During the nineteenth century, British and American settlers acquired a vast amount of land from indigenous people throughout the Pacific, but in no two places did they acquire it the same way. Stuart Banner tells the story of colonial settlement in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Today, indigenous people own much more land in some of these places than in others. And certain indigenous peoples benefit from treaty rights, while others do not. These variations are traceable to choices made more than a century ago--choices about whether indigenous people were the owners of their land and how that land was to be transferred to whites. Banner argues that these differences were not due to any deliberate land policy created in London or Washington. Rather, the decisions were made locally by settlers and colonial officials and were based on factors peculiar to each colony, such as whether the local indigenous people were agriculturalists and what level of political organization they had attained. These differences loom very large now, perhaps even larger than they did in the nineteenth century, because they continue to influence the course of litigation and political struggle between indigenous people and whites over claims to land and other resources. "Possessing the Pacific" is an original and broadly conceived study of how colonial struggles over land still shape the relations between whites and indigenous people throughout much of the world.

Paul Van Dyke works in many languages and archives to uncover the history of Peark River trade. This two-volume work is likely to be the most definitive reference work on the major trading families of Guangzhou. Organized as a series of family studies, this first volume includes exhaustive profiles of nine of the dominant hongs and their founding patriarchs for which good information survives: Tan Suqua, Tan Hunqua, Cai and Qiu, Beaukeequa, Yan, Mandarin Quiqua, Ye and Tacqua Amoy, Zhang, and Liang.

The theme of this volume is the American relationship with Macao and its region through trade, politics and culture, and the focus is mainly on the late 18th and 19th centuries. The essays address topics such as the role of the China trade in US pacific expansion and exploration, US consuls, smuggling networks, missionary and educational work, and American women's perceptions of China. In all of the encounters, Macao emerges as a central player, adding a new dimension to our understanding of Sino-American relations.

In this collection of essays, edited by Jianwei Wang and Yufan Hao, the contributor's explore the driving factors that lie behind Macau's increased visibility, including: the rapid economic development and growth, the 'one country, two system' administration under which they operate, the influx of foreign investment, and the role of Macau in China's foreign policy, especially as it relates to the United States. Macau underwent tremendous growth in various spheres during its evolution from a minor colonial power into a global player with increasing influence on the world stage. Their enhanced international profile is largely a result of their economic and political development over the 20th century, culminating with their handover to China in 1999. With more than 60 countries that have established consular services in Macau, and their membership in several international organizations — WTO, UNESDO, and the World Tourism Organization) — Macau continues to play an important role in the Eastern hemisphere. Macau's entrance into the world market improved their reputation in East Asia and led to spectacular economic growth, but it also attracted foreign investment, especially from the United States, that changed the cultural landscape. American influence has grown steadily in Macau, and with their increased exposure to international economics and politics, Macau's role as a buffer between China and United States is increasingly important. Macau and U.S.-Chinese Relations uses a local perspective to analyze the complicated relationship between these two world superpowers and Chinese foreign policy as a whole.

Pharmacologically enhanced militaries -- Alcohol -- From pre-modern times to the end of the Second World War -- Pre-modern times: opium, hashish, mushrooms and coca -- Napoleon in Egypt and the adventures of Europeans with hashish -- The Opium Wars -- The American Civil War, opium, morphine and the "soldiers' disease"--The colonial wars and the terrifying "barbarians"--coca to cocaine: the First World War -- The Second World War -- The Cold War -- From the Korean War to the war over mind control -- In search of wonderful new techniques and weapons -- Vietnam: the first true pharmacological war -- The Red Army in Afghanistan and the problem of drug addiction -- Towards the present -- Contemporary irregular armies empowered by drugs -- Intoxicated child soldiers -- Drugs in the contemporary American Armed Forces -- Conclusion -- Epilogue: war as a drug

From hallucinogenic mushrooms and LSD, to coca and cocaine; from Homeric warriors and the Assassins to the first Gulf War and today's global insurgents - drugs have sustained warriors in the field and have been used as weapons of warfare, either as non-lethal psychochemical weapons or as a means of subversion. /Lukasz Kamie'nski explores why and how drugs have been issued to soldiers to increase their battlefield performance, boost their courage and alleviate stress and fear - as well as for medical purposes. He also delves into the history of psychoactive substances that combatants 'self-prescribe', a practice which dates as far back as the Vikings. Shooting Up is a comprehensive and original history of the relationship between fighting men and intoxicants, from Antiquity till the present day, and looks at how drugs will determine the wars of the future in unforeseen and remarkable ways.

In sixteen essays authors explore the dramatic rise in the efficiency of European shipping in the three centuries before the Industrial Revolution. They offer reasons for the greater success of the sector than any other in making better use of labor. They describe the roots - political, organizational, technological, ecological, human - of rising productivity, treating those sources both theoretically and empirically. Comparisons with China show why Europeans came to dominate Asian waters. Building on past research, the volume is a statement of what is known about that critical sector of the early modern European economy and indicates the contribution shipping made to the emergence of the West as the dominant force on the oceans of the world.