Hello Shadowlands

'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.

Somewhere between reality and fantasy there is a place where monsters roam, and portals to other worlds wait in the back of a closet and in the crevices of the mind . . . welcome to the Shadowlands.

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.

Three textile roads tangle their way through Central Asia. The famous Silk Road united east and west through trade. Older still was the Wool Road, of critical importance when houses made from wool enabled nomads to traverse the inhospitable winter steppes. Then there was the Cotton Road, marked by greed, colonialism and environmental disaster. At this intersection of human history, fortunes were made and lost through shimmering silks, life-giving felts and gossamer cottons. Chris Aslan, who has spent fifteen years living and working in the region, expertly unravels the strands of this tangled history and embroiders them with his own experiences of life in the heart of Asia.

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.

“As if Harry Potter was written for grown-ups, Peter Straub’s Shadowland delivers carnage, blood, pain, fairy tales, and flashes of joy and wonder, just like real magic.”—Grady Hendrix You have been there...if you have ever been afraid. Come back. To a dark house deep in the Vermont woods, where two friends are spending a season of horror, apprenticed to a Master Magician. Learning secrets best left unlearned. Entering a world of incalculable evil more ancient than death itself. More terrifying. And more real. Only one of them will make it through.

Southeast Asia is one of the biggest marketplaces for illicit drugs. The international syndicates with their billion-dollar profits are similar to the Hydra of the old Greek mythology which grew two new heads if one was cut off. Hercules eventually killed the monster with the help of his nephew who cauterised the fresh wounds before new heads could emerge. This story describes quite well the challenging task for the political and police efforts to fight the narcotics industry which has a long history in Asia. From the early 1800s, the East India Company dumped Indian opium on China and ruined the economy of both countries. During the colonial heydays, Britain in Malaya and Burma, France in Indochina, and the Netherlands in today's Indonesia, financed big parts of their colonial budgets with opium. In the 20th century, heroin ruined countless lives in Southeast Asia and in the West.Today, synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamines, are produced in hidden laboratories in remote areas of the region and smuggled across the porous borders. Drug prevention programs and the harsh penalties in all ASEAN states have not reduced the drug trade and the consumption. On the contrary, both are growing.This book analyses the detrimental impact of the drug industry on the political economy and the social developments in Southeast Asia. Shortcomings and lasting damages can be traced in the political structures, in the rampant corruption, and the secretive links between customs, armies, police organisations, and organised crime.

On the first day of February 2021, Myanmar's military grabbed power in a coup d'etat, ending a decade of reforms that were supposed to break the shackles of military rule in Myanmar. Protests across the country were met with a brutal crackdown that shocked the world but were a familiar response from an institution that has ruled the country with violence and terror for decades. Return of the Junta is a detailed account of the ways that Myanmar's military – the Tamatdaw - has maintained control over its people despite a decade of supposed reform. In this detailed account, drawing on first-hand accounts from activists, jouralists and politicians, Oliver Slow explores the measures the military has used to keep hold of power and the motivations of those now rising up against its rule. The book asks the question: what needs to be done to remove the military from power in Myanmar once and for all?