The most recommended books on the East–West dichotomy

Being one of the first books to scrutinize the origins of Trumpism and its impact beyond U.S. borders, I very much appreciate the argument that right-wing populism in the West—which includes the forces that culminated in the Brexit process—shall be a catalyser for the power transition to the East.

Hence, the likely end of Western dominance does not arise only from Asian continuous economic growth but would also stem from the centrifugal forces that emerged at the heart of the advanced industrial democracies.

The authors of this book were stalwarts of The Economist for many years. They bring to this book all their considerable powers as writers and analysts of contemporary politics and economics. Again, this book was a major source of inspiration for my own book. After discussing prior revolutions in the scale and scope of the state over the last two centuries, The Fourth Revolution argues that: 1) reform of the state is essential, and 2) this reform is possible because it is already happening all over the world thanks to new technology. This book, therefore, served for me as the launching point for my own book which looks at a great number of these actual changes in governments around the world that are taking place on the back of new technologies and forms of organization. 

While, of course, as a fiction book, it gets a bit fantastical at times, this book captures the true oddity and tension of the end of Japan’s sakoku era, when the country was cut off from the world, except for a few highly controlled ports like Dejima in Nagasaki.

I loved how well the author expressed the feeling of time and place and laughed at how some things still haven’t changed. 

Lately, I've been worrying about the end of civilization, but this book made me think that maybe we'll make it through.

Last summer's wildfires, heat waves, and torrential rains can turn you pretty gloomy, and at first glance, Violet Moller's book wouldn't seem to allay those dark thoughts. But she details how the wisdom of the classical Greeks and Romans survived during Europe's Dark Ages because they were cherished by Arabic and Islamic scholars in a series of great centres of learning that stretched from Baghdad to Spain. 

Moller's book shows once again just how resilient people can be. 

This is a remarkable book that offers a clear historical overview of Islamophobia in the US, going back several centuries.

Kumar shows that it is geopolitics that shapes whether Muslims are seen as friends or enemies. Thus the origin of Islamophobia is not a problem with Islam itself, but rather in US endeavors to remain a global empire. Besides Islamophobia, the books offers clear explanations to understand terrorism, the War on Terror, and empire.

The secret world has been my area of research and writing for several years, so this account of the 100-year saga of intelligence rivalry between Russia and the West puts my writing about undercover WW2 operations in its proper context.

More than that, the century-old secret East-West war helps to make sense of the Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022. Always gripping, the stories hold the attention, partly because much detail is consigned to the many pages of notes. When reading a book like this, I often find as much value in the footnotes as in the main text, and here they are particularly comprehensive.

I spent many happy hours diving down rabbit holes to pursue an interesting story, before returning to pick up the thread of the main narrative.

This is my favorite book for showing how culture affects perceptions of history. Ansari writes brilliantly of the time between the Prophet Muhammad and the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. My favorite quote about differences between Western and Eastern cultures, says it all: “What looks from one side like a campaign to secure greater rights for citizens…looks from the other side like powerful strangers inserting themselves into the private affairs of families and undercutting people’s ability to maintain their communal selves as families and tribal networks. In short what looks from one side like empowering each individual, looks from the other side like disempowering whole communities” (p.353). The book is full of similar cultural insights and is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the Middle East. 

Another classic work that inspired my passion for the domain that I work in.

Saïd thoroughly illustrates how media agenda setting and framing, socio-cultural biases and generalisation impact the way we see the world. It is largely driven by clichés and stereotypes. What is needed is “respect for the concrete detail of human experience, understanding that arises from viewing the Other compassionately, knowledge gained and diffused through moral and intellectual honesty.”

I couldn’t agree more.

A literate history of the economic and religious history of Europe, the Middle East, and adjacent Eursian steppes from fifth century B.C. down to the opening of the twenty-first century. I found the book a delight to read.

The first ten chapters are complementary to my work Empires of the Steppes. Professor Frankopan, however, continues the story to emergence of the global economy based on oceanic trade. The excellent analysis of colonial rivalries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is a must reading for understanding the geopolitical role of Eurasia today the Belt and Road initiative of China.

Chua set off an international firestorm with her memoir, a frank account of the trials and tribulations of raising her two daughters the Chinese way in the U.S. Her strict, achievement-oriented parenting tactics often run counter to mainstream Western ideals about raising children and have drawn harsh criticism from many readers. Whether you agree with her methods or not, it’s impossible not to be touched by Chua’s book.