Asia Books

If you know where you want to go then I would agree with the above reviewer- a guidebook will tell you about nearby sites and how to get there and for that you can get by without an atlas. But for those who want to explore a particular region- how else are you going to plot an itinerary? This atlas is fully indexed by place, and also by beaches, capes & headlands, caves, forts, islands, mountians & passes, rivers, lakes, & bays, ruins and temples. And no matter how good a guidebook- only an atlas like this will assure you that you haven't missed anything of interest whereever you happen to be.

Map Scale is 4cm = 50K (1.5" = 31 miles)

For security reasons (I'm told) quality maps are not easy to find in India- and rarely for sale.

While working on an on-going university research project I have spent five years driving the back roads of India. This book has saved my sanity as well as my tires and axles. It is by far and away the most helpful road atlas available.

The maps are better than what most Indians have ever seen in their lives, which is exactly why travellers don't need it. If you are taking public transport around the country, you get plenty of information about how to go where from LP India or from information at train stations, bus stations and other travellers. It simply isn't worth the excess weight (in a rucksack). If on the other hand you are cycling or have your own motorized vehicle, this would be irreplacable (so be careful who you show it to).

Last year when we headed out to Hong Kong, I was surprised to see this food guide. Since I am very familiar with Cantonese food, I was interested to see how Hong Kong might differ from New York City, Los Angeles, or Vancouver. This guide was incredibly helpful in describing not only the different foods available in different areas but the customs of eating and what we would see. Where my husband has often considered hotel food to be surprisingly mediocre, in Hong Kong, we were told to go to hotel restaurants. The rent is so high that the restaurant's in hotels essentially are subsidized for their space and therefore some of the best dining experiences can be found in hotels. But I digress. This is not an expensive guide and definitely worth the money for the amount of familiarization it provides.

... This is an informative and enjoyable book, and lets you delve into Hong Kong culture and eating culture in a way the other books don't. The inside cover has a quick reference of several Cantonese terms in English and Chinese characters, including counting numbers and the very important "ngoh5 hei6 sou3 xig6 ge3" (I am a vegetarian). The book closes with over 50 pages of Cantonese phrases (including "I am ill", "I am pissed", "I want to throw up", and "Thank you, that was delicious"; a glossary of foods and terms; and a Hong Kong culinary dictionary (explains the main ingredients and cooking method). Each transliterated word is coded with the proper intonation, distilled into 6 basic tones. There are 200 beautifully photographed pages of places to eat (from concept to neon to mobile dai pai dong, to street restaurants); a discussion of the banquet; and analyses of staples, such as soups and noodles, rices and meats, and sauces. There are sections on shopping, picnics, utensils, medicinal foods, and "chinese table rules" (no vertical chopsticks please).

Back in 1991 I set off for a twelve-month global journey. With me I had a few essentials, money, clothes, my wife and a collection of Lonely Planet Travel Guide Books. After a few weeks in India we found that the books were as essential to our survival as food and water. We went on to use the Lonely Plant Guide Books (or the LP as we termed them) though out Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, North American, Canada and Mexico. Sometimes our travels would be so fast and furious that we would not read about our next destination until we had arrived the town's bus depot. We grew to love and trust the LP - it never let us down. As you might imagine I was therefore thrilled to receive their latest departure in to travel writing "World Food Hong Kong ". Furiously I dived in to its pages. When I saw that pocket size book was written by Richard Sterling a guy who would - quote " go anywhere and court any danger for the sake of a good meal" I new I would be in for an interesting literary adventure.
Richard Sterling's other titles include; Dining With Headhunters; The Fearless Dinner; and the award wining Travelers' Tale. His much-applauded writing has won him praise from The James Beard Foundation and kudos from the Lowell Thomas awards.
The book 's contents are broken down fourteen chapters -
World Food Hong Kong starts with the essential aspect of understanding the domains cuisine culture. Sterling enlightens us on the island's history, flavors and influences. My learning began. It would seem that Hong Kong's cuisine is a melting pot of the nations tastes with the addition European influences; olive oil, ketchup and asparagus all worked themselves in to the fabric of the island's "local" cooking.
Staples and specialties are next; rice, noodles, tofu, meat, sauces flavorings - the list continues as do the lessons. We all know that in 1295 Marco Polo introduced the noodle to Italy but did you know he made his mark on the Chinese too; he introduced the kiss? The content continues with Drinks, Home Cooking, and Celebrating with Food. Food as Medicine is where I must pause to narrate. Sterling reminds us that the Chinese believe that "food, medicine and health are all part of the same continuum. This is derived from the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang, which applies as much to human health as it does to the cosmos. When all in the universe is in its proper balance, harmony reigns. But in a condition of imbalance, we risk ill health, misfortune violence and destruction. Lesson: Seek balance!" If you are seeking balance try the Yin Yang soup or if you are feeling peaky there is always the Lizard soup chicken and cloud fungus.
Seeking knowledge of unusual foods? Then move to the next chapter "The Bold Palate". These are foods for the brave. How about preserved eggs, snake or baby mouse wine? That is right the wine is made by preserving still-suckling baby mice in rice wine. Apparently this is jolly good for rejuvenating the body's organs. For those who have survived the journey thus far normality is ahead. Shopping and Markets, where to Eat and Drink, Understanding the Menu and a modest Recipe Section are all a great read. The where to eat chapter covers the complete dining gambit from the very upmarket Peninsular to low down street food and must try dim sum.
For the gourmet traveler the book finishes with a handy English to Cantonese culinary dictionary a must have for those who want to appear to know their jellyfish from their junk food.
As I close I am relived to say the Lonely Planet does it again, a captivating unpretentious little book, nit just physically but also financially suited for anyone's pocket. - Written By Jeremy Emmerson GobalChefs

A must read for every global citizen. A story of conscience and a story of despair.

A great piece of work by a young Sri Lankan author.

The Lost Cause by Udara Soysa is a truly amazing story. It begins with a young man's quest for identity, which reveals love, happiness and grief.
As a citizen of a country, which was badly affected by a loss of tourists due to the tsunami, I especially enjoyed reading about how the disaster affected the local people.
I highly recommend this book to anyone in for a good read!

Few Americans, who lived in the 1960's, will ever forget the grotesque spectacle appearing on the evening television news as Vietnamese Buddhist monks (and nuns) regularly burned themselves to death in protest of government policies they believed were bringing about the destruction of their country. In The Lotus Unleashed, an absorbing account of those times, Dr. Robert J. Topmiller examines the complex political climate in then-South Vietnam during the years immediately leading up to the massive increase in U.S. ground troops there. The author provides a plethora of new information about this popular Buddhist led-movement which was intent on establishing a freely-elected government in South Vietnam; one free of American occupying forces. In addition to his meticulous research, Topmiller interviewed surviving leaders of the Buddhist Peace Movement; an often difficult and risky task, since many were at the time still under suspicion, or house arrest, by the current government.

The Lotus Unleashed makes sense of the chaos occurring within South Vietnam in the mid-1960's, as seen not only in the bitter dissension between, and within, South Vietnam's political, religious and military organizations, but also between the U.S. Army and Marine Corps forces stationed there.

Lessons, seemingly relevant to our current foreign policy, leap from the pages. Perhaps the most important of these derives from a consistent misinterpretation and mistrust by U.S. policymakers with regard to the motives of the Buddhist protesters, and other non-communist nationalist factions, who opposed the government in Saigon. This lesson, in its simplest form, might read: Because a faction does not support us, it does not necessarily mean it supports our enemy.

Topmiller sheds much new light on this crucial point in our history and presents a compelling argument that the Buddhist Peace Movement, far from being an inconsequential player in the larger struggle between the United States and Soviet Union for hegemony in the region, may well have been the last practical opportunity to avoid the ensuing tragedy that eventually cost the lives of over 58,000 Americans and nearly 3 million Vietnamese. As I finished this extraordinary book, the words of the American poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier came to mind:

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: It might have been!"

This new book on the American-Vietnam War, writes Robert J. Topmiller, "contains few American heroes but focuses instead on the enormous sacrifices of Vietnamese Buddhists to halt the conflict." In the end, the conflict caused 58,000 American and 3 million South and North Vietnamese deaths.

"The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam, 1964-1966" marks the culmination of one historian's decade-long endeavor to tell the story of America's longest war from the perspective of those South Vietnamese Buddhists "who risked everything for peace." The author, an alumnus of Central Washington University, is a Vietnam War veteran and a history professor at Eastern Kentucky University.

Topmiller asserts that America's defeat in Vietnam ultimately resulted from the illegitimacy and unpopularity of successive South Vietnamese governments, which aside from being dictatorial were dependent on and subservient to a warring foreign power, the United States. Above all, he writes, most South Vietnamese wanted peace and independence.

Examination of the Buddhist Peace Movement, Topmiller argues, typifies both "the ambiguity felt by Vietnamese over the American [Cold War] crusade" and "America's frustration over its inability to influence events in South Vietnam." The Buddhists, who hoped to establish peace and democracy and to eradicate poverty and injustice, represented the most significant non-communist group that challenged the South Vietnamese government.

The Buddhist Movement's first defining moment came in June 1963 when an elderly monk protested his government's religious persecution by setting himself on fire. Photographs of the self-immolation and the government's repression of Buddhist protesters galvanized American and world opinion against South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was assassinated in a November coup.

As Topmiller emphasizes, the toppling of Diem did not work in favor of the Buddhists' drive for peace and nationalism. Instead, it created a political power vacuum filled by South Vietnamese generals, who permitted increased American intervention and an expansion of the war against communist North Vietnam. Washington secretly opposed the Buddhist objective of a populist government because it risked instability and possible cooperation with local communists, and at best, such a course would lead to a "neutralist" approach to the Cold War.

The United States found it increasingly difficult to maintain stability in South Vietnam, a country plagued by interest group factionalism and regional divisions.

Topmiller illustrates this vividly by reconstructing the 1966 Buddhist Crisis in Danang, where U.S. Marines attempted to prevent fighting between their military ally, the South Vietnamese Marines and Air Force, and Buddhist and student protesters, who were aided by dissident South Vietnamese army units. At one point, South Vietnamese fighter planes "accidentally" strafed and injured eight U.S. marines in Danang. A livid U.S. Marine general ordered American fighters to fly over the Vietnamese planes to forestall further strafing. Upset with this adverse action, the South Vietnamese launched additional planes to fly over the American jets. This retaliation only caused more U.S. planes to take to the air. Finally, "after more stern warnings" from the Americans, the Vietnamese Air Force "backed down."

Nevertheless, by the end of 1966, the U.S-backed government in South Vietnam forcefully subjugated the Buddhist Peace Movement. Topmiller suggests that the Buddhist Crisis may have represented a missed of opportunity for peace and a chance for the United States to avoid a humiliating and tragic defeat.

His well-written narrative and nuanced understanding of South Vietnamese and American motives and actions are the result of painstaking research in the United States and Vietnam, including interviews and correspondence with key actors.

With the United States at war in the Middle East, Topmiller's book serves to remind us of the challenges and pitfalls of American involvement in far-flung conflicts.

Dr. Topmiller examines the Vietnam War and the subsquent US involvement not solely from the stance of a proxy US vs. Communism war, but allows for the agency of the Vietnamese people in respect to their own history.

His illustration of the Buddhist movement in Vietnam, not as a sideshow, but as a legitamite third force in the struggle allows Americans today a deeper understanding of this very emotional episode in our history.

Dr. Topmiller's study of the conflict between USMC and US Army leadership throughout the conduct of the American military action adds a further vital lesson for the American people in our current age of increased military intervention. The most notable praise this book received was from Daniel Ellsburg who noted that Dr. Topmiller was able to find material about the war that Ellsburg himself was unaware of.

Any serious student of the history of Vietnam, the American War in Vietnam or American History needs to read this book.

A very informative description of Chinese contributions, mostly in the area of science. Well written and well illustrated. Purchased for my 9 year old grand-daughter, who I hope someday will become an engineer (preferably electrical).

A fantastic book that shows the contributions which the Chinese over centuries have given to the world. Highly recommended! Its illustrations are culturally relevant and sensitive! Rennie Mau President, MPEC Multicultural Publishing and Education Council

I read sections from Made in China to my kids as a bedtime story - they like to listen to this as much as fictional stories. Great illustrations too.

I read this book twice. This in itself should be sufficient recommendation!

But I'll give you some of the reasons why I like it so much.
It is rich in historical detail and sociological examination, as well as the author's personal experiences. I was thoroughly entertained, informed and sometimes surprised. There were some unexpected revelations - such as the raucus behavior of passengers on the train to Osaka and the ubiquitous noise pollution with apparent little effect on the serenity of the Japanese people.

The author proved open to all aspects of life in Japan, and presents his story with vivid detail and an eye for beauty. He must have possessed an enormous amount of energy. He describes his business career (with admirable modesty) and Japan's economy, business philosophy and practices with an insider's knowledge. He found time to explore Japan's countryside, and immerse himself in the pursuit of understanding Japan's culture. This included the study of the Japanese language, art and religion. I was struck by the author's keen and objective observations about Japanese life. And he didn't limit occasional criticisms to the Japanese, but had some strong opinions about the Dutch and Americans as well.

But this is not the whole story. His and his wife's personal lives are lovingly described. The tale is well paced and contains many fascinating details of their experiences with friends and family, and many other people they encountered. I highly recommend this book - it provides insight far beyond the standard western ideas about Japan.

Nora Hines, Prescott, Arizona, USA

Magatama Doodle is an intriguing memoir by a young Dutchman who settles into the banking business in Japan following its surrender after WW II. The reader enters an exotic yet emerging modern world, reflecting the author's growing love of the country tempered by the developing knowledge of cultural contradictions including the stifling of individuality. Brinckmann's vivid descriptions reflect his extensive knowledge of history and a remarkable memory for details conveyed with wry and whimsical humor. A sense of time and place is brilliantly presented through the author's creative and poetic skills no doubt enhanced through his intimate knowledge of the country after acquiring a beautiful and artistic Japanese wife. This reader was enchanted and enlightened and eagerly awaits another volume.

There is hardly any book available by a Westerner looking back over more than half a century's contact with Japan - , culturally, economically and socially. Well, Hans Brinckmann's The Magatama Doodle fills the gap. The author starts with entering Japanese life in the service of a Dutch bank in 1950. By means of anecdotes and observations he tells us how his experiences became an 'affair' with Japanese culture. He explains the backgrounds of its sometimes strange customs and how he dealt with them. Not only by means of anecdotes and examples but also by going back into history he brings Japanese life into relief. At the same time we follow his career from bank employee to banking executive, and from bachelor to being married to a Japanese young lady of `good family'. As such he was able to meet Japanese leaders and gaining an insight into the manifold reasons for their decisions and actions.
The title refers to a habit he noticed early on among some Japanese men in authority: that of doodling imaginary comma-like figures on some handy surface, whenever they avoided expressing an opinion or making a decision. The doodles reminded him of magatama, ancient comma-shaped precious stones found in prehistoric tombs. They seemed to him an appropriate symbol for one of the book's underlying themes: that a deeply conservative ethos lies at the root of both Japan's distinctive and much-admired culture and the undeniable rigidity of its political, educational and managerial structures.
The author stresses he is not suggesting a simple key to understanding the `Japanese mind', let alone presuming to offer prescriptions for change. As he sees it, Western attempts to make Japan `more like us' are doomed to fail. Japan must build on its own considerable strengths and rely on the fresh energies of a new generation of leaders to meet the challenges of a globalized society.
I should consider this book essential reading for everyone interested in understanding the often-mystifying ethics, politics and economics of this country that has left its mark on world history in more than one way.
Michael Rogge.

This book will answer all of your questions regarding how marriages are/were conducted in the East. Arranged marriages are very misunderstood in western society and the benefits thereof. Every person of the east and west who is confused as to why/how did/does arranged marriages work(ed) should read this book to get a better explanation. Arranged marriages were a part of western culture until King Henry V (father of current Queen Elizabeth) married in a love marriage. We have a 50% divorce rate in america and is rising, the fundamentals our ancestors gave to us should be worth the time to acknowledge. This book will help to gain a better perspective on this ancient marriage system that is still practiced in many parts of the world today with more success than that of our western culture.

Although this book is not intended to address intercultural marriage per se, it is the most helpful book I have read that explains differences between the "East" and of the "West" in marriage and societal structure. I cannot believe that the Maces wrote this book in the 1950s; it is right on the money in terms of the conflicts that I and my 20-something friends are encountering in our marriages. If you are an American woman married to a man from China, Japan, or India (the main countries covered in this book) you must read this book. All of the modern intercultural marriage books I have read are just fluff compared to this book. Fluffy books on conflict resolution won't help until you have a deep understanding of the underlying conflicts. Many second-generation immigrants to America are, naturally, confused about which cultural traditions they want to espouse and may not even be aware that they are heavily influenced by their parents' cultures. For their spouses, this can be a bewildering and frustrating experience. This book will help you understand where they are coming from. Similarly, this book may help you understand some of your own prejudices and underlying beliefs, from our wonderful, if troubled, American culture. Do yourself a favor and read this incredible, fascinating sociological treatise. I couldn't put it down. Granted, the book is may not be the entire gospel; the authors were marriage counselors, not scientists. But they have clearly done their research, and the bibliography is extensive. The authors try to be balanced, pointing out the positive and negative aspects of both the "Eastern" and the "Western" approach to marriage. They are asking huge questions: which approach to family life is "better"? Will one approach "win" in the future? If so, what do we stand to lose, on both sides? What do we stand to gain? These are very important questions about the structure of society, the opportunities available to women, the type of companionship we want to have with our life partner, and how we want to raise our children.

This book, written by a Christian couple who were marriage counselors and widely traveled in Asia, is a gem.

The Maces write "We should not begin to understand the East today until we recognize the contempt and disgust with which many Asians view what they consider to be our standards of man/woman relationships. They have a mental picture of the United States as a land of lecherous men, shameless women, sex-mad youth, and children beyond all control. Unfortunately, among those who hold this view are some who have visited the West."

Those were the good old days of the '50s, remember.

The Maces provide a wonder explanation of the Western "gamble" on personal liberty that goes hand in hand with equality between the sexes - and must, therefore, rule out arranged or polygynous marriage.

"We saw the world divided roughly into two major camps, based on two major ideological concepts of human society," wrote the Maces. "The first concept held that the way to make society work successfully is to create hierarchies - to put the majority of the people under the domination of a few leaders who would run their lives for them, tell them what to do, and see that they did what they were told. To try to run either the family or the community on any other basis than this authority-obedience, dominance-submission pattern would, it was believed, result in chaos and disorder. In one form or another, this is the concept of society that has been basic throughout human history, in East and West alike.

"The second concept, however, challenges this. It declares that the best way to make human society work successfully is to give to each individual the maximum amount of personal freedom, autonomy and self-determination that his is able to handle responsibly, and to increase his freedom progressively as he learns to accept more and more responsibility for himself. It is this daring doctrine upon which the Western world of today has staked everything."

The Maces describe this as "the gamble of operating a culture, and the family life upon which that culture is based, on the principle of the freedom of the individual."
Once the Maces had explained this principle to their Asian audiences, they say, criticism gave way to admiration. "For they perceived that at the root of the whole concept lay a belief in the sacred worth of the individual."

"They now saw the chaos and confusion in our family life not as ruin and disaster, but as the price we were having to pay for our tremendous venture in seeking to create a society of men and women free to find themselves and to be themselves."

The Maces note "The evidence is overwhelming that the patriarchal family cannot ultimately survive in the new kind of industrial society that is coming into being in the modern world."
The Maces report with a definite bias toward democracy - both within the culture and the family upon which the culture is built. But they are not judgmental in their descriptions of the horrors and blessings of traditional Asian family life.

Their chapters:
1. The Reign of the Patriarch
2. Change of Model in the West
3. What Is a Woman Worth?
4. Sex in the Orient
5. Romance Is too Dangerous
6. Who Picks Your Partner?
7. Getting Married, Eastern Style
8. Child Wives of India
9. Who Keeps Concubines?
10. Married Life and Married Love
11. The Widow's Fiery Sacrifice
12. Above All, Give Us Children!
13. The Future of Marriage
Appendix: Marriage in Communist China.

I read this book years ago, and the Maces' views have stuck with me. It's written for everyone, without social sciences jargon.

Obviously, we haven't yet found our footing regarding our Western "gamble," but it is likely to be more of a gamble to turn our back on family democracy.

This is a good book to have alongside Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"; Sarah Hrdy's "The Woman That Never Evolved" and "Mother Nature, A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection"; Arlene Skolnick's "Embattled Paradise, The American Family in an Age of Uncertainty"; and Stephanie Coontz's "The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap."

Lee Ao did it again! Another great yet enthralling work by Lee Ao, the best Chinese critique writer. Lee Ao does it in a serious cum humorous way, from poems to elite phrases. There isn't a boring page. If possible, get the Chinese version (for those Chinese literate). A highly recommended piece of work.

Based on the history of reform movement of 1898 in China, the great thinker, historian, and writer of China, Ao Li( who lives in Taiwan) created this fiction. In the story, through the conversations and actions of the elits of Chinese intellecturalists, the author discussed the true thought and spirit of budhhism and Chinese thought of loyalty, patriatism, etc.; and expressed his idealist's thought. This is more a philosophy book and history than a novel. Six months ago when I finished reading this book in Chinese, I said it ought to have an English translation for people who don't read in Chinese. I am glad there is an English translation now.

I've read the original of this book about ten times, and the more I read this book, the more thoughts and after-thoughts occur in my mind. As a Chinese born in Taiwan, This book really inspired me. Not only its depth of historical records and eloqunce of critique are unprecedented in the history of Chinese literature, but the passions, the intellectual's hope for salvation and revolutionaries' struggle to improve China expressed between the lines are set on a trageic stage in a way that is both dramatic and calm, violent and peaceful. You can see the flow of time and the continuation and history when reading this book. And that feeling, is what makes Chinese people and Chinese civilization distinctive. Li Ao is one of the most talented, humorous, arrogant, witty, insightful, and controversial liberal intellctual in the modern China. He has been imprisoned for treason(the accusation was totally groundless). He has been supressed by the maintream media in Taiwan because of his humiliating disclosure of government official's scandals.But he has won the heart of the contemporary readers through his stylish, if not flirting and combative, writings(over 15 million ords and still mounting). The Martyr'sShrine is by far his greatest achievement. He was even nominated to compete for the Nobel Prize for literature. In my opinion he absolutely deserves the prize. To understand this book requires a solid background knowledge in Chinese history and culture. I don't know if the ordinary Western readers are up to the task. However, if you really want to understand China and its struggle of modernization in the 19-20 century, this book is a good start.

"Although two decades have passed since US combat soldiers left Indochina, Americans are still telling lies about Vietnam." So begins Robert Buzzanco's invaluable book on the military opposition to the Vietnam war. As Buzzanco points out in his introductory chapter, it is not necessarily true that the military is more hawkish and militarist than its civilian leaders. In fact they were often more open to compromise and negotiation in the early days of the cold war than many American diplomats, and actually suggested non-involvement in the opening days of the Korean war. Some of the officers Buzzanco discusses, such as General Ridgway and Shoup rejected intervention in Vietnam altogether. Most often however a large number of officers realized that plans were flawed and that victory was unlikely, but by playing bureaucratic politics they could foist the blame on the civilians and on their service rivals in the army.

The result was that over and over again officers raised the same unalterable points. You cannot bomb the North into submission, and you cannot defeat the NLF in the South with the corrupt and incompetent Southern regime we possess. Of course, much of this was the army, the navy and the air forces criticizing the other services plans. But as it turned out they were right and Buzzanco shows that the army was not stabbed in the back. A review of America's long involvement should help demonstrate this. In 1947, General George Marshall said that the French "have no prospect" of success in Vietnam. Five years later the Joint Chief of Staff were unanimously opposed to committing any American troops into Vietnam. General Matthew Ridgeway's opposition to assisting the French after Dien Bien Phu was crucial to the Geneva Accords.

Flash forward ten years and Johnson's decision to expand the war. 1964 is a year filled with concerns over the collapse of the South Vietnamese authority, concerns about NLF strength, and strategic dithering. It is important to point out that Westmoreland, along with other officers like Wheeler, Johnson, and MacDonald opposed an all-out air war because they believed the Southern regime was too fragile to survive VC counterattacks. Pacification was dying and in only about 20% of the villages were the residents willing to provide RVN officials with information about the Viet Cong. In 1965 the war escalates. The army Chief of Staff suggests US military involvement will last at least five years, and could go as long as 20. "In I Corps, where the Marines were deployed, `the communist guerrillas enjoyed essentially uncontested dominance over most of the rural population,' they [the Corps] admitted." Conservative critics have blamed LBJ for not supporting an all-out air war. But at the time army leaders were divided about the effectiveness of such a strategy. Westmoreland thought that an air war would be ineffective as long as the situation of the South was on the verge of collapse. Westmoreland and Taylor were surprised at how often the White House took the initiative in demanding the offensive.

1966 and 1967: the officers quarrel about attrition, the air war and reinforcement, each pointing out the flaws in the other's arguments and nobody really very optimistic about a solution. "Admiral Sharp...pointed out that the United States had already caused heavy damage to most of the important military targets in the DRVN by August 1965, yet no American commander was suggesting that such measures had significantly altered the military situation in Vietnam." In response to the full-scale American invasion, the Vietcong and the PAVN were stepping up their recruitment and matching the Americans. Meanwhile Maxwell Taylor pointed out that the ARVN was shirking its duties, when the whole point of intervention was supposedly to stiffen their spine. Various officers called for more reinforcements and more troops. Even though they could make no promise that this would have any real effect, it could give them an alibi after an American defeat. In January 1967 the MACV found that it had underestimated VC and PAVN major unit attacks by a factor of four. Despite much blather about having their hands tied, the air force and the army culpably failed to protect their bases from guerrilla attacks.

Finally, 1968. Supporters of the war have argued that the Tet offensive was in fact a glorious American victory. But an obtuse and biased media convinced the American public the opposite. In fact, as Clark Clifford pointed, at the time many senior military leaders were on the verge of panic. As low morale, drug abuse, and fragging ravaged the American army, Westmoreland partially admitted the obvious: the Communist goal was not to expel the Americans, but to undermine what southern faith remained the RVN's government and army. The average ARVN battalion strength was at 50%, and it had lost one-quarter of its pre-Tet strength. Even hard-line senators such as Stennis and Jackson were beginning to waver, while pacification and counter-insurgency had been ravaged. Vann, Lansdale and others pointed out ARVN Corruption, intense popular opposition to American destructiveness and the culture of euphemism and denial at military headquarters. The one flaw in this book is that more is not said about the post-1968 war, though the government has made sure that primary documents are much less available. Based on 62 sets of private papers and oral histories and firmly well documented, this is a book that will be read for years to come.

Buzzanco's carefully researched and seamlessly written examination of military dissent in pre-Tet Vietnam rocks the boat tactfully--but thoroughly. Buzzanco conclusively lays to rest a great many myths about civil-military relations in the Vietnam era, and about the nature of the military conflict itself. This is not a book about guerilla tactics, comaraderie, or the horrors of war. Buzzanco tacitly accepts the profound emotional impact of Vietnam. His focus is on the high politics of waging a costly and highly unpopular "proxy" war. Many senior officers in Vietnam, including Matthew Ridgeway, John Paul Vann, and others, were tenaciously and vociferously critical of the war. Others were "true believers." Still others cynically hedged their bets in an effort to promote service and personal ambitions.

Following the 1968 Tet offensive, Buzzanco reveals, most civilian and military leaders recognized the futility of the conflict and wanted to get out of Vietnam. Unable to do so, however, they participated in mutual recrimination and propagandizing. The result was a web of myth that pervades U.S. civil-military relations even after Desert Storm; which was, perhaps, reinforced by Desert Storm.

Buzzanco's brilliant scholarship is a compact, unsettling, enlightening exploration of the defining Cold War conflict, and its enduring legacies.

How many Americans know that the most revered leaders of our modern military (among them Ridgway, Eisenhower and Marshall) advised against intervening in Vietnam?

How many know that in 1949 the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a policy paper stating that military involvement in Indochina would be "an anti-historical act likely in the long run to create more problems than it solves and cause more damage than benefit"?

How many know that in 1967 the Joint Chiefs of Staff threatened to walk out on the president if he didn't call off military involvement?

My guess is that most Americans still believe that the majority of military leaders favored intervention and "were not allowed to win."

As Buzzanco makes clear, if that belief prevails in spite of the facts, Americans will have learned nothing from the tragedy that we call the Vietnam War. And given the current political and military situation, what we have, or haven't, learned has never mattered more.

In a masterfully concise and thorough way, Buzzanco assembles the most important but previously scattered findings about America's involvement in Vietnam. He is among the rarest of authors -- a readable scholar, one who can write for the masses. And the fact that he's a scholar is important. Journalists, who usually write the readable stuff, have lost too much credibility with the American public.

Upon finishing this relatively short but remarkably full account, all I could say was, "Finally!" The research and documentation to support Buzzanco's findings have been accumulating for years. As someone with a history degree who has tried to keep up, I applaud his ability to exhume, organize and present the essential and long buried information.

For those who demand more, there are reams of source material. For those who have been looking for a clear and credible synopsis based on what we now know, this is it.

I continue to hope that the publisher and the attending media will place it where the masses can find it.

Vilhar and Anderson, a husband-wife photographer-writer team, have put together a superb book. Through mainly visual images and pithy explanations/picture captions, they have encapsulated Japanese matsuri (festivals). The Japanese have festivals for everything and Vilhar has collected a good mixture: Gion, of course (Kyoto's most famous festival), kites framed by Mt Fuji (for Children's Day), young geisha, etc. Nobody today is doing better work in Japan/on Japan than Vilhar & Anderson. The only "problem" with this book is that it was too short. I, for one, would pay more to get more.

Matsuri, World of Japanese Festivals is a masterwork of photography. Vilhar's eye and skill with the camera captures the exquisite detail that exemplifies traditional Japanese culture and sensibilities. Like a door into historic fantasy, Matsuri gives both the well-travelled and arm-chair travellers a chance to immerse themselves in a world of beauty and ritual that took Vilhar and his wife Charlotte Anderson nine years to collect for this presentation. Well worth the price, I only wish there were a companion book of text to describe the ritual festivals in greater detail.

Matsuri - Shrine festivals, which catch the spiritual essence of Japan. This book is a MUST, if you have ever visited to or are interested in Japan.The photographs are just amazing (how did Vilhar get these shots?) and the captions very informative. I am living for >10 years in Japan, and Matsuri is one of my favourite books. Order two: one for you and one for your best friend!