Jonathan Clements Books

The journey of Chinese food over 5,000 years of history - and the story it tells us about the land and its people.

The long and fascinating history of Japan's modern capital spans from the first forest clearances on the vast Kanto plain, through the wars and intrigues of the samurai era, and up to the preparations for the 2020 Olympics.

Completely revised edition, with more films plus all-new studio and artist entries.

Darwin's Notebook is a biography of the great man, but a biography with a difference. As you would expect, it provides a full and detailed account of Darwin's life and discoveries, but it is written, designed and illustrated to look like - as the title suggests - a personal notebook or journal.By mining the rich sources of his own journals and incorporating a wide range of quotations and primary sources, Darwin's Notebook brings its subject to life more vividly than any ordinary history book or biography, revealing the man behind the theory of evolution. Additional chapters examine Darwin's early life and education, his family life, his later writings, the reactions to his work and his long-term legacy.

The journey of Chinese food over 5,000 years of history - and the story it tells us about the land and its people.

This comprehensive history of Japanese animation draws on Japanese primary sources and testimony from industry professionals to explore the production and reception of anime, from its early faltering steps, to the international successes of Spirited Away and Pokémon.

Japanese animation is at the nexus of an international multimedia industry worth over $6.5 billion a year, linked to everything from manga to computer games, Pokemon and plushies. In this comprehensive, critically-acclaimed history, Jonathan Clements traces the production and reception history of anime, from a handful of hobbyists in the early 20th century to the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and up to the present day, with anime established as a global medium. Exploring the cultural and technological developments of the past century, Clements addresses topics such as wartime instructional animation and work-for-hire for American clients. Drawing on the testimonies of industry professionals, a myriad of Japanese-language documents, memoirs and books, Anime: A History illuminates the anime business from the inside, investigating its innovators, its unsung heroes and its controversies. This new edition has been revised and updated throughout, with full colour illustrations and new chapters addressing the rising economic power of otaku subcultures, the development of anime in China, and the transformation of distribution and exhibition accompanying the dominance of Netflix and other globalised streaming platforms.

Baron Gustaf Mannerheim was one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century, and the only man to be decorated by both sides in the Second World War. As a Finnish officer in Russian service, he witnessed the coronation of the last Tsar, and was both reprimanded for foolhardiness and decorated for bravery in the Russo-Japanese War. He spent two years undercover in Asia as an agent in the 'Great Game', posing as a Swedish anthropologist. He crossed China on horseback, stopping en route to teach the 13th Dalai Lama how to shoot with a pistol, and spying on the Japanese navy on his way home. He escaped the Bolsheviks by the skin of his teeth in 1917, arriving in the newly independent Finland just in time to lead the anti-Russian forces in the local revolt and civil war. During Finland's darkest hour, he lead the defence of his country against the impossible odds of the Winter War. This major new life of Gustaf Mannerheim, the first to be published for over a decade, includes new historical material on Mannerheim's time in China.

Through his timely and intimate portrait of the world's most populous capital city, Jonathan Clements reveals the history of China itself. This first paperback edition includes a new introduction and a section on Zhangjiakou, where many of the 2022 Winter Olympics events will take place.