exploration colonialism encyclopedia extraordinary

books:

Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland

HarperCollins Publishers, 1998

Some 3500 entries, totalling 750,000 words written by John and Julia Keay and nearly 150 expert contributors (including public figures such as Lord Home, David Steel and Fitzroy MacLean and a host of academics), describe all the main topographical, historical, social, architectural and industrial features of Scotland from A-Z. In addition, the book includes biographical entries on eminent Scots men and women of the past.

London Encyclopaedia

3 reviews
Christopher Hibbert, Ben Weinreb, ...

Trans-Atlantic Pubns, 2008

Remarkable achievement.
For anyone who has any interest in London beyond the superficial, this book is a feast. Definitive scholarly articles about virtually any London topic one could imagine. 1060 pages, 6 1/2" x 9 1/2" (i.e., a LOT of words)in the softcover edition I have. Bought it in London in November, 1996, for 25 pounds

The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company

5 reviews
John Keay

HarperCollins UK, 1993

Tea, Silk, Spices and Stiff Upper Lips
The East India Company, which described itself as "the Grandest Society of Merchants in the Universe," controlled half the world's trade at its height. This grand book, obviously the subject of many years of research, often reads more like an adventure yarn than a book about a business, even the grandest in the universe. The Company, which received its Royal Charter on the last day of 1600, ...

China: A History

1 review
John Keay

HarperPress, 2008

A very readable account
John Keay is correct in observing that Chinese history is often impenetrable to all but the specialist. Yet it is an important and ancient history and one many people would like to know more about. So he has set out to do for China what he did for India in India: A History and make it accessible to an English speaking audience. THis is a well written account of a fascinating country and its ...

The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named

16 reviews
John Keay

Harper Perennial, 2001

John Keay Hits a Gold Mine of History
An exhilarating history of two forgotten men, first William Lambton and then his successor Sir George Everest, who by sheer will power overcame enormous contrary forces to lay out the first geodetic survey of India. With more suspense than a Harrison Ford movie, John Keay tells us how the large teams that each Surveyor General commanded, from technicians down to coolies, battled numerous huge ...

India: A History

48 reviews
John Keay

Grove Press, 2001

A very well received student assistance
I am currently undertaking my last year of schooling and this thorough, historical text is an immense help. It is so helpful in providing Modern History students with the background and fine details of India through the years and is a fascinating read!!

India Discovered

3 reviews
John Keay

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

Revealing
I first heard about John Keay in another book by William Dalrymple where he wrote that John was an inspiration to him to write about India. This in turn inspired me to buy this book. As an Indian, this book was revealing and awe-inspiring by the scope of the discoveries that it describes. It is unimaginable that many (even more) important centres of history/culture have been destroyed or are ...

The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company

6 reviews
John Keay

Scribner, 1994

Historical writing at its best!
To condense the history of the East India Company into one book is no mean feat. To manage to do so in such an entertaining package is a remarkable achievement. The narrative reads like an adventure story and grips the reader from the opening pages. The author vividly captures the atmosphere of the various locations and brings the characters of the "Honourable Company" and its merchant ...

The Spice Route: A History (California Studies in Food and Culture)

3 reviews
John Keay

University of California Press, 2007

Pepper, Cloves and other Obsessions
For over two millennium the Western world was obsessed with the spice products of the far east - specifically India, Sri Lanka and the islands of the Malaysian and Indonesian Archipelagos. Obsessed to the point that from the time of the Roman empire onwards Europe ran a constant trade deficit with these countries and with the Arab cultures who for much of the time acted as middlemen. This fine ...

Explorers of the Western Himalayas 1820-1895

1 review
John Keay

Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1997

Amazing terrain & amazing people
A facinating read of a little known history. The original explorers of these remote mountains were a motely collection of eccentrics. The author brings these characters to life with a dry sense of humour & an eye for detail as well as thouroughly researched history. It is however the description of this amazing landscape that steals the show. The description of Mt.Nangar Parbat "the true ...

Eccentric Travellers: Excursions with Seven Extraordinary Figures from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth ...

1 review
John Keay

Tarcher, 1983

Mad Dogs And Englishmen...
If you enjoy "armchair adventure" travel books I think you will find "Eccentric Travellers" well worth your time. You get the stories of 7 different people, with the added bonus that they were all engagingly eccentric individuals. Each chapter runs to about 30 pages, and Mr. Keay writes well. He has a deft touch, a good sense of humor, and obvious sympathy for the brave and quirky oddballs he has ...

EMPIRES END: A History of the Far East from High Colonialism to Hong Kong

2 reviews
John Keay

Scribner, 1997

Excellent overview of Western empires in East Asia
At one time almost all of the countries of East Asia - over half of the world's population if one included India - were under varying degrees of colonial control by the nations of the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Some of these areas had been under imperial control for centuries, yet within a few decades of the end of World War II, all were to one degree or ...

Tibet

3 reviews
John Keay

Te Neues Publishing Company, 2000

Heart and Soul
I purchased this book from.... because I was interested in seeing just what an old Russian FT-2 panoramic camera could do. That is the type of camera Poncar used to take the primarily landscape photographs shot in a variety of areas of Tibet shown in this book. Frankly, I was amazed at the quality. They are superb though one can tell these were not made with large format equipment. The ...

Mad about the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South -East Asia
John Keay

HarperCollins Publishers, 2005

A dramatic journey that both retraces the historic voyage of France's greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river and paints a portrait of the river and its peoples today. Any notion of sailing up the Mekong in homage to Francis Garnier has been unthinkable till now. From its delta in Vietnam up through Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and on into China, the Mekong has been a no-go river, its turbulent waters fouled by ...

Gilgit Game

2 reviews
John Keay Esq.

John Murray, 2003

Best Book Ever on the History of this Area
I am a student of the history of this region of the world and I must state that "The Gilgit Game" is by far the best book ever written on this subject. I consult it all the time. "The Gilgit Game" describes the real history of the "Great Game" as described in the Rudyard Kipling book "Kim". During this period, the Russians under the Czar were capturing lands to their south, while at the same ...

The Mammoth Book of Explorers (Mammoth Books)

Running Press, 2002

During the golden age of exploration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the intrepid travelers emerged from the jungles, deserts, and ice caps of the world's remotest locations, they were greeted by an awestruck public as though they had returned from the dead or other worlds. The Mammoth Book of Explorers recaptures the thrill of the unknown with first-hand accounts of expeditions across all seven continents. In Africa, there is ...

Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland

HarperCollins Publishers, 2001

This peerless reference work on all things Scottish contains over 4,000 separate entries and 500 illustrations. Now in a new edition, it is a mine of information, a landmark literary achievement, and an irresistibly readable guide.

Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East

12 reviews
John Keay

W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Masterly
This brilliant and somewhat sardonic account of how the Middle East has been mismanaged by the European Powers between 1900 and 1960 presents an admirable interplay between the historical forces behind the events and the vividly described personalities involved with them: it is hard, after reading this book, to maintain the structuralist view of history: that individuals are ultimately ...

Into India

4 reviews
John Keay

South Asia Books, 2000

Classic!!
If you are looking for an introduction to India that goes deep below the surface and yet does not fill up pages - this is the book. This book is a classic and no review will do full justice to it. The book is organized geographically and for each of those regions Keay gives us a view of the people, culture and tourist places in that order of importance. People seem to be of most importance to ...

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