New Releases by David Christian

Interpreting Aristotle''s theistic philosophy remains a source of controversy; arguments concerning Aristotle''s deity range from myth to monotheism. My objective is two-fold: first, I show how Aristotle''s works build up to God by examining Posterior Analytics, De Anima, the Physics, the Metaphysics and Nicomachean Ethics . The texts are studied in the light of contemporary Aristotelian scholarship representing the varying positions and their implications concerning Aristotle''s theism. Second, on the basis of these five works, I argue that Aristotle''s theology does not conflict with the Judeo-Christian understanding of God.

Realms of the Silk Roads Part 1: New Sources on Inner Asian History N. Sims-Williams, Some Reflections on Zoroastrianism in Sogdiana and Bactria; G. Mikkelsen, Traite/Sermon on the Light-Nous in Chinese and its Parallels in the Parthian, Sogdian and Old Turkish; A.V.G. Betts & V.N. Yagodin, Hunting Traps on the Ustiurt Plateau, Uzbekistan. Part 2: Long Distance Contacts S. Lieu, Byzantium, Persia and China: Interstate Relations on the Eve of the Islamic Conquest; D. Christian, Silk Roads or Steppe Roads ? The Silk Roads in World History; M. Underdown, The Northern Silk Road: Ties between Turfan and Korea. Part 3: Political Life C. Benjamin, The Yuezhi and their Neighbours: Evidence for the Yuezhi in the Chinese Sources c. 220 - c. 25 BCE; K. Nourzhanov, Politics of National Reconciliation in Tajikistan: From Peace Talks to (Partial) Political Settlements; S. Akbarzadeh, Islam and Regional Stability in Central Asia; C. Mackerras, Relations Between the Uygur State and China''s Tang Dynasty, 744-840. Part 4: Perspectives G. Watson, Prestigious Peregrinations : British Travellers in Central Asia c. 1830-1914; F. Patrikeeff, The Geopolitics of Myth: Interwar Northeast Asia and Images of an Inner Asian Empire; D. Thwaites, The Road to Urumqui: Zunun Kadir''s Lost World; F. Patrikeeff & J. Perkins, National and Imperial Identity: A Triptych of Baltic Germans in Inner Asia. Part 5: Teaching Inner Asian History R. Fletcher & E. Hetherington, The China TimeMap Project: China and the Silk Roads; M. With, Creating Responsible Educational Images of Judaic / Christian / Islamic Relations.

This is a history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia from the time of the first inhabitants of the region up to the break up of the Mongol Empire in 1260AD.

It is impossible to make sense of the modern world without understanding the vast, and ultimately unsuccessful, experiment with Communism that began in Russia in 1917. Imperial and Soviet Russia offers a coherent interpretation of the turbulent history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union during the last two centuries. Tracing the roots of the Communist experiment in the peasant world of traditional Russia, it shows how the harsh social and economic changes of the nineteenth century created enough dislocation to topple the tsarist regime and bring the Bolsheviks to power in 1917.

Revised edition of a book first published in 1986. This edition has been updated and expanded to include new chapters on the Brezhnev era and perestroika and to take into account the dissolution of the Soviet system. The text is well illustrated and is supported by a statistical appendix, an annotated bibliography, a glossary, chronology and an index.

The U.S. Army''s youngest and most decorated officer in Vietnam tells his extraordinary story. Christian, code-named Victor Six, turned a misfit Army recon platoon into one of the most acclaimed units of the Vietnam War--and later needed 33 operations for napalm burns. Christian later became a champion of veteran''s rights and gave the final dedication at the Vietnam Memorial. Photographs.

This is a study of the social, economic, and political role of Vodka in nineteenth-century Russia. Since the `Green Serpent'' first appeared in sixteenth-century Muscovy, it has played a vital part in Russian life. Vodka became an essential part of Russian working-class celebrations: personal, religious, and commercial. Trade in Vodka redistributed wealth upwards through Russian society over several centuries. Indeed, Russia''s status as a great power was underpinned by it: by the nineteenth century, it generated one-third of government revenue - enough to cover most of the costs of the vast army. The dependence on Vodka of both people and state has endured into the Gorbachev era. But despite Vodka''s key role in Russian history, and the complex network of corruption associated with it, the subject has been ignored by most historians until now. This study concentrates on an important transitional era in the history of Vodka: the early nineteenth century. During this period, Vodka taxes played the role that salt taxes had played in the ancien r--eacute--;gime in France. The abolition of the tax farm in 1863 should be seen as one of the most important of the `Great Reforms'' of the 1860s, an era which, in many ways, parallels the glasnost of the 1980s.

Bread and Salt - a literal translation of the Russian word for hospitality - explores the social and economic implications of eating and drinking in Russia in the thousand years before 1900. Eating and drinking are viewed here as social activities which involves the economics of production, storage and distribution of food stuffs. These activities attract both social controls and state taxation; in this way the everyday process of eating and drinking is linked with the history of Russia. The dominance of grain in the diet throughout the period and the importance of salt, as implied in the title, are dealt with, as are the early Russian beer-drinking fraternities. The relatively late introduction of spirits, in the from of vodka, and it disastrous consequences in social terms are described. Tea and the samovar, also much more a latecomer than is generally realized, did little to diminish excessive drinking. Drinking, in any event, was by no means discourage by the state, since it was a major source of state income. The final section of the book looks at rural diets in the nineteenth century, when some variation and new items, such as the potato, became important. At the same time, peasants depended basically on the grain crop, as they had for thousands of years. Forced by txation to enter the market, afflicted by severe famines towards the end of the century, many peasants ate and drank no better as a result of the modernization of the county.