Podcast with Chloe Gong, author of “These Violent Delights”
“These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume.”
ARB podcast with David Chaffetz, author of “Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou”
The “diva” is a common trope when we talk about culture. We normally think of the diva as a Western construction: the opera singer, the Broadway actress, the movie star. A woman of outstanding talent, whose personality and ability are both larger-than-life.
ARB podcast with Devadas Krishnadas, author of “Confronting COVID-19: A Strategic Playbook for Leaders and Decision Makers”
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every country around the world in a manner not seen since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, and is perhaps one of the most transformative events in decades. Most countries and governments have played catch-up to the pandemic, trying to get a handle on case numbers after an explosive increase….
ARB podcast with Sophia Chang, author of “The Baddest Bitch in the Room”
Enter the Wu-Tang. Return to the 36 Chambers. People listening to these albums by the Wu-Tang Clan and its members likely never knew about Sophia Chang: a Korean-Canadian woman who worked with members like RZA, ODB and Method Man. Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest called Sophia Chang “an integral part of the golden era…
ARB podcast with Jonathan C Slaght, author of “Owls of the Eastern Ice”
The Blakiston’s fish owl is the world’s largest living species of owl, with larger females of the species weighing as much as ten pounds. It lives in the Russian Far East and Northern Japan. It is also endangered: global populations are estimated to be around 1500 owls in total.
ARB podcast with Susie Yang, author of “White Ivy”
“Ivy Lin was a thief but you would never know it to look at her.” White Ivy, the debut novel by Susie Yang, is the story of Ivy Lin, a Chinese-American teenager growing up just outside of Boston, where she struggles to achieve the trappings of suburban teenagerhood. Years later, as a 27-year-old teacher haunted…
ARB podcast with Sunisa Manning, author of “A Good True Thai”
Det, Chang and Lek are young university students living in Thailand during the 1970s. It is a turbulent time for the country’s politics: student-led protests in 1973 succeeded in (briefly) overthrowing the country’s military dictatorship. Det, Chang and Lek—three students from very different backgrounds—navigate the country’s changing politics from the streets of Bangkok to the…
ARB podcast with Diana Darke, author of “Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe”
Visitors around the world have traveled to Europe to see the tall spires and stained glass windows of the continent’s Gothic cathedrals: in Cologne, Chartres, Milan, Florence, York and Paris. The trappings of Gothic architecture have become shorthand for “medieval Europe”. Yet in Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe, Diana Darke investigates…
ARB podcast with Kishore Mahbubani, author of “Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy”
As China grows into a major regional and global power, there are many questions about what this means for the international system. Does China threaten the United States? Does Washington want to aggressively contain China? Are we really facing a “New Cold War”? And what does this mean for everyone else?
“Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace” by Michael Pettis and Matthew Klein
“Decoupling” is the international relations word-of-the-day. American politicians have long criticized the massive trade deficit between the United States and China, but pandemic-driven disruptions to supply chains and deepening tensions between Beijing and Washington have now encouraged policies to start rolling back the links between the two economies. And it’s not just the United States:…
“Rebel City: Hong Kong’s Year of Water and Fire”, edited by Zuraidah Ibrahim and Jeffie Lam
There will, one imagines, be quite a few books written about Hong Kong’s year of protests, from journalistic retellings from the front-lines, memoirs from influential figures, and attempts to tie the protests to a broader “New Cold War” narrative. There have already been a few.
“China’s Hong Kong: The Politics of a Global City” by Tim Summers
China’s Hong Kong has the rare privilege of being a book made extremely timely due to current events. The anti-extradition bill protests that have raged for months have made Hong Kong’s governance—normally interesting only to those that live in the city—a topic of global concern.
“Sunset Survivors”: an interview with Lindsay Varty
Nicholas Gordon talks to Lindsay Varty, author of Sunset Survivors: Meet The People Who Are Keeping Hong Kong’s Traditional Industries Alive.
“Under Red Skies: Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China” by Karoline Kan
Under Red Skies is being plugged as the first English-language memoir by a Chinese millennial, which already sets it apart from other books about China’s younger generation. Books like Alec Ash’s Wish Lanterns or Zak Dychtwald’s Young China, for all of their merits, were written by expats. In contrast, Chinese-born Karoline Kan tells the story…
“India Connected: How the Smartphone is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy” by Ravi Agrawal
With almost 17% year-on-year growth, India’s is the world’s fastest growing smartphone population; more than a billion phones are estimated to be sold over the next five years. There are now more Indians with smartphones than the entire population of the United States, driven by phones that cost as little as 10,000 rupees (US$150).
