Books From University Presses

If you're intrigued by the complex tapestry of cultures in modern societies, this book provides a deep dive into Singapore's multiethnic landscape. Ah Eng Lai's meticulous study offers insights not just into how a diverse nation builds its collective identity, but also into the personal significance of ethnicity for individuals. Taking you from intimate, detailed ethnography to broader socio-political discussions, it carves out an understanding of ethnic relations that's both nuanced and highly relevant in today's world.

In this book readers are invited to explore a fascinating but neglected field of English letters; the books written by British men and women about their experience in the Indian subcontinent. Over forty individual works are surveyed, covering the time period from when the East India Company began consolidating its powers to the eve of the Mutiny. The author balances generous excerpts from the original texts with her own exegeses to produce a work which offers rich insights to lay readers as well as to professional students of literature, history, sociology, anthropology, and travel writing.

The Sumerians, the pragmatic and gifted people who preceded the Semites in the land first known as Sumer and later as Babylonia, created what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man, spanning the fifth to the second millenniums B.C. This book is an unparalleled compendium of what is known about them.Professor Kramer communicates his enthusiasm for his subject as he outlines the history of the Sumerian civilization and describes their cities, religion, literature, education, scientific achievements, social structure, and psychology. Finally, he considers the legacy of Sumer to the ancient and modern world.