Traces the rewards and pitfalls of a Chinese mother's exercise in extreme parenting, describing the exacting standards applied to grades, music lessons, and avoidance of Western cultural practices.

"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the growth of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols and the Black Death to the Great Game...

The bestselling author of The Crusades Through Arab Eyes traces how civilizations have drifted apart throughout the 20th century and now lack the solidarity to address global threats to humankind.

"Maalouf is a thoughtful, humane and passionate interlocutor." — The New York Times Book Review

The United States is on the verge of losing all moral credibility. The European Union is in the process of breaking...

Describes the surging growth of the economies of China, India, and Brazil while the United States and other advanced economies have stalled.

"'Surprising and richly satisfying' (Megan Marshall); 'Beautifully crafted...subtle, polished, and poised' (Stacy Schiff); In 1871, five young girls were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan. Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors--Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige...