3 June 2011

Witness
Early days of HIV/Aids
On the 30th anniversary of the medical identification of HIV, Alan Johnston talks to one woman about her experience of having the virus in its early days.
(review, feed)

NeuroPod
NeuroPod: May 2011
Neuroscience in recession, manipulating attention, and the effects of childhood adversity on DNA.
(review, feed)


Het Marathoninterview
Douwe Draaisma, psycholoog
Douwe Draaisma (1953) is hoogleraar geschiedenis van de psychologie aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen. Hij schreef talrijke boeken over het geheugen. In zijn nieuwste boek, Het Vergeetboek, probeert hij antwoord te geven op de meest lastige vragen over het fenomeen vergeten. Wij zijn nog niet vergeten dat hij op 4 januari 2002 met A.J. Heerma van Voss sprak.
(review, feed)

EHEC and the history of emerging diseases since 1600

Following the news about the outbreak of EHEC infections and looking for relevant podcasts, I found that I had just been listening in the past weeks to a very relevant series of history lectures.

A little over a month ago Yale published a 2010 course Epidemics in western society since 1600 in which Professor Frank Snowden takes us through the past centuries with great inflictions such as Plague, Asiatic Cholera and the Spanish Flu that suddenly emerged and left their mark on history, as well as endemic diseases that had their epidemic and pandemic waves such as Small Pox, Malaria, Polio and others. In addition to the medical background and the medical history around these and other epidemics, Snowden also looks at the effects on society, cultural as well as political in how the diseases were perceived and what were the reactions especially in the field of public health measures and the (scientific) quest for cures. (feed)

Along the way we meet interesting and unknown figures such as the German scientist Max von Pettenkofer (lecture about Contagionism versus Anticontagionism) who, unlike the much more famous Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, did not believe in germs and was proven wrong in his life time. Snowden's lecture shows how Von Pettenkofer, in spite of having the wrong theory about Cholera, as was shown, still made a tremendous contribution to the fight against the disease and you somehow learn to appreciate the anticontagionistic ideas about disease.

As the series closes in on the present and Snowden lectures about SARS, Aviatic Flu and Swine Flu, much of what we witness today with EHEC appears on the scene.

I was thrilled by this series and once started I couldn't stop listening until I had finished. 26 academic hours of very informative and very engaging matter that, as it turns out, in case I had not already realized it before the EHEC outbreak, is extremely relevant in current affairs. Aside new afflictions, such as this mutated strain of E.coli, I was especially struck by the impact of Malaria, which is still rampant today. Eventually the whole series carries but one shining triumph: the eradication of Small Pox. Other than that we still face the old diseases as much as we face the new ones.

Today in Podcast - 2 June 2011

KQED's Forum
A Changing Cuba
Back from a recent trip to Cuba, Michael Krasny hosts a discussion about the changes afoot on the island nation. He is joined by his tour leader from the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and other experts, who will talk about the shift in Cuba's geopolitics and dynamism within its own borders.
(review, feed)

Thinking Allowed
Katrina and Communist Memories
What impact did Hurricane Katrina have on family break up in New Orleans? Laurie speaks to Michael Rendall. Also how have the former communist countries of Eastern Europe deal with the memories of their history? James Mark and Jovan Byford discuss.
(review, feed)

The Bitterest Pill
I Wanna Be a Car Wash Mogul
I don’t like talking about money, but I do like listening about money, and if I listen too much about money, eventually I’m gonna have to talk about it, right? I reveal my no-longer-secret desire to be a wealthy man, we discuss neighborhood safety, the University of Texas in Austin findings about stay-at-home dads (SHOCKING!), and I read two passages from my former (future?) book project: “How to Meet Any Woman You Want” and “A Letter from Another Father about His Einstein Baby.”
(review, feed)

In Our Time
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Stamford Bridge. In the first week of 1066 the English king, Edward the Confessor, died. A young nobleman, Harold Godwinson, claimed that Edward had nominated him his successor, and seized the throne. But he was not the only claimant: in France the powerful Duke of Normandy, William, believed that he was the rightful king, and prepared to invade England. As William amassed his forces on the other side of the Channel, however, an army led by the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded from the North Sea. Harold quickly marched north and confronted the Norsemen, whose leaders included his own brother Tostig. The English won an emphatic victory; but barely three weeks later Harold was dead, killed at Hastings, and the Norman Conquest had begun.
(review, feed)

Today in Podcast - 1 June 2011

Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
Judean and Christian Groups as Associations
Using Josephus and Philo as a starting point, here I discuss how Judeans (Jews), Christians, and others in the ancient world could express the identities of Judean synagogues and Christian congregations in terms of association-life. Although peculiar cultural minorities in some respects, Judean and Christian groups can be studied alongside other associations in the Greco-Roman world. This is part of series 6 (Associations in the Greco-Roman World) of the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean podcast.
(review, feed)

Witness
"Farhud" Massacre of Iraqi Jews
In 1941, the large Jewish community in Baghdad were attacked by some of their Moslem neighbours. The massacre became known as the Farhud and led to the departure of many Jews from Iraq. Witness speaks to two survivors.
(review, feed)

Leonard Lopate Show
Henry Kissinger on China
Dr. Henry Kissinger discusses China, a country he has known intimately for decades, and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. In his book On China, he draws on historical records as well as his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past 40 years to examine how China has approached diplomacy, strategy, and negotiation throughout its history, and reflects on the consequences for the global balance of power in the 21st century.
(review, feed)