Dating from the fifth to the fourteenth century, the Mogao Caves near the oasis of Dunhuang in northwestern China contain a wealth of information charting the flows and interactions of diverse cultures across Eurasia. Donor portraits in particular furnish a remarkable range of data on the ethnicity, interregional relations, politics, and the social and…

  The newly discovered papers and colourfully-written letters of Anglo-Irish Sir Henry Dobbs, which form the backbone of this book, reveal his importance in the development of the modern Middle East. An influential civil servant and Britain's longest serving High Commissioner in Iraq at a time when the British empire was facing increasing challenges to…