In this groundbreaking work, social anthropologist David Sneath aggressively dispels the myths surrounding the history of steppe societies and proposes a new understanding of the nature and formation of the state. Since the colonial era, representations of Inner Asia have been dominated by images of fierce nomads organized into clans and tribes--but as Sneath reveals, these representations have no sound basis in historical fact. Rather, they are the product of nineteenth-century evolutionist social theory, which saw kinship as the organizing principle in a nonstate society.

Sneath argues...

At the height of the Second world War ordinary men from all walks of life are being called up to action and adventure, to serve their country and fight against the threat of the Nazi war machine. Among the most noted war heroes of the time are those who risk it all to fly their payloads into the heart of Germany and back: the boys of RAF bomber command. In 1943, aware that men's lives can be changed - or ended - in the blink of an eye, the twenty-four hours before an operation are fraught with uncertainty and a fierce desire to live. This is the story of seven men, the bomber crew of a...