Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was one of the great writers of the twentieth century and the most influential author in the Spanish language of modern times. He had a seminal influence on Latin American literature and a lasting impact on literary fiction in many other languages. However, Borges has been accessible in English only through a number of anthologies drawn mainly from his work of the 1940s and 1950s. The primary aim of this Companion is to provide a more comprehensive account of Borges's oeuvre and the evolution of his writing. It offers critical assessments by leading scholars of the poetry of his youth and the later poetry and fiction, as well as of the 'canonical' volumes of the middle years. Other chapters focus on key themes and interests, and on his influence in literary theory and translation studies.

Alfred Cobban's The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution is one of the acknowledged classics of post-war historiography. This 'revisionist' analysis of the French Revolution caused a furore on first publication in 1964, challenging as it did established orthodoxies during the crucial period of the Cold War. Cobban saw the French Revolution as central to the 'grand narrative of modern history', but provided a salutary corrective to many celebrated social explanations, determinist and otherwise, of its origins and development. A generation later this concise but powerful intervention was reissued in this 1999 edition with an introduction by Gwynne Lewis, providing students with both a context for Cobban's own arguments, and assessing the course of Revolutionary studies in the wake of The Social Interpretation. This book remains a handbook of revisionism for Anglo-Saxon scholars, and is essential reading for all students of French history at undergraduate level and above.

The dialogue begins with a playful discussion of erotic passion, then extends the theme to consider the nature of inspiration, love and knowledge. The centerpiece is the myth of the charioteer - the famous and moving account of the vision, fall and incarnation of the soul. Professor Hackforth here translates the dialogue for the student and general reader. There is a running commentary on the course of the argument and the meaning of the key Greek terms, and a full intoduction to explain the philosophical background and the place of this work among Plato's writings.

In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, a mysterious manuscript began to circulate among the dissatisfied noble elite of the Russian Empire. Entitled The History of the Rus', it became one of the most influential historical texts of the modern era. Attributed to an eighteenth-century Orthodox archbishop, it described the heroic struggles of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexander Pushkin read the book as a manifestation of Russian national spirit but Taras Shevchenko interpreted it as a quest for Ukrainian national liberation and it would inspire thousands of Ukrainians to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Serhii Plokhy tells the fascinating story of the text's discovery and dissemination unravelling the mystery of its authorship and tracing its subsequent impact on Russian and Ukrainian historical and literary imagination. In so doing he brilliantly illuminates the relationship between history, myth, empire and nationhood from Napoleonic times to the fall of the Soviet Union.

Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled 'emperors of the Romans'. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on particular outlying regions, neighbouring powers or aspects of Byzantium. With aids such as a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important new findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists.

Imperial Boundaries is a study of imperial expansion and local transformation on Russia's Don Steppe frontier during the age of Peter the Great. Brian Boeck connects the rivalry of the Russian and Ottoman empires in the northern Black Sea basin to the social history of the Don Cossacks, who were transformed from an open, democratic, multiethnic, male fraternity dedicated to frontier raiding into a closed, ethnic community devoted to defending and advancing the boundaries of the Russian state. He shows how by promoting border patrol, migration control, bureaucratic regulation of cross-border contacts and deportation of dissidents, Peter I destroyed the world of the old steppe and created a new imperial Cossack order in its place. In examining this transformation, Imperial Boundaries addresses key historical issues of imperial expansion, the delegitimization of non-state violence, the construction of borders, and the encroaching boundaries of state authority in the lives of local communities.
Rejects previous models of aggressive Russian imperial expansion to explain why Cossacks were both advocates and opponents of imperial expansion.
A major contribution to the comparative study of frontiers and borderlands.
Will appeal to scholars of early modern Russian history, early modern European state-building and imperial expansion.

Southeast Asia has long been seen as a unity, although other terms have been used to describe it: Further India, Little China, the Nanyang. The region has had a protracted maritime history. Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity are all represented. It has seen a quintet of colonial powers - Britain, France, The Netherlands, Spain, the United States. Most recently, it has become one of the fastest growing parts of the world economy. The very term 'Southeast Asia' is clearly more than a geographical expression. The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia is a multi-authored treatment of the whole of mainland and island Southeast Asia from Burma to Indonesia. Unlike other histories of the region, it is not divided on a country-by-country basis and is not structured purely chronologically, but rather takes a thematic and regional approach to Southeast Asia's history. This volume, the second and final in the series, takes us into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from the late eighteenth century of the Christian era when most of the region was incorporated into European empires to the complexity and dramatic change of the post-World War II period. It covers the economic and social life as well as the religious and popular culture of the region as they develop over two centuries. The political structures of the region are also closely examined, from the insurgencies and rebellions of early this century to the modern Nationalist movements which challenged the control of the colonial powers and led to the formation of independent states. Under the editorship of Nicholas Tarling, Professor of History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, each chapter is well integrated into the whole. Professor Tarling has assembled a highly respected team of international scholars who have presented the latest historical research on the region and succeeded in producing a provocative and exciting account of the region's history.

Scottish missionary Alexander Williamson (1829-90) spent several years preaching in northern China. From 1863 to 1866, he was there as the first overseas agent of the National Bible Society of Scotland. During this time, he travelled as far as Mongolia and Manchuria, a considerable undertaking in those days. He later became secretary of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese, and formed the Chinese Book and Tract Society in 1884. In this illustrated two-volume work, first published in 1870, he records the observations he made during extensive travels that took him via the home of Confucius while propagating the Bible in Chinese script. Volume 1 offers introductory remarks on China's physical geography, people, culture, government and foreign influences. It also provides descriptions of the northern Chinese provinces and accounts of travels starting from Shandong province.

This book is a serious study of relic veneration among South Asian Buddhists. Drawing on textual sources and archaeological evidence from India and Sri Lanka, including material rarely examined in the West, it looks specifically at the practice of relic veneration in the Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist tradition. The author portrays relic veneration as a technology of remembrance and representation which makes present the Buddha of the past for living Buddhists. By analysing the abstract ideas, emotional orientation and ritual behaviour centred on the Buddha's material remains, he contributes to the 'rematerializing' of Buddhism which is currently under way among Western scholars. This book is an excellent introduction to Buddhist relics. It is well written and accessible and will be read by scholars and serious students of Buddhism and religious studies for years to come.

Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS covers the vocabulary needed by students taking the IELTS test. It provides students with practice of test tasks from each paper. It includes useful tips on how to approach IELTS exam tasks and covers especially tricky areas such as the language needed to describe data and processes. It is informed by the Cambridge International Corpus and the Cambridge Learner Corpus to ensure that the vocabulary is presented in genuine contexts and includes real learner errors.
The book covers the vocabulary needed by students aiming for band 6 or above in the IELTS test and provides students with practice of test tasks from each paper.

Charlotte P. Lee considers organizational changes taking place within the contemporary Chinese Communist Party (CCP), examining the party's renewed emphasis on an understudied but core set of organizations: party-managed training academies or 'party schools'. This national network of organizations enables party authorities to exert political control over the knowledge, skills, and careers of officials. Drawing on in-depth field research and novel datasets, Lee finds that the party school system has not been immune to broader market-based reforms but instead has incorporated many of the same strategies as actors in China's hybrid, state-led private sector. In the search for revenue and status, schools have updated training content and become more entrepreneurial as they compete and collaborate with domestic and international actors. This book draws attention to surprising dynamism located within the party, in political organizations thought immune to change, and the transformative effect of the market on China's political system.

This seminal work by the great Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher was first published in 1799 and quickly became a classic apologetic work. This reissue of the Oman translation presents the definitive third edition of the German original and makes this important text available again to students and scholars who wish to gain insight into the development of contemporary Protestant thought.

Why would the removal of authoritarian institutions in some developing countries lead to sustained socio-economic crisis, while others experience explosive growth despite 'persisting' informal, insecure and rent-seeking institutional arrangements? A key to solving this enigma lies in understanding China, a country where the paradoxes of development are highly visible. Peter Ho argues that understanding China's economy necessitates an analytical refocusing from Form to Function, detached from normative assumptions about institutional appearance and developing instead a 'Credibility Thesis'. In this reading, once institutions endogenously emerge and persist through actors' conflicting interactions, they are credible. Ho develops this idea theoretically, methodologically, and empirically by examining institutions around the sector that propelled, yet, simultaneously destabilizes development: real estate - land, housing and natural resources. Ho shows how this sector can further both our understanding of institutions and issues of capital, labor, infrastructure and technology.

Is the process of political communications by the news media and by parties responsible for civic malaise? A Virtuous Circle sets out to challenge the conventional wisdom that it is. Based on a comparative examination of the role of the news media and parties in 29 postindustrial societies, focusing in particular on Western Europe and the United States, this study argues that rather than mistakenly 'blaming the messenger' we need to understand and confront more deep-rooted flaws in systems of representative democracy. This 2000 book outlines appropriate standards for evaluating the performance of the news media and the methods available to study this issue. It also compares changes in the news media including the rise of the Internet and the development of post-modern election campaigns. Norris shows that although negative news can erode public support for specific policy issues, in general there is a consistently positive relationship between attention to the news media and political knowledge, trust and participation. For more information on the book, please visit the author's website at www.pippanorris.com.

Volume 3 of The Cambridge World History of Slavery is a collection of essays exploring the various manifestations of coerced labor in Africa, Asia and the Americas between the opening up of the Atlantic world and the formal creation of the new nation of Haiti. The authors, well-known authorities in their respective fields, place slavery in the foreground of the collection but also examine other types of coerced labor. Essays are organized both nationally and thematically and cover the major empires, coerced migration, slave resistance, gender, demography, law and the economic significance of coerced labor. Non-scholars will also find this volume accessible.

In 1992, there was an explosion of 'stock fever' in Shanghai. 'From the moment I set foot in Shanghai until my last day there, people from all walks of life wanted to talk to me about the market', Ellen Hertz writes. Her study sets the stock market and its players in the context of Shanghai society, and it probes the dominant role played by the state, which has yielded a stock market very different from those of the West. A trained anthropologist, she explains the way in which investors and officials construct a 'moral storyline' to make sense of this great structural innovation, identifying a struggle between three groups of actors - the big investors, the little investors, and the state - to control the market.