The author interweaves his personal experiences in China with a discussion of the history, culture, and present situation of the Chinese people and the factors that have formed the Chinese character

For centuries China has fueled the creative imagination and inspired fashion. This stunning publication explores the influence of Chinese art, film, and aesthetics on international fashion designers, including Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent.

The convulsive history of foreign journalists in China starts with newspapers printed in the European factories of Canton in the 1820s. It also starts with a duel between two editors over the future of China and ends with a fistfight in Shanghai over therevolution. This book tells the story of China's foreign journalists.

In these articles, Gregory Schopen once again displays the erudition and originality that have contributed to a major shift in the way that Indian Buddhism is perceived, understood, and studied.

A writer & CRITIC with a broad grasp of her subject, an acute eye for talent (and occasionally genius), and a sure prose style, Selma Lanes is our grande dame of children's literature. She wrote the definitive book on Maurice Sendak. She has contributed countless articles on the primary protagonists and players in the field, many published in her previous book, Down the Rabbit Hole. This new collection includes further essays on the masters she most admires: Sendak, Steig, Gorey, L. Frank Baum, Tomi Ungerer, Jack Keats, Margot Zemach, and one editor of genius, Ursula Nordstrom. What concerns Lanes most is the integration of text and image, the abilities of authors and artists of picture books to somehow change our perceptions. In a larger sense, she asks, What makes some children's books work and others fail? How does art for the young reflect, distort or create a social perspective? Earlier she observed, With the possible exception of advertising and film, no popular medium in our time has been as experimental, inventive, and simply alive as children's books. In the present atmosphere of mergers and corporate conglomerates that now define mainstream publishing, she wonders if this remains true. Is the field still dominated, as formerly, by a devoted cadre of geniuses able to spot and encourage talent, willing to take risks, and ferocious in their desire to bring children the best that authors and illustrators have to offer? This book provides her answers, as well as affectionate salutes to the writers and artists whose work deserves to be remembered.

“Burmese Looking Glass is a contribution to the literature of human rights and to the literature of high adventure.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review As captivating as the most thrilling novel, Burmese Looking Glass tells the story of tribal peoples who, though ravaged by malaria and weakened by poverty, are unforgettably brave. Author Edith T. Mirante first crossed illegally from Thailand into Burma in 1983. There she discovered the hidden conflict that has despoiled the country since the close of World War II. She met commandos and refugees and learned firsthand the machinations of Golden Triangle narcotics trafficking. Mirante was the first Westerner to march with the rebels from the fabled Three Pagodas Pass to the Andaman Sea. She taught karate to women soldiers, was ritually tattooed by a Shan sayah “spirit doctor,” lobbied successfully against US government donation of Agent Orange chemicals to the dictatorship, and was deported from Thailand in 1988. “A dramatic but caring book in which Mirante’s blithe tone doesn’t disguise her earnest concern for the worsening conditions faced by the Burmese hill tribes.” —Kirkus Reviews