Books published by C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

An intimate portrait of life in one of the most vibrant cities on Earth.

Decolonisation has lost its way. Originally a struggle to escape the West's direct political and economic control, it has become a catch-all idea, often for performing "morality" or "authenticity;" it suffocates African thought and denies African agency. Olúfemi Táíwò fiercely rejects the indiscriminate application of 'decolonisation' to everything from literature, language and philosophy to sociology, psychology and medicine. He argues that the decolonisation industry, obsessed with cataloguing wrongs, is seriously harming scholarship on and in Africa. He finds 'decolonisation' of culture intellectually unsound and wholly unrealistic, conflating modernity with coloniality, and groundlessly advocating an open-ended undoing of global society's foundations. Worst of all, today's movement attacks its own cause: "decolorisers" themselves are disregarding, infantilizing and imposing values on contemporary African thinkers. This powerful, much-needed intervention questions whether today's 'decolonisation' truly serves African empowerment. Táíwò's is a bold challenge to respect African intellectuals as innovative adaptors, appropriators and synthesizers of ideas they have always seen as universally relevant.

A journalist recounts the tragic facts of Nigeria's Biafra war, reflecting on his coverage at the time and how the war has been remembered since.

Gegout's book offers a sharp rebuke to those who believe that altruism is the guiding principle of Western intervention in Africa.

This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential ''super-spreader'' events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa''s Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly.To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people''s science, local knowledge and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences between developments in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, while exploring how the former apartheid homelands-commonly, yet problematically, represented as former ''labour reserves''-have since been reconstituted as new home-spaces. In short, it explains why rural people have been so angered by the state''s assault on their cultural practices and institutions in the time of Covid.

Considers the impact of technologies and scientific ideas on the practice of warfare and the handling of the perennial tension between order and chaos on the battlefield. This work explores modern warfare as the constitution of complex social assemblages of machines whose integration has been made through the deployment of scientific methodology.

From two seasoned strategic advisers, a withering critique of the West's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, looking to the future in that country and beyond

A lavishly illustrated history of diplomatic gifts, from the infamous Trojan Horse to the much-loved Christmas tree at Trafalgar Square.

The entwined histories of Blacks and Indians defy easy explanation. From Black Lives Matter protests against Gandhi statues to Kamala Harris''s historic election, this relationship--notwithstanding moments of common struggle--seethes with conflicts that reveal important lessons about race in the modern world. Shobana Shankar''s groundbreaking intellectual history tackles the controversial question of how Africans and Indians see their differences. Drawing on archival and oral sources from seven countries, she traces how economic tensions surrounding the Indian diaspora in East and Southern Africa collided with the twentieth century''s widening Indian networks in West Africa and the Black Atlantic. Decolonisation brought a reckoning with Euro-American racial hierarchies, as well as discord over caste, religion, sex and skin colour, simmering beneath the rhetoric of Afro-Indian solidarity. This book illuminates how postcolonial peoples remade race by reinvigorating cultural movements, from Pan-Africanism to popular devotionalism, in Africa, India and the United States. This new race consciousness was meant as a redemption from the moral dangers of economic rivalry. Yet rising wealth and nationalist amnesia now threaten this postcolonial ethos. Calls to dismantle statues, from Accra to Washington DC, are not merely symbolic. They seek to preserve dissenting histories, and the possibility of alternative futures.

A scintillating history of one of EuropeΓÇÖs most alluring cities. Granada is a deceptive city, concealing a layered past and a complex character. The last Muslim capital in Western Europe, over the centuries it has captured hearts and imaginations, inspiring countless myths and legends. Yet its history reveals even more fascinating tales: secrets and follies, victory and failure, poetry and art. City of Illusions brings together GranadaΓÇÖs many storiesΓÇöthe archaeological forger, the renegade French general, the garrotted liberal heroine, the Jewish poet who served two Muslim rulers. This colourful cast of characters takes us from the founding eleventh-century dynasty and the building of the Alhambra, through the Reconquista, French occupation and Spanish Civil War, right up to the present day. GranadaΓÇÖs history has long been fought over, rewritten, idealised or buried. This rich, elegant book sets the record straight on a beautiful, elusive city, with all its quirks, mysteries, intrigues and triumphs.

Narendra Modi has been a hundred years in the making, and this book provides the backstory. It begins with the creation of Hindu nationalism, moves on to the 1980 formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and ends with its first national administration, from 1998 to 2004. By revisiting these events, we can trace the Modi governmentΓÇÖs current dominance of Indian politics all the way back to its origins.Vinay Sitapati follows this journey through the entangled lives of the partyΓÇÖs founding fathers: Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. Over their six-decade-long relationship, Vajpayee and Advani worked as a team, despite differences in personality and beliefs. Bound together by RSS discipline and shared ambitionΓÇôfor a Hinduised Indian polityΓÇô their partnership explains the nature of the BJP before Modi, and why it won power.In supporting roles are a colourful cast of characters, from the wardenΓÇÖs wife who made room for Vajpayee in her family to the billionaire grandson of PakistanΓÇÖs founder, who happened to be a major early BJP benefactor. Based on private papers, party documents, newspapers and over 200 interviews, this is a must-read for all those interested in the Hindu nationalist ideology that now rules India.

During the June 2020 territorial dispute over Kalapani, India blamed tensions on a newly assertive NepalΓÇÖs deepening relations with China. But beyond the accusations and grandstanding, this reflects a new reality: the power equations in South Asia have been redrawn, to make space for China.Nepal did not turn northwards overnight. Its ties with China have deep historical roots built on Buddhism, dating to the early first millennium. While IndiaΓÇÖs unofficial 2015 blockade provided momentum to the rift with Delhi, Nepal has long wanted deeper ties with Beijing, to counteract IndiaΓÇÖs oppressive intimacy. With ChinaΓÇÖs growing South Asian and global ambitions, Nepal now has a new primary bilateral partnerΓÇôand Nepalis are forging a path towards modernity with its help, both in the remote borderlands and in the cities.All Roads Lead North offers a long view of NepalΓÇÖs foreign relations, today underpinned by ChinaΓÇÖs world-power status. Sharing never- before-told stories about Tibetan guerrilla fighters, failed coup leaders and trans- Himalayan traders, Nepal analyst Amish Raj Mulmi examines the histories binding mountain communities together across the Sino-Nepali border. Part history, part journalistic account, MulmiΓÇÖs is a complex, compelling and rigorously researched study of a small country caught between two neighbourhood giants.

Winner of the 2022 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingAs the world''s second-largest economy, China is extending its influence across the globe with the complicity of democratic nations.Joanna Chiu has spent a decade tracking China''s propulsive rise, from the political aspects of the multi-billion-dollar "New Silk Road" global investment project to a growing sway on foreign countries and multilateral institutions through "United Front" efforts.For too long, Western societies have mishandled or simply ignored Beijing''s actions out of narrow self-interest. Decades of willful misinterpretation have over time become complicity in the toxic diplomacy, human rights abuses and foreign interference seen from China today, Chiu argues.Engaging chapters transport readers to a frozen lake in Russia, protests in Hong Kong, underground churches in Beijing, and exile Uyghur communities in Turkey, exposing Beijing''s high-tech surveillance and aggressive measures resulting in human rights violations against those who challenge its power.The new world disorder documented in China Unbound lays out the disturbing implications for global stability, prosperity, and civil rights everywhere.

In the summer of 2020, China and India came near to war. The nuclear-armed adversaries both massed troops and equipment along their disputed border in eastern Ladakh. The two sides slugged it out with fists, stones and clubs, next to a fast-flowing Himalayan stream, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, many from hypothermia.The entire 4,000-kilometre Sino-Indian boundary is disputed. In 1962, the two countries fought a short and vicious war that went badly for India, and from which Nehru never recovered. The border, called the Line of Actual Control, is not marked on any map agreed upon by the two sides; it runs through the largely unpopulated and inhospitable high mountains of the Himalayas. From the 1990s, as Beijing and New Delhi sought to resolve their seemingly intractable border dispute, an elaborate system of agreements kept the situation akin to a kettle on a slow boil.But the kettle is now boiling over. The two rising Asian giants, both led by strongly nationalistic regimes, neither of which wishes to blink first, are seeking geopolitical and strategic advantage. This timely book explains what is happening on ΓÇÿthe roof of the worldΓÇÖ; and why that matters for us all.

An incisive history revealing BritainΓÇÖs conquest of the Kingdom of Benin and the plunder of its fabled Bronzes. The Benin Bronzes are among the British MuseumΓÇÖs most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West AfricaΓÇÖs most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the BronzesΓÇÖ renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy DochertyΓÇÖs searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Blood and Bronze sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the EmpireΓÇÖs true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria.

Cyber-warfare is often discussed, but rarely truly seen. When does an intrusion turn into an attack, and what does that entail? How do nations fold offensive cyber operations into their strategies? Operations against networks mostly occur to collect intelligence, in peacetime. Understanding the lifecycle and complexity of targeting adversary networks is key to doing so effectively in conflict.Rather than discussing the spectre of cyber war, Daniel Moore seeks to observe the spectrum of cyber operations. By piecing together operational case studies, military strategy and technical analysis, he shows that modern cyber operations are neither altogether unique, nor entirely novel. Offensive cyber operations are the latest incarnation of intangible warfare--conflict waged through non-physical means, such as the information space or the electromagnetic spectrum.Not all offensive operations are created equal. Some are slow-paced, clandestine infiltrations requiring discipline and patience for a big payoff; others are short-lived attacks meant to create temporary tactical disruptions. This book first seeks to understand the possibilities, before turning to look at some of the most prolific actors: the United States, Russia, China and Iran. Each has their own unique take, advantages and challenges when attacking networks for effect.

Though the Arab Spring has reverberated through the Middle East, largely leaving a path of destruction, the relative calm in the United Arab Emirates has offered a regional roadmap for stability. Domestic changes since 2000 have significantly altered the country''s dynamics, firmly cementing power within Abu Dhabi. While Khalifa bin Zayed succeeded his father as emir of Abu Dhabi and UAE president in 2004, the Emirates'' evolution has largely been accredited to Abu Dhabi''s crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed. His reign has been characterised by the rise of the security apparatus and a micromanaged approach to governance.Mohammed bin Zayed''s strategy of fortification has focused on pre-empting threats from the UAE''s native population, rather than from expatriates or foreign actors. As a result, he has consolidated power, distributing its administration among his tribal and kinship allies. In essence, Mohammed bin Zayed has driven modernisation in order to strengthen his grasp on power.This book explores Mohammed bin Zayed''s regime security strategy, illustrating the network of alliances that seek to support his reign and that of his family. In an ever-turbulent region, the UAE remains critical to understanding the evolution of Middle Eastern authoritarian control.

We no longer inhabit a world governed by international coordination, a unified NATO bloc, or an American hegemon. Traditionally, the decline of one empire leads to a restoration in the balance of power, via a struggle among rival systems of order. Yet this dynamic is surprisingly absent today; instead, the superpowers have all, at times, sought to promote what Jason Pack terms the ''Enduring Disorder''.He contends that Libya''s ongoing conflict--more so than the civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela or Ukraine--constitutes the ideal microcosm in which to identify the salient features of this new era of geopolitics. The country''s post-Qadhafi trajectory has been moulded by the stark absence of coherent international diplomacy; while Libya''s incremental implosion has precipitated cross-border contagion, further corroding global institutions and international partnership.Pack draws on over two decades of research in and on Libya and Syria to highlight the Kafkaesque aspects of today''s global affairs. He shows how even the threats posed by the Arab Spring, and the Benghazi assassination of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, couldn''t occasion a unified Western response. Rather, they have further undercut global collaboration, demonstrating the self-reinforcing nature of the progressively collapsing world order.

A deeply personal tale of young life in a superpower haunted by its past.

A first-hand account of India's widespread leftist insurgency, and the state's brutal response.

The summer of 2014--when the Islamic State seized Mosul, Iraq's second city; captured vast swathes of eastern Syria; and declared itself a latter-day Caliphate--marked a turning point in the history of photography, one that pushed its already contested relationship with reality to its very limits. Uniquely obsessed with narrative, image management and branding, the Islamic State used cameras as weapons in its formative years as a Caliphate. The tens of thousands of propaganda photographs captured during this time were used to denote policy, to navigate through defeat and, perhaps most importantly, to construct an impossible reality: a totalising image-world of Salafi-Jihadist symbols and myths. Based on a deep examination of the 20,000 photographs Charlie Winter collected from the Islamic State's covert networks online in 2017, this book explores the process by which the Caliphate shook the foundations of modern war photography. Focusing on the period in which it was at its strongest, Winter identifies the implicit value systems that underpinned the Caliphate's ideological appeal, and evaluates its uniquely malign contribution to the history of the photographic image. The Terrorist Image travels to the heart of what made the Islamic State tick during its prime, providing unique insights into its global appeal and mobilisation successes.

A fascinating exposÃ(c) of the global revolution you've never heard of: a deep-pocketed, tech-savvy Christian movement reshaping our societies from within.

A global energy revolution is unfolding before our eyes: ever-growing numbers of electric vehicles on our roads, laptops that last all day on a single charge and solar panels on our roofs, all reliant on lithium-ion batteries. This revolution is happening at breath-taking speed, with the potential to completely transform key industries and the way we live. For the first time in history, we can now actually store this green energy we talk so much about. Often referred to as ΓÇÿthe new oilΓÇÖ, lithium allows large amounts of energy to be squeezed into a very small space. Demand is soaring, and the lithium business is full of drama: bitter rivalries, shady deals and exceptionally talented visionaries such as Elon Musk, who is building lithium battery giga-factories across the world. This book travels from the salt lakes of the Tibetan plateau, where Chinese governmentΓÇôlinked companies extract lithium, to Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, which hold the worldΓÇÖs biggest resources of the mineral. It reveals superpowersΓÇÖ struggle to secure strategic supplies, and the astonishing efforts of lone-wolf inventors and entrepreneurs. Lithium also explores the environmental impact of lithium extraction, the limits to battery electrification, and lithium battery recycling as the way forward.

A leading expert offers the definitive account of Syria's long history of welcoming, and now exporting, refugees.