Award-winning journalist James Fergusson is among the few to have witnessed at first hand the devastating reality of life in the failed and desperate state of Somalia. This corner of the world has long been seen as the rotting and charred heart of Africa: a melting pot of crime, corruption, poverty, famine and civil war. And in recent years, whilst Somalia's lucrative piracy industry has grabbed the headlines, a darker, much deeper threat has come of age: the Al Qaida-linked militants Al Shabaab, and the dawn of a new phase in the global war on terror. Yet, paradoxically, Somalia's star is...

Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India, the profits from which allowed him to embark upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field, particularly in Indian architecture. He made numerous trips around India in order to study and document its cave temples, publishing his first book on the subject in 1845. In 1880, he returned to the subject, collaborating with the archaeologist James Burgess (1832 1916) as part of the Archaeological Survey of...

Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India before embarking upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field and an expert on India's cave temples. His History of Indian and Eastern Architecture was first published in 1876 and became a standard work. It was revised in this two-volume edition of 1910 by James Burgess (1832 1916), former Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Richard Spiers (1838 1916), a noted architect and historian of...

Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808 86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India before embarking upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field and an expert on India's cave temples. His History of Indian and Eastern Architecture was first published in 1876 and became a standard work. It was revised in this two-volume edition of 1910 by James Burgess (1832 1916), former Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Richard Spiers (1838 1916), a noted architect and historian of...

In April 2006 a small British Army force was sent to the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Defence Minister said the mission could be carried out 'without a shot being fired'. Over a million bullets, 700 dead Afghans and 6 VC recommendations later, James Fergusson brings us the real story of this gruelling and bloody war.

This title presents a definitive history of the religious movement which became the world's most feared fighting force - the Taliban. The book tells how 16 years ago, southern Afghanistan was in even greater chaos than it is now.

The architecture of India Proper is treated in an exhaustive manner in this work. Its description might easily extended even beyond these limits, but without plans and more accurate architectural details, any such additions would practically contribute very little that was valuable to the information the work already contains.

One of the most interesting of antiquarian studies is that which relates to the origin and purpose of the many ancient mounds and monuments found in almost every country. Antiquaries have never agreed whether the circles are temples or tombs or observatories, whether the dolmens are monuments of the dead or altars for sacrificing living men, and whether the mounds are tombs or law courts. This book compiles a Historical and Statistical account of the Rude Stone Monuments in all parts of the world.