(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best asian history books

OP, I would suggest spending the next one year of your life dedicating yourself to learning about India. I do not mean superficial learning about empty customs and rituals - I mean actually learning about the history of India over the last 5000 years.

I hate, hate, hate to use quotes from Westerners who have studied India (because it goes to show that we take pride when Westerners say something good about India) - but because you have such a huge inferiority complex about your race and wish you were White, I shall resort to using these examples.

>1. If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power, and beauty that nature can bestow – in some parts a very paradise on earth – I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most full developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant – I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life – again I should point to India. - Max Muller

>2. J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon witnessing the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he later said he had thought of the quotation "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds", verse 32 from chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.

>3. In the introduction to The World as Will and Representation, written in 1818, Arthur Schopenhauer stated that "the access to [the Vedas], opened to us through the Upanishads, is in my eyes the greatest advantage which this still young century enjoys over previous ones, because I believe that the influence of the Sanscrit literature will penetrate not less deeply than did the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century".

>4. In 1789 Jones published a translation of Kālidāsa's The Recognition of Sakuntala. The translation captured the admiration of many, notably Goethe, who expressed his admiration for the Sanskrit play Shakuntala. Goethe went on to borrow a device from the play for his Faust, Part One.


Spend the next one year reading about how rich your culture is. I don't mean Bollywood culture - you don't need to learn anything about that - read about History, Philosophy, the various art forms. I know India is a messed up place in many, many ways but things will improve. Every country/region goes through ups and downs. You think the US is going to be a great country 300 years from now? There was a time when the Greeks were a mighty nation and now they are reduced to nothing. There was a time when the Arabs contributed a lot to mathematics and art - now they don't have that kind if culture.

You are never going to have true self-confidence if you don't feel proud about your origins. You are lucky that you are from India - because there are many things you can find about India's glorious past to feel pride in.

I recommend this book to get started - 'The Wonder That Was India'

http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-That-India-A-L-Basham/dp/033043909X

You will see how in the Indus Valley there was actual town planning - this was when most of Europe was a complete mess. I agree that we shouldn't just find comfort in the past and the present is most important. The present day India is a complete, complete, complete mess. But how can we expect to get out of the mess if the youth do not even have self-confidence about their heritage? In the case of Indians, we need to teach our children about our glorious past so that they feel pride and then are able to dream big and change the country.

I don't know what your story is and whether or not your parents ever discussed Indian History with you beyond the British rule. Anyway, you are an adult now and live in a country where you have access to excellent public libraries. Go and immerse yourself in some serious study. You will come out a different person.


EDIT 1 - Regarding women : Just have self-confidence and try to be a good human being. Don't give a damn about what another person thinks of you, and this quality will attract women.

Here's a list of the key books in the field that I'm familiar with (by name and general contents, I've only actually read a few of them). I'm mainly focusing on what is relevant to the study of Twelver Shi'ism; there aren't many English language books on Zaidism, as far as I'm aware, and for Isma'ilism you can start with the works of Farhad Daftary.

I'll start with important works providing an overview of the area, and then give a rough breakdown by "era" (I may be a bit off regarding the era, and many of these books straddle two or more eras, so be warned). This list does not emphasize geographic studies of Shi'ism in various areas and countries, and rather traces the "core narrative" of the development of Shi'i intellectual history, which is typically thought of as happening in what is now modern day Iran, Iraq, and (especially in the post-Mongol/pre-Safavid era) Lebanon, and to a lesser extent in Bahrain. Once you've read the initial works, you should have a good idea about what's going on in each era, and you can pick and choose what to read based on your interests.

If you have no background in general Islamic history, you should first pick up a book on that subject. Tamim Ansary's Destiny Disrupted is an accessible non-academic book on general Islamic history (with an entertaining audiobook read by the author). If you want something heavier and more academic, Marshall G.S. Hodgson's The Venture of Islam is the classic three-volume reference in the field of Islamic studies, although it's a bit dated, especially in the third volume (covering the so-called "Gunpowder Empires"). Note that the standard introductory text on Shi'ism has long been Moojan Momen's book An Introduction to Shi'i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism, but this book is now a bit dated. Heinz Halm also has some surveys, but I'm less familiar with these; likewise for the surveys of Farhad Daftary (who is better known for his work on Isma'ilism than general Shi'ism).

Surveys, Background, and Introduction

• Najam Haider's Shi'i Islam: An Introduction. This is a unique take on introducing Shi'ism that starts with what makes Shi'ism theologically distinct; the book also devotes roughly equal attention to the Zaidi, Isma'ili, and Twelver branches of the faith.
  
• Hossein Modaressi's An Introduction to Shi'i Law: A Bibliographical Study. Chapter 4 provides a very concise, yet fairly thorough overview of the history of the development of Shi'i legal theory; Chapters 1-3 can be read as "optional" background, while the rest is a bibliographical overview that is unlikely to be of interest to a non-specialist.
  
• Andrew J. Newman's Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632 to 1722. A solid history of Twelver Shi'ism from its beginnings to the end of the Safavid period.
  
• Roy Mottahedeh's The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran. While ostensibility an intellectual history of Iran spanning centuries, this is a great introductory look at various aspects of Shi'ism, particularly as it concerns learning in the seminaries.
  
  The Succession and the so-called "Rashidun" Era
  
  
• Wilfred Madelung's The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Calpihate
  
• S.M.H. Jafri's The Origins and Early Development of Shi'i Islam
  
  The Imams and Early Shi'is in the Ummayid and `Abbasid Eras
  
  
• Arzina Lalani's Early Shi'i Thought: The Contribution of Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir
  
• Najam Haider's The Origins of the Shi'a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kufa
  
• Maria Massi Dakake's The Charismatic Community: Shi'ite Identity in Early Islam
  
• Hossein Modarressi's Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi'ite Islam: Abu Ja'far Ibn Qiba Al-Razi and His Contribution to Imamite Shi'ite Thought. Considered the standard book on the "rationalist/moderate/shortcoming" view of Imamate.
  
• Mohammad Ali Amir Moezzi's The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam. Considered the standard book on the esoteric / "High Imamology" view of Imamate.
  
• Jasim M. Hussain's The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (A Historical Background)
  
• Andrew J. Newman's The Formative Period of Twelver Shi'ism: Hadith as Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad
  
• Meir M. Bar-Asher's Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imami Shiism
  
  The Buyid, Seljuq, and Mongol Eras
  
  
• Martin J. McDermott's The Theology of al-Shaikh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022)
  
• Devin J. Stewart's Islamic Legal Orthodoxy. Some people have reservations about this book, so you might want to look at some reviews. It covers the Shi'i school of Shaykh Tusi engaging in juristic legal borrowing from the Shafi'i Sunni school, if I'm not mistaken.
  
• Etan Kohlberg's A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work: Ibn Tawus and His Library. This is perhaps a little different from most other books on this list in scope, style, and focus.
  
  The Safavid Era and the Scholars of Jabal Amil
  
  
• Rula Abisaab's Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire
  
• Robert Gleave's Scripturalist Islam: The History and Doctrines of the Akhbari Shi'i School
  
  The Iranian Interregnum Era
  
  
• Zachary M. Heern's The Emergence of Modern Shi'ism: Islamic Reform in Iraq and Iran
  
• Robert Gleave's Inevitable Doubt: Two Theories of Shi'i Jurisprudence. This is definitely worth a look if you're interested in details concerning Shi'i legal theory proper.
  
  The Qajar Era
  
  
• Hamid Algar's Religion and State in Iran 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. This book is about fifty years old now, but I think it's still the standard reference for this topic.
  
• Meir Litvak's Shi'i Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq: The 'Ulama' of Najaf and Karbala'
  
  The Contemporary Era / Miscellaneous
  
  
• Liyakat Nathani Takim's Shi'ism in America. I said I'd stay away from the more geographically focused books, but I think this one in particular might appeal to a lot of people; mainly those living in the West in general, and North America in particular.
  
  
• Linda S. Walbridge's The Thread of Mu'awiya: The Making of a Marja' Taqlid. A book with a strange title about the foremost Shi'i scholars in the contemporary age; while published posthumously in the 2010s, the book is based on research conducted in the 1990s. I think it contains a lot of valuable information and an interesting perspective, but I also find some of it to be informed by lazy misconceptions or generalizations, although I'm quite sure the author would have substantially reworked this project had she lived longer.
  
• Ata Anzali's Mysticism in Iran: The Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept. This should provide information on irfan.
  
• Kamran Scot Aghaie's The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran. This covers the evolution of the Karbala narrative in Modern Iran (in the Qajar, Pahlavi, and post-Revolutionary eras, respectively).
  
• Matthew Pierce's Twelve Infallible Men: The Imams and the Making of Shi'ism. This book examines how the genre of the biographies of the Imams was formed (this may be a better fit in one of the above categories, but I'm less familiar with this book, so I'm not sure which era(s) is/are the focus).

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

> Can I just go there and join in or should I find a way to announce my visit?

You can just go there, however, if you want someone to give you a tour of the Gurdwara then it's best to call in advanced and let them know.

> When is the best day and time to visit?

The Gurdwara is open every day, but the peak rush hours will be on the weekend, specifically Sundays, usually 9am to 3pm.


> Anything I need to keep in mind besides behaving respectfully, covering my head and taking off my shoes?

Other than basic things such as being respectful, covering the head, taking off shoes, no not really. Also, substances such as drugs & alcohol are not allowed on Gurdwara property.


> being interested in learning more about the Sikh faith


If you would like to learn more about the Sikh faith, then Basics of Sikhi is a great YouTube channel with general videos on Sikhi, and Nanak Naam is a great Chanel that focuses more on the Spiritual/Philosophical side of Sikhi. I would highly suggest you take a look at "The Why Guru Course" which is a free video series that is a great introduction to Sikhi, and talks about Sikh history, culture, language, music, poetry, and much more. For a more in-depth cover on Sikh history read up on "A History of Sikhs" by Kushwant Singh. To access the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji online go to SearchGurbani.com. For Q&As check out LearnSikhi.com, and for everything else you're already at the right spot: r/Sikh.


If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask!

u/Erebus_of_darkness, u/Osroes-the-300th

There is a helpful and basic introductory series called "History of Imperial China". I have not read their books on the Yuan & Ming or the Qing, but I liked what I saw in their book on the Tang. They're basic, topical, and makes for an easy overview.

In America, the "New Qing" school mostly dominates discussion of Qing Dynasty history. China tends to view the Manchu Qing (and the Mongol Yuan) as part of a multicultural "China" state that has existed since time immemorial. "New Qing" disputes that by essentially arguing that the Manchu only considered "China" as one part of their empire, and thus ruled over Buddhist theocratic Tibet, Buddhist nomadic Mongolia, and Muslim Xinjiang (among others) differently from how it administered core China. This obviously ruffles feathers in China, since this ethnic-focused historiography seems to be trying to start something, but both sides of the ocean can probably agree that it at least provides a way of looking at things, including at ethnic relationships in Qing China. For New Qing, China Marches West is perhaps the most salient right now. You can also look at The Manchus (and look at The Tibetans in the same series while you're at it, since Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetans played important roles in the Ming, Qing, and modern China). Mark Eliot also is a prominent "New Qing" professor, and this seems to be his hallmark book, The Manchu Way.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Neo-Confucianism ideology solidified and became the guiding philosophy of East Asia. For a primary source peek at this philosophy, this translation of Wang Yangming seems a decent start.

The Forbidden City is the crowning achievement of Chinese palatial architecture, a culmination of imperial wisdom transmitted across thousands of years. No less, this book is a great, short introductory resource that is visually pleasing. I don't think it's a direct translation of the author's authoritative Chinese works, but he is the foremost expert on the architecture of the Forbidden City, and Nancy Steinhardt is an excellent authority on traditional Chinese architecture.

See if you can't find this book, The Class of 1761, in a library, going through the minutiae of the Chinese imperial examination system. I plan to look at this as well.

Chinese literature and opera came into maturity during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. So if you're feeling for long reads, read any of the Four Classic Novels of China. In particular, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, while not covering Ming or Qing (written in late Yuan/early Ming) will let you interface with literally any East Asian since they will know all the anecdotes and the Dream of the Red Chamber is noted for its extreme depth (entire departments devoted to studying it) and particular insight into mid-Qing society.

For opera, probably the Peony Pavilion is good enough, as a classic of Kunqu opera, the OG Chinese opera.

And honestly, just go to chinaknowledge.de ... It's a very comprehensive website surprisingly enough.

Joseon era:

• A Review of Korean History, Vol.2: Joseon Era; Woo, Han Young (2010)
  
• Sources of Korean Tradition, Vol. 1: From Early Times Through the 16th Century (Introduction to Asian Civilizations); Lee, Peter H. (ed) (1996)
  
• Sources of Korean Tradition, Vol. 2: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries; Lee, Peter H. (ed) (1996)
  
  I prefer the 'Review' more, but it might come across as a little dry. I feel that it does a fair job of discussing a number of topics related to the creation and running of the Joseon Dynasty, breaking the dynasty up into smaller components and then focusing on some areas (arts, military, cultural practices) within those smaller time frames. 'Sources' for me came across as more academic than 'Review' but you might enjoy it more. 'Sources' includes translations of primary sources, which is helpful, while 'Review' includes images such as paintings and maps.
  
  General:
  
  
• Korea Unmasked: In Search of the Country, the Society and the People; Rhie Won-bok (2005)
  
  A comic book that goes into the 'making' of Korea and Korean culture. I have some reservations about this one but if you don't take it too seriously it can be a fun and easy way to get introduced to a number of topics related to Korea.
  
  'Modern' Korea:
  
  
• The Dawn of Modern Korea; Lankov, Andrei (2007)
  
• Korea Through Western Eyes, Book, Written in English; Neff, Robert (2009)
  
• The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History; Oberdorfer, Don (2013)
  
• Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History; Cummings, Bruce (2005)
  
• The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies; Breen, Michael (2014)
  
• Korea And Her Neighbours...; Bird, Isabella (2011; original 1897)
  
  Lankov's book is a collection of newspaper articles he wrote entertaining subjects like the story of Korea's first automobiles, the introduction of the first telephones, etc. Easy to digest and they offer a glimpse of what society was like at each point in time; not a 'serious' book on Korean history, though. Neff's book was a chore to get through and it felt like no editing had gone into the book before publishing. If I'm not mistaken this also started out as a series of articles for one of the local newspapers; the transition from article to book did not go quite as well.
  
  It's probably been 10 years since I read the books from Breen, Oberdorfer and Cummings, which makes it a little difficult to write a lot about them. Cummings I know gets criticized for being pro-North Korea in his writing, so that's something to keep in mind, while Oberdorfer I think was a correspondent living in Korea so may have a more 'eyewitness' approach to some of the events. Bird's book is a description of her travels in Korea during the Joseon period and I remember it being an interesting read. Not a balanced historical account by any means - and it obviously suffers from being written from an outside perspective at a time when ethnocentrism was more prevalent - but it may be an alternative to consider. You should be able to find a .pdf copy of that one online.
  
  
• Fifteen Years Among The Top-Knots: Or Life In Korea; Underwood, Lillias H. (2007, original 1904)
  
  Haven't read this one, but I've seen others mention it in the past. It's another first-person account from Korea at the cusp of the 20th century, this time from the perspective of a medical missionary. Again, not an objective history book, but if you prefer first-person narratives it may at least be worth a look. A .pdf copy has been published online, this one by the University of Oregon.
  
  Edit: One I forgot to mention, but which I've also heard is used in some English-language classes on Korean history/studies:
  
  
• Korea Old and New: A History; Eckert, Carter J. (1991) (I just noticed this is also mentioned by seaturtles7777)

>: Did the Japanese ever study how they'd get the raw materials from the captured islands back to Japan? It is my recollection that the Japanese merchant fleet was ill suited to transport significant quantities of oil even before the war began. I am less sure about the Japanese ability to transport large quantities of other materials.

I've read extensively about the IJN and IJA, and by and large, they did not. the Japanese military in general was incredibly bad at logistics and combat support.

> nothing suggests the US public would support a declaration of war on Japan.

I tend to feel the same way, but the Japanese military leadership did not. Perhaps they did not understand the degree to which american leadership was constrained by public opinion.

>With that said, I still think the mistake was attacking Pearl Harbor.

The mistake was going to war with the US, period. The japanese were not a first rate power in the 1930s. they had benefited for years from their geographic isolation and lack of local opposition, which gave them delusions of grandeur, but they were third rate at best. When the best of the Japanese army got absolutely pasted by second rate russian divisions, this should have been a huge wakeup call to japanese leadership. Instead, it was used by the navy as a justification for making war on the US and UK simultaneously.

>the Japanese would have surely cut off China's supply lines and forced the Chinese to surrender or agree to an advantageous peace treaty



Unlikely. resistance by Mao and Chang would have continued, if perhaps much more weakly. China was simply too large for japan to control, a bottomless pit capable of swallowing endless numbers of japanese soldiers and, perhaps more importantly, supplies that they could not spare.

>Japan could have improved upon the Zero fairly easy if its vulnerabilities were discovered - at the very least the generational changes such as a supercharger, pilot armor, self sealing tanks, and larger ammo capacities could have been implemented

Again, not very likely. It is important to remember that while japanese progress at modernization was very impressive, they were no where near the level of the west. My favorite story to demonstrate this is the zero. when it was first built, it was arguably the most advanced plane in the world, but the first prototypes were carried from the factory to the airfield in wooden, horse drawn, hay carts. Japanese industrial development was very shallow, and concentrated in a few frontline areas, with an overall capacity only about that of Italy. the zero was such a lightweight plane because of the inability of japanese industry to build engines of sufficient power density and reliability for heavier planes.

On a more philosophical level, the Japanese were unlikely to discover the weaknesses in their strategy because they would have been spending most of their effort fighting the the chinese and colonial garrisons. Their enormous weaknesses in mechanization and, for lack of a better term, weight, would not have been made apparent battling enemies who were even more industrially deficient than they were. Meanwhile, the US would still have been building big, heavy planes capable of surviving over germany.

>Everything in Hawaii had to be shipped from the United States.

this cuts two ways. the US had a considerably easier time, and much more capacity, for delivering supplies to Hawaii than the Japanese could ever have for delivering ordinance. And in the eastern pacific, there are no islands for bases for subs, planes, etc. to raid those supply lines

>they could have repeatedly sortied 8-10 carriers worth of aircraft on Hawaii's military installations, rendering it unusable for a long period of time.

repeatedly only in the sense of months apart, which would give the US more than enough time for the US to pour far more into Hawaii than the Japanese could ever hope to bring against it. As for invading the islands, it was almost a complete impossibility. The Pearl Harbor operation really represented the limit of japanese logistical capabilities. They did not have the manpower or amphibious transport to mount an invasion on the scale needed to take islands with so many american troops (tens of thousands even before the war). And given the japanese deficiencies in material, artillery, etc, I cannot imagine them storming beaches marine style without truly enormous casualties.

Anyhow, don't mean to be rude, you were asking good questions, I just happen to have read a lot about this particular topic. If you are interested, I would recomend Kaigun and its companion book Sunburst as the single best resource on the IJN. They are masterful books.

edit: several points for clarity.

You can check out The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, which I haven't read, but it looks like it's gotten good reviews. Here's an interview if you want to get a better idea about what it covers.

To really get a good understanding of China, you've got to delve into its history. While China has changed a great deal over time, things like Confucianism and Civil Service have long held a place in Chinese society. I recently read The Heritage of Chinese Civilization, which gives a very brief but good account of China's history.

I don't categorize 'em like that as I read 'em, but Dataclysm, Rationality; from AI to Zombies, Everything Bad is Good For You, Country Driving, Freakonomics, and The Mathematics of Love are all 'thinky' nonfiction books I've recommended recently because I've retained new ideas and methods from them. In addition, nearly every essay written by DFW is successfully grist for my mill (even the ones about tennis, a subject I would have to work at caring less about.)

I stuck with nonfiction because even that feels a bit overwhelming. Fiction is too much for me right now; I really enjoyed and recently quoted from The Bell Jar, for instance, but what I got from the book was life-affirming and sensual and I have friends who got vastly divergent or even contrary methods (and I also got some solid advice that I'll take to heart if I ever decide to commit suicide.)

Edit: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest makes me want to watch the movie too, now. The book was not what I expected and was more engaging for all that, but also depressing. Set in an asylum. Read it because of a reference in a recent Neal Stevenson book, and because I'd been meaning to for some time.

Ha-Joon Chang, The East Asian Development Experience: The Miracle, the Crisis and the Future (2007)

This title isn't entirely about South Korea, but it is written by a well-know Korean-born Cambridge economist and offers a non-Marxist heterodox perspective on East Asia in general and has a lot about South Korea. Might be worth checking out for you. But you may already know about this one, since Chang is fairly famous. He has more works that specifically focus on South Korea, but I'm not sure if they're translated into English.

Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (2005)

This one is more about general history of the Korean peninsula, but it still has a fairly extensive section devoted to the post-war economic development of the Korean peninsula, especially the similar yet ultimately divergent economic paths of the two Koreas. For all its detractors, it is definitely a classic in Korean historiography written in the English language, so if you haven't heard of it yet, it is definitely worth checking out.

Atul Kohli, State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (2004)

This one is also a comparative historical study, but it devotes almost a third of its length on South Korea, and provides a very good overview of the link between colonization and economic development in South Korea, in addition to covering the latter years of modern Korean history. It is written by a Princeton political scientist that has extensive knowledge of comparative economic development, so it would be worth a look as well.

One note of caution though is that, if you really want to understand the post-war South Korean economic history, you also have to have some background on the economic impact of Japanese colonization (and this topic is a very, very, very, very contentious one in modern Korean history). The last one may be of help on this count.

> Tu peux jurer ce que tu veux, un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras, et force est de constater qu'on vous files des dizaines de milliards par an :

J'étais sarcastique.. bon l'ingratitude.. l'argument lâche, tu laisse croire que l’Europe était altruiste envers nous , mais sa faisait parti du marché , vous nous financer , on ouvre nos marché complètement, on libéralise notre économie, on dérégule nos banques on emprunte auprès de vos banque européennes et vous avez notre main d'oeuvre tout en avalant tranquilement sans protester les thérapies de choc de la BCE et du FMI et on nourri la machine industrielle occidentale. Sources: ici , ici
, ici, ici , ici et ici

Il n'y a pas eu d'ingratitude , on a rempli notre part du contrat.




>Nope, c'est du sérieux.

Tu as détourné la conversation pour aller te concentrer sur l'Amérique latine quand j'ai mis plusieurs autres exemples. Bon regardons de plus près cette carte réalisé par...

> It was produced for the activist newsletter ¡Presente! in 2011.

Ah tiens donc.. réalisé par un groupe inconnu...d'inspiration marxiste, avec une page web défaillante et je vais demander a l'informaticien du consulat de retracer leur ip je te parie 60 euros qu'ils sont qu'il sont basé au Venezuela je vais poser les screeshots.. Ensuite quand on regarde leur carte de plus pres on devient dubitatif..

Colombie 2009: Opération contre les FARC approuvé par le gouvernement colombien(lol PRESENTE les définis comme de simples groupes anti-US..)

Honduras(US refuses to call the overthrowing and undermines effort to restore democracy)

Encore faux les USA ont condamné le coup et déclaré le président qui s'est fait renversé comme étant légitime.


Costa rica() Encore une fois cette organisation ment les USA avait signé un accord avec le gouvernement démocratique du Costa Rica et il a aucune trace de ce qu'ils affirment

Haiti; Euh...La France a participé en Haiti et a même aidé les américains sans compter que le président haitien appelait a la guerre civile ouverte et sans preuve

Les autres dates de la guerre froide , on peut extrapoler tout le monde l'a fait. Sa reste que des gouvernement tels qu'en Argentine , Brésil , Nicaragua n'ont jamais rien subi dans les 20 dernières années sa rend ton argument caduque

> Bon Canada: Bref, ils n'ont pas tout accepté, mais ils n'ont jamais été anti-US ni pro-soviétiques.

Pierre Trudeau, US-Canadian policies grew further apart. Trudeau removed nuclear weapons from Canadian soil, formally recognized the People's Republic of China, established a personal friendship with Castro, and decreased the number of Canadian troops stationed at NATO bases in Europe.


Bref aussi tu as ignoré tous les autres pays que j'ai mentionné

>Nan mais si tu avais été là pendant la guerre en Iraq tu saurais que les US ont sanctionné la France à cause de son veto à l'ONU et qu'ils ont retourné toute notre classe politique et éliminé les gaullistes.

Na je me la coulais douce en Pologne.. ensuite tu lances sa et tu me reproche de ne pas mettre de lien qu est-ce qui faut pas entendre...

> Exxon a "juste" l'accès au 2ème champ qui est capable de produire le plus et BP au plus grand champ du pays /s

Exxon a été forcé de vendre une bonne partie de sesparts , sa fait 3 fois que j'écris sa!!! ils ont une part égale avec Petro-China sois 25% et 75% appartient a Shell et au gouvernement irakien Qurna n'est plus sous controle américain.(En passant il s'agit du second plus grand champ)

> et BP au plus grand champ du pays /s maintenant

Et lol BP estaméricain??? non le plus grand champ se nomme Rumala 38% a BP eet 37% a CP(Chine) si t'appelles sa controles... les américains ont été évincés (. ExxonMobil which also bid on servicing this field at a price $4.80 walked away due to price cutting terms by the Iraqi Government leaving BP and CNPC as winners of the contract.)

>Bah oui tout va bien, la collusion entre le fils du Vice President des US et des compagnies gazières dans un pays qui vient d'être renversé, c'est un hasard.

Il n'y a peut pas d'hasard mais je ne vois pas ou est le problème c'est une compagnie privé dirigé par un fervent anti-russe... La vie privé ne représente rien pour les personnes de nos jours.

>Mais oui on a compris, quand c'est les Russes c'est le mal, et quand c'est les US c'est normal.

1. Gazprom est publique 2) On parle d'un ancien Chancelier et de plusieurs députés et politiciens( et non de leurs fils ou filles)???
   
   
   > Nope, il va falloir que tu m'expliques ce que tous les pays que tu appelles "occidentaux" partageraient et en quoi ça permettrait d'inclure tel pays et pas un autre.
   
   Répondre a une question par une autre question.. franchement /u/Mauvaisconseil..
   
   >La France était déjà en Irak et avait une longue tradition de contacts avec Saddam Hussein.
   
   Il faut vraiment que tu lises mon livre..(s'était le best-seller de 2013)..
   Pétrole contre nourriture sans compter qu’après la guerre la part des investissements français ont augmenté en Irak
   
   Last year, French companies represented 9.9% of the foreign investment in Iraq, compared with 4.7% for American companies, the Dunia report says
   
   Je vais scanner mon livre pour te montrer comment apres cette méchante guerre , plusieurs companies francaises , allemandes, norvégiennes on profité de la chute du régime comme par exemple ici et ici
   
   > Arrêter de se soumettre et de se tirer des balles dans le pied en sanctionnant nos voisins pour commencer
   
   Tu as lu l'assocition agreement que l'Ukraine a signé?? tu te plains mais les compagnies russes seront probablement évincé par des compagnies francaises.. carrefour est la plus grosse chaine d'alimentation en Pologne par exemple. Les russes ont essayé de torpidé l’accord.
   
   
   >Ma prédiction est que les US sont en déclin, que le dollar ne tiendra pas et que tôt ou tard à force d'intervenir partout une grande partie du monde se lèvera contre leur domination.
   
   Fais moi rire , des accords de libre-échange a a gauche et droite la situation économique des USA est loin d’être critique, moi je parie le contraire entente entre les US et la Chine(Je suis sur que c'est déjà le cas d’ailleurs) depuis 1999 Kosovo jusqu’a maintenant toutes les crises ont bénéficié a la Chine.
   Étonnant le nombre de personnes membres du parti communistes qui ont étudié aux USA d'ailleurs.. similairement au nombre d’américain de intelligentsia qui ont étudié en Grande-Bretagne au 19e siècle.
   
   >Et j'ai déjà montré que la Russie ne fait que réagir à des agressions et à une ingérence américaine.
   
   La Russie a essayé de torpillé un accord UE-Ukraine , a notre demande on a appelé quelqu’un qui torpillerait son ingérence.
   
   
   >pas d'ingérence chez les pays qui sont à côté de la Russie.
   
   Sa marche pour les gros France, Allemagne, UK, mais pas pour les petits comme nous voila pourquoi l'influence américaine doit rester en Europe. Il y a eu un immense changement dans notre situation avant otan et Post Otan face a la Russie dans le cas de la Pologne et des pays Baltes.(Plus de politiciens surpris avec des mallettes pleines de roubles)
   
   >Les partis condamnés à l'échec, c'est l'UMP et le PS et l'oligarchie capitaliste et bourgeoise.
   
   L'histoire est contre toi...
   
   Poutine a été adoubé par des oligarques
   
   > https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Capital
   
   On me la tellement injecter en Pologne quand j'étais a l'école que j'ai développé une allergie contre ce livre
   
   
   >Lol. Article qui date de avant-hier :
   http://www.slate.fr/story/94003/kazakhstan-kirghizistan
   
   Les tensions ethniques sont terminés et la politique est calme c'est pas comme si sous leur anciens dictateurs tout irait mieux???
   
   
   

I don't know about anything locally where you are, but I'm finding there are some great resources available online and in books.

• Toshiro Odate's book is full of great information about tools and the workshop. It's the thing I see most commonly referenced.
  
• The Workbench Book has some more information on Japanese-influenced workbenches that look less back-breaking than Toshiro's ways of always sitting on the floor.
  
• Here's a detailed blog journey of a man discovering Japanese woodworking techniques from Odate's book. It's nice to see a person has done the things Odate has described in his book this century :P . Oh! And he has in there somewhere a great video playlist of japanese woodworkers using all sorts of tools.
  
• Here's a Japanese youtuber you might check out lots of workshop maintenance and DIY projects:
  Bayashi23
  
• And here's Ishtani, a Japanese furniture maker

Hey Cog_Sci_90, you might enjoy reading "Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes" by Tamim Ansary. Really good book, highly recommended.

From the description:

> We in the west share a common narrative of world history—that runs from the Nile Valley and Mesopotomia, through Greece and Rome and the French Revolution, to the rise of the secular state and the triumph of democracy. But our story largely omits a whole civilization that until quite recently saw itself at the center of world history, and whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years. In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe—a place it long perceived as primitive and disorganized—had somehow hijacked destiny. Entertaining and enlightening, Destiny Disrupted also offers a vital perspective on current conflicts.

The best textbook for Tibetan language is the Manual of Standard Tibetan by Tournadre. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying Tibetan, I have to say that it is a very difficult language to learn. The sounds, accent, and language use are tough.

The best way to learn is immersion of some sort, either a summer language institute at the University of Virginia or University of Wisconsin, or classes in Dharamsala, India.

There are other textbooks, but the Manual of Standard Tibetan is really the best. It has a cd with audio tracks, too.

Check out /r/Tibet. It's mostly politics, news, and culture, but there are a few of us with Tibetan abilities.

Good luck!

At this point, sure. But as the easily predictive models show, this will happen.

e.g. At current birthrates (and these will fall further) 1.75 births per female for North America, the current population model shows 366 million. By 2100 this will drop to 271 million. Now immigration is key and North American will really never have to worry about this due to its almost unlimited people wanting to move there.

Essentially Africa will hold up the Global population until the 2100 mark and then as the female population becomes more educated many feel it will mirror current Western birthrates.

Ethnic, theological, and even geographic inputs do play a key in decision. e.g. Asia has about 160 million missing females compared to natures mix of about 105 males to 100 females. This fact is based on many inputs including ancient, traditional beliefs by these populations. But the surprising fact is many thought the trend would change as education and economies improved. It has only increased. There are regions in China that have 130 boys for every 100 girls today.

The book Unnatural Selection gets pretty deep in this and other areas of local bias related to birthrates.

Just to be 100% clear: I am not targeting anyone including my atheist friends. I'm not looking for proof of anything to leverage. Dignity to all regardless.

I completely agree that public perception played an important role, and in fact I think a large part of my point is that popularity plays too large a role. I also agree that he is demonized far more than he deserves on many issues. I learned a lot from reading his books, in particular On China, which helps reveal his mindset a lot better (and helps humanize him and his situation).

There's the reading list in the side-bar, but that doesn't really have secondary books on Hinduism.

There's Gavin Flood's An Introduction to Hinduism. I haven't read it yet, but it's the only thing I got off the top of my head. If you want, I can look through the copy I found on the sidewalk and tell you about it.

But Flood seems to have a pretty good pedigree. But I don't know if he's a Hindu. I would also recommend Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. I have it, and his intro goes into Hindu concepts. This book also seem well-received, though I don't have it.

There's a public domain book called The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India. There's also The Wonder that was India, which is good. And apparently the same guy wrote The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism.

Most Indian history books talk about Hinduism, so maybe the Cambridge History of India?

The science stuff bothers a lot of GCers, at least it did me for awhile, because its not grounded in current reality, but even when I disagree, I'm glad you contribute. I also think science will save us all, just not in our lifetimes. I think social science, like anthropology, is more useful in understanding race, class, and gender. I would highly encourage you to read a book called Unnatural Selection, its about tech in the developing world influencing sex ratios at birth and its disturbing and fascinating.
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519

So here's some of the textbooks I read (and still own) from my Asian History courses at college. All are worth reading over, but you'll also want teachers to help you, to talk with historians from China, and eventually just to go to China and see a lot of stuff for yourself.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, by Patricia Ebrey.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Ebrey.

Quotations from Mao Tse-Tung, written by the man himself.

Fiction:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.

The Outlaws of the Marsh, by Shi Nai'An and Sidney Shapiro.

The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu and Ken Liu.

These are a relatively good start to help you get a grounding in China's history. Everyone in this thread has also given some good suggestions. And visit /r/askhistorians; they'll have some better sources you can check out.

Let's get it started then. What would you be interested in reading? I have some options on my reading list, maybe you are interested. If not, you can also suggest some titles and then we can decide.

• On China, Henry Kissinger I read his book on world order a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed it a lot. He played a major role in reestablishing diplomatic relations with China, so I think this might turn out to be an interesting read.
  
• The Glorious Cause, Robert Middlekauff This US history book spans the period prior to the independence up to it's aftermath (1763-1789). Chronologically speaking, it is the first book in the Oxford series on the history of the United States. I have heard great things about this series, in particular McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom. I plan to read the whole series little by little.
  
• The Global Minotaur, Yanis Varoufakis I learned about this book by reading his more recent book And the Weak Suffer What They Must?. This is more of a history of political economy, and covers the period from the end of WWII to the 2008 crisis. As far as I know, Global Minotaur covers the same period as the book I read but focuses more on the US than Europe. I'm not an economist, so there are some things I wasn't able to understand, but for the most part I had no problem at all and enjoyed it quite a bit.
  
  
• Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell I learned about this book reading a collection of essays by Chomsky entitled on Anarchism. Here, Chomsky talks about some rare "truly socialist" movement that appeared in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. This movement was crushed by both Franco's military coup and the Soviet army. Orwell fought there and this book narrates his experience. Given the great experience I had reading 1984, I think this could be a very interesting read.
  
  
• The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand I have hear many things for and against this author, but I have never read it. I have also heard that this book is better from a literary standpoint than Atlas Shrugged, and also was written earlier, so this could be a good starting point.

I don't read books bro.

Just kidding!

The Devil's Game by Robert Dreyfuss
This book is a comprehensive guide to the middle east and western politics
http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Game-Unleash-Fundamentalist-American/dp/0805081372

Edit: (I can't believe I forgot this one)
The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk
The great game was played by Russia and The British, this has everything to do with today's afghanistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game_(Peter_Hopkirk_book)

Taliban by Ahmed Rashid
This is mostly about Afghanistan through the eyes of a well informed and respected journalist
http://www.amazon.com/Taliban-Militant-Islam-Fundamentalism-Central/dp/0300089023

I would recommend this book by John Keay, an excellent survey of Chinese history. Tons of great podcasts have been mentioned as well, so I'll mention the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms Podcast, which is a reading of the novel by someone who can explain all the very detailed Chinese cultural references to a Western audience.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/China-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188&ved=2ahUKEwje3fekgsTiAhXIpJ4KHVc5DvcQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1ambvpkQIWi_Lllth9hcFO

China's had a huge rise in car ownership in only a few years, so there's a lot of people driving who had little experience of being driven around or family car ownership. This is creating challenges.

There's an excellent book called Country Driving by Peter Hessler that is partly about this.

Edit: belated link to the book on Amazon. Really recommend it, it's a lot of fun and full of interesting stuff.

He quotes some questions from the written drivers exam, such as:

Q 81: After passing another vehicle you should

a) wait until there is a safe distance between the two vehicles, make a right turn signal, and return to the original lane.

b) cut in front of the other car as quickly as possible.

c) cut in front of the other car and then slow down.


Q 269 When you enter a tunnel you should

a) honk and accelerate.

b) slow down and turn on your lights.

c) honk and maintain speed.

Unfortunately, the textbook resources for Tibetan, and the online resources for that matter, are quite horrendous. I have done some work to help develop a better textbook, but it is not yet ready to publish. As it stands, Manual of Standard Tibetan (MST) https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Standard-Tibetan-Language-Civilization/dp/1559391898 is going to be your best bet. If you can speak Mandarin though, there are a lot of free resources online targeted at helping Buddhists to learn Tibetan. The analytical (as used in the field of linguistics) nature of Mandarin is very useful when learning Tibetan.

Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen, and Paul G. Pickowicz, eds., Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a
Globalizing Society (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002)

It may be a little outdated, but it gives a great look into modern Chinese cultural trends.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook by Patricia Ebrey has great primary sources if you want to learn about Chinese culture that way, and it stretches all the way back to ancient times.

Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld by David Kaplan and Alex Dubro is a great book to read if you want to learn about the Yakuza and how they have effected Japanese political history.

LINJI RULES! CAODONG DROOLS!

Lump of red flesh translates 赤肉團上, which refers to either the physical heart or the physical body. The expression undoubtedly derives from the following passage in the Chanyuan zhuquanji duxu 禪源諸詮集都序 (Preface to the Anthology of essential writings on the origins of Chan), a work by the Chan and Huayan master Guifeng Zongmi:

>Regarding the word 心, in short there are four kinds. The Sanskrit word for each is diff erent and the translation of each is also diff erent. First, 紇利陀那 [the Chinese transliteration of Skr., “hṛdāya”], which is called “the fl esh-lump heart” 肉團心. Th is is the heart which is one of the fi ve organs within the body.

True man without rank translates 無 位眞人, a term coined by Linji that is one of the key expressions in his presentation of Chan. “True man” 眞人 was originally a term for the ideal, perfected adept of Taoism. Th e best-known, and perhaps earliest, appearance of the term is in the “Dazongshi” 大宗師 chapter of the Zhuangzi 莊子, where the characteristics of the classic Taoist “true man” are described in detail.

In Buddhist works from the Later Han on, the term was used to designate fully enlightened disciples of the Buddha, i.e., completed arhats. Later, “true man” 眞人 was also applied to bodhisattvas.

Face is an abbreviated form of the text’s “face-gate” 面門, an exclusively Buddhist term that originally meant “mouth.” Later the term acquired the more general meaning of “face,” with particular reference to the sense organs, a meaning that it seems to have here.

It is possible, however, that in Linji’s time the word was used for the face itself, since we find the master saying later in the text, “Don’t have the seal of sanction stamped haphazardly upon your face 面門 by any old teacher from anywhere” (see page 194).

The source of the specific phrase in our text is a passage from the long poem Xinwang ming 心王銘 (Verses on the Mind King), attributed to Fu Dashi.

The poem, having referred to the Mind King, who, for all his importance, is not evident to the senses, goes on to say:

>The salt put in water / The glue put in paint—
Certainly these are present / But we cannot see their form.
The Mind King is also thus / Abiding within the body,
Going in and out the [gate of the] face / In response to things, according to their feelings.
Freely and without hindrance / All his undertakings are accomplished

In the original translation Sasaki renders the Chinese, 乾屎橛, as “shit-wiping stick,” saying that the term literally means a “cleaning-off -dung-stick,” a smooth stick of bamboo used in place of toilet paper, with 乾 being the verb “to clean.”

However, Sasaki’s chief researcher for Tang-dynasty slang, Iriya Yoshitaka, subsequently came to believe that the correct interpretation is “stick-shaped piece of dung” (Iriya 1989, 21).

A similar usage is found in the Dahui Pujue Chanshi yulu 大慧普覺禪師語 錄 (Record of Chan Master Dahui Pujue), where the two characters 屎麼 form a noun-compound:

>“I say to [such stupid monks], ‘You’re biting on the dung-sticks of others. You’re not even good dogs!’” (t 47: 872a).

HAHA CAODONG IS DOGS!

The yk has, “[A monk asked,] ‘What is Śākya’s body?’ The master (Yunmen) said, ‘A dung-wiper!’” (t 47: 550b). In the zj 19 the passage parallel to that in the ll reads, “What kind of filthy thing is he?” 是什麼不淨之物.

Sasaki’s other collaborator, Yanagida Seizan, interprets the term to mean “useless dung stick,” explaining that 乾 does not have its usual meaning of “dry,” but is synonymous with the homophonous 閑, “useless” (Yanagida 1977, 52). Regardless of the details of the interpretation, the intention is obviously the same.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Record-Nanzan-Library-Religion-Culture/dp/0824833198

Also George Crile's "Charlie Wilson's War" and Robert Baer's "Sleeping with the Devil", one of three books that formed the basis for Syriana.

Osama Bin Laden's relationship with the US is the primary reason behind September 11 conspiracy theories. The official record shows that no money ever flowed directly out of US coffers to Osama bin Laden, which might be true.

It'd be pretty fuckin' weird, though.

UBL was best buddies with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who we funded heavily. He's a cousin by marriage to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who held an essentially cabinet-level post in the Reagan White House. He was a favorite son of the Bin Laden group, which is Saudi Arabia's Halliburton. And his primary activities in Afghanistan were recruitment videos and multimedia for Saudi Arabia in order to encourage young Arabs to join the jihad.

Considering who we were giving money to in Afghanistan, not giving money to Osama Bin Laden back in the '80s would have been a colossal oversight.

This is how conspiracy theories happen: hide a little, let public misperceptions fill in the blanks. It's a lot better for the CIA to have you believe in "loose change" than to have our heavy investments in Islamic fundamentalism join the public discourse.

Also, they are without produced nature
亦無生性. See the Northern Nirvana
Sutra:


The impure dharmas, even before they
come into being, already have birth-nature
生性; hence it is through birth that they
can come into being. Th e pure dharmas are
originally without birth-nature 無生性; for
this reason their coming into being cannot
be through birth. Like fi re, which has an
original [burning-]nature and which, on
chancing to meet a cause, bursts into fl ame;
like the eye, which has a seeing nature and
because of color, light, and mind, therefore
sees; so too are sentient beings. Because
they originally possess [birth-]nature, on
chancing to meet the causal conditions
and come in contact with karma, they are
conceived when their fathers and mothers
are in harmonious union. (t 12: 490c)
For these terms as used in the Weishi 唯
識 (Consciousness-Only) school, see the
entry 三無性 in Mochizuki Bukkyō daijiten
2:1686c–1687a.


They are just empty names, and these
names are also empty. See Vimalakīrti’s
reply to Mañjuśrī’s questions regarding
his illness:

When [the Bodhisattva] attains to this
sameness, there is no other illness; there
is only the illness of emptiness, and the
illness of emptiness is also empty.” (t 14:
545a)

Th e interpretation of these lines is based
upon the Zhu Weimojie jing 注維摩詰
經, the commentary on the Vimalakīrti
Sutra said to have been compiled by Seng-
zhao from notes on Kumārajīva’s lectures
given during the translation of the sutra,
plus the comments of Sengzhao and sev-
eral other disciples (t 38: 377a). Just as
Linji in the previous section character-
ized the dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and
nirmāṇakāya as “dependent transforma-
tions” (see pages 162 and 209, above), so
here he uses the same term to character-
ize the states of nirvana, bodhi, etc.—all
generally considered to be absolute or
transcendental—as relative or dependent
states.


The objective surroundings and the
subjective mind translates 境智, a term
explained at length by the Tiantai mas-
ter Zhiyi in his Si nianchu 四念處 (Four
foundations of mindfulness) (t 46: 575a).
It was apparently familiar to the compil-
ers of the Dunhuang Platform Sutra of
the Sixth Patriarch, where, in section 17,
we fi nd:

No-thought 無念 means not to be defi led
by external objects. It is to free thought
from external objects and not to arouse
thoughts about dharmas. But do not stop
thinking about things, nor eliminate all
thoughts. [If you do so] as soon as a single
thought stops you will be reborn in other
realms. Take heed of this! Do not cease
objective things nor subjective mind (境
智). (See Yampolsky 1967, 51.)


Th e term may have been introduced into
the Chan school by Yongjia Xuanjue, who
was a student of Tiantai before studying
under the Sixth Patriarch, since we find
the following in the Chanzong Yongjia ji
禪宗永嘉集 (Anthology of Yongjia of the
Chan School):

He who aspires to seek the great Way
must fi rst of all make pure the three acts
[of body, word, and thought] through
pure practice. Th en, in the four forms of
demeanor—sitting, standing, walking, and
lying—he will enter the Way by degrees.
When he has reached the state where the
objects of the six roots have been thor-
oughly penetrated while conforming with
conditions, and the objective world and
the subjective mind 境智 both have been
stilled, he will mysteriously meet with the
marvelous principle. (t 48: 388b)

Another example of its usage in Chan is
in zj 18. Guishan Lingyou asks his disciple
Yangshan Huiji if he can judge the teach-
ers and disciples who come to see him.


“Th ere are students coming from every-
where. When they ask you about Caoxi’s
(the Sixth Patriarch’s) cardinal principle,
how do you answer them?” [Yangshan]
said, “[I ask,] ‘Virtuous one, where have
you come from recently?’ The student
may answer, ‘Recently I have come from
visiting old worthies everywhere.’ I shall
thereupon bring forward an objective
circumstance and ask, ‘Do the old wor-
thies everywhere speak about this or not?’
Another time I bring out an objective cir-
cumstance and say, ‘Putting aside this for
the time being, tell me what is the cardinal
principle of the old worthies everywhere?’
Th e above two are cases of objective cir-
cumstance and subjective mind 境智.”

Waste paper to wipe off privy filth.
A similarly iconoclastic statement by
Linji’s contemporary Deshan Xuanjian is
recorded in zh 20: “Th e twelve divisions
of the teachings are the census-records
of demons and spirits, paper [fi t only] for
cleaning running sores” (x 79: 173a). For a
translation of the entire passage, see page
169, above.


But you, weren’t you born of a mother?
This rather cryptic remark undoubtedly
refers to the “original nature” or “original
face” with which everyone is born. See
the following lines in Nanyue Mingzan’s
poem Ledao ge 樂道歌 (Song of enjoying
the Way):

Don’t blindly seek the true buddha / Th e
true buddha cannot be seen.
Th e wondrous nature and the marvelous
mind / How could they ever have been
tempered and refi ned!
My mind is the nothing-to-do mind / My
face, the face born of my mother.
Th ough the kalpa-stone may be worn
away / Th is is changeless forever.
(t 51: 461b)

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Record-Nanzan-Library-Religion-Culture/dp/0824833198

Sorry for the formatting im on mobile.

China really only started to directly control Tibet during Qing dynasty (late 1600s). Anything that claim of suzerainty or sovereignty by the Chinese government before that was bullshit. Fun fact, Tibetan Empire from late 600 to early 800 AD was greatest security threat to the Chinese Empire. Tibetan defeated Chinese army of 100,000 in late 600 AD and sacked Chinese capital Changan in late 700 AD. By around 820 AD whole Tibetan empire disintegrated and not much was heard from them again. In the mean time buddhism spread and became important part of Tibet's culture.

In mid 1500 AD Tibetan buddhism spread to Mongol in Mongolia. Most mongol converted to Tibetan buddhism.

Let's talk about Qing dynasty. Fun fact about Qing was that the ruling class was not Chinese, they were Manchu. Qing also subjugated the Mongol before they conquered China. Qing needs Mongol to control the Chinese because there was less than a million Manchu when they conquered China, while there was around 300-400 million Chinese in the empire. To ensure the loyalty of the Mongol, Manchu intermarry with Mongol and needs the support of Mongol's spiritual leader(i.e. various Tibetan Lamas).

The greatest security threat to the Qing was Dzungar Mongol in modern day Xinjiang. To prevent Dalai Lama from falling into Dzungar's hand, Qing just invaded the country and "protect" Dalai Lama from falling into wrong hand. Eventually, Dzungar were defeated and completely massacred. Read china marches west for more background.

So in short, Manchu needs Mongol to oppress the Chinese. To earn Mongol's loyalty, Manchu need the support of the Mongol's spirtual leader, which was Dalai Lama and etc. So Qing just invaded and annexed to prevent the Lamas from falling into "wrong hand".

Modern China claimed to be successor to the Qing dynasty, so they claim Tibet as integrate part of China.

The second part of your question is more difficult and I won't attempt to answer it.

The Ming Dynasty whilst having gunpowder didn't have quite the infrastructure and logistical prowess that the Qing has.

Hence the difference in being able to maintain an army to take on the Dzungar Mongols. According to:

https://www.amazon.com/China-Marches-West-Conquest-Central/dp/0674057430

Supply Depots and Magazines to help supply the army as well as the economic strength unavailable to Ming Dynasty comparatively contributed.

Chinese also demographically was able to expand west due to the Columbian Exchange which supplied the Chinese with Potatoes opened up much more of the steppe lands to Agriculture.

This combined with Military farms in the Western Frontiers increased the availability of nearby supplies and reduced the cost of transport due to closer proximity of farms to the army.

This is also combined with alliances with mongol tribes due to successful diplomacy.

Considering the growing gender imbalance in certain countries like China and India that are a result of sex-selective abortions, it's not quite so much a hypothetical . . .

Cultures that value (or at least profess to value) gender equality are always going to take issue with wide-scale gender manipulation, I think (especially when it the preference is towards boys), regardless of how early-on it's done. But unlike the prevention of birth of congenitally-disabled fetuses, terminating female fetuses in favor of male fetuses has a strong negative effect on society as a whole, if the ratio is allowed to be skewed enough. Mara Hvistendah's Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men is a fascinating exploration of how truly beyond-individual-moral-judgments sex-selective abortion is.

It's unfortunately hard to find good books on Indian history that do justice to its cultural diversity and philosophy. Most western perspectives bring all Hindu beliefs under the banner of 'Hinduism', for example, which warps one's viewpoint when comparing it to Abrahamic faiths. Indian perspectives tend to suffer from a puerile jingoism centered around the idea that India is the oldest surviving civilization in the world.

Having said that, here's a set of books I found fairly well balanced:

• The wonder that was India - A. L. Basham: If you're going to read just the one book, let it be this one. Covers Indian history until the Mughal period.
  
  
• The wonder that was India (Vol 2) - S. A. A. Rizvi: Covers India from the Mughal period to the British occupation.
  
  
• Gem in the lotus - Abraham Eraly: One of the better books on Indian history I have read, focusing largely on Buddhism and its impact. In my opinion, a must read. While I haven't read them, I suspect Eraly's other books to be equally worth reading.
  

If you want to learn about how Iran got to where it is today / events that shaped it's views I think Modern Iran by Nikki Keddie. You don't get that "YOU MUST HATE IRAN THEY ARE EVIL" junk in it. You just get how Iran sort of came to be in the modern era.

The Coup is a great Book to expand on exactly how Iran/U.S. relations got messed up. Long story short the CIA overthrew their democratically elected leader, and ever since then they have been pissed, but this goes into detail about it and does a great job explaining everything.

If you want to watch some documentaries. I HIGHLY recommend you watch "Bitter Lake" that explains Saudi's rise to power/Afghanistan and how things got messed up.

Another interesting documentary is the The Man who Changed the World about Khomeni

Those are pretty good starting points to understand Iran.

Trail and error, really. I have around 1600 hours logged for HOI3 and I've tried several strategies.

I learned right away that BC and CA (heavy cruisers) to be useless. They take up valuable leadership points and are redundant. Battlecruisers are fast but are powerless against battleships (as we learned irl in WWI). The armored cruisers they were built to hunt didn't even exist in WWII and any that existed were usually upgraded leftovers of WWI (HMS Hood). I have yet to find a good use for heavy cruisers. Initially I had them used for hunting down convoy raiders, but I find a light cruiser and a few destroyers to do a better job while being able to run from a more powerful force. Heavy cruisers slow down the rest of the flotilla and are quickly sunk.

/u/CarloTheCurious below advocates a larger carrier force, which I also find effective. It is also more historically accurate with Imperial Japan's naval doctrine (A great book on this subject is Kaigun, but I digress). However, I find my method to be more flexible. I can still concentrate my squadrons when facing a superior force. Plus, I can deal with more than one threat at a time, which is essential with Japan.

For a great example of Congress running foreign policy, see

Charlie Wilson's War(book), or

Charlie Wilson's War(movie)

Anyways, thanks for the links. If the Senate one passes (and it looks like it's been incorporated into the first House one already) it will be interesting to see what comes out of the increase in numbers of reporters in that area.

Hmm yes, the comparison you made is between a collection of discourses from Master Huangbo and a collection of Koans and stories. I can recommend really any more discourse oriented Chan teachings ranging from Master Foyan's "Instant Zen" to the recorded sayings of Master Linji. The Recorded sayings of Master Linji also include some interactions and stories, but also some clear discourses from the Master... the same with the Recorded sayings of Master Zhaozhou, which is mostly interactions and some discourses. Another one that you might find interesting is "Ch’an Master Hui Hai- Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening" or The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue.... but really, reading those discourses and not doing the practice won't be very helpful... hence the 'clear discourses' are rather rare since you should penetrate it yourself directly and not have it chewed out by those old grandmothers

I've heard great things about "Showa", a graphic novel that covers Japanese history between 1926 and 1989:

https://www.amazon.com/Showa-1926-1939-History-Japan/dp/1770461353

Edit:

Also recommend "Speed Tribes" By Karl Taro Greenfield. Easy read:

https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542859841&sr=8-1&keywords=speed+tribes

Read the Qu'ran, then get familiar with the Hadith. The former is, well Muslims believe it is the actual received word of God. The latter is commentary on what the Prophet Muhammad said and did, passed down through witnesses. It's from the hadith that most of the craziness stems from, much like a lot of the craziness of Christianity stems from the writings of Paul.

Book wise, I recommend Karen Armstrongs' "Islam: A Short History" and Tamim Ansary's "Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes". Both great, and Armstong's book has the bonus of being kinda short.

And yes, at the end of the day, extremists from any religion ruin it for everyone else.

Honestly. Check this out.

If you want literature, I really like these books:

Check out Fairbank, it's amazing.
Or maybe: John Keay
Or try: Ying-Shih Yü

Or alternatively, google it (see first link). If you don't want to pay for any of these books just check your local library (-Genesis). I wouldn't call you out for torrenting/DLing them, since that would make me a hypocrite.

Many causes. First, anti-Qing sentiment. The Qing were never beloved, as they were foreign invaders and viewed as usurpers to the throne. Although the Qing had become quite sinised by the 19th century (e.g. few of the bannermen spoke Manchu anymore), the Chinese were still reminded of this daily, such as in being force to have their hair in a queue. The Chinese had been forced to wear this Manchu hairstyle since 1644 as a sign of submission to Manchu rule. Secret societies like the Tiandihui existed, with an agenda to reinstate the Ming dynasty. (in reality this never seems to have made the top of their to-do list, but the ambition itself is witness to the anti-Qing sentiment).

Losing the first Opium War did of course not help. There was naturally outrage at this loss and the terms the Qing had accepted, accompanied by the loss of military strength, social upheavals and unrest, and the scourge of opium of course. Another factor Spence points out here is the westerners had used their naval power to drive the pirates away (threat to their trade after all), which pushed many of them to move to inland banditry, not least to the mountains of Guangxi, which is where the rebellion got started.

There was of course the introduction of radical new Christian ideas, aided not least by the free movement of missionaries being allowed by the peace treaty after the war. Although the contemporary Buddhist-Taoist tract the Jade Record seems to have had some influence on Hong Xiuquan as well.

It also had great populist appeal: They went against the authorities, against Confucianism, against the nobility. They promised a kind of proto-socialist redistribution of land and property. In short they targeted the disenfranchised and promised them a better future with better opportunities in the 'Heavenly Kingdom'.

Then, as Warband14 points out, there was a significant ethnic dimension as well. Hong Xiuquan was a Hakka, and the movement first caught on among that ethnic group. Elements of the Taiping doctrine - a ban on foot-binding, women workers and soldiers - likely came from Hakka custom (their women worked, they never practiced foot-binding). It might be pointed out that although they were indeed outsiders and lower in status than Han chinese, they still had a related language and weren't outsiders to the extent, say, the Miao were.

The Taiping relations with western natiosn were a bit ambivalent. Dissatisfaction with the Opium War was after all one of their recruiting points, but Hong obviously had an belief (of his own making) and respect for Christianity. This did not come to him through the British though; his main sources had been a Christian tract by Liang Fa and Gützlaff's bible translation. (which Hong later was to make his own changes to, removing some things he must have found disagreeable, such as Noah getting drunk - the Taiping had banned alcohol and opium) His bible instruction came from the American Baptist missionary Issachar Roberts, who later became one of the westerners advocating in favor of the Taiping - until he eventually fell out with them. Not least over the heterodox (to say the least) theology of the Taiping.

For most of its existence after the capture of Nanjing, the 'Heavenly Kingdom' was in a stalemate with the Qing. The Taiping's offensive campaigns (among others, north towards Beijing) had failed, but so did the Qing's. During that period they made repeated failed attempts to secure the westerners as allies, or at least their neutrality. Hong made a particularily fanciful attempt to recruit the 8th Lord Elgin, as he passed Nanjing (in a more well-known incident, Elgin was soon to burn the Summer Palace in Beijing)

Their last major offense was towards Shanghai. The western nations saw this as a threat to their trade and the international settlement (despite the Taiping's best attempts to reassure them that they and their property woudl not be harmed). But the westerners defended Shanghai, and you had the formation of the Ever Victorious Army and French Ever Triumphant Army, now taking an active role in fighting the Taiping. It was all downhill from there.

Again as Warband14 wrote, besides the devastation and millions killed, the Taiping rebellion was a significant factor in the demise of the Qing empire.

It does also play a certain role in Chinese Communist historiography. Regarding those populist demands for redistribution of land, Marx himself related a story from the translator of Hong's bible, Gützlaff:

> When Herr Gützlaff came back among civilized people and Europeans after twenty years' absence, he heard talk of socialism and asked what it was. When he was told, he exclaimed in alarm: 'Am I nowhere to escape this ruinous doctrine? Precisely the same thing has been preached for some time in China by many people from the mob.'

This was in 1850, at the very start of the Taiping Rebellion, and while Marx noted that "Chinese socialism may, of course, bear the same relation to European socialism as Chinese to Hegelian philosophy.", and found it amusing that the western bourgoise had helped precipitate such a revolution, he expressed hopes for it as a 'socialist' revolution. (not unlike how other westerners projected their hopes for a Christian China onto them)

Marx did not write a great deal about them, but by 1862 he had apparently become as disillusioned with them as those hoping for a Christian revolution. He wrote:

> They represent a still greater torment for the masses of the people than for the old rulers. Their motive seems to be nothing else than to bring into play against the conservative marasmus grotesquely repulsive forms of destruction, destruction without any germ of regeneration.

Marx's view of the Taiping is understandably, not that dissimilar from that taken by the Chinese Communists themselves, although the latter are perhaps less condemnatory.

These are my first fine woodworking tools, yes, however I used to build sets so I am familiar with basic wood work. In the months leading up to my purchase I read two books on Japanese tools and woodworking. There are links to both at the bottom. Both have extensive chapters on the use and set up of all japanese tools. I recommend checking them out if these tools interest you!! Also the samurai carpenter has some killer how to videos on the subject. Thanks for the advice and good luck setting up your kanna. Take a sick day and knock it out haha... 🌲🌲

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Woodworking-Tools-Tradition-Spirit/dp/0941936465

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Woodworking-Handbook-Tool-Techniques/dp/0881790036

I don't know of one book that fits all of those descriptions, but individually, here is a sampling of the books I have in my collection.

Korea Old and New : History

Korea's Place in the Sun, by Bruce Cumings

The Park Chung Hee Era, edited by Byung-Kook Kim and Ezra F. Vogel

​

I hope these help!

​

Country Driving is pretty good.

America have 9 cities with population of over a million. China on the other hand have over 50 cities with population of over a million. Which means there are a lot of cities. The cities are growing larger too, incorporating the surrounding areas.

Rural areas are more communist than urban areas. People are organized into villages, and the village owns all the land and housing. This means individuals can't just decide to sell their plot of land and move away. People own shares in the village. If the village as a whole makes money (by leasing land to a factory or garbage dump), it distributes the money to everyone in the village. This also means even though young people tend to move away for work, they can always come back to the village and farm as a backup if economy is bad. In a lot of villages, most of the people are over 50 and under 16, because young people want to earn money in the cities.

You should read The Party

It is very clear from this and other sources that the CCP does in fact exist to benefit itself and its members. John Garnaut will provide other interesting sources from his articles and his most recent book.

There is also the fantastic Kaigun, which is a complete history of the IJN and how it developed its tactics, technology, strategy, organization, everything from day one until the end. Amazing book

This is probably the best book to start with. This is also good.

> Most know that the CIA under Reagan made the Taliban and put them in power.

This is a good point except for the fact that it is completely wrong. Reagan didn't make the Taliban, the US supported the Afghan mujahideen, granted a part of that helping create madrassas which has helped foster much of the religious fervor against America, but they are not the same thing. Ironically today, the older fighters, many of which fought as mujahideen resent the new 'young bucks' who cross over the border from Pakistan to 'get some action', as it were.

I would strongly recommend reading Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid for a good read of how the Taliban began, among other things.

tl;dr: the CIA/Reagan didn't put the Taliban in power, stop pretending its true because 'it sounds about right' and you are too lazy to look into history.

If you're a US English speaker, the THDL simple phonetic Tibetan transcription is decent as a rough guide.

Nicolas Tournadre's book (he's one of the co-designers of this phonetic system) is probably the best Modern Standard Tibetan primer out there as well.

>were those from Central Asia or the Baltics conscripted or did they volunteer for service?

Both. Any conscript could volunteer to Afghanistan by submitting a letter expressing desire to serve in Afghanistan - not all were accepted. I'd estimate that <1% of 40A were volunteers and they were from all over USSR.

Conscripts from Baltics were often utilized as snipers or mechanics. Middle-Asian conscripts military quality (communication skills+technical education+elan) was low, with some very notable exceptions (SpetsNaz 'Muslim battalion' etc.). But Middle-Asians (~ -stan) outnumbered all other ethnic groups combined, with Slavic conscripts being close second and from Caucasus as third.

> did they serve in infantry roles or did Russian troops/officers tend to give them the dirty work?

They all served in every branch and service type, but Middle-Asians were often given menial jobs due to there low level of training and desire to stay away from fighting. Uzbeks were great cooks and often preferred kitchen to any other assignment. Tajiks and Turkmenis were more warlike.

>I believe I read that troops served 2 year tours; how was that like exactly?

Half-year basic training at Tashkent (usually, but not always), then 1.5 year deployment to Afghanistan. R&R (1-2 weeks) once or twice (rare) per deployment were usual, but not everyone got it.

>did they have any encounters with the locals or was that forbidden?

You cannot effectively 'forbid' any contacts with locals during war, esp. guerilla war. Formally, any interaction with locals must be sanctioned by officers and vetted by NDPA (i.e. Afghan regime) representatives.

>Outside of US intervention, could the Soviet troops have won the war?

Possible. Until ~1983, it was going that way. Then Charlie Wilson and Gulf states started to pump in money and weapons.
So the next big question would be whether Gulf state support would be enough for opposition to win or not. And without both US and Gulf state intervention - highly likely for DRA to succeed (even with hostile Pakistan and even without USSR troops).

Note that troops alone never win this kind of war. Once USSR found acceptable political solution (aka 'national reconciliation policy') - and it happened not to soon, in 1985, it was likely to succeed once hard-liners were removed from opposition - and they weren't - instead, kept receiving financial and materiel support.

EDIT:

Sources

1. А. А. Ляховский - Трагедия и доблесть Афгана Written by Major General Liakhovsky who served in Afghanistan as GenShtab's Chief Military Advisor and Liaison to Afghan's government. You can find some excerpts about initial phase of USSR intervention Afghanistan in English [here]https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/WP51_Web_Final.pdf). While excerpts cover only 'muslim battalion' actions in 1979, they'd give you an idea about author's verbosity.
   
   
2. Громов - Ограниченный Контингент. Memoirs of LtGen Boris Gromov (who was last 40^th Army Commander in Afghanistan). Specifically, Chapter Rout or Victory?
   
   
3. George Crile - Charlie Wilson's war A book, not a movie.
   
   
4. List of servicemen, awarded for their performance in Afghanistan, but who didn't get their awards Using it as a short-list, representing all servicemen. Complete list regular awards is too large.
   
   I am dumping raw data here - ask me for detailed explanations. These are just fast-plucked samples, there were many more asians and baltics awarded.
   
   Conscripts from Central Asia:
   
   right off the bat -
   
   1 ряд. Аббасов Акмал Акбарович механик-водитель в/ч п/51884. 1964г. Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N299 15.6.1990г.
   
   2 ряд. Абдракманов Элчибек Шаршанбаевич водитель в/ч п/п 13354. 1968г. Кир.ССР Тонский р-он,с.Ворошилова. Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10198-XI 7.3.1989г.
   
   4 ряд. Абдувалиев Адхан Мухамедганиевич ст. мех. водитель п/п 82869 1967г. Андижанская обл,г. Пахтаабад, ул. пахтакор,205. Орден Красной Звезды N299 15.06.1990г.
   
   5 мл. с-т Абдужалилов Озодбек Абдурашидович зам. ком-ра взвода, ком-р отд. минометного взвода в/ч п/п 65753.84397. 1969г. Андижанская обл.Кургантепинский р-он,к-з Навои,21. Медаль "За отвагу" N10265-XI 4.4.1989г.
   
   6 ряд. Абдулаев Ахрход Абибуллаевич пулеметчик мтс роты мтс б-на. в/ч п/п 54676 1969г. Чимкентская обл. г.Туркестан Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N9512-XI 7.9.1988г.
   
   7 ряд. Абдулаев Рашид Садыков мех.-вод. в/ч пп 44585 1967г. Уз.ССР Фергенская обл. Ферганский р-н Садвин с/з ул.Механизаторов д.12 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N8886-ХI 05.05.1988г.
   
   and till the end - dense list of Central Asian birthplaces and names:
   
   2050 ряд. Худайбердиев Аннам Джараевич разв. 66 ОМСБ 40ОА 1965 746030 Марийская обл. Байрам-Амитский р-н п.Захнет Медаль "За отвагу" 19.12.91. NУП-3061
   
   2051 ряд. Худайберенов Довлетмамед стрелок в/ч пп 34631 1963 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" 19.12.91. NУП-3061
   
   2052 ряд. Худайкулов Ахар Асатович пулеметчик мотостр. роты в/ч пп 54676 1967 Бухарская обл. Алтайский р-н к-з Ленина Медаль "За отвагу" 07.09.88. N9512-ХI
   
   2053 ряд. Худайкулов Гафур Саттарович наводчик в/ч пп 71176 1963 Медаль "За отвагу" 25.07.89. N268-I
   
   2054 ряд. Худайназаров Абдураззак Абдурахманович мех.-вод. в/ч пп 85615 1967 Уз.ССР Новаинская обл. г.Заравшан 4 мкр. 1 общ. кв.134 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" 07.09.88. N9512-ХI
   
   2056 ряд. Хуснутдинов Мирзаанвар Хайруллаевич водитель в/ч пп 93981 1961 г. Ташкент медаль "За отвагу" УП-2909 28.11.1991 г.
   
   
   Conscripts from Baltics:
   
   87 ряд. Кеиселис Гунар Зигисмундович разведчик-пулеметчик дес.-штурм. взв. развед. десант. роты в/ч пп 53336 в/ч пп 84397 1969г. Латвийская ССР, Алукенский р-он, Яуналуксенский с/с, х. Лучия Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10491-XI 24.5.1989г.
   
   96 с-т Ашмонтас Зигмас Йонович водитель в/ч пп 21231 1966г. Лит. ССР, д. Гримзду Шилальского р-на Медаль "За отвагу" N10265-XI 4.4.1989г.
   
   97 мл. с-т Ашмонтас Роландас Йонович ком. отд. авт. взвода в/ч пп 38021 1968г. Лит.ССР, Шиляльский р-н, д.Гражюрис Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N569-I 4.10.1989г.
   
   251 ряд. Викси Индрек Эннович оператор ПТУР птв мсб в/ч пп 24785/84397 1968г. Эстонская ССР, Тартусский р-н, ул. Лия, д.4, кв.34 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10491-XI 24.05.1989г.
   
   626 ряд. Йонушас Эдмундас Винцович снайпер мср
   в/ч пп 86997 1967г Литовская ССР, Плунгенский р-н, д. Сталгос Медаль "За отвагу" N8886-XI 5.5 1988 г.
   
   627 ряд. Каблис Жидрунас Антанавич сапер в/ч пп 58082 1969г. Литовская ССР, Родвишинский он, д. Вайнюны Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10265-XI 4.4.89
   
   849 ряд. Кудейка Янис Хенрикович ст. наводчик МСР МСБ в/ч пп 51883 1968г. Латвииская ССР, Даугавпилский р-он, п. Вице, ул. Комсомольская, д.11 Медаль "За отвагу" N 268-I 25.7.1989г.
   
   920 мл. с-т Лаупа Эдуард Лембитович наводчик-оператор разведоват. роты в/ч пп 24785, в/ч пп 84397 1968г. Эстонская ССР, ул. Герцена, д.28 кв.20 Медаль "За боевые заслуги" N10089-XI 1.2.1989г.
   
   2059 ряд. Цилишаускас Саулюс Альгевич водит. взв. обесп. мсб в/ч пп 51932-в/ч пп 51854 1968 Литовская ССР, Юрбарский р-он, ул. Новая д. 27 Орден Красной Звезды УКN 10089-XI 1.02.89

I think the work of Patricia Ebrey is perfect for what you are after. Try these books:

China: A Cultural, Social, and Political History
and
Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook
She has also set up some nice stuff on their website at UW:
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/

Robert Fisk: The Great War for Civilization.

Nikki Keddie: Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution

Ira Lapidus: A History of Islamic Societies

And other good ones I know of that were mentioned in here:

A History of the Arab People" by Hourani

"All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer

The Palestinian People: A History

The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land

This is all a good place to start, I think.

Korea's place in the sun by Bruce Cummings and Korea's 20th century Odyssey by Michael Robinson are both good overviews of modern Korean history starting in the late 19th century.

Sources of Korean tradition is a good collection of primary sources with background and analysis.

1. KA Nilkanth Shashtri
   
   
   A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link
   
   
   The Illustrated History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar - Amazon Link
   
   
   Foreign Notices Of South India - Google Archives
   
   
   
2. A S Altekar
   
   
   Rashtrakutas And Their Times - Google Archives
   
   
   
3. AL Basham
   The Wonder That Was India: 1
   
   
   You can read this book for free on Anybooks app.
   
   
   Edit your post and add all these links.

While the bot is trying to be helpful, there's no book on the Taiping Rebellion on that list. Try this. Jonathan Spence is a very well know historian of China and is very readable. Enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421024376&sr=8-2&keywords=taiping+rebellion

Here are a few good ones that I have read and would definitely reccomend.

Speed Tribes: Days and Night's with Japan's Next Generation
by Karl Taro Greenfeld

> http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267655889&sr=8-1

Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West
by T.R. Reid

> http://www.amazon.com/Confucius-Lives-Next-Door-Teaches/dp/0679777601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267655960&sr=1-1#noop

Black Passenger Yellow Cabs: Of Exile And Excess In Japan
by Stefhen F. D. Bryan

> http://www.amazon.com/Black-Passenger-Yellow-Cabs-Excess/dp/0615268102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267656194&sr=1-1

those should keep you busy for a while.

Jake Aldenstein (first non Japanese reporter for a major Japanese newspaper) wrote a book called Tokyo Vice, which has elements of what you are looking for. Its mostly about his life as a gaijin reporter, versus just being a gaijin.

Would probably read this one first to get some general background. It’s a lighter read: https://www.amazon.com/China-21st-Century-Everyone-Needs/dp/0199974969

Perhaps the most authoritative reading on Deng specifically: https://www.amazon.com/Deng-Xiaoping-Transformation-China-Vogel/dp/0674725867

Another good one (more about international relations): https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316

This is a good one if you want to learn about the economic reforms under Deng: https://www.amazon.com/Markets-over-Mao-Private-Business/dp/0881326933

Definitely! It is one of the most important events of modern Chinese history. It really kicked off the "century of humiliation."

If you are interested in reading more about it, I'd highly recommend God's Chinese Son. It's very well researched but still really readable.

It's fairly well researched. If you want a general, well written, overview of Muslim history I'd recommend Ansary's Destiny Disrupted. His extensive bibliography should point you in the right direction on specific topics.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1586486063

Lots of people saw it backfiring, but Rep Charlie Wilson had lots of clout in the CIA and Reagan White House and overrode those concerns ("I'm elected and you're not"). Source: My dad (deceased) who provided Reagan's daily defense intelligence briefings and corroborated in accounts in http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Wilsons-War-Extraordinary-Congress/dp/0802143415

Good question! The Shah did indeed have a large secret police, SAVAK, which did all sorts of very nasty things. So that part is true.

The way I heard it (in a class on Modern Iran), the Shah saw himself as a continuation of the older Classical (pre-Islam) Persian Empires. He made large efforts to stress this relationship - his regime had a lot of pomp and circumstance - the standout example is the 2,500 year celebration of Persian Monarchy, which was conducted on the ruins of Persepolis itself. There's a couple of good videos of it on Youtube.

So the Shah (in delusion or not) saw himself as a good ruler that would modernize and westernize Iran, taking it back to the Classical glory it once had.

However, the Shah was not completely successful in these efforts- the White Revolution being the standout one. Additionally, as he had gained absolute political power (Iran was a constitutional monarchy beforehand) because of the CIA-conducted overthrow of the rather popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, the Shah never had the greatest legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people. All his callbacks to the Classical past (ignoring the thousand or so years of Islamic Persia) were both needlessly wasteful (fancy celebrations don't pay for themselves) and seen as catering to the west. Ultimately, he was generally viewed as a western puppet by many.

So he had many enemies, including both Communist (Iran did border the USSR) and Islamist opposition. Some groups even combined some of these ideologies! Regardless, the Shah faced non-violent opposition in the forms of writers, speakers, clerics, and others - Ayatollah Khomeini was one of these, but there were many others; of especial note is Ali Shariati who was essentially the lay counterpart to Khomeini. The Shah also faced some violent opposition in the form of armed guerrillas, but these groups were generally defeated by SAVAK. As such, most of the enemies of SAVAK were opposition figures, both violent and not. They could perhaps have been seen by the Shah as "mere" enemies of the state (not so sure on that one).

As such, when the Islamic Revolution occurred, and large groups of people rose up against the regime, the Shah found himself having lost the mandate of the people. Plus, gunning down crowds of protestors would not have put him down in history as a great ruler of Iran. Plus it wouldn't have looked good to the western powers that supported him - recently Pres. Carter had pressed him on human rights abuses and other issues.

As such, Shah Pahlavi did not gun down crowds of protestors, and the Pahlavi Dynasty was ultimately replaced by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A quick note: the revolutionaries were not all Islamists, and certainly not all supported of Ayatollah Khomeini - there were many leftists, communists, moderate Islamists, and others as part of the revolution. However, Khomeini outmaneuvered these groups - including the (successful) referendum vote being for an Islamic Republic or none at all, which was boycotted by the more secular groups (to their detriment) - and in a sequence of events that mirrors Martin Niemoller's "First they came.. quote, Khomeini ended up being the Supreme Leader of Iran.


tl;dr: The Shah wanted to be seen as a great ruler harkening back to Classical Persia, both contemporaneously and in history, and gunning down crowds of protesters is rather contradictory to that.

If you're interested in reading more, I recommend reading the Iranian Revolution Wikipedia page for a start.

However, I have to recommend at least partially reading Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution by Nikki Keddie. It'll give you a great background on why Iran is the way it is today, Ayatollahs and all. It's a good book on the subject (It's the one I used!)

My information comes from Ahmed Rashid's book; "Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia."

He is a very smart dude and definitely seems to know what he's talking about.

On China by Kissinger is a very good read. It is much more detailed after about 1900 and especially after 1949, but the other parts are all good too. He just tends to boil down empires and dynasties into a few key themes to avoid boring the nonacademic reader with repetitive and insignificant details

I think the best two parts of the book are 1. He condenses a lot of the drier information without completely discounting it and 2. He was there for a lot of it and can give a unique perspective on what it was like to work with many of the CCP leaders.

I just finished reading this book on Chinese history and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a primer on the subject. One interesting fact that could be used by u/Kimiimar0 in the next version is that the voyages (all of them) were led by a Palace Eunuch called Zheng He who became a part of the bureaucracy after being captured from his native place in South-Eastern China, being castrated and being packed off to Beijing as a 11 year old.

They drove an increase in abortions in Japan...for one year.

The more interesting fact is that up until the 50s or so, abortion wasn't really a viable method of birth control in Japan (Buddhism, obviously, isn't hip to the whole 'ending of life' thing) until introduced as a case study by American and global population concerns.

Check out "Unnatural Selection" for more.

http://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Hvistendahl-Mara/dp/1610391519

Well, the obvious immediate go-to would be Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941, which is pretty much exactly what you're looking for.

In addition to describing the design philosophies driving Japanese naval architecture during their buildup to the Second World War, it also describes the evolution of the strategy, tactics, organization, culture, and technology developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The book also has a fairly broad chronological focus, encompassing the entire era between the foundation of the IJN and the opening battles of the Pacific War.

It's considered one of the more prominent Western works on the topic in recent years. It's also fairly engagingly written, so I'd recommend you check it out.

If you're interested in naval air power's development by Japan, I'd also check out Sunburst, by one of the same authors, as well as the acclaimed Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Parshall and Tully, which both provide in-depth analysis of Japanese carrier doctrine and tactics. The latter book is particularly groundbreaking in the Western scholarship of the battle for overturning several longstanding myths surrounding Midway.

EDIT: Fun fact - Kaigun is the only reason why I know who the heck Emile Bertin was :)

I'm reading a history of China that suggests that stone was not as available in the near east compared to Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/China-A-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188

He talks at length about how prevalent packed mud bricks are in construction and much less durable over the centuries it is compared to stone even if it is a perfectly reasonable building material over the short or new term.

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History is amazing. You can find it at What the Book bookstore.

This probably isn't the response you were wanting, but rather than reinventing the wheel I would recommend either reading the Wikipedia pages if you want the short answer to this question or Bruce Cumming's book, "Korea's Place in the Sun" for the long answer to Korea's contemporary history.

http://www.amazon.com/Koreas-Place-Sun-History-Updated/dp/0393327027

Sinologist Jonathan Spence actually has an excellent book on this topic: God's Chinese Son.

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568

Ok. There's numerous examples of his reinterpretations of Daoist and Buddhist concepts in his record here.

I'd also recommend this letter by Yuanwu about Linji which is found in Zen Letters.

Hi! You can start with the book linked above for a summary of the events leading upto 1984. The book is quite detailed. I would also recommend this article on The Gill Doctrine.


For more Sikh history Khushwant Singh's book "History of the Sikhs" first written in 1963 remains a compelling read.

I recommend another Henry Kissinger book, since you liked that one. Try On China. It's about China, and Kissinger knows it well since he and Nixon were the architects for the sudden U.S. surprise opening to China in the middle of the Cold War.

I wouldn't say "as described my me", more me trying to do as I was shown. At one point, one of the older Japanese woodworkers was asked how long it would take me to master my kanna. And without any hesitation, he answered "Five years". And that was only three months ago.

I don't know of any videos in particular. I will recommend Toshio Odate's book: Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit and Use https://www.amazon.com/dp/0941936465
I was re-reading it the other day and everything he wrote was the same as what I was told.

> Hillary Clinton has already admitted to the US helping create Al Qaeda.

Why is this important? Al-Qaeda's origin has been openly traced back to the U.S. training Afghans to fight the Soviets in the late 70's/80's, and certainly isn't some "secret" that was revealed by Clinton.

Look into Operation Cyclone or Charlie Wilson's War for more info.

Speed Tribes is a fascinating book about the Japanese underworld.

If you're looking for a historical, text book type source, then you want A History of the Sikhs Volume 1, 1469-1839 and Volume 2, 1839-2004 by Khushwant Singh. Comprehensive and well researched with plenty of footnotes.

John Keay is pretty awesome

Here is the canonical westerner's guide to taking care of Japanese woodworking tools, which has sections on sharpening, maintaining chisels, etc.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook by Patricia Buckley Ebrey

A very easy read with ancient texts from different periods of Chinese history

Charlie Wilson's War. The book is good. Haven't seen the movie.

For naval commanders in particular:

The last few chapters of [Kaigun] (http://www.amazon.com/Kaigun-Strategy-Technology-Imperial-1887-1941/dp/159114244X)

I think www.combinedfleet.com has good resources too, although I think they focus more on equipment and tactics.

[https://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Third/dp/0393934519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811047&sr=8-1&keywords=the+search+for+modern+china](You need this book) and [https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811112&sr=8-1&keywords=On+China](this book)

It is impossible to answer your question without understanding the "Century of Humiliation." A lot of that is still prevalent in modern China, and those two books will be some solid go-tos. Spence focuses on China; Kissinger discusses the United States.

Edit: I have no idea why it is not formatting correctly.

You would like this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Kaigun-Strategy-Technology-Imperial-1887-1941/dp/159114244X

So it's clear to me that you don't really know all that much about Iran or the Iranian people, but I can suggest some reading material so that you can further educate yourself if you so choose to. I found these books to be quite informative.

1
2
3
4
5

Has anyone read Spence's God's Chinese Son on the Taiping? His book The Search for Modern China was terrific, but I haven't read any of his other works.

I believe the only substantial course out there written for English speakers learning Tibetan is Manual Of Standard Tibetan: Language And Civilization.

Amazon got the hook up, as always

Link: https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316

> It's a fairly recent phenomenon brought about by the actions of the communist regime.

No. This is a myth.

Public defecation was common in 19th century China--their use of nightsoil was largely what kept the country's large population going for centuries. I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/China-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188

His book is a [good read] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Party-Secret-Chinas-Communist/dp/0061708763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407789694&sr=8-1&keywords=party+mcgregor)

The woder that was India - https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-That-Was-India/dp/033043909X

China: A History and India: A History by John Keay.

Bakgrunden här är alltså att 1861 pågår Taipingupproret, ett av världshistoriens blodigaste konflikter än idag, där en religös sekt ledd av Hong Xiuquan - självutnämnd son av gud och bror av Jesus - gick i öppen revolt mot Kinas styrande Qingdynastin. Då försvagad av Opiumkrigen och med en sedan-länge försvagad centralstat. Rebellerna tar över en stor region av södra Kina och Nanjing blir deras huvudstad, 30 mil uppför Yangtzefloden från Shanghai, som då är internationell fördragshamn med sjömän och äventyrare från hela världen.

Så en del västerlänningar därifrån tar värvning som legosoldater - flest för Qingdynastin men ett fåtal för rebellerna. Vapensmuggling till rebellerna är också en lönsam verksamhet som många västerlänningar ägnar sig åt. ("the bulk of foreign gunrunners are British or American, but some are Belgian, Swedish, Prussian or Italian" - Johnathan Spence) Det var också västerländskt hjälp som i slutändan bidrog till att avsluta upproret.

Beskrivnigen slätar över att det sannolika syftet var att sälja vapen för siden. Den utpekar inte männen direkt som rebeller men beskrivningen 'långt hår' och med röda band identifierar dem för samtiden som Taipingrebeller. Det långa håret visade trots mot den av den manchuriska frisyren som Qingdynastin påtvingat kineserna. Kineserna kallade också Taipingrebellerna för 'de långhåriga'.

Okänt varför svensken har ett engelskklingande namn - kan vara ett alias, eller en förengelskning av ett svenskt namn - ingendera vore särskilt ovanligt för sjömän/äventyrare av den tiden.

Start here

The wonder that was India by a l basham.

here is an amazon link.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sikhs-History-Religion-Society/dp/0231068158/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1344217958&sr=8-6&keywords=sikhism+mcleod

http://www.amazon.com/History-Sikhs-Volume-1469-1839-Collection/dp/0195673085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344217976&sr=8-1&keywords=sikhism+khushwant+singh

http://www.amazon.com/History-Sikhs-v2-1839-1988-corrections/dp/0195626443/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1344217976&sr=8-5&keywords=sikhism+khushwant+singh

Is Speed Tribes still considered relevant? Dunno.

Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, Updated Edition Updated Edition

by Nikki R. Keddie

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Iran-Results-Revolution-Updated/dp/0300121059

A couple to get you started...

Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (updated 2006)

Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet (2nd edition, 2008)

You mean bosozoku and post-bubble economy?

I found a link for the book (https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651#immersive-view_1479918284037).

The unfortunate thing about these types of books is that, while they may offer an interesting insight into the time the book was written, the information is perishable. Speed Tribes of Japan was written over 20 years ago, so a LOT has changed in Japan since then.

Limited to one child, they aborted females fetuses, causing the current gender imbalance. Read about it here: https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519

from kissinger's on china, Maoism was predicated on the idea of 'constant revolution.' However, people realized that continual political upheaval was....unproductive, and stopped at 1.

Huangbo:
1
2

Linji: 1 (this is the copy that I have, after discussing it here it sounded better) 2

Bankei: 1 2

etc.

Edit: My university professor translated the xinxinming (based off of lok to's translation) and chunks of the platform sutra (original work i believe), and i've got a copy of that. he suggests for further reading on the platform sutra to read 1 2 3 (as well as zen doctrine of no mind! ha!)

I hate highlighting. I was reading a copy of God's Chinese Son I got off Amazon and I guess it was a textbook because some knob had highlighted half the book, including writing dumb notes in the margins. /r/mildlyinfuriating

On China by Henry Kissinger is the first book to start out with.

I don't know any real comparative political approaches, but another book that outlines the general Western Thinking at that time, like /u/imaspacesuit suggested, is End of History and the Last Man. Realize that End of History was originally written in 1992 and it outlines the neoliberal perspective of the late 1980's and early 1990's after the fall of the Soviet Union:

>What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man

The whole existential threat that the neoliberal world order is trying to wrestle with is whether China proving this thesis wrong, or does it just need more time, or does it need to be forced or coerced to realize the end of history?

Edit: The Wikipedia links a good article from 2008 from Fukuyama which talks about China. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082202395.html

>Not so fast. We are certainly moving into what Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria labels a "post-American" world. But while bullies can still throw their weight around, democracy and capitalism still have no real competitors. The facile historical analogies to earlier eras have two problems: They presuppose a cartoonish view of international politics during these previous periods, and they imply that "authoritarian government" constitutes a clearly defined type of regime -- one that's aggressive abroad, abusive at home and inevitably dangerous to world order. In fact, today's authoritarian governments have little in common, save their lack of democratic institutions. Few have the combination of brawn, cohesion and ideas required to truly dominate the global system, and none dream of overthrowing the globalized economy.

This is what scares so many today: China could potentially dominate and overthrow the globalized economy and world order. The more time goes on, the more strength China gets, and the more brawn, cohesion and ideas required to truly dominate the global system, and might dream of overthrowing the globalized economy.

>The north invaded the south. The US and allies responded and the rest is history.

It really wasn’t that clear-cut. The actual start of the Korean War was preceeded with a large number of border skirmishes along the 38th parallel, with forays over the border by both sides. As many as 10,000 North and South Korean soldiers had already died in these skirmishes before the war even broke out.

The 38th parallel was not respected by any Korean leaders and basically non-existant to the Korean populace (I’ll discuss why in a minute), and both Syngman Rhee and Kim il-Sung were planning to invade the other and become the leader of Korea.

> "On February 8, 1949, the South Korean president met with Ambassador John Muccio and Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall in Seoul. Here the Korean president listed the following as justifications for initiating a war with the North: the South Korean military could easily be increased by 100,000 if it drew from the 150,000 to 200,000 Koreans who had recently fought with the Japanese or the Nationalist Chinese. Moreover, the morale of the South Korean military was greater than that of the North Koreans. If war broke out he expected mass defections from the enemy. Finally, the United Nations’ recognition of South Korea legitimized its rule over the entire peninsula (as stipulated in its constitution). Thus, he concluded, there was "nothing [to be] gained by waiting."

Source

>"Kim I Sek, a South Korean leader, said that Dulles told Rhee, 'Start the aggression against the north, accompanied by a counter-propaganda on the grounds that the North has invaded the South first. If you can but hold out for two weeks, everything will go smoothly, for during this period the United States, by accusing North Korea of attacking South Korea, will compel the United Nations to take action, in whose name land, naval and air forces would be mobilised.'"

Source

Anyways, let’s briefly recount the history of Korea between their liberation from the Japanese and the Korean War to see why the 38th parallel was not widely considered to be a valid demarcation by Koreans.

Before the trusteeship even began the Koreans were building up a new independent government based in Seoul, the PRK. This government was based on networks of local governments (people’s committees), and the local governments in the north were lead by Korean nationalists like Cho Man-sik. While the northern committees had close connections with the Soviets (as they had just fought a mutual war with the Japanese in Manchukuo), the Soviets recognized the PRK as legitimate and allowed these councils to develop independently (Source).

Contrast this with the US, who upon landing in the South after the events of WW2 outlawed the PRK and deposed of it with military force. The US then declared the United States Army Military Government in place of the PRK. This government, being wholly unaware of the situation in Korea (to the point where they didn't even speak the language), was completely incompetent and largely reviled by the Korean people. Even more egregiously, the US military government in Korea appointed mostly former Japanese governors as advisors. This continued until, as part of America's containment policy, diplomats Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel proposed a trustee solution between the US and the Soviets. This trusteeship was also popularly reviled, and both Cho Man-sik in the north, and Kim Ku (who formerly lead the PRK) in the south put up a fight against it. The Soviets, despite having a hands-off relationship with Cho Man-sik previously, were pressured to accept the trusteeship solution (the alternative being that the whole of the peninsula be used as a US foothold directly to the south of the Soviets), and so they found a leader who didn't strongly oppose the trusteeship- Kim Il-sung. Cho Man-sik was eventually put under house arrest. And what happened in the South? They had "elections", except Syngman Rhee was flown into the ROK from America (he was exiled at the time), the elections were rigged, and Kim Ku (the former PRK leader who dissented to the elections) was assassinated by a Korean found in documents declassified in 2001 to have been working for the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps.

So the bottom line of all of this is, the “North vs. South” distinction didn’t really exist in the general Korean mindset prior to the outbreak of the war. There was a predominant opinion, especially in the northern part of the peninsula but also among the southern nationalists, that the ROK government under Rhee was invalid and came about as a result of US aggression and manipulation. That the US initiated acts of aggression in the South is not up for debate, though I think the issue at hand here is how long a complicated chain of cause and effect has to be before you can reasonably call something “self-defense”.

After the war, what the Japanese did was mostly ignored, and communism became the new scary boogieman. The biological weapons created and used by the Japanese were hushed up, and because orientals were discriminated against in the US, and oriental languages were rarely taught in schools, it was very hard for what was happening in Asia to get to the media, or even common people.

Two books that can probably be found in your local library are:
The Korean War: A History
Korea's Place in the Sun

The response by the US to the Korean War was to drastically raise the amount of military spending (which had dropped to almost nothing after WW2) and this rise of the "military industrial complex" drove all the subsequent wars. Cumings is rather controversial for making the claim that the Korean War was the most important war that the US ever fought, as well as being controversial for not calling the North Koreans total loonies.

If you look at current NK propaganda, you'd think that they were still at war with Japan and the US. The NK regime considers their beginning about a decade prior to the semi-official recognition of NK being a country because 1937 is when the Kim family started fighting the Japanese - who had been occupying Korea with the blessing of the west for more than a quarter century.