Speaker:

Professor Odd Arne Westad

Moderator:

Dr Priscilla Roberts (Schoool of Humanities, HKU)

Date :

25 April 2013 (Thursday)

Time :

7:15 - 9:00 pm

Venue :

Main Library, The University of Hong Kong

Language :

English

Odd Arne Westad is Professor of International History at London School of Economics and Director of LSE IDEAS, the LSE's centre for international affairs, diplomacy and strategy.  

Professor Westad is both a historian and an expert on contemporary international affairs. He has a particular interest in China, where he first studied in 1979.  Professor Westad has been instrumental in developing the School's links with China and with Peking University.  Among his new books is Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750, which explores China’s foreign affairs since the mid-Qing dynasty, providing an historical framework for understanding the international behaviour of modern China. Earlier this year Professor Westad published The Penguin History of the World, a new world history for the 21st century. 

Updated by award-winning writer and historian Odd Arne Westad, most recently author of the glowingly reviewed Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750

For generations of readers The Penguin History of the World has been one of the great cultural experiences - the entire story of human endeavour laid out in all its grandeur and folly, drama and pain, in a single book.

Now, for the first time, this landmark bestseller has been completely overhauled - not just bringing it up to date, but revising it throughout in the light of new research and discoveries, such as revolutionary changes in our understanding of ancient civilizations, and what seems to be the inexorable rise of Asia and the increasingly troubled situation in the West. The republication is an opportunity to celebrate a book that is both a richly rewarding narrative and a permanent work of reference.