Shop top categories that ship internationally
Deliver to Finland
Similar items shipping to Finland
FI
Finland
See All Buying Options
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Pankaj Mishra
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia Hardcover – International Edition, September 4, 2012

by Pankaj Mishra (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 202 ratings
See all formats and editions

The Victorian period, viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire, burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing, or humiliated the bankrupt rulers of the Ottoman Empire, it was clear that for Asia to recover a vast intellectual effort would be required.

Pankaj Mishra's fascinating, highly entertaining new book tells the story of a remarkable group of men from across the continent who met the challenge of the West. Incessantly travelling, questioning and agonising, they both hated the West and recognised that an Asian renaissance needed to be fuelled in part by engagement with the enemy. Through many setbacks and wrong turns, a powerful, contradictory and ultimately unstoppable series of ideas were created that now lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to Al Qaeda, from Indian nationalism to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mishra allows the reader to see the events of two centuries anew, through the eyes of the journalists, poets, radicals and charismatics who criss-crossed Europe and Asia and created the ideas which lie behind the powerful Asian nations of the twenty-first century.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Doubleday Canada
  4. Publication date
    September 4, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    6.2 x 1.28 x 9.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0385676107
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0385676106
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

Review

2013 Lionel Gelber Prize Finalist

“Pankaj Mishra has produced a riveting account that makes new and illuminating connections. He follows the intellectual trail of this contested history with both intelligence and moral clarity. In the end we realise that what we are holding in our hands is not only a deeply entertaining and deeply humane book, but a balance sheet of the nature and mentality of colonisation.”
—Hisham Matar

“After Edward Said’s masterpiece Orientalism, From the Ruins of Empire offers another bracing view of the history of the modern world. Pankaj Mishra, a brilliant author of wide learning, takes us through, with his skillful and captivating narration, interlinked historical events across Japan, China, Turkey, Iran, India, Egypt, and Vietnam, opening up a fresh dialogue with and between such major Asian reformers, intellectuals, and revolutionaries as Liang Qichao, Tagore, Jamal al-din al-Afghani, and Sun Yatsen." —Wang Hui, author of China's New Order and The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought and Professor of Chinese Intellectual History at Tsinghua University, Beijing

“From the Ruins of Empire jolts our historical imagination and suddenly places it on the right, though deeply repressed, axis. It is a book of vast and wondrous learning and delightful and surprising associations that will give a new meaning to a liberation geography. From close and careful readings of some mighty Asian intellectuals of the last two centuries who have rarely been placed in this creative and daring conversation with each other, Pankaj Mishra has discovered and revealed, against the grain of conventional and cliched bifurcations of 'The West and the Rest,' a continental shift in our historical consciousness that will define a whole new spectrum of critical thinking."
—Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University

“In his brilliant new book Pankaj Mishra reverses the long gaze of the West upon the East, showing modern history as it has been felt by the majority of the world's population from Turkey to China. These are the amazing stories of the grandfathers of today’s angry Asians. Excellent!"
—Orhan Pamuk

About the Author

PANKAJ MISHRA was born in northwest India in 1969 and lives in London and Mashobra, India. He is the author of An End to Suffering and Temptations of the West, as well as a novel, The Romantics. He writes for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The Guardian. The author lives in London and Mashobra, India.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday Canada; First Edition (September 4, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385676107
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385676106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 1.28 x 9.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 202 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
202 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book fascinating, insightful, and revealing. They describe it as a good, brilliant read with lucid prose. Readers also mention the book is extremely important, persuasive, and full of information.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
InsightReadabilityWriting qualityBook valuePacing
26 customers mention "Insight"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating, masterful, and insightful. They say it provides a new perspective and revealing analysis of how we got here. Readers also mention it's thought-provoking and interesting for anyone interested in history. They also mention it's well-researched and a great resource for studying Asian history.

"...This book is timely, thought provoking and a must read for anyone desiring a better understanding of events in today's Middle and Far East ...." Read more

"...Mishra deserves credit for this beautifully written, panoramic sweep of history, but his special cast of characters fail to capture the imagination...." Read more

"...Eloquent and persuasive, it is astonishing in what it reveals, and disturbing in how easily self-serving lies and half-truths manipulate us and..." Read more

"...Well written, intellectually provocative and connected to present and future global trends this book is a must read for all those who want to..." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book brilliant and unique. They say it's a real wake-up call for the 21st century.

"...This book is timely, thought provoking and a must read for anyone desiring a better understanding of events in today's Middle and Far East ...." Read more

"This is an amazing book, destroying the myth of colonial beneficence...." Read more

"...This book was a real wake up call: we better realize that the 21st century means sharing the landscape with the emerging powers and listening to the..." Read more

"Brilliant. Absolutely fascinating...." Read more

11 customers mention "Writing quality"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book lucid, well-written, and excellent. They say it's masterful, provocative, thoughtful, and revealing. Readers also mention the book is full of astounding quotes from various Asian writers.

"...The book is full of astounding quotes from various Asian writers, some of which demonstrate a high degree of discernment and prescience, as well as..." Read more

"...Mishra deserves credit for this beautifully written, panoramic sweep of history, but his special cast of characters fail to capture the imagination...." Read more

"...Eloquent and persuasive, it is astonishing in what it reveals, and disturbing in how easily self-serving lies and half-truths manipulate us and..." Read more

"...Well written, intellectually provocative and connected to present and future global trends this book is a must read for all those who want to..." Read more

8 customers mention "Book value"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book extremely important, persuasive, and awe-inspiring. They also say it's unique and full of information. Readers mention the author is objective and answers it brilliantly with passion.

"...Eloquent and persuasive, it is astonishing in what it reveals, and disturbing in how easily self-serving lies and half-truths manipulate us and..." Read more

"...RUINS OF EMPIRE: THE INTELLECTUALS WHO REMADE ASIA, has written a very important and powerful work...." Read more

"...It is the most awe-inspiring and rarest of life purposes." Read more

"And extraordinarily important book...." Read more

3 customers mention "Pacing"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book somewhat repetitive. They also say the author is in awe of centers and neglectful of peripheries.

"...although, after a while, the refrain of humiliation and despair became repetitive...." Read more

"...priamry critique is that Mishra is in awe of centers and rather neglectful of peripheries...." Read more

"...Caliphate (e.g. ISIS) and Japan's 20th century history/ It is somewhat repetitive but definitely worth pushing through" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Harry L. Stille
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Look at the Ruins of Empire
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectual of Who Made Asia, by Pankaj Mishra presents an important world history as seen through the eyes of a number of internationally acclaimed Asian writers as well as the thoughts of some lesser known figures and events. This book is timely, thought provoking and a must read for anyone desiring a better understanding of events in today's Middle and Far East . The author is well informed and balanced, abstaining from any attempt to replace a Euro-centric view, with an Asia-centric one.
Opening with the story of the first non-European country to vanquish a European power since the Middle Ages (the 1905 Japanese victory over the Russian navy) the awakening and reverberations of which provided the theme of this book.
An introductory quote of a world famous philosopher serves as a front piece warning of a dated but arrogant grand Western historical speculation: wherein Hegel declared China and India of no concern to world history.
Reflecting changes in world perspective, this books focus is on this very area -- Asia. Since that part of the globe was once the object of Western Imperial adventures, the author, through the thoughts and comments of various Asian intellectuals, expands his interest as he probes the political, economic, thoughts and ideologies, underlying Western colonial attitudes.
It is here, that one witnesses the working out through adaptation and copying of the Western concept of "modernity:" the arrogant and racist bias of the occupiers and the concomitant resentment, envy and quiescent arrogance of the colonized The result is the social, political conflict and confusion emerging from decolonization and the rise of independent nation states.
The main protagonists in this book are two itinerant thinkers and activists: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1873-97) a Muslim whose writings prepared the way for Ataturk, Nasser, Ayatollah Khomeini, and still animates the politics of Islamic societies. The other is Liang Qichao (1873-1929) perhaps China's foremost modern intellectual who bequeathed his obsessions with building state power to Mao Zedong Both of these men became major forces for change. Of particular note is the observation that the prevailing concern with Islam as a religion is not perhaps as significant as an apparent societal propensity for "fanaticism and despotism." By opening up new perspective Mishra hopes that we may be convinced that the "assumptions of Western power -- increasingly untenable-- are no longer a reliable vantage point and may even be dangerously misleading."
The book is full of astounding quotes from various Asian writers, some of which demonstrate a high degree of discernment and prescience, as well as an accurate and succinct summary of the historical situation.
The author closes with a very important assessment and warning, namely that in the future we may experience even bloodier conflicts generated by the need for precious resources as we strive towards world wide modernization. He categorically states that for China and India to enjoy the lifestyles of Europeans and Americans - "is as absurd and dangerous a fantasy as anything dreamt of by Al-Qaeda." Most sobering is the thought provoking conclusion: "the universal triumph of Western modernity which turns the revenge of the East into something darkly ambiguous, and all its victories truly Pyrrhic."
Harry L. Stille
9 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars The Anti-Imperialist Perspective
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Pankaj Mishra has a penchant for irritating conservatives: consider his spats with British historian Niall Ferguson and professor Jordan Peterson. No surprise then that Mishra's book "From the Ruins of Empire" offers a contrast to traditional West-centered views of history that extol the virtues of capitalism, science, and democracy. Instead, Mishra pays more attention to Europe's economic subjugation of Asia and the Middle East throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Viewed through the prism of lesser known intellectuals like Al-Afghani from Persia and Tagore of India, the book explores colonialism from the eyes of the oppressed. Japan's surprise victory over Russia in 1905 is the text's natural starting point and signals how the tables would slowly turn in favor of the so-called Rest of the World. With lucid prose, Mishra recounts the predatory behavior of Britain during the Opium Wars, the hypocrisy of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the remarkable rise of the Asian tiger economies after World War II.

Yet, it's hard to see what was worth salvaging about the legacies of Mishra's intellectual heroes. The cosmopolitan Al-Afghani and charismatic Tagore offer little beyond their commonsense, reflexive anti-imperialism. Mishra deserves credit for this beautifully written, panoramic sweep of history, but his special cast of characters fail to capture the imagination. No shock then that when I asked my educated Iranian friends about Al-Afghani, they responded, "Who?"
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
TB
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must read!
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is an amazing book, destroying the myth of colonial beneficence.

In a work as important as that of Said and Fanon, Mishra reveals the true ugly face of Europe's brutal colonial rule in Asia and connects the present problems of Asia (and indeed the world) to the insatiable greed of industrialization and the mindless pursuit of growth. Mishra goes on to argue that the current debate between left and right is itself a product of this industrialization, neither communism nor capitalism offering a satisfactory solution to the worlds problems.

In considering the seemingly insurmountable global problems we face, this book is a very thoughtful and revealing analysis of how we got here. Eloquent and persuasive, it is astonishing in what it reveals, and disturbing in how easily self-serving lies and half-truths manipulate us and shape our view of the world.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Reid Read's
5.0 out of 5 stars Need A Powerful Read? This Is It!
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2012
Verified Purchase
The author of this book,FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE: THE INTELLECTUALS WHO REMADE ASIA, has written a very important and powerful work. Just the bibliography alone is worth the price of the book.

Well written, intellectually provocative and connected to present and future global trends this book is a must read for all those who want to understand and influence where the world is going in the 21st Century.

The only challenge I had with the book is the fact that Egypt is on the African continent. The references he makes to books about the Bandung Conference in the 1950's shows that there was and is a tie between the Asian and African freedom movements. He also helps us understand why the movements have diverged and why Asian nations like China have progressed since they took their freedom and why many African nations have regressed. The issue of culture is VIP in this book and in the shaping of our world.
15 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Normand Bianchi
5.0 out of 5 stars Comment les nations colonisées de l'Asie ont vécu l'impérialisme occidental
Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
Une lecture qui nous fait comprendre les mouvements de libération à travers le monde face aux exactions du Royaume uni et des autres puissances occidnetales
Report
Claire MacGregor
5.0 out of 5 stars Critique of From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2014
Verified Purchase
This has been a mind-altering read. Far from being an anti-imperial rant, it is a careful compilation of the writings of three observers of European expansion into the east, chiefly British, French, Dutch and US. The annihilation of the Russian fleet by Japan in 1905 showed that Europeans were not invincible, and led to serious questioning of the West's colonising ways. Jamal al-Din al Afghani was born in Persia, Liang Qichao was Chinese and Rabindranath Tagore was Bengali, and all became well-known writers and critics of the "white man's" imperial pretensions. While the West spoke darkly of the "Yellow Peril", the East referred to the "White Disaster". Anyone interested in our troublous times could find this book enlightening.
Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
Good explanation of what is happening in the Middle East. Its getting even for colonialism and imperialism
Report
sarah hargreaves
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting. I don't think loosing some of the ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
Very interesting. I don't think loosing some of the detail would detract from the points made though.
Report
Shamim Sheikh
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those who want to understand the current state of the world
Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book presents the 18th, 19th and 20th century Europe, Middle East and India in a unique manner. It is a more honest analysis of the affairs than most other books. It also helps explain the situation in the world today. Great work by Pankaj Mishra.
Report