Opium, once used for ritual purposes, is a substance, which dulls pain and offers access to an artificial world, and has long been idealized by artists and markets. Baudelaire, Picasso, and Dickens were all inspired to create by the blue clouds of smoke. Known as either a sacred drug or the worst of poisons, opium rapidly became popular in Great Britain and a source of commerce with Imperial China. This illustrated work presents the history and quasi-religious...

After running away from his abusive home, Felan is alone on the streets. Cold and hungry, he is saved by Nick, the terrifying leader of the Wolves; one of the most feared gangs of Guadalupe. Enticed by the promise of safety, food, and somewhere to call home, Felan goes with him. There, he meets Blaez, a girl who becomes his solace, and his closest friend. But what if his new home is just as bad, if not worse, than the home he left behind? From...

Opium, once used for ritual purposes, is a substance which dulls pain and offers access to an artificial world, and has long been idealized by artists and markets. Baudelaire, Picasso, and Dickens were all inspired to create by the blue clouds of smoke. Known as either a sacred drug or the worst of poisons, opium rapidly became popular in Great Britain and a source of commerce with Imperial China. This illustrated work presents the history and quasi-religious...

In October 1839, a Windsor cabinet meeting votes to begin the first Opium War against China. Bureaucratic fumbling, military missteps, and a healthy dose of political opportunism and collaboration followed. Rich in tragicomedy, The Opium War explores the disastrous British foreign-relations move that became a founding myth of modern Chinese nationalism, and depicts China's heroic struggle against Western conspiracy. Julia Lovell examines the causes...

A rediscovered classic of Hungarian literature, this spellbinding collection vividly depicts the darkest impulses of the human psyche against the backdrop of Europe's moral and social decline on the eve of World War I Géza Csáth (pen name of Joszef Brenner) was a writer, playwright, musician, psychiatrist, and physician born in Hungary at the end of the 19th century. One of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, he pushed both life and art to radical...

Opium Traders and Their Worlds examines the opium trade with a detective's investigative approach. The author uses evidence to dismiss many of the false claims commonly held with regard to the so-called "legitimacy" of the Old China trade, presents proof of important figures who were deeply involved in all parts of the world and shows how world events were affected by famous men in opium hierarchies. Lateral contributors to the drug trade include...

«El amor no llora jamás como llora la sangre». En esta certidumbre se basa la novela de Hubert Haddad, un relato trágico, realista y contundente a la vez En el corazón de un Afganistán desgarrado, un muchacho de 12 años, Alam, es descubierto inconsciente tras una ráfaga de disparos. Comienza un descenso obsesivo a los infiernos. Alam lo ha perdido todo durante la guerra, hasta el nombre de pila que ha tomado prestado de su hermano, e inicia...

This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the "opening of China." Originally published...

From its rise in the 1830s to its pinnacle in the 1930s, the opium trade was a guiding force in the Chinese political economy. Opium money was inextricably bound up in local, national, and imperial finances, and the people who piloted the trade were integral to the fabric of Chinese society. In this book, Peter Thilly narrates the dangerous lives and shrewd business operations of opium traffickers in southeast China, situating them within a global...

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum (opium and alcohol) addiction and its effect on his life. The Confessions was "the first major work De Quincey published and the one which won him fame almost overnight... " First published anonymously in September and October 1821 in the London Magazine, the Confessions was released in book form in 1822, and again in 1856, in an...