A spare, powerful, timeless parable of two men, Western contractors sent to work far from home, tasked with paving a road to the capital in a dangerous and largely lawless country. "Four and Nine are partners, working for the same company, sent without passports to a nation recovering from ten years of civil war. Together, operating under pseudonyms and anonymous to potential kidnappers, they are given a new machine, the RS-90, and tasked with building...

"Chronicling two-hundred years of glamour, intrigue, and hedonism, this rich and vivid history of the French Riviera features a vast cast of characters, from Pablo Picasso and Coco Chanel to Andre Matisse and James Baldwin. 1835, Lord Brougham founded Cannes, introducing bathing and the manicured lawn to the wilds of the Mediterranean coast. Today, much of that shore has become a concrete mass from which escape is an exclusive dream. In the 185 years...

Germany - the powerhouse of Europe and pillar of the Eurozone - feels reassuringly familiar. However, despite superficial appearances, this is a country that operates very differently from the USA and Britain. German history is more than a thousand years old and the relatively new German nation-state encompasses an astonishing variety of cultural and regional differences. German society is also in a state of flux, as people respond to immigration...

Vietnam is one of the most fascinating destinations in Southeast Asia. Having emerged from two decades of war, it is has undergone a period of rapid and far-reaching change. Culture Smart! Vietnam is for those who want to learn about the traditional values, sensibility, and modern life of the Vietnamese. It explains deep-seated attitudes and describes some of the social, economic, and cultural changes now under way."

Nestling in the foothills of the Himalayas, Nepal is a land of contrasts and incongruities--not least in the variety of its cultural, ethnic, and religious weave. Hindu and Buddhist values predominate and help to maintain social harmony despite the divisions between rich and poor, urban and rural, highlands and lowlands. Culture Smart! Nepal sets out to explain the complexities of Nepalese life, from home, to business, and the marketplace."

Eloise is a spoiled rich kid that lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. A prince is coming to the hotel and everything has to be perfect, but Eloise manages to wreak havoc throughout the entire hotel.

"Caught in the Revolution is Helen Rappaport's masterful telling of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold. Between the first revolution in February 1917 and Lenin's Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St. Petersburg) was in turmoil--felt nowhere more keenly than on the fashionable Nevsky Prospekt. There, the foreign visitors who filled hotels, clubs, bars...

Set aside your preconceptions of postcard scenery, chocolate, cheese, faceless bankers, and spotless cities. The real Switzerland is anything but bland. This small, multilingual, and fiercely independent country in the heart of Europe is full of surprises. Culture Smart! Switzerland reveals the human dimension of this enigmatic country. It provides an historical overview, explores Swiss values and attitudes, and looks at the cultural continuity of...

For thousands of years, the Chinese believed that they had created a perfect social system based on Confucian values, tempered by the "Mandate of Heaven." Dynasties came and went, but the essence of being Chinese remained essentially unchanged until the twentieth century. Since then, change has taken place in Chinese society at an unprecedented speed, as the country first experienced the turmoil of civil war and revolution before emerging on to the...

Don't just see the sights, get to know the people. Never conquered by foreigners, this proud and ancient land has been, shaped by Buddhism, the monarchy, and the military. Today it is a manufacturing powerhouse and a tourist paradise that welcomes more than 30-million visitors a year. Yet, despite the veneer of Western modernity, the country and its people remain an enigma for many visitors. Culture Smart! Thailand describes how the Thai people...