Best Selling Books by Ian Johnson

In Wild Grass, Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist Ian Johnson tells the stories of three ordinary Chinese citizens moved to extraordinary acts of courage: a peasant legal clerk who filed a class-action suit on behalf of overtaxed farmers, a young architect who defended the rights of dispossessed homeowners, and a bereaved woman who tried to find out why her elderly mother had been beaten to death in police custody. Representing the first cracks in the otherwise seamless façade of Communist Party control, these small acts of resistance demonstrate the unconquerable power of the human conscience and prophesy an increasingly open political future for China.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The Economist, The Christian Science Monitor China is in the midst of one of the world’s great spiritual awakenings: some 300 million Chinese currently practice a faith, while tens of millions more follow personal gurus, populist masters and New Age sages. This astonishing revival began in 1982 when the Communist Party pledged to allow what it thought would be a small-scale practice of religion under government supervision. But the faithful have expanded far beyond the Party’s expectations: Today, China’s cities and villages are filled with new temples, churches, and mosques as well as cults, sects and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Fueling this resurgence is a popular desire to rediscover a moral compass in a society driven by naked capitalism. For six years, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with three religious communities: the underground Early Rain Protestant congregation in Chengdu, the Ni family’s Buddhist pilgrimage association in Beijing, and yinyang Daoist priests in rural Shanxi. Johnson distills these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle that reveals the hearts and minds of the Chinese people—a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world’s newest superpower.

In this compelling addition to Assouline’s Ultimate Collection, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Johnson guides readers through the magnificent and storied palace built by China’s Yongle Emperor to serve as the seat of the Ming dynasty. Weaving in history and events of the past six centuries and featuring more than 100 photographs, artworks, and historical artifacts, this luxury tome conjures life in this imperial sphere—a small city unto itself, in which soldiers, eunuchs, concubines, and merchants resided alongside the royalty they served. A stunning homage to the grand beauty of one of the most complex structures in all of history, Forbidden City reveals that 600 years after its construction, this royal monument endures as the physical and spiritual heart of Chinese civilization. This volume is presented in a regal, glossy red box reminiscent of traditional Chinese lacquerware, and that features a delicately carved map of the Forbidden City’s grounds.

A vital account of how some of China''s most important writers, filmmakers, and artists haver overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground, its monopoly on history"

Despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s strong influence on Islam in the West, the history of its European expansion is not well documented. This paper, by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ian Johnson, seeks to address that gap, focusing particularly on the role of the Eisenhower administration in facilitating the Brotherhood’s move to Europe, where it found a safe haven in the 1950s and built a base of operations. Johnson draws on a wealth of archival research and interviews to chart the West’s interest in using Islam during the Cold War, which facilitated the Brotherhood’s expansion in Europe. He encourages us to reconsider our view of the Cold War as primarily a European phenomenon, with some associated theaters of conflict in Asia. The paper explains how Islam played a role in the Cold War, as the United States sought to use it to its advantage. This saw the US, and its intelligence agencies in particular, support Said Ramadan, a high-ranking member of the Muslim Brotherhood, as he worked to gain control of a new mosque planned for the West German city of Munich. This mosque would become the most important overseas base for the Muslim Brotherhood from the 1970s through to the late 1990s, with indirect links to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Johnson carefully charts the developments that led to this strategically important mosque being established, and how the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and beyond, grew alongside it. The Brotherhood’s European expansion contributed to their spread in the United States, with operations there a clone of the European effort. Turning to the present day, the paper explains how the West has come full circle in dealing with the Brotherhood, from fascination in the 1950s, to neglect, and now a reawakened interest.

In the wake of the news that the 9/11 hijackers had lived in Europe, journalist Ian Johnson wondered how such a radical group could sink roots into Western soil. Most accounts reached back twenty years, to U.S. support of Islamist fighters in Afghanistan. But Johnson dug deeper, to the start of the Cold War, uncovering the untold story of a group of ex-Soviet Muslims who had defected to Germany during World War II. There, they had been fashioned into a well-oiled anti-Soviet propaganda machine. As that war ended and the Cold War began, West German and U.S. intelligence agents vied for control of this influential group, and at the center of the covert tug of war was a quiet mosque in Munich—radical Islam’s first beachhead in the West. Culled from an array of sources, including newly declassified documents, A Mosque in Munich interweaves the stories of several key players: a Nazi scholar turned postwar spymaster; key Muslim leaders across the globe, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood; and naïve CIA men eager to fight communism with a new weapon, Islam. A rare ground-level look at Cold War spying and a revelatory account of the West’s first, disastrous encounter with radical Islam, A Mosque in Munich is as captivating as it is crucial to our understanding the mistakes we are still making in our relationship with Islamists today

The Moorish Trilogy, Part One is the fictitious tale of Othello’s journeys and adventures before he was fatally impaled by the quill of Shakespeare. Captain Belgae Hawkins, spawn of Vikings, is a tormented soul, secretly battling with his past, warring in his sleep, and spitting at his demons. In his waking reality, his ragtag army dangles on the cusp of a wave of invasion by Othello’s legions of ruthless warriors, man-eating predators, and an elephant brigade. Each time Hawkins mounts a resistance, his men are overrun, retreating further and further west from Egypt, via Alexandria, Libya, Tripoli, Carthage, and then across the channel to Granada in Spain. Battling storms, floods, and plagues, the warring factors form new relationships, new allies, and new enemies. Life, love, loss, loyalty, friendship, and betrayal flourish. When Will loses his wife Emma Lynn to the plague, Hawkins joins Will on a psychological journey through a long cycle of depressive episodes, until he reaches acceptance. Narrated from Hawkins’ point-of-view, the reader never knows what will happen next in this high-speed, epic roller coaster adventure. Othello has fascinated generation after generation throughout the world for more than 400 years. In this age of sequel and prequel, Othello’s journeys and adventures are limited only by the boundaries of the sliver of his existence on Shakespeare’s stage. Enter The Moorish Trilogy.

This book starts by establishing that all believers in Christ are already, in fact, one with each other in Christ. This leaves us with the challenge, not of creating unity where it does not exist, but of living consistently with the oneness that already exists. The first section explains why living consistently with our oneness is important, including God’s commands and expectations, the benefits of living in oneness and the hazards of living contrary to the truth. Part two explains what oneness is and is not, including the concepts that oneness is a harmony of diverse believers each doing their own part, not unison, unanimity or strict conformity to the same mold. The third section deals with practical barriers to living in oneness—selfishness, misunderstandings, heresy, and incorrect understanding of the origin of the organizational divisions in the universal Church—and suggests how to overcome them.

Ian Johnson''s evaluation of Alwyn''s film music places his achievement in the context of wider movements within the film industry. William Alwyn was a leading composer of British film music in the 1940s and ''50s, a time when the British film industry was at its peak. His scores ranged from documentaries to almost 80 full-length feature films, including classics such as Fires were Started, Desert Victory, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and The History of Mr Polly; he was adept at any musical genre, from classical to cartoon slapstick, and in the process worked with legendary directors, including Carol Reed, David Lean, Humphrey Jennings, and Anthony Asquith. Alone with Vaughan Williams he was granted the distinction of a separate title credit; columnists mentioned him alongside Bliss, Bax and Walton. However, as the reputation of the British film industry declined in the 1950s, so musical snobbery against those who were its leading lights became unpleasantly raw. In recent years, however, with sensitive performances of hisfilm and concert music available on CD, this most appealing of composers has enjoyed something of a renaissance. In this long overdue reassessment, Alwyn''s films are analysed and put into the context of his biography,the film industry, and of society at large: the author shows in particular this remarkably versatile composer developed a hitherto unrecognised grammar of film music which enhanced every film on which he worked. He also examines his work for war propaganda, radio, and the concert hall. The volume is enhanced by the most complete filmography, discography, and bibliography of the composer''s works yet published, as well as listings of his concert and radio music.

Presents results of a project that conducted broad-spectrum analyses of water and effluent samples upstream and downstream of major effluent sources on the Athabasca, Peace, and Wapiti-Smoky river systems in northern Alberta. Analytical methods to classify organic constituents in effluents were based on full-scan coupled gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and all significant compounds were characterized with respect to mass spectra and chromatographic retention indices. Contaminants identified included esters, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and fatty acids.

Les nazis, la CIA et la montée des frères musulmans en Occident Lorsque la nouvelle se répandit que les pirates de l’air du 11 septembre avaient vécu en Europe, le journaliste Ian Johnson se demanda comment des partisans d’un islam radical avaient pu s’implanter en Occident. La plupart des explications avancées jusqu’ici font état du soutien des États-Unis aux combattants islamistes d’Afghanistan, vingt ans plus tôt. Ian Johnson, lui, s’est penché sur le début de la Guerre froide en racontant l’histoire méconnue de musulmans soviétiques passés dans le camp allemand pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. En devenant de par la volonté des agents nazis un outil de propagande antisoviétique, ils établirent à leur insu un lien ténu, dont nul n’aurait alors imaginé les conséquences, entre l’islam politique et l’Occident. Pendant que les agents des services de renseignement ouest-allemands et américains luttaient en vue de s’assurer le contrôle de cette communauté musulmane influente mais impénétrable – dont le combat clandestin s’organisait depuis la paisible mosquée de Munich – l’islam radical installa sa première tête de pont en Occident. En s’appuyant sur un nombre impressionnant de sources (dont certaines accessibles depuis peu seulement aux chercheurs), Une Mosquée à Munich s’attache à un érudit nazi ayant pris la tête d’un réseau d’espions dans l’après-guerre, à des dirigeants musulmans du monde entier, dont certains, membres des Frères Musulmans, et à des agents de la CIA naïfs résolus à employer une nouvelle arme contre le communisme : l’islam. Une Mosquée à Munich – une analyse d’une lucidité rare de l’espionnage en temps de Guerre froide, doublée d’un récit révélateur de la rencontre désastreuse entre l’Occident et l’islam radical – s’avère aussi captivant qu’indispensable si l’on souhaite comprendre les erreurs encore commises vis-à-vis des islamistes aujourd’hui. Traduit de l’anglais par Marie Boudewyn

Since his 2008 monograph, Ian Johnson has had six solo shows and undergone an evolution, while remaining just as jarringly cool and full of life. This new book presents all-new paintings and drawings by Johnson in his signature style: portraits of jazz musicians from the ''40s, ''50s, and ''60s that were produced using gouache, acrylic or pen on paper or wood panel. Johnson combines abstract background shapes with figurative representations to create jaw-dropping pieces that succeed at evoking the music of each artist.

Se qualcosa accomuna tutti i paesi è che la storia diventa sempre più terreno di scontro sul presente. In Cina l’interazione tra passato, presente e futuro è un’ossessione millenaria. Le dinastie imperiali riscrivevano il passato per giustificare il loro dominio e dimostrare l’indegnità dei predecessori. Il marxismo ha modernizzato facendo della storia un processo inarrestabile verso la vittoria del comunismo. Il Partito comunista cinese, forte di questo assunto, da decenni riscrive misfatti e tragedie, giustifica poteri e violenze. A fronte di una storia autorizzata, fin dagli albori della Repubblica popolare, la controstoria era affidata al coraggio di un pugno di dissidenti. Negli ultimi vent’anni, però, a riscrivere la versione del regime è una rete diffusa attraverso il paese: scrittori, artisti, filmmaker, giornalisti, “cronisti” clandestini che, sfruttando la velocità e l’anonimato della tecnologia digitale, sfidano il governo sul suo terreno più sacro, il monopolio del passato. Una documentarista fa un film su un famigerato campo di lavoro dell’era di Mao. Una giornalista studia le vicende di una fanzine studentesca del 1960, Xinghuo (Scintilla), “spenta” subito nel sangue. Un editore elude la polizia segreta e pubblica un periodico samizdat di argomento storico. Una giornalista indipendente dà voce alle sofferenze di milioni di persone per i lockdown a oltranza. Sono alcune delle persone che partecipano di questa testimonianza corale raccolta dal Premio Pulitzer Ian Johnson. Scintille dà atto di un cambiamento poderoso in essere: le voci di dissenso stanno incrinando la versione ufficiale, combattono una delle grandi battaglie dell’umanità, memoria contro oblio. Una battaglia che darà forma alla Cina di domani. Siamo talmente abituati al buio della Cina di oggi che ogni genere di luce ci risulta accecante. Forse, alla fine di questo libro, potrete decidere se queste persone sono lumicini di candela o soli abbaglianti, o se sono tutte e due le cose: lumicini oggi, soli fiammeggianti domani. «È una profonda soddisfazione leggere un libro come questo sulla Cina, scritto da qualcuno che per decenni l’ha vissuta da dentro». The Guardian «Leggere Scintille è un modo per impedire alla storia cinese di finire nel buco nero della memoria». The New York Times «Gli storici clandestini cinesi che Johnson ci fa conoscere giocano una partita lunga, spesso inefficace nell’immediato, ma di esempio morale per la ricostruzione nel giorno che verrà». The New Yorker

Ein unerhörter Faktenthriller von der Entstehung und Ausbreitung des islamischen Fundamentalismus mit Hilfe Nazi-Deutschlands und der CIA. Als der Journalist und Pulitzer-Preisträger Ian Johnson 2003 eine Londoner Buchhandlung betritt, macht er eine sensationelle undunheimliche Entdeckung: Als wichtigste Moscheen werden Mekka, Jerusalem, Istanbul und eine Moschee in München genannt. Warum München? Welche Moschee? Das islamische Zentrum von München wurde seit dem Dritten Reich und dem Kalten Krieg von Nazis, Agenten, gestrandeten Muslimen, islamistischen Fanatikern,von Akteuren aller Couleurs zum Bollwerk gegen die Sowjetunion aufgerüstet. Die CIA und andere Geheimdienste spinnen Intrigen, steuern Machtkämpfe und unterstützen radikale Islamisten der Moslembruderschaft – immer hinter dem Rücken der Öffentlichkeit. Das Drama, das sich in München abspielte, reichte vom politischen Skandal bis zur Schizophrenie der Ideologen und mündet in der jüngsten Zeitgeschichte: In der vierten Moschee wurde der Westen zum Paten des 11. September 2001.

Body, Soul & Spirit: Journey Toward Uncovering Who You Really Are.The question What is mankind? has echoed from the beginning. Who are we? Is there more than birth, life and death? Like Job, we wonder why we suffer. How can we find the answers? The Psalmist asks the question this way and begins to point to an answer: What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for himYet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;You have put all things under his feet... (Psalms 8:4-6 NASB)Ian Johnson opens up scripture to examine the soul, the spirit of man and the government of the human body. Through this study and his own relationship and encounter with the Godhead, Johnson''s work impacts readers to ask their own questions, experience personal encounters, and ignite the eternal question which burns as a spark deep within every human being into a burning flame of passionate relationship with their creator.To seek and know the answers of who you are in body, soul, and spirit, you must first sit in the questions. Are you willing?

Provides an analysis of the various types of financial instruments and transactions. ThE book looks at each instrument or transaction in its commercial context and the appropriate tax treatment and accounting procedure to be considered.

The Annapurna Circuit is the popular name for the 300 kilometre trek in Nepal around the Annapurna Himalayan mountain range.With the Annapurna Circuit guidebook you can easily find your way around the trek, identify the mountains you see, read about their ascents, learn about the culture of the region and have some fun! Written in an informative, mildly amusing style and published in a low weight format that is ideal for carrying 300 kilometres. Features include:- 2 Summary tables- 22 Daily route descriptions - 29 Schematic maps- 21 Mountain line drawings- 7 Trekking scene drawings- 22 Cartoons

Classic Hints and Tips For MotorcyclistsBy Ian Johnson.A selection of practical hints and tips based on material that first appeared in Motor Cycle magazine, from 1908 until the early sixties. Contains nearly 60 different ideas for maintenance, repair andimprovement. The tips included have been chosen for their continuing relevance to owners of vintage motorcycles. Topics covered are: the machine, the road, the workshop, and the golden age. Hdbd., 8 1/4"x 10 1/2", 192 pgs., 400 b&w ill.

Ian Johnson, the organizer of Bay Area d3 (the largest d3 meetup in the world), starts with SVG and then dives deep into d3 including DOM manipulation, categorical and quantitative scales, axis, brushes, color schemes, events and histograms. Make sense of your data by exploring it visually with D3.js!