The Sunday Times bestselling biography of one of the towering figures in British history who became Prime Minister at the age of twenty-four, written by the youngest-ever leader of the Tory Party. The younger William Pitt -- known as the 'schoolboy' -- began his days as Prime Minister in 1783 deeply underestimated and completely beleaguered. Yet he annihilated his opponents in the General Election the following year and dominated the governing of Britain for twenty-two years, nearly nineteen of them as Prime Minister. No British politician since then has exercised such supremacy for so long. Pitt presided over dramatic changes in the country's finances and trade, brought about the union with Ireland, but was ultimately consumed by the years of debilitating war with France. Domestic crises included unrest in Ireland, deep division in the royal family, the madness of the King and a full-scale naval mutiny. He enjoyed huge success, yet died at the nadir of his fortunes, struggling to maintain a government beset by a thin majority at home and military disaster abroad; he worked, worried and drank himself to death. Finally his story is told with the drama, wit and authority it deserves.

南宋军事史研究的力作
——读黄宽重《南宋地方武力：地方军与民间自卫武力的探讨》
《博览群书》2006 年第 11 期
何玉红
黄宽重先生是享誉海内外学界的著名宋史学者，尤擅长于南宋军事、政治、宋丽关系和文献等方面的研究，其早先出版的《南宋史研究集》(台北：新文丰出版， 1985年版)、《南宋军政与文献探讨》(台北：新文丰出版，1990年版)等获得学术界的好评。新近读到黄先生《南宋地方武力：地方军与民间自卫武力的探讨》(以下简称《南宋地方武力》，台北：东大图书公司出版，2002年版)一书，获益良多。该书不仅开辟了宋史研究的新领域，而且以独特的观察视角与研究方法为今后相关问题的研究指出了一条新的思考路径。
《南宋地方武力》一书是作者1986～2001年间发表的9篇论文汇集而成。但内容与主题均围绕南宋地方武力展开，逻辑严密，自成体系。除绪论与结论外，共两篇，分别为第一篇《地方军》共三章：《广东摧锋军》《福建左翼军》《湖南飞虎军》；第二篇《民间自卫武力》共五章：《宋廷对民间自卫武力的利用和控制 ——以镇抚使为例》《两淮山水寨——地方自卫武力的发展》《茶商武力的发展与演变》《经济利益与政治抉择——宋、金、蒙政局变动下的李全、李璮父子》《山城与水寨的防御功能——以南宋、高丽抗御蒙古的经验为例》。作者认为，宋室南渡后，在金蒙入侵与内乱频仍的局面下，为消除外患、巩固政局，宋廷承认地方武力的地位，并积极团结、整和民间武装力量。这些有别于中央正规军的地方武力分为两类，一类是由地方官员筹措财源、枪械、招募当地民众，加以组织训练的地方军，如广东摧锋军、福建左翼军、湖南飞虎军等。另一类是由地方民众自筹财源、枪械，组织而成的地方自卫武力，如镇抚使、两淮山水寨、茶商武力等。作者分别对各类地方武力的兴起背景、财政来源、指挥组织系统、势力兴衰等做了详尽的论述，并充分肯定了地方武力在对外抗击金蒙入侵，对内安定社会秩序方面的作用， “成为维护治安、巩固政权及稳定政局的重要力量之一。”(第345页)事实上，对宋朝军事的研究，早在1983年王曾瑜先生就出版了《宋朝兵制初探》(中华书局，1983年版)一书，分别从统兵体制、北宋禁军与南宋屯驻大军的编制、演变、指挥以及军队的招募、装备、后勤、通信、军费、军政、军法等作了系统论述，是宋代军事史研究的佳作。但《宋朝兵制初探》的内容主要围绕正规军与“兵制”展开，正如其题目所示，属于军事制度层面的探讨。与此相比较，《南宋地方武力》提出了南宋地方武力的概念，作了地方军与地方自卫武力的划分，对各类地方武力的兴衰演变等作了细致述评。通过对具体地方武力的个案剖析，从制度的实际运作中呈现出南宋地方武力的具体活动轨迹与一般特征，为我们展现出宋代军事史中不同于正规军的一面，也为我们展现出宋代军事史中不同于静态“军事制度史”的另一面。应该说关于南宋地方军事力量，学术界已有一定研究，如赵俪生先生《靖康、建炎间各种民间武装势力性质的分析》(《文史哲》1956年第11 期)就是其中的代表作，但从总体地方武力入手的研究尚付阙如。《南宋地方武力》是学术界首次系统论述南宋地方武力的著作，填补了宋代军事史研究的空白。
《南宋地方武力》的成功之处还在于作者将地方武力的发展置于南宋中央与地方关系的宏大视野下进行考察，进而对南宋政权的性质及宋代“强干弱枝”等传统国策作了深入探讨。黄先生在十几年前《海峡两岸宋史研究动向》(《历史研究》1993年第3期)一文中就呼吁开展宋代中央与地方关系的研究。本书正体现了作者在探讨宋代中央与地方关系方面的努力与深厚功力。作者认为，广东摧锋军、福建左翼军、湖南飞虎军等均在地方官推动下成立，军费由地方政府筹措，兵源主要来自当地的百姓，久驻一地，具有浓厚的地方色彩。为防止地方武力形成尾大不掉之势，宋廷做出了相应的制度约束，使之既能发挥地方军的战斗力优势，又服务于中央集权。如名义上地方军隶属于中央；将有影响力的武将调离，而由中央委派高级军官统帅；当地方财政不能支持地方军时，改由中央调拨；通过补充兵源，改变地方军主要由当地民众为兵源的状况；扩大屯驻地点，定期更戍等等。从而强化中央权威，淡化地方色彩，逐步将地方特色浓厚的地方军变为由中央掌控的调驻军。 “这种以二元指挥的方式来领导地方军，正是南宋政府面对内外政局变化后，对北宋以来行之久远的强干弱枝的制度所作的修正，既非完全违背祖宗家法，又能兼顾现实环境，是南宋政权发展一个有利因素。”(第49页)又如面对“内忧外患”的局面，宋廷改变北宋以来长期压制地方武力的政策，在边境设置具有较大自主权力的镇抚使，虽一度产生抗金安内的效果，但镇抚使集行政、军事、财政等大权于一身，意味着地方势力的抬头。这与中央集权的国策相违背。宋廷因之采取种种防范措施，至政局稳定后即予以废除。在对两淮山水寨、茶商武力的论述中，均体现出中央与地方关系这一观察视角，并在结论《南宋的中央与地方关系——以地方武力为中心的考察》一章中作了集中的理论概括。宋廷一方面承认地方武力并赋予其较大权力，同时又进行诸多限制，这是南宋地方武力生存的政治环境，也体现出南宋政权的特质。作者正是从中央与地方关系的视野下把握住了地方武力的时代特征，摆脱就地方武力论地方武力的局限，显示出作者高屋建瓴的史识与匠心独具之处。
十至十三世纪，与北宋、南宋同时存在几大民族政权。北方先后出现契丹族建立的辽朝，女真族建立的金朝，蒙古族建立的元朝，西北地区出现西夏政权与吐蕃政权，还有西南之大理政权。各政治势力间的政治、经济、文化交流是这一时期历史演变的重要内容。因此，宋史的研究，就不能仅仅局限于宋朝历史本身，而是应在宋朝与辽、金、西夏、吐蕃、蒙元、大理等互动关系的大视野中进行考察。还有学者认为这一时期的历史应将东亚的高丽、日本、东南亚、南亚等国包括在内。显然，宋朝与各民族政权的互动关系，不仅仅是宋史研究的重要内容，还在于在宋朝与各民族政权互动关系的视野下，更能体现出关注对象的时代特征，具有重要的方法论效应。在对南宋地方武力的探讨中，作者并未局限于南宋一朝的史实，而是从宋金、宋蒙乃至宋金蒙三方互动关系中展现南宋地方武力的活动轨迹，以及南宋地方武力对宋金蒙各自势力消长的影响，既突现出南宋地方武力的特性，又赋予其时代意义。体现出作者打破宋金蒙朝代与疆域界限的通识才能。“宋金关系的变化与民间自卫武力的消长息息相关。”(第340页)当宋金关系紧张并出现冲突时，宋廷鼓励地方武力的发展；当宋金和议时，又采取种种措施，压制地方武力。从镇抚使的设置到废除，从鼓励两淮山水寨到约束其行为，茶商武力从叛宋到抗金角色的转换等均体现了这一点。福建左翼军的发展将宋蒙对峙中地方军的特性展露无遗：宋蒙交替之际，左翼军与泉州地方精英连为一体，从自身与地区利益出发，弃宋降蒙，对时局变动的影响可谓大矣。
对李全、李璮山东忠义军的探讨中，作者更是将之置于宋金蒙三角关系中进行剖析。当蒙古崛起，宋金势力衰退之时，李全结集山东豪杰叛金投宋，据守一地，后卷人宋朝皇位之争受到排挤，而叛宋降元。由于这一势力专制一方，对元朝中央集权构成威胁而受到打击，转而又叛蒙降宋。李全、李璮父子的活动反映出宋金蒙三角关系中地方武力在“经济利益”驱使下的“政治抉择”(第292页)；另一方面地方武力的政治取向对不同政权产生重要影响。地方武力的兴衰与宋金蒙三方势力消长间的互动关系在此体现得淋漓尽致。我们欣喜的看到，作者在打破朝代界限方面的继续努力。作者2003年发表于《暨南学报》第1期的《贾涉事功述评——以南宋中期淮东的防务为中心》一文，探讨宋金蒙三方势力交错兴替中，贾涉这一人物的时代意义和不同政治力量间的冲突融和。在《唐宋基层武力与基层社会的转变——以弓手为中心的考察》(《历史研究》2004年第1期)一文中，作者打破唐宋界限，从唐宋之间政治、社会形态的转变中观察弓手的角色变化。作者再次强调，在以往以王朝兴替为主的断代史研究中，由于囿于朝代界限，对长时期历史的延续与变化无法作出合理的解释，而使历史现象孤立化、缺乏联系。只有打破朝代界限，在长时段的观察与联系中才能把握历史现象的延续性与发展脉络。至于打破朝代界限与划分时段的具体方式不同，可能会引起对历史认识的根本改变，其具有的广阔学术前景将不可估量。显然，在宋史等断代史研究中，打破朝代与疆域界限，不仅仅有利于史料层面上的相互补充，更在于它是拓展视野与突显选题意义的必需。这应该成为断代史研究的一个发展方向。作者在这方面的努力与示范对今后的研究不无裨益。
该书第8章《山城与水寨的防御功能——以南宋、高丽抗御蒙古的经验为例》中，作者运用比较的方法，将南宋与高丽在与蒙军作战中利用山城防御的方式、效用、策略等作了深入比较，视野开阔，深切情理。但作者在论述中，全部使用宋蒙战争中四川山城防御的事例。而孟珙守蜀与余玠山城防御体系并不属于地方武力的范围。这与《南宋地方武力》的标题似不相符。事实上，作者将孟珙守蜀与余玠山城防御纳入地方武力进行讨论，涉及到一个更大的问题，即宋代四川的特殊化政策。这种特殊化政策在南宋表现得尤为突出。南宋偏安一隅，四川处于边防前沿，战略地位极为重要，成为与荆襄、江淮保卫东南安全的三大战区之一。“保蜀所以保东南”，是时人之共识，也是南宋整体防御战略的重要组成部分。为此，中央在此施行区别于其他地区的特殊政策：在四川设立宣抚使、制置使制度，宣抚使等往往拥有“便宜行事”之权，可自辟官属，权力极大；在四川实行仿照中央的“类省试”制度；在四川设置统揽地方财政大权之四川总领所制度。还有，南宋四川出现了吴玠、吴磷等世袭为将的武将家族势力。诸多事实表明，南宋四川在政治、经济、文化、军事等方面均存在不同于其它地区的特殊之处。甚至可以说，南宋四川处于一种“半独立状态”，存在“地方化倾向”。基于此，就有学者对宋朝中央集权体制下的“强干弱枝”政策提出质疑。(林天蔚《南宋时期强干弱枝政策是否动摇?——四川特殊化之分析》，载林天蔚《宋代史事质疑》，台湾商务印书馆，1987年版)但历史事实是，终南宋最后灭亡，除吴曦叛变之插曲外，四川始终处于中央统治之下，始终发挥着拱卫东南安全的重要作用。孟珙守蜀与余玠山城设防抗击蒙古就是典型事例。因此，南宋四川政治、经济、文化、军事等方面的诸多有别与其他地区之处，只是中央基于战略防御的整体考虑，为有效发挥该地的战略防御作用而采取的较为灵活的措施，可称之为中央集权政策下的“特殊化政策”，但将孟珙与余玠在四川的军事等活动归之于地方武力，似有夸大南宋四川地区军事等“特殊化”与“地方化”之嫌，略显不妥。
总之，该书是学术界首次系统论述南宋地方武力的力作，填补了宋代军事史研究的空白。其独特的观察视角，打破朝代与疆域界限的宏大视野，为我们指出了新的研究路径。其方法论效应同样不可低估。

When Emperor Meiji began his rule, in 1867, Japan was a splintered empire, dominated by the shogun and the daimyos, who ruled over the country's more than 250 decentralized domains and who were, in the main, cut off from the outside world, staunchly antiforeign, and committed to the traditions of the past. Before long, the shogun surrendered to the emperor, a new constitution was adopted, and Japan emerged as a modern, industrialized state. Despite the length of his reign, little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first emperor ever to meet a European. Most historians discuss the period that takes his name while barely mentioning the man, assuming that he had no real involvement in affairs of state. Even Japanese who believe Meiji to have been their nation's greatest ruler may have trouble recalling a single personal accomplishment that might account for such a glorious reputation. Renowned Japan scholar Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history. In this vivid and engrossing biography, we move with the emperor through his early, traditional education; join in the formal processions that acquainted the young emperor with his country and its people; observe his behavior in court, his marriage, and his relationships with various consorts; and follow his maturation into a "Confucian" sovereign dedicated to simplicity, frugality, and hard work. Later, during Japan's wars with China and Russia, we witness Meiji's struggle to reconcile his personal commitment to peace and his nation's increasingly militarized experience of modernization. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.

This book challenges traditional notions of American party politics and political culture. Usually, American politics is looked upon as relatively consensual and nonideological. Professor Gerring argues, instead, that the major parties have articulated views that were coherent, differentiated, and stable. American party history, and by extension American political history at-large, has been irreducibly ideological. The argument rests on evidence provided by election rhetoric - speeches, party platforms, and other campaign tracts disseminated by party leaders during presidential campaigns. With these texts Professor Gerring traces the values, beliefs, and issue-positions which have defined party life from the 1830s to the 1990s. Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996 thus presents an historical synthesis of mainstream party politics from the birth of competitive parties to the present day.

“中国通”村松梢风，继名作《魔都》后，视野更广阔、细节更丰富的传世佳作
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上海“魔都”一名的命名者，1923—1933年间多次来华访问
与田汉、郭沫若及其他创造社作家往来密切，促进中日文坛交流
足迹踏遍北京、山东、 江苏、浙江、广东、香港等多地，描写山水、市井、风俗
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村松梢风是日本大正时代“中国通”,以《魔都》一书著名并因而为上海命名“魔都”的作家。《中国色彩》是他于1923年到1933年间多次来到中国游历后写作的游记合集。村松梢风在华期间，足迹北至东北、热河，南到台湾、广东、香港；在作品中对中国南北不同地区的风俗、社会面貌，进行了广泛的描绘。与芥川龙之介、内藤湖南等作家学者不同，村松梢风来华前对中国文化了解并不多，这使得他的记录较少主观影响，而更多简单白描；此外，也不同于文人学者对政治、文化、学术界的关心，村松对吃喝嫖赌、拉车卖唱的市井生活兴趣更大，因此本书有较多篇幅记录了当时一般市民和底层民众的生活状态、精神面貌，为我们了解当时的中国一般社会实情提供宝贵的材料。
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**边走边看边写作，实拍20世纪20—30年代中国民众生活的纪录片**
村松梢风的《中国色彩》主要关注中国社会一般民众的生活方式、衣着建筑等。这些物质文化生活的细节，中国人习以为常不记录，外国学者关注上层社会和思想文化者也不屑记录；即便有些人在小说或回忆录中提及，也因为文学创作的虚构性和回忆的不确定性，往往发生错误。村松梢风以纪录片的方式，在当时就用鲜活的文字记录下眼中所见的民众生活，这些直观感受生动而直白，具有较高的史料价值。
**大江南北，吃喝拉撒，无所不涉，笔端始终带有温情**
译者徐静波在《译后记》中说：“在文人中，他算是一个游荡儿，吃喝嫖赌都不会缺位，在这方面，与井上红梅有些相近，也因为如此，笔墨所涉，就相当广泛。开始的几年，他对中国相当痴迷，他也写苏州旧城的逼仄，古迹的颓败，写南京城区出奇的黑暗，写南京城门口人声鼎沸的杂乱和壅堵，写广州珠江上船民生活的诸种实相，写黄包车夫谋生的艰难。大正昭和时期出版的日本文人的中国游历记，多达上百种，相比较而言，梢风这一时期对中国的描述不管是怎样的五色杂陈，却始终是带着一种温情。”如此广泛的视野和观察范围，是《中国色彩》不同于一般游记的特色。
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（大众文学作家）有好的一方面的属性，便是人情味浓厚，社会性广泛，这便结合成为他们所标榜的侠义性。村松梢风似乎是具有着这好的属性的人。
——中国作家 郭沫若
日本作家访问中国，与中国新文学学者第一次交流，是村松梢风的中国之行。
——日本学者 小谷一郎
“魔都”一词作为村松梢风的“造语”，在当时的日本读者看来非常新鲜时尚，从那以后“魔都”成为日本语中的“上海”的代名词，并对日本人的先入为主的上海印象的形成，起了重要作用。
——北京师范大学教授，博士生导师，长江学者 王向远

First published in 2000, Dipesh Chakrabarty's influential Provincializing Europe addresses the mythical figure of Europe that is often taken to be the original site of modernity in many histories of capitalist transition in non-Western countries. This imaginary Europe, Dipesh Chakrabarty argues, is built into the social sciences. The very idea of historicizing carries with it some peculiarly European assumptions about disenchanted space, secular time, and sovereignty. Measured against such mythical standards, capitalist transition in the third world has often seemed either incomplete or lacking. Provincializing Europe proposes that every case of transition to capitalism is a case of translation as well--a translation of existing worlds and their thought--categories into the categories and self-understandings of capitalist modernity. Now featuring a new preface in which Chakrabarty responds to his critics, this book globalizes European thought by exploring how it may be renewed both for and from the margins.

In the late sixteenth century, a prominent Albanian named Antonio Bruni composed a revealing document about his home country. Historian Sir Noel Malcolm takes this document as a point of departure to explore the lives of the entire Bruni family, whose members included an archbishop of the Balkans, the captain of the papal flagship at the Battle of Lepanto--at which the Ottomans were turned back in the Eastern Mediterranean--in 1571, and a highly placed interpreter in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire that fell to the Turks in 1453. The taking of Constantinople had profoundly altered the map of the Mediterranean. By the time of Bruni's document, Albania, largely a Venetian province from 1405 onward, had been absorbed into the Ottoman Empire. Even under the Ottomans, however, this was a world marked by the ferment of the Italian Renaissance.
In Agents of Empire, Malcolm uses the collective biography of the Brunis to paint a fascinating and intimate picture of Albania at a moment when it represented the frontier between empires, cultures, and religions. The lives of the polylingual, cosmopolitan Brunis shed new light on the interrelations between the Ottoman and Christian worlds, characterized by both conflict and complex interdependence. The result of years of archival detective work, Agents of Empire brings to life a vibrant moment in European and Ottoman history, challenging our assumptions about their supposed differences. Malcolm's book guides us through the exchanges between East and West, Venetians and the Ottomans, and tells a story of worlds colliding with and transforming one another.

《现代政治的思想与行动》是日本著名政治思想史学者丸山真男的代表著作之一，收录了作者自第二次世界大战结束之后约十年间发表的有关政治学及现代政治问题的主要论文。丸山被称为日本战后最著名的思想家、政治哲学家，他对日本现实政治的分析和看法，基本构成了战后日本政治学的走向，也由此诞生出“丸山学派”。
本书初版1957年由日本未来社出版，1964年出版增补版，删去之前的两篇文章，第三卷增加了两章，并在旧版追记上增加了新的注解，更便于读者的阅读和理解。增补版至今重印160多次，经久不衰。

Historian Eric R Dursteler reconsiders identity in the early modern world to illuminate Veneto-Ottoman cultural interaction and coexistence, challenging the model of hostile relations and suggesting instead a more complex understanding of the intersection of cultures. Although dissonance and strife were certainly part of this relationship, he argues, coexistence and cooperation were more common.
Moving beyond the "clash of civilizations" model that surveys the relationship between Islam and Christianity from a geopolitical perch, Dursteler analyzes the lived reality by focusing on a localized microcosm: the Venetian merchant and diplomatic community in Muslim Constantinople.
While factors such as religion, culture, and political status could be integral elements in constructions of self and community, Dursteler finds early modern identity to be more than the sum total of its constitutent parts and reveals how the fluidity and malleability of identity in this time and place made coexistence among disparate cultures possible.

This book demolishes the widely held view that the phrase 'medieval business' is an oxymoron. The authors review the entire range of business in medieval western Europe, probing its Roman and Christian heritage to discover the economic and political forces that shaped the organization of agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, transportation and marketing. Businessmen's responses to the devastating plagues, famines, and warfare that beset Europe in the late Middle Ages are equally well covered. Medieval businessmen's remarkable success in coping with this hostile new environment was 'a harvest of adversity' that prepared the way for the economic expansion of the sixteenth century. Two main themes run through this book. First, the force and direction of business development in this period stemmed primarily from the demands of the elite. Second, the lasting legacy of medieval businessmen was less their skillful adaptations of imported inventions than their brilliant innovations in business organization.