Asia Audiobooks | History

Sisters of Mokama: The Pioneering Women Who Brought Hope and Healing to India

"'Sisters of Mokama is proof that faith and courage does move mountains.'-Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone The never-before-told story of six intrepid Kentucky nuns, their journey to build a hospital in the poorest state in India, and the Indian nurses whose lives would never be the same New York Times editor Jyoti Thottam's mother was part of an extraordinary group of Indian women. Born in 1946, a time when few women dared to leave their house without the protection of a man, she left home by herself at just fifteen years old and traveled to Bihar-an impoverished and isolated state in northern India that had been one of the bloodiest regions of Partition-in order to train to be a nurse under the tutelage of the determined and resourceful Appalachian nuns who ran Nazareth Hospital. Like Thottam's mother's journey, the hospital was a radical undertaking: it was run almost entirely by women, who insisted on giving the highest possible standard of care to everyone who walked through its doors, regardless of caste or religion. Fascinated by her mother's story, Thottam set out to discover the full story of Nazareth Hospital, which had been established in 1947 by six nuns from Kentucky. With no knowledge of Hindi, and the awareness that they would likely never see their families again, the sisters had traveled to the small town of Mokama determined to live up to the pioneer spirit of their order, founded in the rough hills of the Kentucky frontier. A year later, they opened the doors of the hospital; soon they began taking in young Indian women as nursing students, offering them an opportunity that would change their lives. One of those women, of course, was Thottam's mother. In Sisters of Mokama, Thottam draws upon twenty years' worth of research to tell this inspiring story for the first time. She brings to life the hopes, struggles, and accomplishments of these ordinary women-both American and Indian-who succeeded against the odds during the tumult and trauma of the years after World War II and Partition. Pain and loss were everywhere for the women of that time, but the collapse of the old orders provided the women of Nazareth Hospital with an opening-a chance to create for themselves lives that would never have been possible otherwise."

Jyoti Thottam (Author), Laura Jennings (Narrator)

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Chindit: The inside story of one of World War Two's most dramatic behind-the-lines operations

"Brought to you by Penguin. 1943. Major-General Orde Wingate startles the military world by commanding a daring raid in the heart of Japanese-occupied Burma. But this was just the beginning. In the following year, Wingate spearheaded an even more ambitious operation, flying 10,000 men and 1,000 animals behind Japanese lines to disrupt communications and harass the Japanese forces. With close tactical support from Colonel Philip Cochran, Chindit was the name given to these operations and the men who made them happen. This is their story, told by one man who was at the heart of it all. Cipher officer Richard Rhodes James tells the story of the preparations in central India, the flights deep into enemy territory and the campaign of guerrilla operations that followed. Taking the reader through the remote wilds of the jungle, showing the parching heat and the relentless rain that these men experienced, Rhodes James paints a detailed portrait of a band of brothers fighting for survival. © Richard Rhodes James 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022"

Richard Rhodes James (Author), Al Murray (Narrator)

Audiobook

China's Leaders: From Mao to Now

"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China over seventy years ago, five paramount leaders have shaped the fates and fortunes of the nation and the ruling Chinese Communist Party: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. Under their leaderships, China has undergone an extraordinary transformation from an undeveloped and insular country to a comprehensive world power. In this definitive study, renowned Sinologist David Shambaugh offers a refreshing account of China's dramatic post-revolutionary history through the prism of those who ruled it. Exploring the persona, formative socialization, psychology, and professional experiences of each leader, Shambaugh shows how their differing leadership styles and tactics of rule shaped China domestically and internationally: Mao was a populist tyrant, Deng a pragmatic Leninist, Jiang a bureaucratic politician, Hu a technocratic apparatchik, and Xi a modern emperor. Covering the full scope of these leaders' personalities and power, this is an illuminating guide to China's modern history and understanding how China has become the superpower of today."

David Shambaugh (Author), Nancy Wu (Narrator)

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[German] - Der China Code

"China ist eine der leistungsfähigsten Volkswirtschaften! Aber wie ist es dazu gekommen? Und wie wirkt sich das auf andere Länder, insbesondere Deutschland aus? Diese und viele weitere Fragen beantwortet der China-Experte Frank Sieren in 'Der China Code'. Auf unterhaltsame und informative Art und Weise zeigt Sieren seinen Leser*innen die Parallelen zwischen Deutschland und China auf. Ein interessantes Buch über Wirtschaft, Politik und Kultur. -"

Frank Sieren (Author), Falk Werner (Narrator)

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Social Activists: Peaceful Protestors and Famous Resistance Figures

"The following three topics will be covered in this book: Martin Luther King - From 1955 till his assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist clergyman and activist who ended up being the most identifiable voice and leader in the American civil liberties movement. King used nonviolence and civil disobedience to advance civil liberties, inspired by his Christian convictions and Mahatma Gandhi's tranquil work. He was the child of Martin Luther King Sr., an early civil liberties leader and clergyman. King marched for black people's right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other fundamental civil liberties, and he led them. Mahatma Gandhi - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian attorney, anti-colonial patriot, and political ethicist who used nonviolent resistance to lead the triumphant struggle for India's independence from British rule, motivating civil liberties and liberty movements around the globe. The epithet Mahtm (which means 'great-souled' or 'age-old' in Sanskrit) was at first appointed to him in South Africa in the year 1914 and is now used all across the world. Gandhi was born into a Hindu family in seaside Gujarat and studied law at the Inner Temple in London. In the year 1893, he came to South Africa to represent an Indian business owner in a case after 2 years in India, where he was not able to establish a rewarding law practice. Mother Teresa - Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, typically referred to as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in the Catholic Church, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje (today the capital of North Macedonia), which was then part of the Ottoman Empire's Kosovo Vilayet. After eighteen years in Skopje, she went to Ireland and ultimately to India, where she spent the remainder of her life."

Kelly Mass (Author), Doug Greene (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Marathi] - Bajiprabhu Deshpande

Aniruddha Rajderkar (Author), Abhijit Khandakekar (Narrator)

Audiobook

A History of Korea, 3rd ed.

"This accessible and engaging new edition continues to be one of the leading introductory textbooks on Korean history. Fully revised throughout, the author takes a thematic and chronological approach to guide listeners from early state formation and the dynastic eras to the modern experience. Episodic accounts in each chapter are discussed in context with extensive examination of how the events and themes under consideration have been viewed up to the present day. By discussing recurring themes such as collective identity, external influence, social hierarchy, and family and gender, the author introduces the major historical events, patterns and debates that have shaped both North and South Korea over the past 1500 years. This textbook is essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students of history, and those studying Korean or Asian history in particular. The first half of the book covers the pre-twentieth century era, and the second half the modern era, reflecting the structure of most Korean history courses."

Kyung Moon Hwang (Author), Eric Jason Martin (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China

"A war between China and the US would be catastrophic, deadly, and destructive. Unfortunately, it is no longer unthinkable. The relationship between the US and China, the world's two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. It rests on a seismic fault-of cultural misunderstanding, historical grievance, and ideological incompatibility. No other nations are so quick to offend and be offended. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leadership whose judgment will determine if a war will be fought. The Avoidable War demystifies the actions of both sides, explaining and translating them for the benefit of the other. Geopolitical disaster is still avoidable, but only if these two giants can find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests through what Rudd calls "managed strategic competition." Should they fail, down that path lies the possibility of a war that could rewrite the future of both countries, and the world."

Kevin Rudd (Author), Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Brief History of Thailand: Monarchy, War and Resilience: The Fascinating Story of the Gilded Kingd

"A Brief History of Thailand offers an engaging look at the country's last 250 years—from coups and violent massacres to the invention of Pad Thai in the 1930s. Listeners will learn the vibrant story of Thailand's emergence as a prosperous Buddhist state, its transformation from traditional kingdom to democratic constitutional monarchy, and its subsequent rise to prominence in Southeast Asian affairs. Thailand's dramatic history spans centuries of conflict, and this book recounts many of these fascinating episodes, including: ● The bloodless Siamese Revolution of 1932 that established overnight the first constitutional monarchy in Asia ● The Japanese invasion of Thailand and construction of the 'Bridge Over the River Kwai' ● The mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol, murdered in his bed in 1946, and a source of controversy ever since With this book, historian and professor Richard A. Ruth has skillfully crafted an accessible cultural and political history of an understudied nation. Covering events through the King's death in 2016, A Brief History of Thailand will be of interest to students, travelers, and anyone hoping to learn more about this part of the world."

Richard A. Ruth (Author), Anne James (Narrator)

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The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam

"On May 7, 1954, when the bullets stopped and the air stilled in Dien Bien Phu, there was no doubt that Vietnam could fight a mighty colonial power and win. After nearly a decade of struggle, a nation forged in the crucible of war had achieved a victory undreamed of by any other national liberation movement. The Road to Dien Bien Phu tells the story of how Ho Chi Minh turned a ragtag guerrilla army into a modern fighting force capable of bringing down the formidable French army. Christopher Goscha shows how Ho transformed Vietnam from a decentralized guerrilla state based in the countryside to a single-party communist state shaped by a specific form of 'War Communism.' Goscha discusses how the Vietnamese operated both states through economics, trade, policing, information gathering, and communications technology. He challenges the wisdom of counterinsurgency methods developed by the French and still used by the Americans today, and explains why the First Indochina War was arguably the most brutal war of decolonization in the twentieth century, killing a million Vietnamese, most of them civilians. Panoramic in scope, The Road to Dien Bien Phu transforms our understanding of this conflict and the one the United States would later enter, and sheds new light on communist warfare and statecraft in East Asia today."

Christopher Goscha (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

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Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America's Missing Airmen in China during World War II

"In Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America's Missing Airmen in China during World War II, historian Daniel Jackson sheds light on the stories of downed aviators who attempted to evade capture by the Japanese in their bid to return to Allied territory. He reveals that the heroism of these airmen was equaled, and often exceeded, by the Chinese soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to return them safely to American hands. His comprehensive research even shows that helping downed American airmen transcended the deep political divisions of wartime China, with Nationalists, Communists, and even alleged collaborators realizing the commonality of their struggle against the Japanese. Drawing extensively on sources and interviews, Jackson sketches an epic historical drama documenting the astonishing extent of Sino-American cooperation. Fallen Tigers is an incredible story of survival amid a brutal war, insightfully illustrating the relationship between missing American airmen and their Chinese allies who were willing to save their lives at any cost. Based on archival research and filled with compelling personal narratives from memoirs, wartime diaries, and interviews with veterans and war survivors, Fallen Tigers will appeal to history buffs and scholars interested in WWII, US military aviation, and international relations between the United States and China."

Daniel Jackson (Author), Jonathan Yen (Narrator)

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Pakistan: A Very Short Introduction

"What is Pakistan? The name refers to a seventy-year-old post-colonial product of the bloodiest partition of territory and population that accompanied the end of British empire in South Asia. But the region of the Indus Valley has a four-thousand-year-old history, and was the site of one of the earliest and greatest riverine civilizations in the world. Although the modern nation of Pakistan as we know it was created as a homeland for the Muslims of British India, it is impossible to understand the complex tapestry of linguistic, ethnic, and cultural identities and tensions of the region without tracing its deep past. This Very Short Introduction looks at Pakistan as one of the two nation-states of the Indian sub-continent that emerged in 1947. Pippa Virdee reaches into the ancient past to demonstrate the influence of trajectories of human settlement and civilization on Pakistan's contemporary political arena, and shows how the longer continuities between the land and its peoples are as important as the short-term changes in the political landscape. She considers Pakistan's religion and society, the state and the military, everyday life, popular culture, languages and literature, as well as Pakistan's relationship with the rest of the world. Virdee also looks to the challenges of the twenty-first century and the future of Pakistan."

Pippa Virdee (Author), Shakira Shute (Narrator)

Audiobook

Asia Audiobooks in History