Wang Books

`The Rehnquist Court' is a compilation of articles by different writers critical of Supreme Court decisions made during the last couple of decades. One of the main issues is concerned with the rollback of civil rights gains made in the 1960's. These include prisoner and defendant rights, affirmative action and access for the handicapped. The writers are quick to point out that the Rehnquist years are anything but a complete liberal disaster. In many cases the Supreme Court has upheld freedom of speech as well as generally maintaining the separation of church and state. Make no mistake, many civil rights have been maintained despite the objections of the Conservative trifecta of Justices Scalia, Thomas and Chief Justice Rehnquist.

Taken together the articles paint a particular ideological trend. The Rehnquist court tends to favor states rights over federal rights except in the case of business where the federal government suddenly gets the last say. In one case a state law restricted tobacco companies from putting up billboards in sight of school buildings. The Rehnquist court abandoned federalism and declared the law illegal because it went above and beyond federal restrictions. The Rehnquist court has also been pro-business in making it more difficult for individuals to sue companies particularly in the case of environmental damage. There seems to have been an ideological influence on the Rehnquist court from the Chicago School of economics which teaches undying faith in the market and its ability to self regulate. The Rehnquist court has shown an indifference towards anti-trust laws and a sometimes counterintuitive and bewildering approach towards insider trading. The effect has been a considerable consolidation of wealth in a small minority within the last several decades.

In the case of states rights superceding federal authority the writers astutely point out that in many cases this renders the Bill of Rights useless or as Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez might say "quaint". When tobacco companies are restricted from posting billboards targeting children the Rehnquist court is ready to sweep in with federal authority but when clear and undeniable bias is shown in the execution of blacks the Supreme Court defers to the wisdom of the states. The general trend of reducing individual rights has had the effect of dramatically increasing the percentage of incarcerated Americans in the last two decades as well as increasing prison sentences. Incarceration has become the number one tool of social control and prisons have continued to focus on punishment over rehabilitation. On the Executive end Attorney General John Ashcroft sought to have all prosecuting attorneys seek the maximum sentence in all cases which would end plea bargaining.

It looks as if the Rehnquist years are just about officially over which leaves "The Rehnquist Court" essentially a historical compilation of specific rulings however the writers make it clear that the legacy is far from over. There have been a tremendous amount of 5-4 decisions and if the court saw a couple of more uber-Conservatives like Scalia or Thomas things could change dramatically.

As China continues to grow at an impressive rate, the book (already 3 years old) speculates on how this will affect its neighbours. Contributors from outside China point out possible effects, as other countries might adjust their trade and foreign policies to accomodate a greater Chinese influence.

The tone is optimistic. Suggesting that Japan, Korea and others will also benefit from a peaceful cooperation, that yields increasing prosperity for all concerned. This theme of mutual benefit pervades the book. Especially as the Chinese market will demand both raw materials and sophisticated products. The former can be well supplied by Australia, while the latter offer Japan and South Korea great prospects for their advanced technological companies.

Klare does an excellent job in setting the stage for a discussion of American foreign policy after the fall of the Soviet Union. I enjoyed how he utilized historical inferences from Vietnam and Korea to compare and contrast warfare during the Gulf War. I would have, however, appreciated more insight on the applicability of the "Rogue Doctrine" in current foreign affairs. I question its success in the current UNSCOM-Iraq standoff, especially with the most recent round of strikes in Dec. Is there a more successful alternative policy? Nonetheless, Klare provides excellent scenarios for future foreign policy makers. A must read for students of American foreign policy in the post-cold war era!

For the Roland Barthes fan--or any budding postmodernist--an absolute must read. Strange, often baffling, Barthes uses the "autobiographical" form to write what is part criticism, part poetry, part myth and part "true story"--if its not too unpostmodern to even use the word true. The title suggests it all--Barthes becomes his text, and vice-versa. Not a beach read, for sure, but very interesting nonetheless.

Rose, Rose I Love You is an alternately hilarious, sardonic and ultimately deeply tragic look at the underbelly of Taiwanese society with its sleaze, corruption and degradation of women . And waiting in the wings is the looming presence of the American G.I.s soon to arrive for rest and recreation. This is a unique and powerful book.

In any truly socialist understanding of history the role of the class struggle plays a central role. Any thoughtful socialist wants to, in fact need to, know how the various classes in society were formed, and transformed, over time. A lot of useful work in this area has been done by socialist scholars. One thinks of E.P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class, for example. One however need not be a socialist to do such research that can provide us with plenty of ammunition in our fight for a better world. Shopkeeper's Millennium by Paul E. Johnson is such a work.

One can disagree with Professor Johnson's conclusions, and perhaps aspects of his methodology that relies very heavily on the interpretation of governmental and church records He has nevertheless written a very interesting case study of Rochester, New York as a prime example of how America in the 1820's and 1830's, that is at the infancy of American capitalism, turned from a wilderness into an important young center of capitalist development as the Eire Canal became a cog in the transnational transportation system. Johnson has also provided some useful insights into the role that religion, especially the `born again' evangelical religion that we are familiar with today, helped form the prevailing capitalist ethos that drove the expansion forward.

Professor Johnson uses the well-known sources (city directories, tax assessments, censuses. Church registries) to flesh out his argument. One can take exception to some of his conclusions based on rather scanty data (and on the reliability of such data in a very mobile and transient environment). However the overall thrust of his work makes the important point that this period turned this part of America away from a sleepy agrarian/mercantile society to a rather dynamic capitalist one within a relatively short time. And, moreover, the social preconditions that fostered such growth were not merely accidental but represented the expansion of an already stable elite ready to take advantage of the new mode of production. In short, as we have seen at other nodal points of history (and today, as well) the rich and able have a leg up when the new riches are distributed.

Religious indoctrination, strict social mores, intense social pressure and flat out coercion are detailed here as ways in which the budding capitalist class dominated the society. Religious revivals, anti-Masonic struggles and various social reform campaigns, particularly the fight against demon whiskey, play their part. As does plain old-fashioned politics that we are very familiar with. Perhaps not as familiar is how political sides were chosen in various local fights, like the closing of dram shops, despite common religious affiliation.

The key struggle in forming the capitalist mode of production is to discipline a reluctant workforce to the tasks at hand. That was achieved in Rochester by many of the old tricks like coercion, ostracism and shunning that we have seen elsewhere, particularly in England. In an interesting sidelight Professor Johnson details the change over, in a fairly short time, of workers who had previously lived at the work site with their employers to their own separate working class quarters. This is a big step in forming class-consciousness. Such details are the stuff that makes this an interesting study. Is this what today's working class looks like in a `post-industrial' American society? No. However many of the same techniques of domination still hold sway. Read this book about the days when American capitalism was a progressive force in the world. And begin to understand why it needs to be fought now.

One thing I enjoy about AsiaPac's books--they're not quite like anything else on the market. 16 of Zhuge Liang's greatest strategies / philosophies are boiled down into an easy-to-access, unique presentation. Rather than throw a thick text bogged down by philosophical passages, the Wang Xuan Ming presents the concepts with cute, quirky illustrations in comic book format. Some of the illustrations are amusing and some are silly, but it gets the more high-brow points across quickly and easily. If you're looking for a deep, rich book on Zhuge Liang, this isn't the best title, however. It presents bare bones concepts with illustrations--but doesn't delve into his deeper works, or his actual phrases (the texts are paraphrased). If you need solid text and meat, try the Shambala Dragons edition of "Mastering the Art of War" which includes a translation of some of Zhuge's scrolls. As for the 16 Strategies of Zhuge Liang, I own it, enjoy its offbeat humor and quirkiness, and would recommend it to collectors of Romance of the Three Kingdoms related books. It may be the only comic book Philosophy 101 course you'll ever find.

This book brings together in one volume a fine collection of readably scholarly articles by professors in Taiwan, Japan, and America on the subject of, well, just as it says, Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule--a potentially contentious subject indeed, and yet deeply fascinating and seriously significant, as this book itself amply demonstrates. The overall tone gets it just right too, striving neither to rantingly condemn Japan's colonial aggression nor blithely whitewash it, but rather to understand it in all of its complexity--especially the complicated and convoluted cultural interactions occasioned by this historical situation and their reverberating effects on people's sense of identity (both colonized and colonizers). The articles are too many and multifarious to properly summarize here, but many deal with literature and art while some in a more straight-up history manner attempt to theoretically grapple with Taiwan's particular case as a colony or else crunch numbers to arrive at some unexpected conclusions about certain events in the island's colonial history. All of the articles are well-written, interesting, nuanced, and informative in their own way, and as a whole they contribute quite a bit to our understanding.

This book's one minus is one inexplicably found in many academic publications nowadays: sloppy and lazy editing. Many proper nouns throughout the book are infected with typos, and the kanji given especially for several of the Japanese names and terms are incorrect or incomplete. This can really be annoying if not maddening for the readers, not to mention misleading for those less familiar with the subject or the languages involved. Other than that one gripe, though, I highly recommend this fine book, most especially of course if your interests are in Taiwanese History, Japanese History, or Colonial Studies. If the study of literature is your chief concern as it is mine, I imagine you'll find much of interest here as well. Check it out!

The following articles are included in this book:
Intro: "Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory" by Liao Ping-hui
1. "A Perspective on Studies of Taiwanese Political History: Reconsidering the Postwar Japanese Historiography of Japanese Colonial Rule in Taiwan" by Wakabayashi Masahiro
2. "The Japanese Colonial State and Its Form of Knowledge in Taiwan" by Yao Jen-to
3. "The Formation of Taiwanese Identity and the Cultural Policy of Various Outside Regimes" by Fujii Shozo
4. "Print Culture and the Emergent Public Sphere in Colonial Taiwan, 1895-1945" by Liao Ping-hui
5. "Shaping Administration in Colonial Taiwan, 1895-1945" by Ts'ai Hui-yu Caroline
6. "The State of Taiwanese Culture and Taiwanese New Literature in 1937: Issues on Banning Chinese Newspaper Sections and Abolishing Chinese Writings" by Kawahara Isao
7. "Colonial Modernity for an Elite Taiwanese, Lim Bo-seng: The Labyrinth of Cosmopolitanism" by Komagome Takeshi
8. "Hegemony and Identity in the Colonial Experience of Taiwan, 1895-1945" by Fong Shiaw-chian
9. "Confrontation and Collaboration: Traditional Taiwanese Writers' Canonical Reflection and Cultural Thinking on the New-Old Literatures Debate During the Japanese Colonial Period" by Huang Mei-er
10. "Colonialism and the Predicament of Identity: Liu Na'ou and Yang Kui as Men of the World" by Peng Hsiao-yen
11. "Colonial Taiwan and the Construction of Landscape Painting" by Yen Chuan-ying
12. "An Author Listening to Voices from the Netherworld: Lu Heruo and the Kuso Realism Debate" by Tarumi Chie
13. "Reverse Exportation from Japan of the Tale of 'The Bell of Sayon': The Central Drama Group's Taiwanese Performance and Wu Man-sha's 'The Bell of Sayon'" by Shimomura Sakujiro
14. "Gender, Ethnography, and Colonial Cultural Production: Nishikawa Mitsuru's Discourse on Taiwan" by Faye Yuan Kleeman
15. "Were Taiwanese Being 'Enslaved'? The Entanglement of Sinicization, Japanization, and Westernization" by Huang Ying-che
16. "Reading the Numbers: Ethnicity, Violence, and Wartime Mobilization in Colonial Taiwan" by Douglas L. Fix
17. "The Nature of 'Minzoku Taiwan' and the Context in Which It Was Published" by Wu Micha

This book is great, its readable, its affordable and it doesn't take a genius to understand it.

Nonetheless, every CIO should read it, before their CEOs get hold of a copy, this is dynamite and it comes in a handy book sized container, small enough to smuggle past the most keenest of corporate gate-keepers.

Charles Wang has written an excellent lessons learned document - the ultimate in structured intellectual capital - which, will no doubt fall on deaf ears, and be designed to oblivion along with 1,000,001 other great ideas, technology and software. On the other hand, maybe fate will be kind, and maybe corporate America will come to its senses and read this sound piece of advice.

Regards,

Martyn R Jones

A very good childres book, still quite good even in todays times so that children can grasp the story and understand it.