City of Heavenly Tranquillity

Jan 6, 2025 12:32 AM

Author:Jasper Becker

The great city of Beijing, capital of China from the ninth century, and given its form for five hundred years by the Ming Dynasty, was for a millennium one of the most extraordinary places on earth. At a time when London, Paris, or Rome had only several hundred thousand residents, Beijing held over a million. This book tells the history of this great city, and through it provides a highly engaging summary history of China.

In the summer of 1997, President Jiang Zemin made a decision to destroy the old city. There was no announcement, no explanation given, nor any attempt made to justify his decision. Even those working as architects only became aware of what was happening when it was already too late. Expertly moving between historical analysis and reportage, Jasper Becker describes the impact of this systematic destruction, a unique telling of the history of Beijing that encapsulates both the grandeur of its creation and the tragedy of its current transformation.

Reviews

This gem of a history book is slim enough to squeeze into the smallest piece of carry-on luggage but contains a wealth of stories about Istanbul's famous Galata bridge...Weaving the long history of the bridge with those who populate it today, the sensitive Mak shines a light on contemporary Turkey and its changing relationship with the rest of Europe

—— Sunday Telegraph

Geert Mak introduces us to the city's denizen and history, stressing the symbolic importance of the bridge to a nation that sees itself as the meeting place between Europe and Asia

—— London Review of Books

Geert Mak's thoughtful travelogue sketches out Istanbul's past, and provides a touching portrait of its present inhabitants... his thoughtful, beautifully written book is suffused with respect for the richness of the individual life

—— Independent

Stories from the heart of a travelogue written with sympathy and acute observation

—— Financial Times

Part history lesson, part cultural essay, The Bridge's slender size does not diminish it's riches

—— Viola Fort , Guardian

Mason brings together a wealth of inspiring stories of workers' struggles of the past with accounts of workers' fights today

—— Socialist Review

It has taken a mere 2,700 years for archaeology to reveal Homer as a truly talented historian, not just a peddler of second hand myths. Contrary to age-old academic prejudice, finds since 1988 have confirmed that the Trojan War happened much as Homer - the Iron Age writer with an inspired grasp of Bronze Age culture - related it. Homer's heroes remain mythical, but so much else is spot-on that Barry Strauss extends the benefit of the doubt by re-telling The Iliad in his own chattily lyrical style as if Achilles & Co were as real as the other proven evidence. Cracking book ...

—— The Daily Telegraph

In this gripping reconstruction [Strauss] deploys an impressive array of archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence...

—— Mail on Sunday

A gripping account

—— Adam Forrest , The Herald

DeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance

—— Richard Aldous , Irish Times

Fascinating, gossipy and occasionally hilarious

—— Jeffrey Taylor , Express

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