'The Civil Code Controversy in Meiji Japan' outlines the dramatic history of the failed liberalization of Japanese private law during the Meiji era.

Towards a Data-Driven Military: A Multidisciplinary Perspective assesses the use of data and information on modern conflict from different scientific and methodological disciplines, aiming to generate valuable contributions to the ongoing discourse on data, the military and modern warfare. Part one, ‘Military Systems and Technology’,, approaches the theme empirically by researching how data can enhance the utility of military materiel and subsequently accelerate the decision-making process. Part two, ‘War Studies’, takes a multidisciplinary approach to the evolution of warfare, while the third part, ‘Military Management Studies’, takes a holistic organisational and procedural approach. Based on their scientific protocols and research methods, the three domains put forward different research questions and perspectives, providing the unique character of this book.

An archaeological history of the Assyrian Empire’s four capitals.

The Assyrian Empire moved and rebuilt its capital city three times—at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Kalhu, Dur-Šarruken, and Nineveh. Creating Capitals explores why and how Assyria constructed these capitals as well as how they functioned within the empire. Drawing on extensive research, Aris Politopoulos offers a sweeping comparative analysis of these four ancient cities and proposes a new framework for understanding the construction of capitals in human history.

Starting in the late nineteenth century, unusual pictographic books began to flow from a remote corner of Southwest China into the libraries of the Western world. What made these books so attractive? For one, they possessed the air of mystery that came with being “magical” books almost indecipherable to all but a select few ritual specialists, but perhaps more importantly, they were written in what looked like an ancient form of picture writing. In these books, written in the Naxi dongba script of southwest China, the events unfold on the page visually. This book offers a full translation of a central Naxi origin myth in a level of detail never before seen: readers are invited to delve into this unique script in both its original form and digital recreation, alongside historic and updated translations and an accompanying explanation of each individual graph.