Asia Books

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).

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.

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 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.

For the past 20 years, I've read almost anything I can get my hands
on about China. Out of the novels, biographies and numerous
autobiographies, I always considered "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang
to be at the top of my list. Now its time for that amazing memoir to move over. "The Man on Mao's Right" is my new favorite book on the subject of China. It takes a culture so huge in dimension and makes it personal and more importantly, relevant.

Read this book if you want to understand the foreign policy of the Peoples Republic of China, or want guidance from an expert on how to keep your sanity and morality in a bureaucracy, or if you just want a very good story.

In the fall of 1950, at the age of 21, Ji Chaozhu returned to his native China after an absence of 12 years. He left a comfortable middle class life as a Harvard undergraduate scholarship student at a time of increasingly virulent anti-communism in this country. China was on the verge of a shooting war with the USA in Korea, and he literally stepped through the looking glass into an upside down world of opposites. In China it was politically dangerous even to be suspected of intellectual or bourgeois tendencies; membership in the Communist Party was a privilege which it took him years to achieve; to fight against the USA backed forces in Korea was a patriotic duty for which he quickly volunteered. On a more personal level, Chaozhu had to relearn his first language, get used to a new and substantially reduced diet, and - perhaps most difficult of all - adapt to the use of a traditional "squat" toilet.

This is the story of his 50 year odyssey through the hierarchy of the Chinese Foreign Ministry from lowly translator at Panmunjom to Ambassador to the Court of St. James and Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. His original intention when he returned home was to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry and help China to develop an atomic bomb, but his knowledge of English and American culture was a rare commodity in China at that time and proved much more valuable to the Government, so he parlayed that skill along with his good humor and good sense into a career working steadfastly towards the goal of establishing peace and cooperation between China and the USA.

Along the way there were many twists and turns - tragic, exasperating, comical and unhealthy. He spent several long periods living away from his family working on farms in the country standing up to his knees in cold mud leaning over to plant rice seedlings, or carrying human waste to the fields in buckets to fertilize the crops. These stints were supposed to correct his bourgeois tendencies and help him identify with the peasants. He survived cold, heat, fleas, hunger, unsanitary conditions and primitive plumbing, but even more challenging were the internal politics and ideological twists and turns of programs like the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. He gained the confidence and protection of Premier Zhou Enlai, whom he served as translator on many important missions, on occasion being hurriedly summoned from the farm and appearing with manure still under his fingernails.

Ideologues on both the left and the right will find much to quibble about in this book. I may have on occasions been guilty of the former tendency and feel uncomfortable about Chaozhu's admiration for and continuing friendship with Henry Kissinger, but I cannot argue with his results. It appears that this relationship was critical to establishing normal and peaceful relations between the USA and China.

When Chaozhu dropped out of Harvard to return home, he left behind a small group of politically sympathetic classmates of whom I was one. To indulge in a little self-criticism, when I discovered that he had left I was guilty of two self-centered feelings: jealousy that he was going home to work for a real revolution and a dense of betrayal that he had gone off and left us to face the excesses of McCarthyism without him. Over the years I heard bits of news and rumors about his career, thought about him often, and wondered what his life was like. Now I know. When I finally picked up this book 58 years later, I couldn't put it down; I read it in one sitting.

Who would imagine the autobiography of a leading Chinese government figure would read like a novel, engaging us with humor, suspense, surprise and the triumph of one man's love for his wife? With a great assist from ghostwriter Foster Winans, that is the difficult literary feat that Ji Chaozhu's "The Man On Mao's Right" accomplishes.

This is also the first true "insider's account" I have read of the creation and evolution of modern China. Thanks to his work as a translator for Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, Ji was literally the fly on the wall during such historic occasions as Nixon's historic visit to China, the negotiations seeking an end to the Korean conflict, and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

Having fled the Japanese invasion of China with his parents, Ji spent much of his childhood in the United States, where he attended Harvard University. Devoted to the cause of Chinese socialism, Ji returned to his native land, where he was uniquely able to translate not just the language of the Chinese, but their culture and belief system, for Western leaders.

I cannot but wonder how history might have been different if not for his participation at so many pivotal moments in the evolution of the delicate relationship between China and the US.

"The Man On Mao's Right" is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the modern history of China, its motivations, its people and culture. Best of all, this is such an enjoyable read, that it is certain to find an audience far beyond Chinese history buffs.

Ji's life story is the epic odyssey of a Chinese Homer whose quest for his home, and to be with the woman he loves, literally spans the globe and encompasses several generations. "The Man On Mao's Right" is destined to become a classic of its genre.

I ended up reading the book, Manchurian Legacy, in one sitting even though I had a lot of other things to do. That is rare for me. The story mesmerized me as I felt like I was learning something about my roots, my mother.

My Japanese mother, to get away from the merciless firebombing of her city, at the age of 19 volunteered as a member of a repatriation team assigned to travel to Manchuria and to help in the repatriation of Japanese colonials there. After training for about a month, she flew to a city in the center of Manchuria on what happened to be the same day that the Russians invaded. She had quite an adventure hiding, being captured, incarcerated, starving, transported by rail in box cars and then force marched thru Korea, to be saved ironically by the enemy American soldiers that she was trying to escape. I am amazed at what she had to go through to get back to Japan.

Not only did this book gave me an insight to what life was like in Manchuria for the Japanese during the end of World War II, it also gave me a glimpse of post-war Japan where both my father and father-in-law were stationed as part of the occupation forces. The stories about the period during the Russian invasion and how they and the local Chinese treated the Japanese colonials was very revealing. Even though Mrs. Kuramoto's experience was not so harrowing as my mother's adventure, the description of the area and the everyday life of the colonials helped me to understand this period of history in this part of the world.

Even though the second part of the book about post-war Japan did not relate to my mother since she had a support system in place when she returned to Japan, the description of Mrs. Kuramoto's experiences with members of the American occupation force helped me to understand the situation that my father lived through during his term of duty in Japan.

Enough of how the book impacted me. Here is a synopsis of the book: The Manchurian Legacy is a story about the life of a young woman born in Manchuria to Japanese parents living there during World War II. Her father is a minor Japanese government official which gave the family trappings of luxury which were not enjoyed by the local occupied Chinese residents. Kazuko was a patriotic 17 year old and to her parent's dismay, volunteered to join the Red Cross to aid in the war effort against the corrupt capitalists and communists. When Japan surrendered, the Russians invaded and the Chinese revolted, sending the Japanese colonialists into hiding. How the colonialists fared over the next year is a testament to their entrepreneurship and tenacious desire to survive in a culture hostile to their former oppressors. The post-war portion of the book focused on how Kazuko coped in Japan after being shipped there on U.S. transport ship and after being rejected by other relatives. This is also a story of her relationship with soldiers and contractors with the American occupation forces, and her struggles in a country not so accepting of the returning colonialists.

A great read and highly recommended.

Recently I was given this book to read by a friend who is preparing to teach a university course on Japanese culture and women's narrative. I am voraciously reading the books that she is considering for her course and giving her feedback. I couldn't put this book down and cried at the end. What more can one say? I sit here now as a foreigner living in Japan and find this book offers me a window into Japanese history, culture and the voice of women that is not normally acknowledged. Everyone should read this book.

Manchurian Legacy is the book,I wished that I could have read when I was in the sixth grade.Readers of that age group could easily identify with the character of Kazuko as a young woman. It is rare to find a book that can appeal to both young and old readers. The author, Kazuko Kuramoto apologizes for her writing, as English is her third language. I believe, this is what makes the book so readable. She does not bog the reader down with flowery language. What Kazuko does give the reader is a feeling of what it was like to have lived in Manchuria as a colonialist before and doing WW II.The real charm of the book is that it does not assume the reader has any knowledge of the historical events that shaped the narrative.A brief explanation that doesn't bog down the story gives you a context to understand and enjoy her memoir. The immense popularity of a book, "Angela's Ashes" shows that readers have a desire for personal stories of the ordinary man. Kazuko's story deserves to be read by as wide a audience as "Angela's Ashes"

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.

Here is a book that can appeal to a variety of ages and stages. There is much intellectual treasure to be mined from this source as well as some great nuggets of entertainment and wisdom. Concepts of Eastern philosophy (such as awareness, inner nature, observation, humility, patience, balance, respect, honor, trust, mastership, the virtue of the small) and universal themes (such as hunger, poverty, hard work, greed, ambition, power, hero's journey, failure, success, magic, art, fight, flight) are woven into a fine tapestry of adventure and intrigue.

The book contains two stories: "The Master Swordsman" and "The Magic Doorway." Each independent story celebrates (and teaches) the uses of intellect, preparation, and ingenuity over rash acts, cruelty, and violence. The main characters persevere in their individual challenges because they follow paths to peaceable resolutions to their problems.

The rich illustrations are beautifully wrought and reminiscent of Chinese landscape paintings / art; several of them include Chinese characters. It's quite amusing to see an exclamation mark after these as well!

This book would make a great addition to any study of Chinese culture, thought, art, language, legends, and folklore. It is an appropriate product for reading circles and discussion related to personal / family values.

Light and magical book bringing eternal human values in a way accessible to children.

The stories are imbued with magic that engages the imagination of children and adults alike.

This is the kind of book I enjoyed as a child and still find delightful as an adult. Two simple stories, funny yet with a message, great for kids. The drawings splash across the pages in full color, with animals, bandits, and landscapes that make the text come to life.

"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.