Popular Asian Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (138)
101.
The Jaguar Smile : A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie EN
IndiaDescription:
In this brilliantly focused and haunting portrait of the people, the politics, the land, and the poetry of Nicaragua, Salman Rushdie brings to the forefront the palpable human facts of a country in the midst of a revolution. Rushdie went to Nicaragua in 1986, harboring no preconceptions of what he might find. What he discovered was overwhelming: a culture of heroes who had turned into inanimate objects and of politicians and warriors who were poets; a land of difficult, often beautiful contradictions. His perceptions always heightened by his special sensitivity to “the views from underneath,” ... continue
102.
The Journey of Humanity : A New History of Wealth and Inequality with Implications for Our Future by Oded Galor EN
IsraelDescription:
A landmark, radically uplifting account of our species’ progress, from one of the world's preeminent thinkers. “Unparalleled in its scope and ambition…All readers will learn something, and many will find the book fascinating.’—The Washington Post “Breathtaking. A new Sapiens!” —L'Express “Completely brilliant and utterly original ... a book for our epoch.”—Jon Snow, former presenter, Channel 4 News (UK) “A wildly ambitious attempt to do for economics what Newton, Darwin or Einstein did for their fields: develop a theory that explains almost everything.” —The New Statesman “An inspiring, readab... continue
103.
The Kingdom of Women : Life, Love and Death in China's Hidden Mountains by Choo WaiHong EN
SingaporeDescription:
Discover the kingdom where women rule. A truly fascinating account of one of the world's last matrilineal societies, told through the eyes of a woman who left her corporate life in Hong Kong to discover more about their culture.
104.
The Lover by Marguerite Duras EN
VietnamDescription:
Set in prewar Indochina, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover. The author evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France's colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcasts.
Malaysia106.
The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan Nguyen EN
Description:
The International Bestseller New York Times Editors’ Choice SelectionWinner of the 2020 Lannan Literary Awards Fellowship "[An] absorbing, stirring novel . . . that, in more than one sense, remedies history." —The New York Times Book Review “A triumph, a novelistic rendition of one of the most difficult times in Vietnamese history . . . Vast in scope and intimate in its telling . . . Moving and riveting.” —VIET THANH NGUYEN, author of The Sympathizer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In... continue
107.
The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya EN
Country: Asia / 
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Description:
Leila, a young classical pianist, dreams of winning international competitions and bringing awards to her beloved country Azerbaijan. When she receives an assignment from her communist mentor to spy on a music shop suspected of traitorous Western influences, she is determined to prove her worth to the Party. When Leila meets Tahir, the painter who owns the music shop, his jazz recordings, abstract art, and subversive political opinions crack open the veneer of the world she's been living in. Now her comrades force her to make an impossible choice.
108.
The Polish Girl by Malka Adler EN
Description:
In the eye of the war That tore the world apart A mother wants a son A daughter needs a mother
109.
The Punkhawala and the Prostitute by Wesley Leon Aroozoo EN
Description:
Behind the golden façade of a land filled with opportunities dwell two destitute souls, shipped to Singapore in the late 1800s. Oseki, an ingenue forced into prostitution as a karayuki, grapples with being betrayed by her own father and transforms into a monster she can’t recognise. Gobind, a deaf convict from India, serves his sentence as a punkhawala to a British hunter obsessed with killing Rimau Satan, a man-eating tiger of mythic proportions. Whenever Gobind hunts with his master, his butchered memories lurk in the darkness, aching to pounce. When Oseki’s and Gobind’s paths intertwine, th... continue
110.
The Railway by Hamid Ismailov, Robert Chandler EN
Country: Asia / 
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Description:
Set mainly in Uzbekistan between 1900 and 1980, this compelling novel introduces to us the inhabitants of the small town of Gilas on the ancient Silk Route. Among those whose stories we hear are Mefody-Jurisprudence, the town's alcoholic intellectual; Father Ioann, a Russian priest; Kara-Musayev the Younger, the chief of police; and Umarali-Moneybags, the old moneylender. Their colorful lives offer a unique and comic picture of a little-known land populated by outgoing Mullahs, incoming Bolsheviks, and a plethora of Uzbeks, Russians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Tatars, and Gypsies. At the heart o... continue