Asia Books

I live in Shanghai, and usually write guidebooks, not read them. When I do, it's usually to wince at all the things the writers who came here for a mere month or so of research got wrong. Even those without glaring errors tend to be off by angle, such as raving about the rather dull Yu Gardens and failing to notice the incredible living history museum, Shanghai's Old City (aka Chinatown), that it is situated in. They only offer the stupidly obvious destinations, like the Bund, Huaihai Lu, and Nanjing Lu, to the neglect of fascinating, cultural history spots like Sichuan Lu and the Jewish Ghetto.

I was handed the compact guide as a reference for a project I was working on, and it pleasantly surprised me. Amazingly, I found nothing to criticize, nothing to wince at. I was impressed to discover in it city trivia that even I consider obscure, like the history of the Broadway Mansions as the old Foreign Correspondents Club.

But nicest of all is its refusal to patronize. Many guidebooks take the attitude, "You're a stupid Western tourist,doesn't speak any Chinese, so here's what to do!" So, if you pick them up having read anything - anything! - about Shanghai previously, you're likely to feel put off. The Compact Guide refreshingly presents the facts without too much condescending background but also without playing insider baseball. It's very accessible.

Only two quibbles: the maps are confusing, have a number of typos, don't have characters along with the pinyin, and are so small, listing so few streets, to be useless unless you already know where you are/where you're going (and then, why do you need a map?). Also, Shanghai changes so quickly that, being written three years ago, it is rather woefully out of date. Use its listings with caution.

Published in conjunction with The Discovery Channel, it's information you can trust to be accurate. The history lessons and overview of the modern-day city itself -- it's people, economy, language, currency, culture, artisans and performing arts, markets, and hidden gemstones off the beaten path -- make this guide truly special. However, the glossy pages that are virtually indestructible, up-to-date maps, compact size and plenty of photos are what will make this guide your most valuable travel asset while in Shanghai!

I was plesantly surprised by this compact book. I didn't know that it was associated with the Discovery Channel. The book has outstanding print/paper quality. It has plenty of maps and lots of pictures. This helps me to find the place. I can also decide, from the pictures, if I would be interested in visiting such an attraction.
The best surprise is that this book is actually listed [$$$] less than the Fodor's compact book.

I bought this book and also Fodor's Pocket Shanghai. This book has better print/paper quality. Has more maps. For each attraction, there is a color photo so that you can decide if you would like to go there. The photo also helps to identify the attraction if you do decide to go there.
The Fodor's book has no photos, looks [inexpensive], but is actually [$] more.

I took this and Fodor's Citypack Shanghai (Citypack) guide for a week in Shanghai in 12/00. I found this guide far better than the Fodor guide. I found it to be an excellent general guide, if you want a compact, concise guide. The excursions were pretty good as well.

Peter was able to give examples which made the complex easier to understand. The edges of the first sections in a copy in the Caltech library were black from use. I was privileged to be a guinea pig for the first edition.

Don't know of a superior first exposure to relativity. It starts with elementary situations and examines the conflicts with pre-relativistic kinematical viewpoints. This motivates the requirements for special relativities' postulates and their immediate consequences.

From here, the more complex issues of special relativity are dealt with in an orderly fashion; e.g. rigid body dynamics, relativistic hydrodynamics and electromagnetic theory from a relatavistic point of view.

General tensor analysis is covered in a separate chapter for pursuing the general relativity chapters of the book. Incidentally, this chapter is among the most clear expositions on tensors out there.

Finally, general relativity is covered in the same stepwise fashion as was done in the special relativity chapters. The natural introduction of more complex ideas which start from basics is perhaps, the single reason why this book is a hard to beat introduction to relativity.

After a thorough digestion of Bergmann, one is ready to spring up to the next level, the masterful Weinberg.

This book describes the foundations of relativity in a clear and concise way. The development of tensor analysis is especially clear. It is great for anyone who has studied calculus, differential equations, and classical physics. I highly recommend it.

Hey, it's endorsed by big Al, himself. The math intro pretty much does it all, but it would be good if you have a firm grasp of vector calculus, and linear algebra. And intro undergraduate physics wouldn't hurt, either.

This book is one of the first introductions to the theory of relativity that has the endorsement of the discoverer of the theory. Albert Einstein was alive when the book was first published, and writes the foreward to the book. Individuals who want to learn relativity should still take a look at this book, in spite of the somewhat outdated mathematical notation. In more contemporary textbooks and monographs the physical intuition is usually sacrificed and replaced with mathematical formalism. But here the author puts the main emphasis on the physics behind the subject. It is one of the few books still in print that discusses the relativistic mechanics of mass points and continuous matter.

The reader will also get an overview of early approaches to unified field theories. Historians of science will be interested in particular with this discussion. It is amazing how much has changed in this area since this book was published in 1942. The advent of superstring and M-theory has given physicists a view of reality that is set on a mathematical structure that is quite formidable. It now takes years for a student to obtain the necessary mathematical background to reach the frontiers of unified theories. In this book, it only takes the reading of the first two parts to be able to understand the author's overview of unified field theories. Particular attention should be paid to the treatment of the gauge-invariant geometry of Hermann Weyl, because of its relevance to the construction of gauge theories in elementary particle physics. The geometry of Weyl is constructed using a symmetric tensor representing the gravitational field and a pseudovector that represents the vector potential. When a gauge transformation is applied to this vector potential, it changes by a gradient, which, as the author remarks, is the historical reason for calling the addition of a gradient to the electromagnetic vector potential a gauge transformation. In addition, variational principles play a role in this discussion, and these principles have wide applicability to the quantization of gauge theories in modern developments. The role played by adding extra dimensions to formulate a field theory is summarized here by the author in his discussion of five-dimensional field theories and Kaluza-Klein theories. Ten- and eleven-dimensional theories now dominate modern unified theories. It would be very interesting to know what the author and Einstein would have thought about the theories of today, entrenched as they are in the most complex mathematical constructions ever applied to physical theory.

This book is the essential book about Bali. I read it 26 years ago when I first went to Bali and it still ranks as thee book about Bali. If you wish to learn about the Balinese people, their culture and religion and beliefs I highly recommend this book. jim

If you only read one book on Bali, read this one. Believe me, I'm Balinese.

Miguel Covarrubias, and his wife Rose,who were Mexican, went to Bali twice, once in 1930 for several months and again in 1933 again for several months. The first time they stayed in Denpasar, the capital, and the second time in Ubud, where I live.

They stayed with Walter Spies in Ubud,who was an extraordinary German, who had been living there for years, and who totally absorbed Balinese culture. My mother worked for him. He taught the Covarrubias's a lot.

They then wrote their book. It is regarded as the bible and all subsequent books owe a lot to it. Some things have changed, of course, but only on the surface. We are very traditional, especially in the Ubud area. The book is an excellent introduction to our rich culture.

The book discusses family and village life, rice farming, our Bali-Hindu religion, ceremonies, history, drama, art and dance.

It's very readable and the photographs and line drawings are great.

I must confess this book is thick but hey!!! It's well worth reading about for those who want to understand a little about Balinese culture as well as it's lovely people. I found it very interesting since it covered almost everything about Bali, however the book was written before World War II and well I still think it's great to have a book that is still resourceful. Even though so much has changed with Bali over the decades this book will never die surely. This is a must and is essential for those who want to have a better understanding of Bali back before World War II and they can still relate it to the present. Nothing much has changed but a few things have altered. It was like stepping back in time when I read this book... I hope everyone will enjoy the book as much as I do too... great book to have...

This is by far the best book available if you want to know about the people of Bali - their unique lifestyle, religion, customs and beliefs. Written in the 1930's, it still holds true today. The classic black and white photos are worth the price alone. The Balinese people still live a magical life that is difficult for a westerner to comprehend, unless you read a book like this.

Mexican painter Miguel Covarrubias set sail for Bali in 1931 on an optimistic personal quest to discover, absorb, and chronicle Bali's traditional living culture. Buy into the romance and seduction of Covarrubias-driven by a feverish imagination-- inexorably pulled towards and teased by the lure of Bali, half a world away. Travel back sixty-four years in time to Bali's unspoiled natural vistas-a happy, peaceful. pristine retreat standing apart from a West mired in crippling economic depression and poised on the precipice of World War II. As a fellow artist on an island with three million artists-in-residence (creativity is considered both a religious and a natural activity on Bali), Covarrubias penetrated deeply into the spirit of the dance, theatre, music, decorative arts, and pastimes of Bali.
Embellished by 114 half-tone photos and 90 drawings by the author and other Balinese artists, this essential, still-relevant classic consists of twelve chapters on the Balinese people and their civilization in the 1930s. Accompanied by painter Walter Spies, Bali's most famous expatriate resident, they roamed the countryside together with eyes, ears, and canvasses wide open, observing the local life. Covarrubias's most notable writing describes the organization of the traditional Balinese village: the markets, social order, etiquette, language, caste system, the banjar, law and justice, the courts, the subak, rice culture, and the distribution of labor. This intimate, insider's foray into every nook and cranny of his own paradise produced key chapters on everyday family life in Bali: the house, cooking, costume and adornment, childbirth, childhood, adolescence, sexual customs, and marriage.
Covarrubias explored the place of the artist in Balinese life and the development and evolution of Balinese art, crafts, sculpture, and architecture. Drama and dance are important components of Balinese life: they come alive through the village orchestras, musical instruments, classical Legong, and the ancient shadow plays. Island of Bali unveils material on priests and religion, temples and feasts, offerings and exorcisms, the Balinese calendar, and the original Bali Aga people. Written from a day when primary forests reigned supreme and witch doctors wielded terrifying power, Covarrubias delves into the cult of the Barong and Rangda, black and white magic, folk medicine, the sacrifice of widows, and death and cremation. The Balinese still lead a magical, mystical, harmonious life that is difficult for Westerners to understand unless they read a profound work like Covarrubias's Island of Bali. With an artist's sensibility and a Bali-lover's eye, Covarrubias paints a complex nirvana with words and easel in this great literary achievement.

A great resource if you wish to get a better grasp of the many Japanese ghosts and supernatural elements which appear in woodblock prints. Well researched. I enjoyed it very much.

As the preface to "Japanese Ghosts and Demons" notes, this book is the fruit of interdisciplinary studies undertaken by the Spencer Museum of Art and the University of Kansas at Lawrence. And it is the results of just such an interdisciplinary approach that have lifted this book out of the realm of an ordinary exhibition catalogue and propelled it into the rarified ranks of an art history classic.

In historical terms, the focus of the book is the Edo period. This long (1615-1868) and peaceful period saw a concatenation of several important trends, including the perfection of the woodblock print, a democratization of art that--for the first time in Japan--served the masses, the rise of the kabuki theater, and a diffusion of popular literature and tales that often focused on the ghostly and the supernatural. The fusion of these trends was most clearly seen in the woodblock prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Utagawa Kunisada, and Ichiryusai Kuniyoshi, many of which are reproduced here. These three giants of the late woodblock period not only made a major contribution in documenting the theatrical and literary trends of the Edo period but also provided many of the visual models still employed in Japanese-style tattooing.

Apart from the rich feast of art presented in this book, "Japanese Ghosts and Demons" will nourish the souls of those interested more in the fields of anthropology and comparative religion. Even today, when Japan has emerged as one of the most technologically advanced nations on earth, fundamental cultural beliefs are still strongly informed by a sense of mutability. "Japanese Ghosts and Demons" makes an important contribution to explaining this phenomenon, in which the boundaries between the living and the dead, humankind and animals, the animate and the inanimate, and the sacred and profane are far more permeable than is believed to be the case in the modern West. Several thousand years ago, before the rise of the three great monotheistic religions, most of the world's societies believed in a universe more pregnant with magical possibilities, a type of universe that this book helps us better understand.

"Japanese Ghost and Demons" is something I really wish I could have been a part in making. A college with a fine collection of supernatural-themed Japanese art, in a variety of mediums, decides to offer an interdisciplinary study class with each group producing papers on a folklore theme, with supporting artwork from the collection. Brilliant.

Each of the chapters is incredibly insightful, providing a complete education on the topic. Along with the traditional subjects such as the Oni, Ghosts and Tengu, there are many less-often covered subjects such as Sennin: The Immortals of Taoism and Shoki the Demon Queller. I was particularly pleased to learn about Shoki, as I was browsing a print shop in Kyoto and was able to recognize the Demon Queller himself in a few prints.

The plates are, of course, beautiful, and cover an incredible range of medium, from the familiar prints to the drawings, paintings and netsuke carvings. The reproduction quality is high, and the size of the book is "coffee table" size, allowing for nice sized images. The majority of the plates are in full color.

As someone who has read quite a few books on Japanese supernatural folklore, I recommend "Japanese Ghosts and Demons" as one of the best. It would be hard to be disappointed by this treasure.

I almost hesitate to add a review since there are two other reviews here that do such a fine job. I actually attended the University of Kansas and was therefore able to visit the Spencer Museum of Art and see some of these works on display. I purchased my copy of this book at the museum and used it as part of my source material for a theses I wrote while matriculating at KU, so I am very familiar with this book.

This is a very, very impressive book with loads of gorgeously rendered and reproduced wood-block prints. If you like Japanese art you will wish to have this book simply to look at the pictures. My children actually like to get this book down and look at the pictures, half because it is truly amazing art and half because the art is focused on the creepy-crawly and supernatural. An element of Japanese culture and psychology is viscerally on display in these fine prints and it is easy to see that this form of art is the precursor to the Manga that is so popular today.

This book is much more than a simple visual display though. There is a wealth of information, meticulously researched, presented here on the creatures that make up the pantheon of the eerie and supernatural in medieval Japan. For serious students, or even those with a surfeit of Hobbits just wanting a better grounding in an alternate milieu of the supernatural, this is an excellent tome, well-written, easy-to-follow, and chock-full of information. Buy it for the pictures, buy it for the text, or buy it for both, you won't be disappointed.

If you are looking for sources for traditional japanese art for tattooing purposes this is an excellent place to start. I was very suprised when I got this book and found it to be SO thorough and much nicer than I expected. If you're expecting a flimsy cheap paperback, this is not it. It is a quality book very thick and almost as sturdy as a hardbound, perfect for reference material for a tattooer!

Exquisite book, most comprehensive I have seen on this subject. Worth ten times over the Amazon price!

This beautiful book really opened my mind to the influence that Japanese art had on the Impressionist movement. Some very interesting comparisons of woodblocks and the work of Van Gogh.....Wow...It had never occurred to me before & to see the works side by side is fascinating. I first found this book in the school library & kept borrowing it; such wonderful images.I decided I had to own a copy & made my first Amazon.com purchase. Great service, Amazon, thank you....so quick & efficient. This book is great value and very well illustrated. The text is extremely interesting and thought provoking.

This is probably the best and most beautiful art-book I have ever read. I traces the roots of different western artforms like impressionism and abstract expressionism from the japanese traditions of brushpainting an calligraphy.. -I want it!

For anyone interested in both Japanese Art and European Art at the turn of the last century, this book will become the most satisfying reference book in your collection.

"Japonisme" is the term used to describe the Victorian fascination with all things Japanese. Wichmann's book successfully demonstrates the influence of this fascination on the fine art of the era. Lavishly illustrated with over a thousand images, Wichmann's essays are informed both historically and artistically on the detailed ins and outs of the sharing of the two cultures of East and West. Topics include the Asian influence in composition, pictoral space, design, choice of material, and subject matter in the visual art and architechture of turn of the century fin de siecle Europe and America. Visual examples are given from a wealth of artists including Van Gogh, Manet, Cassatt, Whistler, Degas, Mucha, Klimt, the architechs Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, and Japanese artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai, just to name a few.

Being a visual artist from the west trained in the Western tradition and yet fascinated with Japanese fine art and in particular the tradition of ukiyo-e, discovering this book for me was like finding the holy grail, a book filled to the brim with stunning visual compromises between the traditions of East and West from which to take my own influences. Fantastic.

the title says it all - "The Japanese influence on Western art since 1858" --- details print making, textiles, jewelry design, ceramics and glass, home and garden, objects d'art and of course painting. Amazing, for example how much Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese art especially wood block prints and you will see examples of his art and Japanese art which he had access to "Theo and I have hundreds of Japanese prints in our collection..." --- I truly wish I could see an exhibition as put together as this book --- it is absolutely indepth, articulate, clear and consise and immense in scope. Weighs a ton and worth its weight in gold.

This is part two of one of the four great written masterpieces of China, beautifully translated by Professor Yu. It is, I believe, the closest English speakers will get to the original Chinese text. Occasional awkwardness of wording in the translation is unavoidable as this work has gone from its original to a greatly contrasting culture. Do not let this discourage you as you read, let it instead encourage you to learn to read the Chinese original. Seeing it via one of the many movies / TV productions available is a great help in enjoying this work. I highly recommend the CCTV production from mainland China done in both 1986 and 2000.

This translation of Journey to the West is awesome. I'll admit that I haven't read other translations, but, from people that I know that have read the Chinese version, and also seen the Chinese series, and I have discussed the book with them, they say it is a great translation of the book.

A really great book, I could hardly put it down. The subtle comedy and the continuos action is perfect for anyone above 9 years old. I LOVED it.

This is a great story not just this volume, I really recommend these books to be read by anyone it has everything that a great -great story need.
Prepare yourself for a great journey...read the story.

Yu has done an excellent job in this translation. The book is heavily footnoted with Buddhist and Dao references. It's an older translation so it uses Wade-Giles instead of modern pinyin. It's also the least abridged. If you can't read the original Chinese this comes a close second.

Written by an author who also served in the United States Army in Vietnam, Killed In Action is the biography of draftee, journalist, and anti-war activist Stephen H. Warner. Though staunchly opposed to the war, he refused to avoid service to his country for the sake of principle, and served as an Army journalist until enemy fire slew him. An eloquent, articulate account, that draws heavily upon Warner's own words and testimony from people who knew him, Killed In Action is a singularly vivid portrait and testament of shining ideals and a life brought to its end all too soon.

Mr. Amchan has managed to explore all the contadictions and ambivalence of the Vietnam era through the forgotten story of one complex and courageous young man -- Stephen Warner. Deftly paced and brimming with historical fact and insight, it is of interest not only as great history, but as American drama.

THIS IS A TERRIFIC BOOK ABOUT AN ANTIWAR ACTIVIST DRAFTED OUT OF YALE LAW SCHOOL AND SENT TO VIETNAM LATE IN THE WAR. TOWARD THE END OF HIS ONE YEAR TOUR, STEVE WARNER, WHO DEVELOPED GREAT RESPECT AND AFFECTION FOR THE COMBAT INFANTRYMEN WHO FOUGHT THAT WAR, IS KILLED IN ACTION.

THE AUTHOR, HIMSELF A VIETNAM VET, TELLS THE COMPELLING, TRUE STORY OF STEVEN WARNER. A MUST READ FOR THOSE OF US WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM AND ENJOY READING ABOUT OTHERS WHO SERVED. THE AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION OF ARMY BASIC TRAINING IS, BY ITSELF, WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK.

Killed in Action is a short, powerful book about SP4 Steve Warner, US Army, who could arguably be called the most intelligent enlisted man to have served in Vietnam. This remarkable story begins with Steve's undergraduate years at Gettysburg College where he became an articulate anti-war spokesman at a time when it was not popular cause. Graduating summa cum laude, he went to Yale Law for one year after which he was drafted. Rather than head for Canada he decided to serve and served admirably. The details of Army basic training in the late 60s are as accurate as any I have read. Anyone who went through at this, or any other time, will appreciate it. The story of Steve in Vietnam is absolutely incredible. He had a nice safe job in Public Information but chose to use this position to go out into the field and get stories from the fighting soldiers first hand. His journal entries from these trips are fascinating as is his metamorphis into a soldier. This book will interest both those for and against the war and shows the power war has to change a person. The black and white photographs (all taken by Steve) are stark and haunting. Highly recommend to anyone interested in the Vietnam War and its related affects.

Drawn from the diaries and letters of a former anti-war activist who chose to serve rather than evade the draft and died in the waning days of the War, this gripping account of life in Nam has special poignancy today. Drafted out of Yale Law School, Steve Warner faces the dilemmas of his generation, but his war experiences change him. The author writes the book that Warner the journalist wanted to write but could not. Reads like a novel. I couldn't put it down.

Both these books "The Knights of Bushido" and "The Scourge of the Swastika" are brilliantly written and from an Englishman with as little emotion as poossbile. I am 62 years old and read both these books when I was 12 years old. My Mother,a forward thinking woman, purchased both books with the idea that her daughters should read and know the facts of both enemies during a recent war. Statistics now say(in 2006) that less than 60% of under sixteen year olds in Britian are aware that the massacre of Jews at various concentration camps took place. Based on that fact and others I have gained from recent media coverage I will purchase again both of these books and circulate them among my children , grand-children and great grandchildren, not for bitterness or to continue hatred, but rather to inform as the saying is " If history is not known it is easy to repeat, as the knowledge of the consequences is unknown"

We've seen the movies, the Hollywood glamour of Japanese POW camps in such movies as "Bridge over the River Kwai" and "Empire of the Sun". I had read hints of Japanese brutality, I knew about the rise of the military culture within the government and I, of course, knew of Bushido and the characteristic, xenophobic racism of the Japanese. But I was not prepared for the reality of the Japanese scourge upon the Orient. This fantastic book chronicles the war crimes of the Japanese soldiers and government from the very beginning of the Sino-Japanese conflict and the Rape of Nanking to the frenzied coverup when defeat became evident and the atomic bombs fell.

The author relies heavily upon what was uncovered during the war crime trials of the Japanese hierarchy, as well as testimony from both Allied and Japanese soldiers. The brutality and inhuman conditions of the POW camps, the horrid transportation by ship, and the long death marches (the most famous of which, Bataan) inflicted upon the Allies, the Chinese, the Pacific Islanders, the Indians, and everyone who crossed the path of the Japanese are detailed so meticulously you can see the human skeletons, feel the agony of the raped and slaughtered Chinese, and weep for those prisoners burned alive or bayoneted only because their care had become a burden.

I adore Japanese culture. Bushido is an honorable path for a warrior and the Samurai who practiced it, honorable men. But you cannot forget an atrocity for an honorable past or an affluent future.

With all the candid and realistic portrayals of WWII in Europe and the Nazi concentration camps we have seen come out of Hollywood in the last decade, I am surprised that there is no accurate screen memorial to the millions fallen under the boot of the Japanese.

This book is great for a WWII buff or student of Japanese or Asian culture.

This book is long overdue. At last, a book that doesn't whitewash Japanese atrocities during WWII. This book tells it like it is.

The first chapter was hard for me to get through. It was the politics...too many different Japanese names...too confusing. But after the first chapter, it is Riveting. Unbelieveable! Should be required reading. The bombing of Pearl Harbor, was the tip of the iceberg.

This is a British lawyer's narrative of Japanese atrocities in WWII and in the years immediately preceding. Baron Russell of Liverpool was a senior legal advisor to the British Army of the Rhine during the nazi war trials, and on the basis that someone who writes history is a historian, he qualifies for that title too. Russell starts his narration in the early 30's with the Japanese concession in Manchuria, the running warfare this involved with the Kuo Min Tang government of Chiang Kai-shek, and the conduct of the Japanese military during that period. His purpose in taking his start-point here is to analyse, to some extent at least, the roots and origins of the mind-sets that led certain human beings to behave in the way they did during WWII.

Russell's analysis takes him and us as far as this - Japanese imperial culture was based on total loyalty to the Emperor. A faction in the army took a fanatical interpretation of this loyalty, not one that was amenable to reason, and saw or purported to see a divine destiny for Japan in dominating the far east and possibly more than just that. So absolute was this mission that no consideration of humanitarian values, and no laws that stood in the way of the mission's fulfilment, could be tolerated. Russell does not try to probe much deeper that this, and I would say rightly not. His book was first published in 1958 following the success of his earlier Scourge of the Swastika. The prime virtue of his writing is precisely that it recounts the events from a lawyer's perspective, not totally detached by any means, but having its focus on facts rather than on expressions of outrage, and steering clear of sensationalism. He does not try to account for the change in Japanese posture from its traditional isolationism to this new spirit of aggression, and he does not try to assess the extent to which the religious or quasi-religious element was genuine and to what extent a garb for something more secular, like the contemporary nationalism in Germany. Still less does he probe the basic question of what `faith' may be said to be in the first place or ask (let alone try to answer) the question that should be asked of any believer in any religion, namely `Why?' Why believe in the divinity of the Emperor rather than in, say, Zeus and Hera? Why indeed.

I support entirely the limitations he has accepted for himself. He had quite enough to do in following his agenda of factual accuracy, his lawyer's perspective is valuable furthermore in assessing matters of legal interpretation, and his unemotional tone helps the reader's focus too. Here and there we catch glimpses of theories that must have crossed his mind, such as in the mention of inferiority complex at one point, but he sticks to his last and does not pursue these. I found that my own interest was less in the grand political scenarios and strategies than in what little the book contains about the mentality of those perpetrating the atrocities. There are excerpts, for instance, from the training manual of the Kempei Tai, a kind of Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo though with some important differences. These leave no doubt that torture was considered legitimate on the basis of `do what you have to do'. There is a statement from no less than Tojo himself at his trial that Japanese foreign commanders had wide latitude in their choice of methods and that questions about these were not asked. There are reported comments from certain local commanders that the prisoners were subhuman, and these, together with the strategic perception that supposed global dominance by the Anglo-Saxon powers had to be fought, seem to me to lend credence to the theory of inferiority complex. In particular there are a few snippets from letters written by the troops. These mainly give plain statements of what was done, but one or two actually evince an access of humanitarian conscience. Rightly, Russell knows better than to draw conclusions from unrepresentative sampling, and I for one was left with a picture common to scenes of undisciplined behaviour by soldiery down the ages, regardless of creed. No doubt it was on a bigger scale, but it was a familiar picture, Emperor or no Emperor. One squaddy puts his and his fellows' excesses down simply to `excitement', and that is hardly new or specific to this divine mission as opposed to other divine missions or their secular counterparts.

Lord Russell's style is dry, clear and economical. As far as it's possible to read such stories without revulsion, it's possible in this book. The final chapter, as we might expect from a lawyer, is a summary of the trials of the major actors and the sentences they received. As usual, Russell permits himself a certain amount of comment but does not become emotive. One interesting detail is that there was a dissenting opinion from the Indian judge, who found that all the prisoners should be exonerated on all charges, on the ground that these trials were, or would be seen as, victors' justice - I'm not quite sure how to read this. There is no mention whatsoever of the fire-bombing of Tokyo, of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or of General LeMay. As these topics are not mentioned, there is no discussion of the difference in principle from atrocities performed hand-to-hand at ground level. Issues at this depth are not explored in this book, so regarding this particular difference the question left with us once again is - what exactly was it?

This is an exceptionally beautiful and interesting book. Even though I had no prior interest in chinese textiles I was quickly drawn in by the stunning photographs and the helpful essays. The book makes a great gift for anyone interested in Asian art or textiles in general!

This is a must read if you are interested in collecting Chinese Rank Badges.

A great reference book to identify the symbols, styles & the various techniques that was used. The color photos are just beautiful showing over 150 different types of Rank Badges.

I love this book! The two different parts of this book really works. In Part One, written by Beverley Jackson is an interesting look at Chinese culture and the journey to the mandarin squares. The fictional story of two boys and their different journeys brings the mandarin squares to life. The studying and sacrifices involved in order to wear the mandarin square are staggering. It heightens the appreciation of the squares themselves in Part Two.

In Part Two, David Hugus does an excellent job in dissecting and then explaining the elements making up the squares. Beyond the intellectual and technical issues, Hugus also discusses mandarin squares in the marketplace.

The two authors obviously have a great love and interest in the mandarin squares and the Chinese culture. I recommend this book highly.

This is the best and most complete book available on Mandarin Squares. A must read for the collector of these badges.

The text is extremely informative and the most comprehensive on the subject. It has well over 100 beautiful pictures of many examples of the nine civil and nine military rank badges.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Chinese Textiles especially in the intricate embroidered Mandarin Squares and learn about their history.

This book is a must for anyone interested in Asian art and, in particular, the Chinese rank system and the textiles associated with it. I expect this book to become THE reference book on the subject. I highly recommend it to all those dealing in antique Chinese objects and museums specializing in Asian art. It is obvious to me that both authors have not only throughly researched their topics but also are impassioned by them.

I agree with the other reviewers that this book is completely engrossing. Rarely cam that be said of a reference type work like this! The author did an excellent job of making things understandable for someone like me who does not know any Chinese. He gives a very clear overview of the different dialects, including discussion of what exactly characterizes these dialects. It is also a great into to the other language families of China (Mongolian, Tungusic, Tai, etc.), information which is not easy to come by. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested Chinese, China, minority languages, and language classification in general.

I picked up the book out of curiosity and could not put it down. It gives an engrossing history of the Chinese people by way of a study of the languages of the area. It is not just a linguistic text however; it is about all aspects of life in China: politics, economics, poetry,history, everything. Language is just what ties it all together, much like the language ties the country together.

This book is completely engrossing. I knew next to nothing about the history of my native language and it's place among the "dialects" of Chinese. Nor was I really aware of the roles played by geography, politics, and cultural influences in shaping a language or even in a language's classification. The writing is concise and lucid; and much of it is accessible to laymen. I think for the information contained within and for the price, it deserves a 10. (FYI, the colors on one of the maps seem to be offset in my book. Maybe it's intentional?)

S. Robert Ramsey's THE LANGUAGES OF CHINA is a survey originally published by Princeton University Press in 1987. China is an immense country with a rich linguistic heritage, and it is a challenge to cover even the basics adequately in a mere 340 pages. Ramsey does an admirable job, and this student of historical linguistics was thrilled to see such attention paid to the diachrony of many languages mentioned within.

The "Chinese language", the set of mutually unintelligible dialects belonging to Han people and descended from a relatively recent common ancestor, is by far the most widely-spoken in China, and Ramsey dedicates the first half of the book to it. He begins with a presentation of the historical debate over Han linguistic unification, with the northern dialects winning out over southern dialects like those of Shanghai and Guangdong. Since Mandarin has, for better or worse, been taken as the standard, it is the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Mandarin that Ramsey describes as representative of the entire language. Ramsey clearly wrote for a non-specialist audience, as he tries to debunk older Western myths that Chinese is somehow a "primitive" language due to its lack of inflection. The grammar of Mandarin here is splendidly full for just a few pages, though the debate over the use of the particle "le" isn't mentioned.

Ramsey's coverage of Chinese isn't, however, purely synchronic, for he also devotes space to the earlier stages of the language. He begins with an explanation of the Qieyun rhyming dictionary, the document compiled by Lu Fayan that, in spite of its faults, is our only useful source for the pronunciation of Middle Chinese. Ramsey then gives a colourful presentation of the life and work of Berhard Karlgren, the Swedish scholar who, by applying the comparative method to modern Chinese dialects, worked towards a phonetic reality for the mere algebraic relationships of the Qieyun dictionary. But this is not mere blind adulation, Ramsey does acknowledge Karlgren's faults and lists the younger scholars who followed him and improved on his theories. Ramsey also briefly mentions Old Chinese, the reconstruction of which is quite uncertain, and talks about some of the important changes from Middle Chinese to modern Mandarin.

The second half of the book deals with the many non-Han languages of China. First is the "Altaic family" spoken in the north of China, the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages that may or may not be a valid genetic grouping, but which have significant typological similarities. Here again Ramsey gives abundant space to diachronic issues, showing how various modern languages each differ from their common ancestor. Writing systems, too, are covered. The languages of the south come next, including the Tai, Tibeto-Burman, Miao-Yao, and Mon-Khmer families, as well as unclassified or isolated languages. The story of how these languages have fared under Han domination is a major theme of the book.

If you have little bit of Mandarin under your belt (and you don't need a lot) and are interested in the linguistic diversity of this part of the world, THE LANGUAGES OF CHINESE is worth seeking out. This is especially true for historical linguistics curious about China. I can only wonder why it hasn't been reissued.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I examines the Chinese language and the Chinese dialects while Part II surveys the other languages spoken and written in China.

The book offers fascinating historical, grammatical, and political, insights; for example about possible reasons why the north is more unified than the south (easily traversed northern plains vs. isolating southern valleys and mountains).

Westerners often say that Chinese is a language without grammar simply because it's uninflected. This is grossly wrong and Ramsey describes the rudiments of Chinese's positional grammar and how the grammatical rules change somewhat from dialect to dialect. He also gives many examples of morphemes and words and how different dialects put them together.

As for political insight, I am no fan of China's repressive government and its policies. But when it comes to the cultural and linguistic minorities, its policies are surprisingly tolerant and have been for centuries. When we think that as recently as the 1950s, the French government was still trying to suppress the Gaelic language of Bretagne (Breton) we must wonder if there isn't something we can learn from Chinese policies. After all China has for centuries been making room for its minorities, and when Mandarin (putonghua) was created and adopted as the national common speech, much was made that it was no one's native tongue.

I personally wasn't very interested in the other languages of China, but they get the same, though shorter, descriptive treatment of their history and grammar. On the other hand, one real failure of the book is that all the examples are romanized (pinyin) but almost always without the corresponding Chinese characters. This is a pity since with them the book would have certainly been more useful as a study aid. I suppose in 1987 it was much harder (and expensive) to typeset Chinese passages in English books.

All in all, a fascinating survey of the linguistic landscape of China.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo