[PDF] Narcotopia eBook

Author : Patrick Winn
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 48,80 MB
Release : 2024-02-01
Category : Travel
ISBN : 1785789740

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Award-winning journalist - and author of Hello, Shadowlands - Patrick Winn reveals the inside story of a forbidden republic - the narco-state of the Wa. The jagged mountains dividing China and Burma belong to the Wa, an indigenous group who have outwitted the CIA to create the world's mightiest narco-state, controlling more territory than Israel and with more troops than Sweden. Are they crime lords? Or visionaries? Wa State has become a real nation with its own highways, anthems, schools and flags. Its leaders promise freedom, using profits from trafficking heroin and meth to attain what China's other frontier peoples, Tibetans and Uyghurs, can only dream of: a state of their own. Patrick Winn embarks on a risky journey of discovery, chasing clues about the forbidden republic from Thailand to Burma to the secretive Wa State itself.

Author : Patrick Winn
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 426 pages
File Size : 11,72 MB
Release : 2024-01-30
Category : History
ISBN : 1541701976

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The untold story of an indigenous people running the world’s mightiest narco-state — and America’s struggle to thwart them. In Asia’s narcotics-producing heartland, the Wa reign supreme. They dominate the Golden Triangle, a mountainous stretch of Burma between Thailand and China. Their 30,000-strong army, wielding missiles and attack drones, makes Mexican cartels look like street gangs. Wa moguls are unrivaled in the region’s $60 billion meth trade and infamous for mass-producing pink, vanilla-scented speed pills. Drugs finance Wa State, a bona fide nation with its own laws, anthems, schools, and electricity grid. Though revered by their people, Wa leaders are scorned by US policymakers as vicious “kingpins” who “poison our society for profit.” In Narcotopia, award-winning journalist Patrick Winn uncovers the truth behind Asia’s top drug-trafficking organization, as told by a Wa commander turned DEA informant. This gripping narrative shreds drug war myths and leads to a chilling revelation: the Wa syndicate’s origins are smudged with CIA fingerprints. This is a saga of native people tapping the power of narcotics to create a nation where there was none before — and covert US intelligence operations gone wrong.

Author : Patrick Winn
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 537 pages
File Size : 48,16 MB
Release : 2018-06-07
Category : Travel
ISBN : 1785783483

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'Reads like a thriller you can't put down' - Megha Rajagopalan, China Bureau Chief, Buzzfeed News 'ensures you'll never think about Southeast Asia in the same way ever again.' - Geographical Magazine Essential to understanding Southeast Asia in the 21st century, Hello, Shadowlands reveals a booming underworld of organised crime across a region in flux— a $100 billion trade that deals in narcotics, animals and people —and the staggering human toll that is being steadily ignored by the West. From Myanmar's anarchic hills to the swamplands of Vietnam, jihadis are being pitted against brothel workers, pet thieves against vigilantes and meth barons against Christian vice squads. Hello, Shadowlands takes a deep plunge into crime rings both large and small. It also examines how China's rise and America's decline is creating new opportunities for transnational syndicates to thrive. Focusing on human stories on both sides of this crime wave, the acclaimed Bangkok-based broadcaster and journalist Patrick Winn intimately profiles the men and women of the region who are forced to make agonizing choices in the absence of law.

Author : James Bradley
Publisher : Little, Brown
Page : 412 pages
File Size : 27,60 MB
Release : 2015-04-21
Category : History
ISBN : 0316196665

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From the bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers, Flyboys, and The Imperial Cruise, a spellbinding history of turbulent U.S.-China relations from the 19th century to World War II and Mao's ascent. In each of his books, James Bradley has exposed the hidden truths behind America's engagement in Asia. Now comes his most engrossing work yet. Beginning in the 1850s, Bradley introduces us to the prominent Americans who made their fortunes in the China opium trade. As they -- -good Christians all -- -profitably addicted millions, American missionaries arrived, promising salvation for those who adopted Western ways. And that was just the beginning. From drug dealer Warren Delano to his grandson Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from the port of Hong Kong to the towers of Princeton University, from the era of Appomattox to the age of the A-Bomb, The China Mirage explores a difficult century that defines U.S.-Chinese relations to this day.

Author : Michael Schuman
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 48,21 MB
Release : 2020-06-09
Category : History
ISBN : 154178832X

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This global history as the Chinese would write it gives brilliant and unconventional insights for understanding China's role in the world, especially the drive to "Make China Great Again." We in the West routinely ask: "What does China want?" The answer is quite simple: the superpower status it always had, but briefly lost. In this colorful, informative story filled with fascinating characters, epic battles, influential thinkers, and decisive moments, we come to understand how the Chinese view their own history and how its narrative is distinctly different from that of Western civilization. More important, we come to see how this unique Chinese history of the world shapes China's economic policy, attitude toward the United States and the rest of the world, relations with its neighbors, positions on democracy and human rights, and notions of good government. As the Chinese see it, for as far back as anyone can remember, China had the richest economy, the strongest military, and the most advanced philosophy, culture, and technology. The collision with the West knocked China's historical narrative off course for the first time, as its 5,000-year reign as an unrivaled superpower came to an ignominious end. Ever since, the Chinese have licked their wounds and fixated on returning their country to its former greatness, restoring the Chinese version of its place in the world as they had always known it. For the Chinese, the question was never if they could reclaim their former dominant position in the world, but when.

Author : Erika Howsare
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 397 pages
File Size : 50,49 MB
Release : 2024-01-04
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1785789481

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A stag leaps on an ancient brooch. A doe and a fawn step across a field at first light. A pair of antlers is silhouetted by the side of a busy road. From the earliest cave paintings to the present day, humans and deer have a long and complex history. Royal harts were the coveted quarry of European kings, while the first Americans relied on deer for everything from buckskins to arrow heads. Once hunted to the point of extinction in some parts of the world, deer numbers have exploded in recent years, causing tension between scientists and conservationists. And yet, this is our own story, as the fortune of deer is inextricably bound up with the actions that we humans take on the world around us. Weaving together history and reportage, in The Age of Deer Erika Howsare deftly explores the relationship between our two species in the line where wildness meets humankind. It is a reminder of the poetry and violence of the natural world, from an exciting new voice in nature writing.

Author : Shalina Patel
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 45,26 MB
Release : 2024-05-09
Category : History
ISBN : 1837731632

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Taking a tour through history, from the Romans to the Second World War via Tudor courts, medieval castles and more, this hugely entertaining debut from an award-winning history teacher explores a variety of historical topics in a thoughtful and engaging way. It will appeal to anybody seeking to expand their historical knowledge, with an approachable and accessible style that will take you on an eye-opening and jaw-dropping journey. The History Lessons invites readers to reclaim our history education. It is for curious minds keen to look beyond the usual narratives and celebrate the stories and people that may be less familiar - but no less remarkable or fascinating.

Author : Kitty Ruskin
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 35,17 MB
Release : 2024-04-11
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1837730709

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A Stylist pick of the best non-fiction for 2024 TEN MEN, MANY STORIES. At the beginning of the year, Kitty Ruskin decided it was time to embrace her sexuality, taking advantage of all the joys that being young, free and single bring and having fun, easy, no-strings sex with whomsoever she desired. She got on the apps and started swiping. What followed was sometimes sexy, frequently funny, occasionally shocking and, sadly, all too often fraught with pain and danger. It was not the carefree adventure she had envisaged; it was something altogether darker. Ten Men is one woman's tale told with searing honesty. It's an exploration of the 'blurred lines' that even seemingly nice guys can exploit, a meditation on the lack of clarity around consent and a call to arms to combat a culture that seems to thrive on women's vulnerability.

Author : Dean King
Publisher : Little, Brown
Page : 347 pages
File Size : 31,15 MB
Release : 2010-03-24
Category : History
ISBN : 0316072176

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In October 1934, the Chinese Communist Army found itself facing annihilation, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Nationalist soldiers. Rather than surrender, 86,000 Communists embarked on an epic flight to safety. Only thirty were women. Their trek would eventually cover 4,000 miles over 370 days. Under enemy fire they crossed highland awamps, climbed Tibetan peaks, scrambled over chain bridges, and trudged through the sands of the western deserts. Fewer than 10,000 of them would survive, but remarkably all of the women would live to tell the tale. Unbound is an amazing story of love, friendship, and survival written by a new master of adventure narrative.