Asia Books

Love the book! Been looking for these debates for years. It's nice to learn the behind-the-scenes arguments for and against the Constitution. Also nice to know that partisan bickering is not new.

I've gathered other collections (i.e., The Federalist Paper, Constitutional Debates) over the years, but this collection (along with Volume 2) is by far the most comprehensive yet affordable collection to date. Given the fact Bernard Bailyn compiled the contents and wrote the background material, the reader can rest assured that a distinguished historian is behind these endeavors. Bailyn's commitment to detail and analysis of primary sources has always been one of his hallmarks. He continues that commitment in these two volumes.

There is more material here than the average person probably ever knew existed regarding the constitutional debates. Letters, newspaper articles, formal treatises, and speeches all provide the documentation. Bailyn wants to show the depth and richness of the discussion, which varies from those who feared loss of personal liberty to those ready to embrace the document. Anyone who picks up these volumes will come away with an idea of how complex the constitution really is - that it will never be all things to all people, but it does ground our national identity. It becomes the task of each succeeding generation to uphold the tradition yet strive to assure the Constitution carries out its intended purpose. Obviously this is no small feat to be taken lightly.

The books are arranged chronologically, more or less, divided into subsections. The reader will get the broad spectrum of constitutional debates (the Federalist Papers are included, the "antifederalist papers" are included) as are the fears, assurances, and the entire range of human emotion regarding the Constitution are all there for the reader to peruse.

The only spoiler I offer is the peculiar selection of a Benjamin Franklin letter as the very first entry of the set. Franklin fears the Constitution yet is willing to embrace it just the same. In a way, this might be the quintessential document of the entire collection as all Americans have reason to heed Franklin's concerns.

Unlike the political commentators of the late 20th and early 21st century (watchers of Sunday public affairs programs and AM radio listeners know who they are), the commentators of the 18th century actually had something of substance to say. This was a time when education was rare, but when done was done well. The New American Library does its usual exceptional job in assembling the material in this book including some of the more important selections from the Federalist Papers as well as some of the writings of the anti-Federalists. Here the role of the government and the nature of freedom are really explored. Life was better before politics became about feeling and emotion. Every American should read this book, but only if he wants to really understand the basis of the American experiment.

Study of the Federalist Papers, of course included in this two volume series, is a conduit for understanding the American ethic. When the Federalist Papers are viewed as included in this chronological deliberation between the Federalists and Antifederalists, they become even more profound than the enormous depth they can achieve when read alone. The concerns of Brutus and Agrippa are answered, the repititive call for a 'Bill of Rights' revealed. Madison wrote to Jefferson in 1825 defining the Federalist Papers as 'may fairly enough be regarded as the most authentic exposition of the text of the federal constituion, as understood by the Body which prepared & the authority which accepted it.' The enormous insight gained from tracking the arguments and concerns of the proposed Constituion , and the responses of the Federalist cannot be easily estimated, yet the result is a much more informed conscience of the American experience. Madison in the same letter mentioned above stated that Federalist Essays did not foresee all the misconstructions which to that date had occured, nor prevent some it did foresee. For the concerned and deliberate citizen of today many of these issues remain, issues such as Federalism are current topics and all too often the opinions of the few become the conscience of the many, examining these volume will do much to alleviate this vexing condition. More alarming is the realization that many of the fears of the Antifederalists have become a reality in todays polity. An excellent and comprehensive collection thank you Bernard Bailyn.

Editor Bernard Bailyn has assembled a first-rate collection of letters, circulars, pamphlets, speeches, and what would be the colonial equivalent of modern op-ed pieces that allows today's readers to witness the founding of a government through the eyes of (and with the voices of) those who were really there. But don't be fooled into thinking this is going to be the stilted, polite prose that often belongs to 18th century philosophers or debaters. Many of the pieces Bailyn has selected are remakrkably spry and teeming with understated wit.

Those who think that mud-slinging, negative campaigning, and assaults on the integrity of the opponent are modern day creations may be surprised to see that those in the 18th century could be just as nitpicky, petty, and ascerbic as their present day decendants -- and yet still remain surprisingly gentlemanly about the whole thing. Some letter writers absolutely seethe with irritation at their opposition, and by presenting his debaters in roughly chronological order, Bailyn ensures that for every "Oh yeah?" uttered by a Federalist, there will soon be a responsive "Yeah!" from the anti-Federalist side. It all makes for lively and informative reading, and one wonders if such a critical debate could be carried out with such manners in today's media.

It should come as no surprise that most of the Hamilton-Madison-Jay Federalist Papers are in here, as are the level-headed, persuasive anti-Federalist arguments of James Wilson and George Mason. But the real jewels in these volumes lie in the thoughtful and frank correspondence that passed back and forth between not only the Major Players, but also between some of the lesser-known writers, who make their cases for or against the Constitution with genuine passion and conviction.

Bailyn wisely leaves the spin to the writers themselves, but when he does step in, Bailyn is a most helpful editor, and the final 240 pages contain short biographies of every writer (or letter recipient) in the book, an informative chronology of events (and Bailyn makes sure readers have a perspective for the debates in this book by starting the chronology in 1774, some 13 years before the first words in this book were spoken), and competent notes on the text to help readers unfamiliar with some of the players or events keep everything sorted out.

Even though we all have the luxury of knowing that Everything Came Out All Right In The End -- the Constitution was ratified -- there is still quite a bit of drama here, particularly in the debates in the State Ratifying Conventions, which are carried out with suitable handwringing and bluster on both sides. Appropriately, then, the final piece in here is the dramatic speech the previously skeptical John Hancock delivered in the Massachusetts convention, informing his colleagues he would, indeed, vote for ratification. Hancock's words are as stirring now as they were then -- but I'll let you read them for yourself.

If you have the opportunity, purchase both Volume I and Volume II together. Not only will you get the complete debates (Volume I ends in February 1788; volume II is needed to make it to August), but you'll also get one of the Library of America's typically attractive slip-cases. It's a little more expensive, but worth it.

This remarkable novel was a random discovery; after finishing it I do hope that Han Shaogong finds a larger audience around the world.

A novel structured like a dictionary of a semi-real, semi-fictional town in a rather remote region of southern China, A DICTIONARY OF MAQIAO is a remarkable, dazzling creation - each 'dictionary entry' is a vignette unto itself, each of which gradually coalesce into something greater. Shaogong's Maqiao is a bit like Garcia-Marquez' Macondo or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, a semi-fictional place upon which one can examine (and also honor and satirize) the varied contradictions and conundrums of a changing nation.

A DICTIONARY OF MAQIAO is set against the backdrop of the cultural revolution, though these political events don't intrude into the center of the story. Shaogong instead emphasizes language, specifically it's mutability and restless, dynamic evolutions, symbolic of life itself, and this tactic (or fascination) does serve to also place external events into some sort of philosophical perspective.

The end result is a novel that is fascinating, inventive and endlessly playful, with a vast cast of intriguing characters, and a captivating, cinematic precision. It didn't seem to get much attention when published in translation, which is highly unfortunate - it's a novel worth going out of your way to read.

-David Alston

Thank you, Han Shaogong, for a wonderful, thought-provoking novel. The fiction you deliver, cloaked in the garb of a regional history, transcends time, place, and language to offer an incredibly precise and well-crafted definition of 'being.' Your point concerning the importance of defining experience and expression on a scale less grand than that of global village is well-delivered and it imbues A Dictionary of Maqiao with a message of hope. As more readers come to this book, may it gain the recognition it deserves. We in Western culture are lucky to have this story available to us in translation.

This book takes me back to my home, a village in Southern Hunan Province, China, and to my childhood. When I was reading, the stories and the people jump out of the book onto my memory. It reminds me of my childhood friends, my relatives, the village doctors, the traveling smith and craftsmen.
When I was 6 or 7 years old, I often grazed water buffalos with my friends in the slops of Wuling (Five Peaks) Mountain. One day we saw a World War II bomb delivered by the Japanese airplane. We were so curious, excited and naïve. We moved it to the grain yard of our agricultural production brigade on the buffalos?back. Fortunately, the explosive was already gone possibly because of aging and weathering. This book forces me to recall the detail of this incident and reassure that nobody was hurt by our ignorance.
During that time our village was often visited by a locksmith, who is the one spoke "xiang qi?accent. He was tall with broad shoulders and white beard. He carried two cabinets covered by glasses on a bamboo pole. Whenever he came, we surrounded his workshop area in the grain yard. He was always accompanied by a young boy of our age. I never figured out why that boy would play with us while the locksmith was making the 5 or 10 cent deals with the adults. The visit was usually about two to three hours. Then they left for other villages. We saw them off in sun and in rain. They did not take away anything from us. But they brought us excitements every time.
In our area, we had village doctors they used to practice Chinese medicine in Jianxi province. They always told us that people from Jianxi province were our relatives. We greeted each other "Lao Biao? I would always have remembered them because I was often sent by my mom to ask for medicine help when our family members felt unease.
Our village also hosted two youngsters from the city. At that time, there were about 16 or 17 years old. They worked hard to learn and to grow up. I didn't know what was their feeling when they lived in our village. But I know the villagers are still talking about them and wishing them well.
I never had the habit to keep a dairy for my past. I have forgot many things about my childhood. The author of this book recorded the language I have used and the stories I have experienced. It reminds me many of my happiness and sadness.
If you want to understand Chinese society, Chinese people, and the rural areas in China, I recommend you read this book. The writing is crisp, the information is practical, and the stories are true. The translation is great.
At this pint, a pop-rice master is walking towards me from the book, with the black, bomb-shaped and air-tight rice cooker, the charcoal stove and the bellow on his shoulder. The black soot covers his face. His smiling reveals only his eyes and teeth. I hear the explosion of the air. Now, I am going to put a bag of popcorn in my microwave so that I will progress with the book and step back to my hometown with my uncle.

This masterful and quite heady novel tackles the history of a fictitious town buried deep in China, a place protected by rivers and mountains. When a a "sent-down" worker from the city joins a group of urbanites to live in the town, they discover a place that's almost a metaphor for Chinese life -- cast in reverse.

Han Shaogong guides the reader through the fictitious author's "dictionary" of Maqiao, which acquaints us with a baffling set of customs, and a people who view themselves as a kind of "Middle Kingdom," in which the outside world is shunned. The novel becomes an inventive expose of Shaogong's sometimes profound insights into the restrictions of culture and language. The book's episodes can be rigorously dry or unexpectedly moving.

The diligent reader will be rewarded. The depth and honesty of Shaogong's insights reach to the present day, and his small town of Maqiao is certain to leave a deep impression. This prize-winning novel is a dictionary that compels your interest and enjoyment..

In 1970 16-year-old Han Shaogong was sent to the Southern Chinese village of Maqiao in Hunan Province to plant rice and tea as a member of the Educated Youth. During his years in Maqiao he carefully made notations of the differences in culture, customs, and language that he observed as a stranger. Later in his life Shaogong became a central member of the Root-Searching Movement that aimed to undermine and reverse the thought-control mechanisms instituted by the Cultural Revolution and rebel against the highly-structured controls on literature, language, and aesthetics. Shaogong returned to his observations of Maqiao and developed this book to further the movement. THE DICTIONARY OF MAQIAO is structured as a dictionary with 110 entries, but it is not a tedious index of words and meanings; rather this book provides small vignettes of how life, both human and natural, is lived in Maqiao. Shaogong's position as an outsider provides him with a unique perspective of the village. He detailed the often-eccentric habitants and their distinctive language that differs from his own. By documenting these cultural and custom differences Shaogong demonstrates how there is great variety and fluency of unlike the teachings of the Maoist doctrines. I loved reading this book and would highly recommend it to others.

We started our five week tour of India with Let's Go India Nepal, and found the Footprint guide four weeks into our tour. After looking it over, we quickly realized how much detail, clarity, and completeness we were missing. We didn't open Let's Go again, other than to retrieve our bookmark.

Some of the telephone numbers were slightly off, but that is par for the course in India. The correct numbers were easily located via directory assistance, which the book informed us of.

We stayed at two of the highly recommended hotels between US$5 and US$6 a piece and were delighted by the overall quality and cleanliness we found.

Its descriptions of some of the sights surpassed even that of our tour guide.

We liked this guide so much that we now use Footprint guides for our travels wherever they are available and up to date.

WARNING: The guide warns that the prices for many tourist attractions will go up on Jan 1, 2001. They actually went up on October 18, 2000. Now at most major tourist sites in India, foreigners pay the same number of dollars as Indian's pay rupees.

A comprehensive guidebook to India which proved indispensable during our three month trip. Detailed descriptions of the history and layout of the various tourist sites renders local guides and guidebooks largely unnecessary. A broad based guidebook of nearly 1400 pages, it includes digestible background sections covering history, language, religion and politics which enhanced enormously our appreciation of Indian life and culture. Despite the wealth of information its handy size, hardcover and tough binding stood up well to the rigours of backpacking. The up-to-date hotel and restaurant sections cater for the full spectrum of travellers - from budget back packer to luxury holiday makers. The opinions offered are balanced and fair, providing enough information to plan and enjoy your trip without unfair bias - in contrast to many of the other India guidebooks we consulted. An added advantage of using this little known guide was that we avoided the ubiquitous "Lonely Planet" bores who tramp through India reciting parrot fashion the recommendations and opinions of the LP authors and researchers.

The India Handbook is a thoroughly well-researched and detailed guide. The most informative guide on the market, it provides invaluable information which is useful to both the short and long-term visitor to India, particularly by the inclusion of accurate large and small scale maps. It is also strong and compact. However, perhaps the most appealing feature is it's direct and non-chatty text, packing important and need-to-know facts into a notey yet precise format, leaving the reader to form his/her own opinions on people and places.

I spent one month travelling all over India with the 1999 edition of the India Handbook and what a life saver it was. The book was fantastic with its information and right on the money everytime with hotel rates, ferry schedules, etc. The brief anecdotes were especially helpful and I really appreciated the open mind the book had quick not to judge a country full of many different aspects. The book was enlightening and in my hand all the time, but my mind was still open to new experiences which were not preconceived by the authors. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone who really wants to experience India in a different light!

We hav just completed an excellent three week journey through India. Much of this would simply have not been possible without the help and guidance of this excellent guide. For instance we have just come back by road from Goa to Mumbai through some very varied and interesting countryside including a trip up into the Ghats which was quite hairaising anlong narrow, twisty roads. The road conditions were such that it took us much longer than we anticipated. The Handbook did not let is down but suggested an excellent hotel at Kiplung. In addition, we found that the descriptions of the sites more than compensated for not having guides available at Orccha for instance. The only time we had problems was when we did not consult the guide sufficiently!

This book is meant to be a military analysis of the World War II axis however it comes off as an excellent diplomatic history. It shows that Germany has never been able to grasp the concepts of coalition warfare and its do it alone strategy was always going to be its undoing. The first part of the book looks at the history of German warfare before World War II. The analysis with regards to Operation Barbarossa is deeply flawed. The assertion that Russia was the primary target of Germany's desires is wrong. The evidence shows a greater tendency towards Britain than Russia. Also the analysis of Japan's role in the coalition is something that deserves further looking into. I think the author dismisses it too quickly.
Despite those flaws this really does provide a comprehensive look at how the Axis functioned and especially the role of the minor powers like Romania and Hungary. It is very easy to see that while Germany nominally had control each of these Axis powers was able to contribute in their own way. The end of the Axis comes with the battle of Stalingrad and the demolition of the Axis forces as well as the failures in North Africa. The lack of Axis supplies was a tremendous problem and one that was not going to be overcome without early strategic victories. When these were not made the loss became inevitable. This book is a very clear military analysis and accomplishes a lot in 200 pages. Despite the few flaws mentioned I highly recommend the book.

Having followed the career of this distinquished historian, this work has tremendous value. DiNardo's thought process is quite organized and very cerebral. It is obvious the research balances his writing considering that today's fact-finding is often shortchanged or erroneous from over use of the internet. The author did his homework.

Although I don't have much interest in German history during this period, I found the book engaging. This is certainly a work that should belong on private library shelves of each World War historian. Excellent!!

Germany And The Axis Powers: From Coalition To Collapse by Richard L. Dinaro (Professor for National Security Affairs at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College) is an introductory work of impressive scholarship focused upon the intricate probabilities that the Axis coalition was little more then an ignorant grouping of claimed Hitler followers. Incorporating newly recovered facts of the battles fought from the Eastern Front to the Balkans, Mediterranean, and North Africa, Germany And The Axis Powers unveils an entirely different history than previously perceived by military historians. A seminal work recommended for professional and academic 20th Century Military History reference collections, Germany And The Axis Powers is highly recommended for its profoundly educational and informative content to all World War II historians and students of the era.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" is an in-depth analysis of the ability of the Axis powers to conduct coalition warfare. This book is excellent for anyone wanting to go beyond the "History Channel" level of knowledge on World War II. Using original source material, the author provides rich details to describe his thesis. The quality of the historical research is along the lines of Gerhard L. Weinberg's epic "A World at Arms". While the author uses a chronological framework to scope his thoughts, he avoids telling the entire history of World War II. Instead he remains focused on the key events that framed German attempts at coalition warfare. The work requires a good general knowledge of World War II history, which most readers of this book will already have.

While Germany's alliance with Italy is well known, I found the chapters on Germany's attempts at coalition warfare with Hungary, Finland, and Romania to be the most interesting, since these countries are rarely discussed in most accounts of World War II. DiNardo correctly describes the differences between coalition warfare and parallel warfare, a key component to understanding World War II coalitions. Breaking out the different levels of coalition warfare conducted by the German Army, Navy, and Air Force set the book apart from more basic accounts. Dinardo also avoids "wehrmacht envy" which taints many books on the Germany military. He provides an accurate and balanced view of German military capabilities, without falling in love with the subject.

I recommend this book to any serious student of World War II military history who really wants to get to heart of the German way of war.

This well-written and extremely interesting book breaks new ground in its examination of Nazi Germany's inability to effectively wage coalition warfare with its allies - Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland.

Author Richard L. DiNardo shows that the Third Reich's partners followed Germany because they hoped to benefit from Hitler's New Order, rather than from either a common ideological adherence to Fascism or a common commitment to save Europe from Bolshevism. Hitler and his generals, however, were reluctant to fully incorporate their allies into their wartime command structure or strategy. Dinardo shows that this reluctance was a legacy from the First World War, when, for the most part, Imperial Germany refused to take its allies seriously.

DiNardo discusses Hitler's own attitudes toward his allies (he prefered bilater over multilateral arrangements) and then examines the performances of the Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland in North Africa, the Balkans, and Russia. Some, such as the Italians in North Africa, performed much better than is generally recognized in the west. Most were hampered by a shortage of modern equipment, especially tanks, fighter aircraft, and bombers. All, however, collapsed relatively early in the war. Indeed, according to DiNardo: "The twin German disasters of Stalingrad and North Africa effectively destroyed the Axis as a military alliance."

The ability to wage effective coalition warfare differed among the various services of the Wehrmacht. The German Navy was probably the most successful, although due to differences in doctrine and technology, the cooperation between German and Italian submarines was not as effective as it could have been. Next came the Luftwaffe, although it failed miserably in the sharing of technology, particulary aircraft and aircraft engines, with its allies. Finally, came the army, which, DiNardo notes, cleary took the prize when it came to failure in coalition warfare. The major exception to this was Rommel's conduct of coalition warfare in North Africa.

The German War Ministry too was of little help with its extortive practices, which ensured that the Romanian, Hungarian, Italian and Finnsh armies remained hopelessly outclassed in terms of weapons and equipment against their Soviet opponent.

Foruntately for the Western Allies, the inability of Hitler and his generals to build a functional and effective basis for coalition warfare contributed significantly to the downfall of the Third Reich. Indeed, as the Allies knocked knocked one Axis power after another out of the war, the Germans were forced to come to their rescue, burdening the already debilitated German war industry and armed forces.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" thus contributes to a better understanding of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the valuable contributions of Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland during World War II to the Axis - and the Allies!

I noticed this book when I was looking for another book at the library. It is riveting and hard to put it down.

It has some good lessons on how to overcome problems in general.
Reading the book will help you understand Vietnam on different levels.

This book is probably the best Vietnam War narrative I have read, and I have read quite a few. It really puts you in the middle of the action. It's not too gung-ho; just the experiences of an ordinary guy fighting in the jungle and living day to day.

For fans of this genre, this book is a must have. It is written clearly with no dead time in action and intesity of this eye witness account. I rarely rate books but this one deserved my time and review as it acheives what few ever do. Bravo to Phil Ball! Rest in peace leatherneck. Michael Shannon

Over the past 13 years i have read well over 100 books on ww2 and vietnam, the majority of which were memoirs written by those who were there. Ghosts and Shadows is, one of my favorites. Although a basic description of it would make it sound like one of many books written by vietnam veterans, young man goes off to war then writes about his experiences, Phils book manages to cut several layers deeper than your average in describing the emotional and physical effects combat has on a person. I rank it up there with my other favs like Chickenhawk, Rumor of War, Suicide Charlie and Father,Soldier,Son. A couple chapters are about phil and his platoon defending a hilltop position against a vc night attack and in my opinion its one the best descriptions ive ever read about one of an authors single combat experiences. I highly recomend it and i really feel you will not be disapointed.

This is one of the best Vietnam books I have read. It is so truthful. Written in a way that made you feel what they (the marines) and all our young men who served in that war must have gone through. Wonderfully written!! ON July 5th, Phil Ball died, he was a wonderfully gifted man. He will be missed for all he was and all he could have been.

Grace, a woman from a fairly ordinary southern family, goes to New Yort City in the 1920's to study voice. There she falls in love with a Chinese engineer, goes to Tiensin in North China and has three children. At first she lives a luxurious life in a foreign "concession." She has a wide variety of friends: American service men and officers, Chinese, British, French and other nationalities. But her life slowly changes as the Japanese occupy China, as the Americans win the war, as the Nationalists take control and then the Communists. While her lifestyle descends into cold, hunger and illness, Grace reads and writes. She is astonished at the distortions of the American press and says so in letters she sends home and to officials. Grace's story is told through her letters, autobiographical fragments, the reports of her children and the narration of Eleanor Cooper and her son. I expected the book to be disjointed. It isn't. On the contrary, Grace's voice, her intelligence and her strength provide a unity that is beautifully upheld by her editors. Along with "Blowback" by Chalmers Johnson, this book gives us a view of "the East" that we are not often allowed.

GRACE IN CHINA reveals both a fascinating true love story of a Chinese-American marriage and a unique personal insight into Chinese-American history during the tumultuous years of 1934-1974. These years of violent change still influence the future of China and the United States and indeed the world. If you've watched the presidential debates, you know that China policy is one of the top issues, an issue which demands better understanding by leaders and citizens alike. This book can help, and what's more, it's a great read!

Grace meets FuChi Liu--her beloved "F.C."--in New York City where she is training to become an opera singer and he is working as a hydraulic engineer. Their heart-tugging courtship and marriage is followed by Grace's exciting journey to China with her baby daughter to make a new life with her husband. For 40 eventful years she is an eyewitness to history in China.

The early years are full of vivid scenes of the social life and corruption of the "old ways," mixed with her husband's struggle to bring change. Then come harsh stories of the Japanese invasion and occupation, the joyful arrival of U.S.Marines, and finally disenchantment with Chna's post-war leaders. As the Communists approach her city of Tientsin, Grace resolves to stay with F.C. instead of fleeing with other "foreigners." With a sense of history in the making, she watches hordes of "apple-cheeked" young soldiers of the Red Army march down her street.

For the Liu family, life goes on surprisingly well under the new regime as Grace and F.C. work hard "for the Chinese people." Unfortunately, F.C. dies from lung cancer at the height of his national career of bringing modern water systems to many regions of China. How Grace manages to survive with the help of her three children and warm-hearted neighbors makes an inspiring story. With "gumption," this southern girl undertakes a fulfilling career of her own by developing new methods of teaching English at Nankai University. But what happens to her and her family during the Cultural Revolution provides hair-raising reading. Finally in 1974, after Nixon's visit to China, she comes back to the United States to reunite with her American relatives. But China is her true home now. Her ironic return to Tientsin (now Tianjin) gives a moving conclusion to this unusual and significant biography of a woman who possessed a special kind of "grace under pressure" in time of war,social upheaval and personal challenge.

The authors of GRACE IN CHINA, who are her cousin and son, have skillfully created a vivid document that reads like a novel, using well-preserved letters, memoirs, interviews, articles, photographs and other primary resources blended seamlessly with excellent background narration. The editing is a triumph of weaving many voices into strong, intimate storytelling. Many scenes are so humorous, passionate, or dramatic that the reader can almost see the action on a movie screen compelling as one's own imagination. But it's all true--and it's a story that begs to be heard.

The small press editor of GRACE IN CHINA, Randall Williams of Black Belt Press in Montgomery, Ala., deserves praise for recognizing an important, memorable book that deserves both critical and popular acclaim. Since a small independent press doesn't have the resources for extensive publicity, "word of mouth" will have to spread the news.

Grace Devine Liu was already wary of questions when I happened to meet her in Los Angeles in 1978. My questions were naïve and how could she answer? Where would she start? Now there is this magnificent, surprising book, "Grace in China," that swept me up and carried me through four decades of her life. Brought up in Chattanooga, Grace studied opera in New York and met and married a young Chinese engineer who had studied at Cornell. She followed him to China not knowing what to expect, but who could have anticipated what would happen in China during the next forty years? Her life there, living in the British area of Tientsin, was comfortable and fun. Lots of parties and socializing and isolation from the realities of China's problems. She didn't even notice the Japanese advancing toward Tientsin until they marched in and occupied the city. From that point on, Grace became part of the history of China. She was in it for the whole ride, occupation, floods, government corruption, civil war, communism, Red Guards and the lifting of the "Bamboo Curtain." She lived the story on the inside, an American alien, trying to learn, trying to help, and most of all, trying to survive. Grace had taught English at Nankai University in Tientsin. She passed her enthusiastic interest in linguistics on to her son, Willie Liu, which brought them to Los Angeles for his work at UCLA in 1978. It was during this visit that Grace and my mother, Katie, 1st cousins, were reunited after 64 years. Katie, the family historian, was able to give her the only surviving letter from her husband written in 1931. Grace's own letters tell a fascinating story. "Grace In China" is a beautifully written book that grabs you from the first page and holds on through the unexpected twist at the end. You will go on thinking about this book long after you have layed it down.

I am ordering this book at the moment, although I have already read it. It was actually lent to me only three days ago by a person who is an expert on Chinese history and culture. She and I now both live in China, accompanying our Japanese husbands whose work is based in Beijing. I had just visited Tianjin on Chinese New Year's, and when I told her so, she immediately handed me the book. It got me firmly anchored on my sofa for 15 hours straight. I've never read a more intriguing book. Grace endured countless hardships not only as a foreigner but as a precious witness to one of the most important years of this great land. This excellently compiled collection of her letters and recollections also serves as a superb textbook of Chinese modern history. My husband, seeing how absorbed I was with this book, took it in his hands after I finished and now he can't put it down. So we decided to order it because we suspected our friend intends to get it back very soon. I recommend it to everyone, whether interested or not in China.

I came to USA from China. The true stories told in the book Grace in China are so believable and moving. I was so taken by the book that I finished it in one night. I recommend it highly to anyone who want to know something about China and Chinese people.

Grace's life was not an easy one. However, she always had the love in her heart, for her husband, children, family and friends, her neighbors and her work. She dealt with hardship of life with such courage and humor. Her modest attitude toward her own appearance and ability, in contrast to the terrific literature she was able to create, makes me love this lady who is older than my grandmother.

The observation and descriptions to things and people of China in this book are quite accurate. So many books about China published in USA are rather misleading in that they select only the materials that fit their agenda, no matter how untypical their examples are.

Graces son William Liu and cousin Eleanor Cooper have done a marvelous job in organizing the original materials in such a readable manner. The scattered photos and old newspaper articles are remarkable pieces.

This is a cute, easy to read book that discusses the basic elements of Chinese New Year.

This is a simply written and beautifully illustrated book about the Chinese New Year. Through delicate line drawings and jewel like colors the author/illustrator captures the essence of Chinese mythical creatures, flora, fauna, heavenly creatures and mortals. We learn about Chinese zodiac symbols, gods, how Chinese people prepare for the New Year, why they eat special kinds of foods on New Year's Day, the symbolism of specific flowers as gifts, and the meanings of Chinese characters hung on doorways. Demi is the talented author and illustrator of many children's books with Chinese themes. This book is definitely one of my favorites.

Need an excuse to explore ethnic and religious holidays and practices? This is your vehicle. The interesting and exciting practices surrounding Chinese New Year can so easily be compared in writing, drama and story-telling of many other cultures. You cannot go wrong with this book.

I haven't found a book by Demi that isn't terrific. This is a great book for young children, it gives lots of great information on the Chinese New Year and what one does to get ready for the New Year celebration! A must have for anyone with an who wants their child to know about their hertitage!

This is a nice introduction to chinese new year. I will use it as a informational guide and have my Chinese-Vietnamese students look it over to facilitate a discussion about their new year. Thanks.

Once again the Central Asian region is bright on radar screens of international politics. The wave of colorful "velvet" revolutions is sweeping though the former Soviet republics. Rose revolution first followed by orange revolution led to fall Georgia's and Ukraine's corrupt regimes. Now all eyes turn to Central Asia anticipating the same changes to take place in the totalitarian republics of the region.

Unfortunately, there is a looming deficit of current books about the Central Asian region. The revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine came as surprise to many precisely due to lack of information about the region.

The Historical Dictionary of Kyrgyzstan successfully fills this information gap by providing comprehensive information about Central Asia in general and Kyrgyzstan in particular. The book provides superb up-to-date details about the key players and issues in domestic and international politics. The dictionary describes the history and the current situation of Central Asia. It also provides biographies of major politicians and information about most important political parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The bibliography section is very helpful in finding materials and resources in specialized subject areas. This information is particularly important for analyzing and forecasting events in the country and the region. This is an essential book for beginning students and experienced scholars of Central Asian studies.

This book is one of the best reference sources on Kyrgyzstan that was ever published to date.
It is very well organized and objectively covers most aspects of Kyrgyz history, culture and economic development.
The chronology is as complete as it can be. It starts with available facts on early history and gives more detailed list of majour events of the modern time.
The introduction gives a brief but comprehensive background on the country and it is alone could be a good source of information on Kyrgyzstan.
The dictionary is methodologically written and covers key political, cultural, historical, linguistic, economic aspects of Kyrgyz development. One can even find some interesting - hard to find anywhere else - pieces of information on traditional Kyrgyz culture. The author even explains the problems with different transliteration of Kyrgyz geographic and personal names.
The abundance of statistical tables adds to the uniqueness and usefulness of this book.
Finally the bibliography is a real treasure that points you in the right direction for further research on the country and the Central Asian region.
Highly recommend this book.

Very useful book. Even someone like me who has worked in Kyrgyzstan twice and considered myself knowlegeable about Kyrgyz history got a lot about of the book.
I especially enjoyed learning more about key figures in Kyrgyz history and the current key political entities. In addition, the dateline is good as is the bibliography.

This dictionary is the most useful resourse to date that proves to be a quick and thoughtfull guide for twentieth century Kyrgyz history and society. It provides the students of Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia with a concise chronology and a comprehensive list of key issues and concepts. The book demonstrates that Rafis Abazov has done a great deal of research on this neglected region. In addition to being a resource for the history of the region, the dictionary teaches the reader about cultural, social, political and economic facts about Kyrgzystan.
I highly recommend this dictionary as an extensive and well-written reference book of Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. It would make an excellent reference book for libraries, schools and universities.

The dictionary written on the base of interdisciplinary approach will be useful for specialists, who are seriously and scholarly interested in Kyrgyzstan as well as to students who are going to discover this Central-Asian country. The important feature of author's skill is to present the past and present of the Kyrgyz Republic as persistent and unique process. He carefully examines the quantity and quality of state, non-government and private institutions and leaderships and their influence on power and politics in country. The author's independent and non-tendentious view on the situation in modern Kyrgyzstan will be useful for national archives, which now are working towards to systematization and classification of current data.

This highly engaging book makes the Hittites accessible to the general reader. It opens with the story of the discovery of this culture with reference to the Old Testament, Egyptian records and the work of various scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries plus discussions of their various publications.

The main text is divided into State & Society, Life & Economy, Law & Institutions, Warfare, Religion, Literature and Art, as well as Languages & Peoples which includes discussions of Hittite, Hattian, Luwian, Palaic, Hurrian, Mitannian, Akkadian, Sumerian and Tabalic (hieroglyphic Hittite).

The book includes a Table of Hittite Kings, a bibliography and an index. There are black & white figures throughout the text and many plates with works of art, statues, seals, pottery and cuneiform tablets and photographs of the remains of Boghazkoy, Yazilikaya and Alaja Huyuk, plus a map of the Middle East and one of the layout of Boghazkoy (Hattusas).

For a brilliant discussion of the Hittite language, please consult Whence The Hittite? by Jaan Puhvel in the book Sprung from Some Common Source: Investigations into the Prehistory of Languages, edited by Sydney M Lamb and E Douglas Mitchell.

Gurney's book was my first introduction to the Hittites. And despite the passage of years and several revisions, it remains one of the three best general introductions. Even a general reader limited to the English language, however, should not stop with this book. Two books by Trevor Bryce ("The Kingdom of the Hittites" and "Life and Society in the Hittite World") complement Gurney's treatment and are both up-to-date, well-informed and written in a readable style. Well written and inexpensively priced collections of Hittite texts in translation authored by G. Beckman and H. A. Hoffner can be found in the Society of Biblical Literature's series "Writings from the Ancient World".

If you are not very familiar with ancient history, but want a good popular introduction to the Hittites, this is the book for you. Hittite is the oldest known Indo-european language, known mainly from thousands of tablets unearthed in central Turkey. The language is so archaic it is not classified with the others, but is considered derived from an earlier version. Hittite is the only language that preserves an explicit trace of the laryngeals, sounds that disappeared from all the other languages. The culture of central Turkey is identified with the Biblical Hittites. They just may have founded or helped to found Troy, and they may just be among the pre-Greek inhabitants of Greece. There are relatively few popular books on the Hittites, mainly because the field changes so fast. You scholars that are popular educators, get busy!

When Israelites arrived at their "promised land" land in Canaan, they met several other peoples, already settled there. One of them was the Hittites of Northern Syria - a civilized but also a "warrior" nation. The Old Testament told something about the Hittites but this civilizations' existence remained an enigma until the early 20th century. Since that time we learned a lot about this Indo-European people, especially after Hugo Winckler's excavations in Hattusa (Bogazkoy) of Central Anatolia. Oliver Robert Gurney, a well known hittitology specialist, presents us a rich summary of both Hittite history and culture in this excellent work. There are only a few books on Hittites, written for non-specialists, and this is probably the best one.

The Hittites are one of the better-known unknown peoples - they are well known from the Bible; mentioned as one of the peoples in the Syro-Palestinian area during the time of the Patriarchs, they continued to be mentioned through a long span of the history of the Hebrew Bible. At some point, they stop being mentioned - most likely, the Hittite Empire collapsed just as Israel was growing strong under the united kingdom monarchy (or perhaps just before) and was later absorbed by the various empires (Assyrian, Greek, etc.) that swept across Asia Minor.

There aren't many texts on the Hittites; what books are available are often written for archaeologists and other scholars. O. R. Gurney was a professor at Oxford specialising in Assyriology, that branch of archaeology and history that studies the empires of the Fertile Crescent. This book is accessible and interesting; originally written in the early 1950s, it has been updated to take account of later archaeological finds and interpretations. The history of publishing in this kind of field is such that often the 'latest' book will be something decades old, so the 'antiquity' of the book here should not be an issue, and generally isn't, for the student and for the general reader.

Gurney discusses in his introduction the earliest archaeological discovery of the Hittites, lost for millennia to the world under the sands of Asia Minor (Turkey) and other countries at the northern end of the Tigris and Euphrates. From here, he looks at Hittite history in broad strokes - the earliest cities, the Old Kingdom, the period of Empire, the decline of Empire and subsequent rise of neo-Hittite kingdoms, possible connections with the early Greeks and Trojans, and finally the Hittites found in Palestine.

Gurney's following chapters look at the different aspects of Hittite life and culture - society structure from royalty to commoners; government and foreign policy; economy and lifestyles; law and institutions (there are tablets of laws found in various locations); warfare (some things shared with other nations at the time, and some uniquely Hittite features); languages and literature; religion; and art. With regard to languages, this continues to be a rapidly developing area, but the connection of Hittite to the Indo-European language family (through the Anatolian line) has been known since 1915; this was rather surprising, given that the other languages in the area are of the Semitic line, a non-Indo-European language family that included Sumerian and Akkadian, languages in evidence in Hittite areas, showing regional connections for trade and foreign relations. This shows that the Hittites are most likely of a different stock of people from the rest of the peoples of the ancient Near East -- strangers in the land, in a way.

Gurney's text adds details for the student that are worthwhile. For example, while reading about the downfall of the Hittites, Gurney mentions the Peoples of the Sea who were sweeping across portions of the eastern Mediterranean at that time, and tells how Palestine came to get its name, not data directly relevant, but useful and interesting nonetheless. The text is full of such things.

The book also contains many pictures, plates, and line-art drawings of inscriptions, maps, buildings and building plans, and other pieces of interest. There is a chronological list of the kings of the Hittites, ranging from early kings of unknown timing, to the known dated kings from 1740 to 1190 BCE. The bibliography is excellent, divided topically into eighteen different topics, for scholars and students to pursue particular subjects in relations to the Hittites in earnest. The index is very good, useful for Hittite, English and other words and names.

A fascinating book!

A must if you plan on going to any of the historical areas of the Holy Land. Much superior to any of the "name" travel guides, incredible detail and historical perspective.

Very informative with good descriptions. The language is a little difficult to interpret at times and I wish there was a little more history with each site, but overall a great guide.

Unique guide for archaeology minded traveler

The little known Oxford Archaeological Guides series provides information that you cannot find elsewhere This guide was written by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor in 1980 and was revised for the new Oxford Archaeological guides series in 1997 as the initial offering of the series. O'Connor provides a wealth of information here that you wont find in regular guidebooks. The topic of biblical archaeology is too large to be addressed by any one book. The author squeezes all he can into less than 500 pages. The section dealing with Jerusalem is most detailed. Outlying sites receive less attention. There is useful information about hours of operation and practical matters such as directions to remote sites. In addition to describing the various areas of interest, there are sections giving the history of the different peoples of the holy land, both historical and present day including sections on the Druze, the Philistines, the Samaritans, the Essenes and the Nabateans. There is a good attention here to changes over time with an emphasis on how the appearance of each site evolved over the years. Interesting comparisons are made with the condition of sites in the present day and their description in ancient texts including Josephus' "The Jewish War" and the Bible itself. This book would be inadequate as the only guidebook for a visit to Israel. I would recommend the Knopf Guide to the Holy Land and Baedeker Israel for routine tourist information. Some minor drawbacks: the drawings and maps are not as detailed as they could be and the few photographs that are provided are black and white and of poor quality. These complaints are not critical flaws; the book would still be invaluable even if it didn't contain a single illustration.

Recommended to me by an archaeolgist long active in Israel, I found this book quite helpful in appreciating a number of sites (and sights) I recently visited (and saw) in the Holy Land. For folks who are looking to learn more about various ancient sites than the typical tour guide can offer, this will be well worth its price. In addition to its being informative, I found the personality of its author evident and engaging.

If you really want to separate the wheat from the chaff - this is the way to begin.

In this book, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor will take you behind the hidden doors, under the altars, down secret stairways and forgotten streets on an amazing adventure. It's not a lesson in theology - you have to bring your own. It's a guide to what can be seen, what can be touched with your hand.

With all the digging that's been going on since this book has been published, I'm eagerly looking forward to an updated edition.