Asia Books

I savor my time to read "Buddhist Goddesses of India". The energy it brings me is very specific to the Goddess I am reading about. It must have been quite a journey writing it, connecting so deeply with each Goddess. Reading the book helps me stay centered in myself in what feels like a masculine world. Anyone like myself, who is sensitive to the many currents of energy in the world, or who would like to experience the energy of the Goddess, will have a good time with this book. It is also very useful for practitioners of Buddhism.

This book is more than worth it for the pictures alone. The images of Buddhist goddesses are simply gorgeous--whether clear black and white, or glorious color. Representing architectural elements, reliefs, gates, sculptures, painted cloth, and more, these images provide an invaluable visual document of the female images of divinity populating Buddhist history.

Even so, the book offers far more. Shaw not only gathers these visual images for us, she helps us understand them--why they exist, why they appear as they do, and what they teach us about Buddhist thought and practice. For each goddess, Shaw considers the visual representations alongside the goddess's appearances in literature, history, ritual practices, and other Hindu and folk traditions. Moving among these various representations, Shaw creates compelling accounts of each deity's religious significance. She also documents change over time, charting the ascension of goddess figures through three stages of Buddhist history, early, Mahayana, and Tantra. The female Buddhas of Tantra occupy the third section of the book. And all along the way, Shaw deftly moves from persuasively engaging issues in Buddhist scholarship to telling vivid stories about the goddesses themselves.

This comprehensive, accomplished book is for everyone and anyone who is interested in Buddhism, India, goddesses, South East Asia, Indian art and architecture, comparative religions, or the religious significance of art in general. Its stories and pictures engage and delight. At the same time, it is a must-read for scholars in all these fields for the ways in which it stretches and prunes our understanding of Buddhism. As Shaw persuasively documents, there is far more to the tradition than teachings of renunciation. Equally integral to the tradition are life-affirming, female-celebrating expressions of wisdom, creativity, and devotion.

This magnum opus will remain a serious resource for information about Buddhist Goddesses of India for decades. The scholarship is impeccable. Not only does it bring numerous texts and information into English for the first time, it explicates vast amounts of material loaded with insightful interpretations that only an expert authority can provide. This text will also reward those seeking inspiration from the Buddhist pantheon of goddesses. The prose is lyrical, compelling, and transports the reader into the powerful and colorful worlds of these ancient goddesses.

Ms. Shaw is an impeccable scholar whose transcendent writing captures the imagination. This inspired text is a compilation of unparalled research on an amazing array of Buddhist deities. Beautiful book.

Louis Allen, who was there, has captured the completeness of the longest war, the three year non-stop struggle for Burma, magnificently. This largely forgotten war, which saved the Indian sub-continent from Japanese dominance, has been well described, mostly in fragments, based on their personal experiences, by several authors but none has undertaken a complete description that encompasses both the Allied and the Japanese perspectives and Allen's work does this brilliantly.
Based on many interviews with both Allied and Japanese personnel this book captures the struggle from the initial defeat through the retreat into India to the final overthrow of the Japanese military in this large, often beautiful, and unfortunately, today mostly closed ,country.
Fought over widely varied terrain and with a savagery akin to that of the German-Russian experience this book is a tribute to the bravery of military personnel from a wide variety of backgrounds. On the Allied side soldiers from Britain, China, America, India, Nepal ( Goorkas), East and West Africa and Burma were motivated by excellent leadership to stop and then defeat the Japanese.
Interestingly it was to prove to be both the proudest moment and the swansong of the world's largest volunteer army---the British Indian Army. In the Burmese campaigns this army, with its mixture of races and religions form today's India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma truly came into its own only to be broken up two year later.
One must not forget the part played by the logistics services. Both the Allied and the Japanese forces were low in priority for equipment and at the end of a long supply chain. Much of the Allied success was due to a superior supply capability, and in particular, the concept of aerial supply was perfected in the ejection of the Japanese army from Burma.
This book is an excellent read for any student of military history if only to ensure that we never forget the Kohima Memorial inscription.

"When you go home,
Tell them of us and say.
For your tomorrow
We gave our today."

This is an outstanding book that must be considered the definitive single-volume account of the campaign in Burma in WWII. The author is a veteran of the campaign in the British Army where he was an intelligence officer. What is especially enjoyable about this book is that it includes many firsthand Japanese accounts in addition to Allied. The author speaks Japanese and drew upon official Japanese histories and personal interviews with participants. I have read several other books about this often forgotten Theater in WWII ( including Viscount Slim's "Defeat Into Victory" ), but this is the first book that includes Japanese sources. The author starts with the Japanese invasion of Burma and discusses the political situation in Burma prior to the invasion and how the Japanese used this to their favor. It includes the retreat of the British into India, their recovery, the British offensive in the Arakan, and Wingate and the birth of the Chindits. The author goes into great detail about Kohima-Imphal and this is where the Japanese perspective is so interesting. It follows with battles of North Burma and Stillwell, Mandalay/Meiktila and the race to Rangoon and the Japanese breakout of the 28th Army and then the surrender of Japanes forces. The book has good maps and it is not to difficult to follow forces on the battlefield. The most daunting task is trying to remember the Burmese and Indian names for places and trying to remember all the names of the Japanese sources and officers. But all this helps to add to the authenticity of the book. This book is a must read for anyone interested in WWII. It is well written, easy to read and very enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

This is an outstanding book that must be considered the definitive single-volume account of the campaign in Burma in WWII. The author is a veteran of the campaign in the British Army where he was an intelligence officer. What is especially enjoyable about this book is that it includes many firsthand Japanese accounts in addition to Allied. The author speaks Japanese and drew upon official Japanese histories and personal interviews with participants. I have read several other books about this often forgotten Theater in WWII ( including Viscount Slim's "Defeat Into Victory" ), but this is the first book that includes Japanese sources. The author starts with the Japanese invasion of Burma and discusses the political situation in Burma prior to the invasion and how the Japanese used this to their favor. It includes the retreat of the British into India, their recovery, the British offensive in the Arakan, and Wingate and the birth of the Chindits. The author goes into great detail about Kohima-Imphal and this is where the Japanese perspective is so interesting. It follows with battles of North Burma and Stillwell, Mandalay/Meiktila and the race to Rangoon and the Japanese breakout of the 28th Army and then the surrender of Japanes forces. The book has good maps and it is not to difficult to follow forces on the battlefield. The most daunting task is trying to remember the Burmese and Indian names for places and trying to remember all the names of the Japanese sources and officers. But all this helps to add to the authenticity of the book. This book is a must read for anyone interested in WWII. It is well written, easy to read and very enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

This excellent book is hard to put down but I am afraid that in going from a hardcover edition to a smaller paperback that the maps have become very hard to read. The letters are so small on some of the maps that they are nearly impossible to read. Hope the editors do something about it but I doubt it will happen. Minor flaw in a great read.

It was clearly written, and rich in anthropological detail. After reading this cook book, I felt as if I could go to Burma and order with confidences from the menus there. I have prepared several recipes from this book, and all were delicious and exotic.

......this cookbook is an experience! Burmese cuisine is a marvelous blend of the cuisines of its neighbors: China, Thailand, and India, making for a collection of delicious recipes that are distinct and memorable. The authors even give a brief history of each recipe, describing the origins and modern availability of many. They also open with a history of Burma that really helps round off the experience of this cookbook.

This cookbook contains hundreds of recipes, a glossary of ingredients and a "how to make...." section to help teach those new to the cuisine how to make some of the commonly found prepared items in the recipes. I can highly recommend: Beef in Tamarind Sauce, Roast Pork and Garlic Noodles, Malay Noodle Stir-Fry, Egg Noodles (Chinese Muslim Style), Chicken and Chick Pea Curry, Chili Chicken and the Sesame Rice Dessert. This cookbook has so much more to offer that I know I will be discovering for a long time to come. Chapters include: Appetizers and Fritters, Chutneys and Condiments, Soups, Beef and Lamb, Pork, Poultry and Eggs, Fish and Seafood, Rice and Pancakes, Vegetables and Salads, Sweets, and Menus.

The only drawback I see in choosing this cookbook would be for those cooks who need pictures to prepare recipes. This cookbook does not contain any photos. Also, for those who require very Americanized versions of international cuisine, be forewarned, this cookbook contains authentic Burmese recipes! If you want a genuine experience, than look no further than this cookbook!

My copy of this book, now dog-eared and food stained, has become one of my standards when I'm looking to prepare 'not just your ordinary' generic Asian style dinner. In terms of successfully replicating these recipes I'd say it's a one spooner (four spoons being the most difficult. This assumes you have an interest in cooking and its process--and typically call cooking more than throwing together 'chicken tonight'. What makes the cuisine of Burma so interesting is how it has taken the influence of its neighbors--Thailanad, India, and China--and created flavors and tastes unique to Burma. This book represents dishes that are both authentic in their scope and fresh in their flavors. Lookin' to go native? Great buy.

One of the few books available concerning burmese cuisine this book is definitly informative, and useful as a key to burmese flavour combinations and palate. I have had this book for over 15 years (I recommend page 103.. labour intensive but a family favourite and the only curry that my mum will clean her coffee grinder to make). True, there are no pictures, but I guess it let's you dream a bit, and it in no way detracts from the book; I mean who wants to try and make something look the way a food stylist has spent three hours on anyway? By and large the recipes are quite good and not too complicated... If there were a negative side to the book it would be that some recipes just arn't suited to western palates (even if they are authentic?), and have to be seen in the context of a multi dish meal with condiments and sauces. All in all, a facinating look at an undeservedly unknown cuisine and another lovely addition to the prolific Mr. Copeland Marks' oeuvre.

Unlike some other reviewers, I found little in Gottesman's book that would inform an understanding of what is presently happening in Iraq or Afghanistan. The UNTAC mandate in Cambodia didn't even qualify as a half-hearted attempt at introducing democracy, and the attempts to analogize the situations are at best strained. In fact, the history Gottesman lays out has precious little to do with nation-building of any kind (my guess is the subtitle may have been some editor's marketing ploy). Rather, I found the book to be the clear, riveting, and ultimately pitiful inside story of a decaying communist regime. For those trumpeting the planned Khmer Rouge Trials as the day-of-reckoning for Cambodia's tormentors, guess again. After reading Gottesman's book, I'll eat my Mao cap if a single suspect is charged who, as Gottesman puts it, repented of the only real crime under communism-political opposition.

Evan Gottesman's three years of field work in Cambodia with the American Bar Association Law and Democracy Project gave him an exceptionally solid base from which he launched this study of the history of the PRK and SOC regimes. His use of documents dug out of the National Archives is, as David Chandler has remarked, "masterful." His interviews with the former holders of power provide fascinating insights into the minds of key personalities seldom reached by Westerners. The epilogue is chock full of understated, reasonable, fair, and on-the-mark assessments of the reality on the ground in Cambodia today -- "Cambodian democracy often seems an abstraction...Although the methods of control have changed, the personnel governing the country remain largely the same ... (they) have accepted a new level of political discourse, but they do so only to the extent that it does not jeopardize their power." Life and work in Cambodia as a lawyer would frustrate all but the most idealistic of men. That Mr. Gottesman came away with such a patient and objective look at Cambodia says much about both his character and his intellect. This book is a must read for our new generation of "nation builders." It will allow them to bring to bear a better sense of time scale regarding their grand plans to democratize the world, clearly a task for multiple generations of good men like Evan Gottesman, not one to be attempted by one or two four-year administrations of ambitious politicians.

Mr. Gottesman paints a vivid picture of Cambodia after 1979 that is particularly relevant in this time of reconstruction and nation building in Iraq. This is on my all time top 10 books right after the Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing.

This is a fascinating telling of the politics of the PRK. The author has adroitly woven a tapestry of the give and take between the ideologically rigid Vietnamese liberators and the ideologically-opportunistic Khmer Rouge. The irony of the title is that there was no "after the Khmer Rouge:" indeed, they are still alive and well and running the PRK's successor state, which could be called the Democratic People's Republic of Royal Camobodia, an amalgam of ex-Pol Potists, Sihounoukists and genuine deomocrats.
Gottesman is to be congratulated on his shrewd observations and the skillful way he merged the ever-morphing political landscape in Phnom Penh with the relatively static, self-serving and corrupt provinical politics that tended to ignore any central dictums that reduced local prerogatives. In sum, pretty much the story of all socialist states; proclaim endless drivel ex cathedra from the capital and pray that somebody out there listens.
This is a must read for anyone interested in a little known asterisk in the cold war and anyone interested in third world politics. Foe all American ideologues eager to proclaim Iraq the next Japan, read, learn and repent!

This is beautiful poetry from ancient India. It is rich and sensual, evocative and erotic, and not always in the overtly sexual way of the Kama Sutra. It engages life, society, and importantly, nature in all its lost beauty in India, the fragrant jasmine vines, the kadamba and ankota tree, the thunderstorm that releases a sudden coolness on a warm summer evening, the white cranes that cross the darkening sky. Then there is the secret rendezvous, the furtive gesture, the passionate love-making, the loss of youth, the immortal desire for fulfillment, the traveller and his betrayals, the gods engaged in their own love-making, Shiva and Parvati as the divine couple. These are timeless themes made more poignant by our desire for them today.

A friend gave me a copy of this book, as I was looking for some poetry to set to music. I was inspired by the Barbara Stoller Miller translation of the Gita Govinda, pub by Columbia Univ., and my friend thought that this book pushed the envelope just a litte bit further.

The forward and introduction are very informative and make this centuries old poetry come alive in a relevant and contemporary way. The poems themselves are very, very old and Schelling's translations make them shimmer with life. If you've ever researched or read other translations of Sanskrit poetry, you will be thrilled with these translations.

As it turns out, I've received permission to use three of the poems in the book to set to music (in their original Sanskrit language).

This book offer a potent and eggshell fragile look at the range of emotions relating to love, romance and romantic longing.

Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful little book of poetry. The poems of love, physical intimacy, desire, melancholy, longing and rejection in this collection date back over a millennia. A thousand years make these poem as poignant as ever. The poems in this collection are fleeting intimate glimpes into who we are as humans.

There has been for several years a readily available book of Tamil erotic poetry The Interior Landscape which made the poetry of Southern India accessible. Now Andrew Schelling has provided a readily available text for Northern India. While the vast majority of these lyric poems are written in strictly metered quartrains, Schelling does a marvelous job of rendering the poems in free form - depending upon the images and sounds rather than the meter to translate the poetry into English (as opposed to the early stiff quatrain translations that encouraged no one to read Sanskrit/Prakrit poetry).

The selection of poetry is not "representative" of the anthologies but represent the translator's personal choice around the theme of eroticism. The translator's affinity for the selected poems shows in the excellent translations - faithful to the original text [yes I have read them in their original form] yet solid as English poetry.

This book is a page turner and brings back lots of memories. I spent six years on a Chinese state farm during the Cultural Revolution myself and can relate to some of what he described and went through as far as hard labor, but I can never describe with such vividness and power the heart-wrenching experiences of the disprivileged, deprived, discriminated, and victimized members of the Chinese society under Mao, indeed a virtual prison in every sense of the world. Professor Yang's book is a voice for the voiceless. Captive Spirits not only serves to preserve the history of the brutal laogai system that still exists in China today, but it is also a scathing indictment of a brutal regime under Mao that destroyed the lives of tens of millions of the best that China has to offer to herself and the rest of the humanity. This book alone is enough to put Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and their cronies to the hall of shame once and for all. Professor Yang is no longer with us. He has joined his prison mates Li Jiulong and Liu Fengxian as well as his dear mother to whom he dedicated this book, but his legacy and spirit will stay with us.

I simply can't put it down once I start reading it. It is a great account of the author's growth, from a naive ultra-leftist to someone with a sophisticated mind, who eventually embraced Milton Friedman. And it is a great history of post-liberation China in the eyes of different individuals from all social spectra. After reading it, I realize how naive my understanding of the "cultural revolution" was.

I also read its Chinese version, but I feel that the English version is much better written. Stongly recommended!

If you're into movies like Good Will Hunting, you'll like this book. The author walks us through the lives of his fellow prisoners while he relats his time spent in the prison. It was Cultural Revolution, many of the prisoners he came across were highly intelligent and well educated. Yang therefore made the best out of the time he had to spend there by learning English, Algebra, and Calculus from his fellow inmates. It's a tragic tale that so many people were jailed because their political views sway a fraction away from that mandated by the government, yet they were exactly the ones who have the knowledge and know-hows to improve the country's economy and living standards. It's also a uplifting tale because you see Yang dug himself out of the troubles he encountered, made it out of the prison, and now became an established economist. He has not let his past kept him hostage like many dissidents Chinese who migrated to the West. A fine tale about humanity and the will to survive that's inside us all. The chinese version of this book is also published by OUP.

One of the most famous Chinese novelist BA Jing was also a "captive spirit" during the "Great Cultural Revolution". He kept reciting Divine Comedy in order to help himself endure the adversity. He always believes, there must be a new Dante some day to write a new Divine Comedy. Now I finally find this new Divine Comedy. Please have a read and get to know what is the Inferno in the communist China. You'll find the reason why the communism has to die.

This activity book has many fun kids activities from simple coloring to making lanterns for bigger kids. It also has dates on when each zodiac sign falls under which makes it fun for adults as well. I used it at my son's school and the kids had fun with the activities and learning about the Chinese New Year

"Celebrating Chinese New Year: An Activity Book" is an engaging tool for introducing a lively yet generally unfamiliar cultural event to children. Clear, child-oriented information about Chinese New Year customs is interspersed with charming hands-on projects, from paper plate pandas to candy containers. Straightforward graphics and text richly convey that a spirit of family closeness and a respect for tradition mark this holiday. Through a range of activities, from simple to sophisticated, a poignant awareness of an earlier time and way of thought is also transmitted. An excellent resource for schools and groups that want to foster cultural understanding!

I found this colorful book to be informative, engaging, and easy-to-use. The author's overview of Chinese New Year provides a good background for her description of significant Lunar New Year traditions. These customs include special food, lucky money, scrolls, candy, lanterns, and dragons. There is a nice presentation of the zodiac animals and chart of corresponding birthdate years. The author provides easy-to-follow instructions and simple templates to carry out the wide selection of craft projects and activities. I would highly recommend this book to elementary school teachers and families with elementary school age kids in helping to understand and celebrate Chinese New Year.

This book offers fun, cute and easy to reproduce crafts to supplement Chinese New Year events for the classroom or any other setting with young children. I especially appreciate the author's narrative on explaining the traditions and rituals associated with this annual holiday that is celebrated world-wide. We couldn't wait for the next Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster -2005) so, my kids and I tried making the hexagonal candy boxes. The instructions are clearly written making it easy for both a seven y.o. and ten y.o to follow independently. My kids are now using their crafty boxes with lids to hold little items on their desks. "Celebrating Chinese New Year: An Activity Book" is a wonderful addition to any classroom, library, and Asian or multi-cultural book collection. I highly recommend for teachers/educators and parents.

This is the best collection of essays on the "uses" of history and construction of national "memories" that I have read. This should be required reading in every high school social studies/history teacher certification program, and should be read by all who want to enter the debate on standardized testing and prescriptive curriculum content. I have used selections of it in my college level Japanese history course, my college level world history courses, and recommend it to my colleagues and also to the many high school teachers with whom I work. It shares valuable lessons on the manipulation of history for nationalistic and/or militaristic purposes. It should also be read by educational, defense, and foreign policy-makers as well as journalists who often seem too quick to pass on widely held myths as truths. Alas, I am afraid that many in these positions are more comfortable with the myths.

Censoring History: Citizenship And Memory In Japan, Germany, And The United States is a fascinating, challenging, well written and highly informative anthology of essays about how history is almost inevitably distorted and revised by subsequent generations to meet their social, political and cultural needs and myths -- and how such unwarranted revisions must be countered with an coherent understanding of the politics of education, from the writing and publication of textbooks to curriculum development and classroom instruction practices. Censoring History is critically important reading for anyone seeking to understand how and why the needs of nationalism would and do distort the recording and transmission of history, and the peril future generations are put to as those who do not know their history are so often doomed to repeat it in an age where nuclear war could end civilization and even the human race.

In Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States Laura Hein and Mark Selden provide a critical investigation of how Japan, Germany, and even the United States recognize, think about, and then articulate their role during times of war. Hein and Seldon place their work within a larger viewpoint and try to concentrate on two main issues: [1] the connection between citizens and the state, and [2] a nation's actions in wartime and its implications vis-à-vis other countries. Censoring History is "really" about what has been left out of the public space in the development or reification a national narrative. The focal point of Censoring History is the many manifestations of such censorship and how it seeps into particular national spaces of memory. Vis-à-vis the Japanese, Germany has made tremendous strides in terms of how it deals with its past. Reading Hein and Seldon one gets the impression that on a "self-reflexivity" scale of 1 to 10 Germany is perhaps an 8 while the Japanese gaze thorough a less critical lens situating themselves in about a 5 position and the United States perhaps at and about the 3 positions. Different angles of war and internal conflict not only create problems within a nation-state, but also increasingly affect the state of affairs between them.

Germany not only looks at issues such as textbooks but they also perceive themselves as part of a developing European Community, as per Hein and Seldon a key distinction from how Japan deals with is history, hence its "place" in the region. Compared with Japan, German textbooks contain large segments analyzing controversial issues and creatively augment those entries with projects and field trips. Perhaps unfairly judged and there is movement in this area but vis-à-vis their Japanese counterparts, German textbooks have more of a propensity to motivate students to investigate and explore historical and juxtapose those sites and sounds against present-day similarities and contrasts. Not only that, a student is made to poke and prod and reflect on people's prejudices and such.

Kathleen Woods Masalski, an American high school teacher, communicates exchanges between American and Japanese teachers. In a lot of ways, most master narratives can be pegged to a sense of nationalism. Nationalist master narratives are created to make people feel good about being part of that national community. However, historians introduce self-criticism by problematizing histories makes history 'messy' (258). Masalski writes in Teaching Democracy, Teaching War: American and Japanese Educators Teach the Pacific War (258): "National narrative, master narrative, textbook narrative, counternarrative, multiple narratives - the language, though not the ideas behind it, was new to me and to most if not all the high school and college teachers in the audience when our keynote speaker at a National Endowment for the Humanities summer institute in 1994 challenged us to "problematize the national, the master, the textbook narrative ... to make history messy!"" (258). Masalski further writes: "The speaker was Jonathan Lipman (a historian at Mount Holyoke College), one of many scholars in the Five College area in western Massachusetts who has collaborated with social studies teachers throughout New England (and across the country) to bring serious historical thought and controversy into precollege classrooms" (258).

Not known to many in the United Stated but to a few interested scholars and teacher is the epic struggle of Ienaga Saburo. In Censoring History such notables as Nozaki Yoshiko and Inokuchio Hiromitsu offer a more sympathetic description of the decade-long effort by historian and educator Ienaga Saburo who challenged the state authority in censoring and sanitizing textbook content in Japan. Understandably in problematizing the hegemony we can expose the limitations contained within the narratives, much to the chagrin of most comfortable unreflective folk. At this point I wish to bring in Edward Linenthal who penned Anatomy of a Controversy in History Wars: The Enola Gay and other Battles for the American Past - who also focuses on issues of pedagogy - when he quotes Michael Kammen, president of the Organization of American Historians and a member of the Smithsonian Council during the Enola Gay controversy, "Historians become controversial when they do not perpetuate myth, when they do not transmit the received and conventional wisdom, when they challenge the comforting presence of a stabilized past. Members of a society, and its politicians in particular, prefer that historians be quietly irenic rather than polemical, conservators rather than innovators" (Linenthal 60). Such is the struggle of Ienaga Saburo. For those interested in pedagogy, Gregory Wegner's article on the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in educating youth is very informative.

Turning to a topic of a very different sort, Hein and Seldon present the argument that unlike the two "defeated" countries, the US has somehow managed to escape outside scrutiny and accountability over is "narratives" of its discredited war - Vietnam. The one thing that Censoring History does is drag the U.S. into this circle of examination. Hein and Seldon's research shows how the resulting clashes, wars, etc. have been sanitized, at times even deliberately ignored, when textbooks circulate this part of American history to its young. Taken together, these essays reveal that Japan is far from the only country caught in an ongoing conflict over its past. Masalski's essay reveals some instances of differences among American teachers over an American historians interpretation of World War II. Potential teachers like myself wish to view the work do Laura Hein and Mark Selden (and including, but not limited to, the works of Edward Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt) as unfinished projects. Pedagogical development is something that should be constantly and vigorously attended to, lest we forget.

Miguel Llora

The premise of this book is that "schools and textbooks are important vehicles through which contemporary societies transmit ideas of citizenship and both the idealized past and the promised future". The 10 chapters look at how World War II and the Vietnam War are represented in school history textbooks in the 3 countries. Almost 50 years after the end of the war, controversy over Japanese text books continues to rage, and this book is useful to put that into some sort of perspective. Of the 10 chapters, 6 deal with Japan, including a chapter with all the details of Saburo Ienaga's famous textbook lawsuits against the Japanese government, and a couple of chapters on joint history projects between Japan and Korea, and Japan and the U.S. The common conception is that Japan has not yet faced up to its wartime past, and while I agree, after reading this book my view has been somewhat softened. Compared with the U.S.A., Japan has done more to teach its young about the negative side of its wars. If you enjoyed reading Ian Buruma's Wages of Guilt, then you will enjoy this book.

A fascinating and inspirational account of Tsui Chi Hsii's (Charlie Two Shoe's) long-suffering odyssey to come to the United States with his family. It turns out to be a lot more complicated story than you might expect and has the potential for being a Hell of a movie, with lots of opportunities for scenery chewing, but that probably won't happen. In fact there probably won't even be any paperback updating of the still unfinished story at time of publication because one of the coauthors, Michael Peterson, is now a convicted murderer whose other books are long out of print.

Life is truly stranger than fiction.

My boyfriend bought me this book for Christmas, and I was thrilled. Not only am I a social studies teacher and a history buff, but I am priviledged enough to know Charlie Two Shoes. He owns a business in the town where I live and is always there with a smile and a friendly word. He autographed my book with the inscription "May God bless you and yours with health and joy." When I went by today to thank him for the inscription, he told me that there is a lot of history in this book that is not often told. While I have not yet finished the book, I have enjoyed what I have read so far. No matter what crimes have been committed by one of the authors, you should take the time to buy this book and read the interesting true life story of a truly wonderful man.

Charlie Two Shoes is a fascinating story of one man's friendship with a group of US Marines and his incredible perseverence in getting re-united with them. Peterson and Perlmutt tell the story through Charlie's eyes and those of his Marine pals. They give us an intriguing look at life behind the Bamboo Curtain. More amazing than Charlie's budding friendship -- he was around the Marines for about four years as a teenager -- is his enduring perseverance in keeping his dream of a reunion alive. The dream survived decades, including years in a Chinese prison and more under house arrest in his small village. After all that, his eventual reunion in the U.S. had drama of its own. One Marine buddy turned out to be more interested in his own fortunes than Charlie's,and Charlie's efforts to stay got mired as much in domestic politics as international. A good read by gifted writers.

Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company is not only an inspiring story about friendships and loyalty, but also an excellent retelling of some little known American history. Set in Northern China starting at the end of World War II and continuing to recent times, the reader will learn about the atrocities visited upon the Chinese peasantry by the Japanese, the communist take over of China and America's futile efforts to stop it, the severe poverty and starvation the Chinese people endured, and the political repression and corruption that continued for years. Into the shadows of these desolate and hopeless conditions, the warmth and charity that the American Marines and missionaries brought with them to China and to a young boy, nick-named Charlie, shine brightly. The reader is invited on a journey through Charlie's life of joys and travails, but is pulled aside by the authors from time to time for some excellent and concise description of the historical context. Thus this true tale of friendship and suffering also enables the reader to also learn the larger story of the historical events which ultimately were its cause.

Kevin Rushby has traveled extensively, and has written about his journeys with insight and tremendous empathy for people he has met. Children of Kali concerns his search for knowledge on the current state of the thug cult (murderous worshippers of the goddess Kali), and for one charismatic and well-known thug in particular. But the book does not read like some sort of true-crime or investigative work; rather, it takes the form of a travelogue, where Rushby learns about the parts of India he travels through, the types of people he meets. As such, although it develops at a slower or more leisurely pace, the work is deep and rich, and the reader feels he has learned not so much about the cult of Kali as gained somewhat of a new perspective on life. It was not exactly the type of book I was expecting, but I came to very much enjoy reading it.

This book deals with some very interesting, yet somewhat disparate topics. Rushby's travelogue/history was apparently inspired by his learning of the British colonial administrator Sleeman, who allegedly eliminated the thuggees from India. He travels across India to investigate the thuggees, but somehow mixes them up with Indian bandits, gangsters, and assorted mischief-makers. His biggest problem is his tendency to write in a stream-of-conscious style that is confusing. He jumps around from different places, to different topics, switches between travelogue, history, and commentary, without effectively transitioning and explaining himself. At times he refers to phenomena, places and people without any explanation of who or what they are. With just a little better writing and editing, this could have earned five stars.

I was expecting a much darker(creepy?) book from what I had read of the excerpt from the synopsis given by the bookstore. It turned out to be a very humorous travel log by Kevin Rushby's search of the Thug Cult. There are many entertaining encounters with the people in India, great descriptions of the food there, atrocious hotel rooms, the hustle and bustle of a very populated country - all a very informative and highly entertaining look of a Brit with a wonderful sense of humor travelling through ancient India. If you enjoy cooking or travel essays, this book's a keeper.

Anybody interested in Modern India, I urge you to read "Children of Kali" by Kevin Rushby from several points of views:

1. How we get what we seek:
Kevin went to India in search of thugs and decoits, while Maddy (a character in the book) went to India in quest of happiness. See what each one got, and how this simple concept of "we get what we seek" revealed to Kevin at Sangam.

2. Real history of modern times:
The history of north and central India during East India company, Raj and after wee hours of independence is not taught to us, Indians in schools as it should be. Read how Kevin unearths it.

3. Travelogue:
How we all have very similar experiences as Kevin had in India, except he logs it in a superb fashion.

4. Objectivity:
If you are from India (a non-resident Indian, like me), see the places you grew up from an objective eye. Not necessarily an English eye, but an eye of a just seeker, Kevin that is!

5. Style:
I absolutely love the modern style of story-telling that is weaved with real facts and ground-level research. Just to examine this aspect, the book is worth reading.