Asian-American Books

Don't get fooled by the boring cover: Indonesian Education is an enjoyable account of how history can create its own barriers to progress. To be exact, it tells a story of how school-based actors respond to central government's policy to decentralize education that began in early 1990s in Indonesia.

Chris Bjork, however, uses this account to enlighten his readers of a broader story -- a puzzle, in fact -- he found during his preliminary visits, to wit, how Indonesian teachers saw their professional responsibility not, primarily, to provide instructions but instead as an executor of central government policy.

Taking history as his starting point, he argues, compellingly, that given the New Order government's obsession with nation-building, teachers are "set up" to become extensions of the state apparatus. Hence, in other words, teachers become 'teacher-bureaucrats' -- emphasis often on the latter.

Bjork then goes on to show how this came in conflict with the government's own plan to decentralize education as a way to improve quality. While decentralization required teachers to take initiative, the institutional culture set up by the New Order adamantly refused to allow teacher initiative and innovation back into schools.

The book distills Bjork's 13-month study in the late 1990s. Despite the fact that it has that typical dissertation-like structure, it is very well written, interspersed with lots of narratives that are both interesting and engrossing. It's fun to read. Clearly, a must-read for people interested in the development of education policy in developing countries.

This is a fantasic story of survival, love and a nation changed by war. Steinman takes the reader inside the war, and, even more; inside a culture. With an intimate look at the Vietnamese people, the author touches on emotions and aspects of life in the war-torn country that have been overlooked by so many other works written about this hard time in world history. This is not so much a story about the war, as it is about the people and how the war and the coverage of that war changed everything; for Vietnam and the world. I highly recommend this book.

This book is an excellent introduction to the complexities of the Vietnam war. It is particularly strong on the subject of South Vietnamese politics, though it makes clear that the American side was the more byzantine. In particular the book indicts both military and civilian advisors to LBJ. It is thinnest on the activities and motivations of the enemy.

Very often the American public has tended to view Lyndon Johnosn as the evil villian who escalated America's involvement in the warr in Vietnam. However, few people, including historians, know how the escalation came about. In this book Brian VanDeMark does not try to justify the decisions that were made between 1964 and 1968, but tries and explain how those decisions came about. VanDeMark also shows how Johnson slowly and reluctantly led the United States deeper into what has often been called the "quagmire" of Vietnam. VanDeMark balmes the American Policy maker's ignorance of the culture and politics of Southeast Asia for the slow deepening of the conflict. VanDeMark gives teh reader a very good view of how this happened by carrying the reader through almost every major decision made by the Johnson administration throughout this time period. Writen in a very readable style the near day-to-day account helps to emphasize the snowball effect of the events. The author uses a good range of source material for this book. THere is a strong reliance on government manuscripts and primary sources of the administration. He also includes oral histories and interviews. It is by using these sources and many quotations that VanDeMark is able to carry the reader through the day-to-day accounts of what happened. This book is very important for anyone interested in the VIetnam war or American foreign policy.

The future of our own kids is intimately tied to the future of the others' kids.

By killing the kids of others (either via the inevitable "collatoral damage" of war or sanctions which block essential infrastructure indispensible to life, we inevitable endanger rather than protect our own children.

It's that simple.

I contributed a chapter to "Iraq: the human cost of history" when I discovered declassified and unclassified documents of the U.S. government which showed that the government was aware and that using sanctions to prevent the rebuilding of the water system of Iraq would result in the agonizing deaths of huge number of Iraqi's especially children under the age of five.
But don't belive me, google the documents I cite at the Department of Defense's own website and read the documents yourself.

At first I did not believe the evidence myself, so I sought refuation by presenting two papers at the Dept. of Defense's prime ethics conference--JSCOPE. Only after hearing no plausible refutations did I feel obligated to write and speak out.

If you are mystified by the desperation of the Iraqi people, then read this book and use every peaceful means at your disposal to protect American service members, Iraqi children and your own children from the on-going horrors of the war/occupation.

Support our troops -- bring them home!

Safeguard all children --bring our troops home!

Thomas J. Nagy, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. (on leave for study)
George Washington University School of Business
Washington, D.C.
tom500k@yahoo.com
nagy@gwu.edu
home.gwu.edu/~nagy or just google Nagy Iraq water

This wonderful piece of research is an extraordinary look at the late Ottoman period in Syria. The originality and adeptness with which the book is written and complex information is conveyed is unparalleled. History in its finest form is condensed into this work. Highly recommended to scholars and insomniacs alike!

One of the VERY few Chaplains in Vietnam to get the Combat Infantry Badge (you have to get shot at a lot for that). He feels he needs to be 'with' the grunts to serve them, so he goes on patrols and the guys really like him. An interesting point of view and a good read.

This book arose mainly out of the conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS) held in Budapest in 1997. It is edited by Professor Ian Nish, one of the leading scholars in Britain of Anglo-Japanese relations. It includes contributions by scholars from various European countries about the Mission's visit to their country. My personal interest is that I contributed part of the chapter on the Iwakura Mission's visit to Britain. Dr. Andrew Cobbing, now at Nottingham University, contributed the other part of that chapter. The book celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Mission.

Ian Ruxton, editor of Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918 (Paperback), also available on amazon.

It's rare to come across a book that truly is valuable for novice and expert alike, that informs about serious matters while entertaining the reader, and that can be read quickly and yet is a "keeper" for one's library. In Jakarta Inside Out, Daniel Ziv has written one of the best insider's guides to the dirty, messy, smelly, and yet fascinating Indonesian capital. In a series of one and two page essays on various categories peculiar to Jakarta, Ziv gives the reader new to things Indonesian a great introduction to the capital and country, and yet the long-time expert will also find much of value--not the least of which is Ziv's style. His text is a hoot, and the photographs he has chosen capture all the wackiness of Jakarta. Let's hope Ziv changes jobs frequently, allowing him similar sojourns in various Asian capitals and opportunities to produce more essential guides like Jakarta Inside Out.

My wife and I became friends with Marius Jensen when we visited Dr. Richard McKinnon (my wife's brother who was teaching at the University of Washington and was a close friend of Marius. It was exciting ans stimulating to hear his opinions and answer his questions. These exchanges took place at Dick's home, Marius's home, on picnics we would take together. I always hoped that some day I would see his opinions and observations collected in print and this is the most satisfying result one could hope for. I have lived in Japan a total of 50 years, speak and read/write japanese, and have been a student of the country's history and tradition the entire time. This book is a treasure !