Asian Books

Written over forty years, MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END is poet Gary Snyder's highest achievment. Here he has presented a perception of the world that has taken four decades of experience to put into words. The collection moves chronologically from Snyder's glimpse in the 50's of a Japanese scroll that gave the book its name, though his wanderings in the American West, and into senescene.

Decades of travel have exposure Snyder to so much of our planet, and this experience forms a major part of MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END. Mixing ecological perspective with Buddhist metaphysics, these poems are a powerful description of Man's relationship with the planet. Snyder is supremely aware of how attached mankind is to the Earth, and how its ever-surrounding landscape influences peoples.

The final poem "Finding the Space in the Heart" is a moving retrospective of Gary Snyder's forty years as a writer, from his Beat poet days in the 1950's to the older man that he is now, using elements of Buddhism's Prajnaparamita-sutra, the so called "Heart Sutra."

While Snyder's poems sometimes do not succeed due to clumsy meter, a lacking that makes me give this work only four stars, they often move the reader with their sincerity and signifance. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END is certainly worth a read.

I have some ambivalence about giving Snyder 5 stars for this work. I come to this collection of poems after reading "Turtle Island", which I liked better overall. It had a bit more of the wide-eyed innocence that makes the poetry more heart-felt to me, even with that whole section at the end dedicated to prose on how to make the world a better place.

I found several poems in "Mountains..." that I like better than the ones in "Turtle Island" - particularly pieces like "Ma", which takes the form of a letter from a mother to son. What I didn't like so much was the pervasive use of East Indian and Oriental terms, much of which had little meaning to me. Recognizing a certain desire on Snyder's part to "disorient" a traveller through the literature helped somewhat. But often I felt Snyder was abusing his "superstar" status to make these foreign phrases seem more important than they actually are. How difficult can it be to just say what you want to say without resorting to another language? Snyder certainly has many tools at his disposal - the sum of which comes under the heading of "Poetic License".

Admittedly, languages are not solid, and new words creep in all the time. Perhaps Snyder feels he is just doing his part to force the issue with regard to some patterns of thought he wants insinnuated into western english. But I don't think it comes off that way all the time. Many times it just sounds like: "Aren't I clever to come up with this deep-meaning foreign phrase that you don't understand". This detracted some from the total effect in the book.

Ultimately, that's just me of course. One must do one's own thinking on these matters. And since I gave the thing 4 stars, it obviously still comes highly recomended from my viewpoint.

In this work of poetry, Snyder has presented a perception of the world that has taken four decades of experience to put into words. But, this is more than a simple philosophical oratory, because Snyder came to write this due to the influence of Nature. This is a powerful description of Man's relationship with the planet.

Gary Snyder's epic poem "Mountains and Rivers Without End" is an epic work from an American Zen Buddhist pioneer. From Kerouac to the millenium, it is all there. His history is our history. Read it and get wiser.

Golden nugget from Sierra streams. Gold never rusts.

In 1919, the international community saw the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, an agreement between the King of Iraq (Faisal) and the eventual president of the World Zionist Organization (Weizmann) that set reasonable conditions for mutual recognition of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an adjacent Arab Nation. Today, a large number of Middle Eastern nations refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. Ever wonder what happened? This book offers a significant piece of the puzzle.

This book focuses on the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, and his influence in funneling anti-semitic, Nazi propaganda into the Middle East. From reading this book, you will learn about Al-Husseini's frequent meetings with the Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, Al-Husseini's push for extermination of the Jews and his responsibility for disseminating volumes of ludicrous Zionist conspiracy theories into the Middle East. You will also learn about Al-Husseini's significant influence on Yasser Arafat and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The appendix of this book also contains a number of historical documents, including meeting transcripts, letters of correspondence and other relevant documents such as the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement and the Balfour Declaration.

I have a few complaints about this book. First, it is too short. Second, there are many egregious spelling errors, which is very unprofessional. Most importantly, although I think Morse has made a compelling case to argue al-Husseini's influence on the modern anti-Israel facet of Islamic terrorism, I think he overlooks the most significant driving force behind Islamic terrorism: religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, this is a common oversight of many religious conservatives, who often seem too overzealous in identifying secular roots for acts of terrorism.

Overall, this book is an important chapter in the ideological origins of Islamic Terrorism.

Author would do better if he was not so repetitive. Still it is worth reading as one realizes that Islamic Terrorism is not a new thing starting in recent years, but has deep historical antecedents.

Haj Amin al-Husseini represented the opposite of the noble Emir Faisal Ibn Husein, the enlightened Arab King of Hejaz who had cordial relations with Chaim Weizmann and wanted to achieve a peaceful Middle East with co-operation between Jew and Arab.

Unfortunately Al-Husseini's ideology of hatred won out. As Grand Mufti of Jerusalem he spearheaded the imperialistic or utopian strain of Islam that has turned into a modern hydra. In 1920 he organised the murder of Jews who were praying at the Wailing Wall, and he never looked back. Throughout the rest of his time in Palestine he furthered his murderous designs because of the British policy of appeasement, with further campaigns in 1929 and from 1936.

In the 1930s Al-Husseini became a proponent of Hitler, eventually settling in Berlin where he encouraged the annihilation of European Jews and planned to become the leader of the Arab world in expectation of an Axis victory. He unceasingly promoted the Holocaust and Nazism amongst the Arabs. This strain of Nazism was a blend of National Socialism and fundamentalist Islam that would make deep inroads into the Arab world.

After the war Al-Husseini fled to Cairo where was instrumental in accommodating fleeing Nazis and organising for the destruction of Israel. The hatred of Israel now took on a Leftist flavour as the Soviet Union became the champion of the Arab cause. Arab leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser, Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat were all influenced by his hateful ideas.

Al-Husseini did not only target Jews, but also moderate Arabs and the free West in general. Nazism was the spiritual and physical bridge by which Islamic extremism became prominent in the Arab world. He introduced the demented belief that utopia could be achieved on earth by the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jews.

This malevolent Islamo-Fascism is the cause of much of the misery in the Arab world today and at the root of the hatred of non-Muslims, particularly the United States and Israel. In this, the extremists are assisted by international leftists. The Western democracies are now tasting the fruit of a decades long policy of appeasement towards this odious movement and its demonic founder.

But there is still a chance that the legacy of Emir Faisal might prevail, although recent developments in France and Europe as a whole do not look promising. Al-Husseini was without doubt one of the most evil personalities of the 20th century as meticulously documented in this revealing book.

Plenty of black and white photographs enhance the text, illustrating Al-Husseini's meetings with Nazi and Arab leaders, and of Bosnian Muslim brigades in World War II.

There are nine indices with documentary evidence of the historical narrative. Appendix A is the Balfour Declaration of 1917, B provides excerpts of the correspondence of King Faisal, C is the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement of 1919, D provides a dialogue between Lord Peel and Husseini from the Palestine Royal Commission Report.

Appendix E gives the minutes of a meeting between Hitler and Al-Husseini, F is an excerpt from the diary of Al-Husseini on his meeting with Hitler, G is a letter in which he asks the Hungarian government to send 1000 Jews to their death in Poland instead of allowing them to escape to Israel, H is his address to Arab-Americans and I is the Palestine National Covenant that denies the right of Israel to exist.

The text concludes with a moving prayer for the state of Israel by the Chief Rabbinate. It is a prayer that all true Christians would do well to heed and incorporate into their worship in these trying times. The book concludes with notes, an index and biographical information on the author.

I also recommend The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy by Stephanie Gutmann, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood by Michael l Brown, Dream Palace Of The Arabs by Fouad Ajami, Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror by Nechemia Coopersmith, Myths And Facts by Mitchell G Bard and Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam And The American Left by David Horowitz.

Peace: The Arabian Caricature of Anti-Semitic Imagery

This is an important book for many reasons, especially for providing one especially significant and important aspect concerning the origin of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The author's thesis is that Al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, successfully merged his Islamic fundamentalism with the theology of Hitler's National Socialism. He supported the final solution in Europe, rallied Muslim troops to support and perpetuate the final solution, planned to import the Holocaust to the Middle East, and influenced future Arab generations. As a historian, the author pulls together many esoteric events (such as the Weizmann-Faisal peace agreement)that may surprise those who thought they knew the history pretty well. Morse illustrates how one individual can spread enmity and hate for thousands across generations. Recommended for those who want to gain more insight.

A very informative and revealing book on the role that Al-Husseini played in bringing about the dangerous situation in which we, in all the world, are living today. It leaves many questions unanswered, though, like: how or why the British, and later the French, favored this psycho so unashamedly. The crimes of this devilish man being left unpunished -even covered-up- claim for an explanation that is not offered here.

About 130 pages of fast and furious read. Very relevant to understand today's crisis between the suicidal West and the paranoid Muslim world. It has some very good analyses of the Palestinian conflict. It covers many issues related to the terrorism suffered by Israel thru the personal observation of relevant figures, not only Al-Husseini.

A book covering the whole 20th century, and practically the whole world geographically.

The Holocaust denial that is emerging in some parts of the West is a clear sign (as referred to in page 100) of more trouble on the horizon.

Do you still not know that God will bless those who bless Israel, for truly it is His people? So, also, he will crunch those who mistreat her.
Things pass slowly but surely. This short book gives a tremendous global view of what really matters in the world today. Capture the vision.

I recently read the new Philip Short biography on Mao. A long and good book. However, I did not learn half as much about Mao from Short's book as I did from the New Emperors.

Salisbury writes a highly readable, brilliant book on Mao, the founding of the people's republic of China, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.

The book does a great job showing the personal side of Mao, how he treated other people, and how he changed over time between 1949 and 1976.

The book also does a great job on the early career of Deng Xiaoping. However, feel the book falters on covering the demise of the Gang of Four and the early rule of Deng. As great as the book was up to this point, I feel he does not thoroughly cover how the gang of four was defeated and the early rule of Deng.

The book recovers in its coverage of Tianaman Square and in its conclusions about China.

This book is 3/4 brilliant and 1/4 ok.

Salisbury's book is so good, his reporting so valuable, that it will provide ample basic information to future historians as they attempt to sift through this period with some scholarly distance. Just prior to Tiananmen "incident" as it is called in China, he went and talked to the last surviving people who remember Mao and Deng, the two most powerful leaders of Communist China. It was a unique time, as China was open for just a moment during a reform period before shutting down again after Tiananmen and those people were about to disappear forever. Salisbury found them and recorded their memories.

The result is a masterpiece of reporting, bringing Mao and Deng to life and in detail like no other account that I have read - and I have read a lot of them! The book concentrates on government and power politics, leaving the details of policies to others, which strikes just the right balance.

Highly recommended.

What Mao and Deng did as China's "new emperors" are well known. For Mao, the Korean war, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the establishment of China as a nuclear power; for Deng, the Reform and Opening, and the Tiananmen Massacre.

Why did they do it? This is a question that is seldomly asked and when asked, never satisfactorily answered. Salisbury has attempted to answer such a qusetion with more depth than the simple-minded answer "because they want to stay in power". Salisbury carefully laid out for the readers how Mao and Deng's acts were shaped by their personal histories, by attitudes of other countries toward China, and by the burden of Chinese history and culture (unlike America, the Chinese leaders did not start from a clean slate, instead, they carried 5,000 years of history with them). In short, this book is about how history, culture, international hostility and personality has shaped modern China; how these factors brought out the "emperor instincts" in Mao and, to a lesser extent, Deng.

Indeed, what Mao did was almost right out of history books. The emperors' attempts to annhilate their enemies when they sensed danger, the emperors' attempts to better people's lives using means that were totally naive and against human nature, has happened numerous times in Chinese history. China has been too burdened with its history, and Mao was simply an emperor fulfilling his roles while the whole world was watching.

The book also touched upon an interesting (and sad) question: what blames should be placed on ordinary people? It was Mao who unleashed the darkest aspects of human nature during Cultural Revolution, but the darkest sides of some Chinese people were so dark that one has to wonder: why were these people worse than beasts? The Red Guards and the on-lookers who readily cheered as thousands and thousands of people were tortured and beaten (or drowned, pushed from high-rise buildings) to death has to make one wonder: why did they do it? why did they have no judgment of their own and could become the worst creatures on earth simply because of a few words from their leaders? I believe that, if China wants to prevents something like the Cultural Revolution from happening again, it will not be enough to openly admit Mao's role in these atrocities. Ordinary people will also have to do some soul-searching.

After reading this book, I felt extremely sad. I sensed that the disasters that happened to the Chinese people in the past decades could have been avoided. If only Mao had studied Western politics instead of focusing entirely on the deeds of Chinese emperors; if only Kim Ii-Sung wasn't such a fool as to start the Korean War; if only the Chinese people were exposed to Western culture earlier and possessed more qualities than blind patriotism and loyalty; if only more of Mao's subordinates were willing to be outspoken; if only Stalin was a bit less sinister toward China; if only America was a bit more open-minded and not refusing Mao's request for negotiations outright... The list is endless. History is full of missed chances, and ordinary people suffer. Although no reversal is possible, we may be able to learn from the past and avoid some disasters in the future. Because of this, I highly recommend this book.

I am a fan of Salisbury's works for a long time, and this book has not disappointed me. The writing is compelling, the materials well organized, and his unbiased reporting is as good as ever. This is one of the best books on the modern history of China.

This book set me off on a binge of Chinese history reading. I had to know more about Kang Sheng, for example, and "Claws of the Dragon" helped shed light on this "immortal". Then there were: Zhou Enlai's hagiography 'Eldest Son' at the hands of Han Suyin; The White Boned Demon, about Jiang Qing; Mao's doctor's self-glorifying account; Deng's biography. Nothing compares to this book for readability and sense of magnitude. You meet the twenty or so people who decided the fates of a billion Chinese. Modern democracy has nothing to compare. The personalities in recent Chinese history, the importance of them, are staggering. The Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution--these hellish mass movements affected hundreds of millions of people. You get to see the tiny coterie which ordered the lives of a significant portion of the Earth's inhabitants for fifty years. An amazing book.
I wish Harrison Salisbury were still around to write an update. TNE stops in 1991 as the economy is slowing and the hardliners are asserting themselves. Deng visited the "new cities" on the South China Sea in 1993-4, invigorating them and the "capitalism with Chinese characteristics" which they represented. What followed, of course, is our recent history of China thinking itself as a great power.

Let's face it, China is rapidly replacing Russia as the chief rival of the U.S. in world affairs. And anyone who wants to begin to understand modern China must start with this book. Harrison Salisbury is an excellent journalist and writer who chronicles the tragic history of China from the beginning of the communist regime through the early 1990s. He focusses on the two leaders, Mao and Deng, who guided China into the modern era, causing at least as much if not far more destruction to their country the good that came from modernity. The irony is that while Mao was an egomaniacal madman, Deng was at heart a decent man who rebounded from being jailed and humiliated by the Cultural Revolution only to ruin his more benevolent legacy at Tianamen Square in 1989. Salisbury's account is readable and insightful and is essential for anyone with an interest in the country.

I stumbled onto David Loy's work after years of reading books concerning Heidegger, phenomenology and (recently) Buddhism. And I will have to say that I am now a very enthusiastic David Loy fan. This book has provided a kind of philosophical "glue" that has suddently made sense of the past 15 years of Heidegger. If you are interested in Buddhism and phenomenology I strongly suggest you buy up everything David Loy has written and read it twice. Very accessible. Very creative.

I am a great admirer of David Loy's work, especially his book "Lack and Transcendence." This work is chock full of fascinating information and discussions, and I have learned a great deal from it, but the material Loy presents for discussion is a good deal better than the conclusions he draws from it. Loy's philosophical background is in the Heigegger/Derrida continental tradition, and unfortunately he has inherited some of the logical sloppiness of that tradition. Worse, and this is a flaw that pervades just about the whole book, is that he seems not to fully understand that the Nagarjunian theory of the two truths means that you cannot meaningfully mix the conventional mode of discourse with the ultimate. Certainly you cannot draw logical conclusions from such a mixture. This failure to grasp the most foundational point of Madhyamika leads to a variety of confusion, such as his discusson of the role of sense organs in non-dual perception. Worse, it completely undermines the thesis of his central chapter, the Deconstruction of Dualism, in which he tries to show that fundamental identity of the different non-dual traditions he discusses: Mahayana Buddhism, Sankara's Advaita Vedanta, and Taoism. Loy's is certainly the most sophisticated attempt I have seen to defend this "perennial philosophy" blenderized view of eastern religions, but all Loy succeeds in doing is to create the proverbial the coal bin at midnight in which all cats are black.

But I still recommend this book. It is full of treasures, and it is a pleasure to enter into a mental discussion with a writer as sharp and learned as Loy.

This book is absolutely brilliant. If you're grappling with the subject of nonduality then this should put you straight (at least intellectually!) - I've read parts of this book numerous times, and the sections on the deconstruction of nonduality and Derrida are mindblowing stuff. Loy has nailed 'it'.

Flawed? Only in the sense that it uses language to describe something that subverts language and avoids description. That's saying a lot, but Loy can be forgiven for that - even Lao Tsu and Nagarjuna wrote a book!

David Loy has done a superb job of being true to the standards of academic comparative philosophy, true to the traditions, and true to direct pointing to transconceptual awareness, all at the same time--which is every bit as rare as it is desperately needed. But then, I would expect nothing less from a philosophy professor who is also a spiritual teacher in the Zen tradition. Don't pass this one up.

David Loys book is simply too far ahead of its time. That's why it is so under-appreciated (see the lukewarm editorial reviews).
In 20 years this will be a classic. If your "on the verge" this book can help you do the quantum-leap.

The title of this book is well chosen and its publication is very timely. North Korea is indeed facing perilous times. Then again it has in the past. From the 1950 war, the transition of power Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il, and the nuclear weapon agreement brokered by Jimmy Carter the recent history of North Korea has certainly been turbulent.

In more recent times, Korea has launched some very long range rockets and appears to have at least a few nuclear weapons. President Bush has identified them as a "rogue state" and part of the "axis of evil." North Korea along with Cuba remain as practictioners of the failed Communist system. These systems have proved that they can sustain huge armies, exercise strong control over their people, but also proved that centralized control of everything from farming to industrial production simply doesn't work very well. Friends of mine who recently visited North Korea report that the famine of the 1990's continues, although not as bad as it was.

A small book, at only 232 pages, it is a concise summary of the countries 4,000 year history and a political analysis of the recent past. Combined with this are several alternatives of what the future might hold. Can the status quo continue. Certainly not forever. Could the collapse of the Government bring about another war - certainly it could. The options and their likelyhood form a major part of the theme of the book, and they are carefully considered and disucssed. Excellent reading.

Professor Kim's writing is engaging, thorough enough for scholars and the general public alike. Readers wishing to understand the enigma of North Korea, its relationship with South Korea and the rest of the world, and where to go from here, will be pleased with this book and its measured, balanced perspective. After reading this book, you will be conversant in all the relevant topics. For those who are interested in further study, the book includes questions and study aids, as well as extensive references. Highly recommended.

For any person wishing to understand the North Korean situation, since it has now hit the world stage, this is an excellent first place to go. It enables the reader to get up to speed quickly by first providing a potted history of the peninsular. Then political, humanitarian, and particularly economic aspects are explored in appropriate detail for a book that is easily readable. Finally, chapter 9, reasons for reconciliation, provides a constructive ending to the present dilemma. For further study, the comprehensive lists of references make it easy.

No country is more mysterious than North Korea. After reading this short text, there is no more mystery for me. It is easy to read and understand. Even though the book's author is a finance or economics professor, and I am currently studying political science and philosophy, I still found this book to be very valuable. A great way to get up to speed.

Fifty years after Korea's division the Koreans of both North and South remain at an impasse, leaving North Korea embroiled in international crises. North Korea seemingly faces four choices: collapse, more war, a continuing status quo, or peace with the south. Suk Hi Kim's North Korea At A Crossroads provides an historical and political analysis covers 1948 to modern times and is a 'must' for any college-level collection strong in modern Asian issues or non-specialist general reader wanting a competent backgrounding in contemporary American/North Korean international relations.

In my search to learn more about the era and the war I almost joined, I've read a lot of book about the war in Vietnam, including many specifically about the air war, and the pilots who fought it. "On Yankee Station" stands out from the pack. It's not the usual "There I was at 20,000 feet.." memoir; this is a critical look at the global strategy and the local tactics of the Vietnam war told by someone who had a unique view from the cockpit. It's also a blistering critique of the men who sent them to Vietnam, and manuy of those who commanded them- men that the authors see as dangeous amateurs, incompetant in the art of war, who needlessly wasted lives with arbitary rules. Well worth reading.

This remains one of the best books about the Vietnam War and the Air War in particular. I read this book again and again. All Naval Aviators (including us Marines) should have this book in their library. Find a copy before it becomes impossible to do so. I don't think I have read a more honest, focused and reasoned book about the war. Good combat descriptions, artfully done. Excellent comments about morale. And brutally accurate accounts relating to wartime leaders, and specific consequences of their folly.

This work is a clear-headed, no holds barred look at the Vietnam air war from the naval perspective. Don't let its even tone fool you. It cuts to the bone and damns by simple observation, with no need for editorializing by the authors. It points up the facts, fictions, failures and achievements of the naval air war against North Vietnam in a quick, easy style, with superb organization and excellent supporting material in the appendices. Any student of the Vietnam air war who misses this title is not a serious person. It is required reading on the subject, and should be complemented by Marshal Michel's "Clashes" for the USAF side of the story.

John Nichols, callsign "Pirate," folded his wings in September 2004. OYS remains his testament to those naval aviators who follow in his slipstream.

I never had a better friend. And neither did anyone else.

This book on the naval air war over Vietnam should be required reading not only for all military pilots, but for every military and civilian official who is involved in planning strategy, tactics, or military weapon procurement.
But don't get the idea it's a boring book; besides giving the reader a clear view of what happened in the air over Vietnam, the author makes his points in a very readable fashion, not by preaching but by simply pointing out what we did, and why we could have done so much better -- in the conduct of the war, in providing better (often SIMPLER) equipment, and in better training.
It's definitely worth obtaining from an out-of-print dealer or from your library. Even if you have no connection with the military, this will expand your understanding of that period in US history.

Since I returned from my first trip to China, I have become fascinated with Chinese culture and history.

I don't know much about poetry except that I like what I like (what moves and inspires me).

Something tells me that these translations are as much Kenneth Rexroth as they are the Chinese masters, which is fine with me because it is obvious that Rexroth captures a variety of moods and feelings which are quite profound.

I think it does justice to the integrity of this body of literature.

Particularly moving to me are the translations of Mei Yaochen whose poems dealing with his dead wife reveal a passion and respect for wamnhood that bellies our general notion of woman's treatment and subserviant place in China; and the poems of Madame Chu Shu Chen who is also very passionate in her feeling as a woman in China.

Comparisons: translations by Greg Wincup; Xu Yuan Zhong; Tony Barnstone

This highly portable collection demonstrates the posture a translator must take when approaching the rich body of ancient Chinese poetry. Rexroth masterly retains the playfulness and humanity that allow these poems to endure through the centuries and yet he regards these rare artifacts with reverence.

These poems are a great introduction to several key poets, both male and female, from several Chinese dynasties.

ONE HUNDRED POEMS FROM THE CHINESE. By Kenneth Rexroth. 148 pp. New York : New Directions, 1965 and Reissued.

The present book is in two parts. First we are given Rexroth's readings of thirty-five poems by Tu Fu, based on the Chinese text. The second part consists of a selection of Sung Dynasty poetry, most of which had not been Englished prior to Rexroth.

Rexroth makes no great claims for these translations, some of which he admits are rather free. But he does express the hope that "in all cases they are true to the spirit of the originals, and valid English poems" (p.xi).

It has always seemed to me that Rexroth succeeded brilliantly. Here are a few lines chosen at random from Tu Fu's 'Loneliness' (with my obliques added to indicate line breaks) :

".... Where the dew sparkles in the grass, / The spider's web waits for its prey. / The processes of nature resemble the business of men. / I stand alone with ten thousand sorrows" (p.16).

Here are a few from Su Tung P'o :

".... As for literature, it is its own reward. / Fortunately fools pay little attention to it. / A chance for graft / Makes them blush with joy" (p.73).

These readings of Rexroth will delight all open-minded readers. Who cares if he wasn't a union-approved sinologist? Purists may sputter, but since his versions are 'true to the spirit, and valid as English poems,' could any sensible person reasonably ask for more ?

You *NEED* this book. Every library ought to have a heart. And this book is an excellent place to start.

Kenneth Rexroth is a poet first and a translator second; judged on that basis, his One Hundred Poems from the Chinese is a great success. His approach, set out in a brief introduction, is simply to produce the best English poem he can in the spirit of the original. The resulting translations are more or less free as he thought appropriate for each individual work.
The book is in two parts. Part one consists of Rexroth's versions of 35 poems by Du Fu, whom he describes as "the greatest non-epic, non dramatic poet who has survived in any language". He clearly knows these poems well, and his translations are uniformly good.
Part two offers around 70 works by Sung dynasty poets; some are represented by only one piece, some by more extensive selections. These tend to be more free, more personal, and often strikingly modern works. In Rexroth's words again: "The whole spirit of this time in China is very congenial today"- a statement as true today as when it was written in 1971. Many of these poets are still not well translated in English, so Rexroth's translations are invaluable.
At the back of the book is a brief, but adequate, notes section with information on each poet and explanatory material.
Rexroth's concentration on the lesser-known Sung poets is paralleled by his choice of poems in the Du Fu section. He does not confine himself to the best known pieces found in other collections, striking a good balance between the familiar and the new.
An interesting example of Rexroth's approach to translation is:

Another Spring
White birds over the grey river./Scarlet flowers on the green hills./I watch the Spring go by and wonder/If I shall ever return home.

Rexroth has changed the river's colour from blue in the original to grey: a good example of a liberty which would be objectionable from a translator, but which he can get away with. He also clarifies "blazing" in the original to "scarlet", which allows him to preserve the original's strictly parallel parts of speech in the first couplet.
This is a fine book. It was first published more than 30 years ago, but it has lasted because of the consistently high quality of translation and because of the unusual selection of poems offered. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I finished this book in two days because I couldn't bear to put it down and it was completely engaging on both intellectual and emotional levels. It's compelling, heart-breaking, compulsively readable and an incredible piece of reporting. Phillip Pan is an amazing writer/reporter and this book allows him a larger canvas to showcase his talents. But what Mr. Pan does best is that he lets others speak: he gives voice to the many individuals who have attempted to stand up to the Chinese government in order to better Chinese society. He also places this struggle in the context of Chinese history, exposing how the Chinese government's authoritarian rule is a betrayal of its original communist ideals. The stories in his book are moving and inspiring. This book is a must-read for those interested in contemporary Chinese politics and society.

In his China book Philip Pan, former Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing, chooses to write about the heroic individuals who dared to defy the inexorable force that is the Communist Party of China. He writes about an unemployed documentary filmmaker Hu Jie whose life passion is resurrecting a young woman who dared speak up against Mao Zedong. There's this doctor who -- defying government censors -- revealed the SARS epidemic to the nation, thus saving thousands of lives. There are the labor activists who rallied their fellow laid-off workers against corruption. And then there are the lawyers and the journalists who are always pushing the envelope, trying inch by inch to create institutions -- rule of law and freedom of expression -- that can restrain the abusive authority of the Party.

Philip Pan is a very fluid writer but the book nevertheless feels thin. And worse than feeling thin it feels irrelevant and insignificant. Two thousand and eight is, after all, China's Olympic year -- when America's economy suffers from recession China's economy is booming. In surveys nine out of ten Chinese are optimistic and positive about their country and where China is heading. And the people that Philip Pan writes about so admiringly in his new book are the marginalized intellectuals and the disaffected poor who nostalgically yearn for a time that never was and dream of a future that can never be. And so for Americans and Chinese alike they're irrelevant and insignificant.

That's sad because Philip Pan and his heroes are right. China is a complete mess, and rather than being subversive these individuals who defy the system are the true patriots because with their criticisms and actions they are trying to make the nation-state stronger and more stable.

China right now suffers from a corrupt and ossified bureaucracy determined at all costs to maintain power. China's curious and cowardly blend of authoritarianism and capitalism means that China's Gini co-efficient is comparable to that of Latin America, its pollution problem is a national shame and seriously threatens China's future growth, and China never before has witnessed so much crime and moral decay. And yet -- because multinationals are still pouring into China, because Americans cannot shopping at Walmart, and because China itself is spending hundreds of billions on new infrastructure and factories -- the Chinese economy in the past two decades has managed to create a middle-class that is now the bedrock of Communist Party support. And what the middle-class in their steadfast support blithely ignores is that China's "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is a system built on contradictions and lies and illusions.

And that's what the characters in Philip Pan's book refuse to ignore. The Party's greatest contradiction, lie, and illusion is that it's possible to have economic reform without political reform.

Consider the free market. The free market needs independent media and channels of information to create efficient pricing and distribution and marketing -- but the Party insists on maintaining control over newspapers and the Internet. Now the Party may say that it'll allow economic reporting but not political reporting but what's important for the media to have any real impact on consumers is perceived independence -- so it's in the media's self-interest to report on SARS because that makes their economic reporting more credible.

Consider also the free movement of goods, which is crucial to the free market. The Chinese provinces are controlled by local party bosses which adamantly protect their self-interest and the interest of their constituents. So that means they'll protect local industry by preventing competition from coming into town -- which hampers the economy. And they'll also tax peasants, and steal their land.

So here the Party's interest in strengthening the Chinese economy is perfectly aligned with peasant lawyers who want to break the local tyranny of the Party bosses. But in these cases the Party chooses to side with the Party bosses. Why? Because at the end of the day the Party is only interested in maintaining its monopoly of power, and that in turn means turning a blind eye to the rapacious and corrupt behavior of local bosses in return for their fealty.

That is the sad unfortunate conclusion that the lawyers, journalists, and labor activists come to -- and which we also come to -- at the end of Mr. Pan's book. They always believed that they could change the system gradually from within -- and that weakness is ultimately what will make them irrelevant and insignificant in history's eyes.

As China's economic contradictions finally collapse into each other causing a financial earthquake that will rent society asunder this current generation of activists will be very soon supplanted by another generation of activists -- people who immediately see that the problem is the system itself, and their first reaction will be violence not discussion.

That's even more sad because in these individuals who believed in themselves, in China, and ultimately in the Party stood China's last best chance for real progress.

Excellent. I couldn't put it down. I would like to read more about the people in China and their fight for democracy. I hope Philip Pan writes another book.

There are a lot of excellent books on modern China out there, but this one is a cut above. I think, as a newspaperman, Mr. Pan knows how to grab and hold his reader's attention. I was unable to put it down for a few days. He also gets very deep into the story, talking to the affected people, but also putting everything into historical context. Lastly, I'm glad this book doesn't try to shoehorn everything into some grand hypothesis about China's imminent superpower status. I was happy to learn about the general trends of public discourse and human rights since the Mao era through the stories of some particular citizens who turn out to be heroes in their own way.

I got this book for my Kindle. I cannot get in bookstores here in Shanghai. This is one big advantage of the Kindle, being able to download books that are banned here in China.

This book is great for people interested in the recent history of China.

Read this and read also Wild Swans, Three Daughers of China. Two of the best books on the last part of the last century.

Steven
Shanghai

This wonderful book resonates with emotional truth about family life, friendship, and the challenges a Taiwanese-American girl faces trying to find her place amid competing cultural expectations. The characters in this book are vivid and compelling, as is the depiction of life in Peiling's family. It is hard to imagine a more moving and entertaining story for middle readers than the one told in this poignant, and very funny, book.

When I started reading this novel, yes before sending it as a gift, I was startled to notice that Peiling's nemesis shared my first name! Just a silly, literary coincidence (it is fiction, after all!) no big deal, but odd, nonetheless; maybe because I live in the same town with the author?

In any case, I need not have worried. Of course, I can't spoil things, and it really is Peiling's story, not her friend's, or rather, the story is about how friends, and families, can change and grow, together, and no one is merely a nemesis, by the end. Heart-warming, at any time of year, but maybe especially now, at the December time of year.

As others have noted, while this is officially a novel for "young adults", it is a novel that even a no-longer-young adult can enjoy, quite a lot.

See for yourself, and/or, ask your local library or school to acquire it!

I was looking for a gift for a friend's daughter and liked the title of this book. I ended up reading the whole thing myself in one sitting. Poignant and funny story. Even though it's written for kids, it's not heavy-handed in its treatment of racial identity. I think it'll make a great present!

My 10 year old daughter and I found this story engaging and entertaining. From the beginning we found ourselves relating to Peiling and feeling her anxiety, despite the fact that we have no personal immigrant experience. Chen describes the school setting vividly and I felt like I was there. Peiling's classmates and friends were also extremely believable. My favorite was her quirky friend Grace.

As the population of the US becomes more diverse, with various ethnic communities having their own celebrations, this book is quite timely. The Hindus have Diwali, the Sikhs have Vaisakhi, and the Chinese have Chinese New Year. This book explores how young Peiling, whose family immigrated to the US from China, struggles to adapt to the hectic and happy preparations for Christmas as celebrated by her peers at school, but not her. She is pleasantly surprised when her parents decide to celebrate Christmas after seven years in the US, but is then disappointed when they take a Chinese approach to it.

The rest of the story centers around how Peiling comes to appreciate the differences between her and her classmates, and takes pride in her unique cultural traditions whilst coming together with her friends and celebrating Christmas. Its a unique but timely tale that is sure to appeal to readers, both young and old.

Should you consider reading only one book about the U.S. helicopter pilots in South-Vietnam that bravely fought almost 40 years ago, then, "Pucker Factor 10" is the best choice.
Mr. James Joyce there flew the two most used types: "slicks" and "gunships" thus covering two major aspects of the tactical helicopter warfare successfully used in SEA. This is what this book tells you.

I had to choose a war memoir for a term paper this semester in my english class...and I was very happy that I chose to read Pucker Factor 10. The book is very enlightening, and an interesting read. I found myself always WANTING to read more. James Joyce is a wonderful writer and he reveals emotions and specifics of war that you dont even realize. I highly suggest this book to everyone. I normally dont read memoirs like this but after reading his I want to read more!

James Joyce has written a truly excellent book. Mr. Joyce has successfully included every human emotion possible. His real life experiences are a combination of both desperate hours and uplifting moments, with a side of unmistakable humor. I would recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the Vietnam era. Definately a MUST READ.

As a woman reader I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I learned so much in this book, about flying, Vietnam, rats (UGH) I knew it was hard over there but didn't really realize some of the hardships till I read this book. The author's writing is very easy to understand, you don't need a dictionary beside you, and the humour was great. You got some really good laughs and some sadness also. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

I'm not normally a reader of non-fiction war stories, especially in first person, but "Pucker Factor 10" caught my attention from the beginning all the way to the very end. Joyce brings the reader into the realm of realism, from family history, personal apprehensions, his somewhat inadvertant role as a helicopter pilot during the heat of battle, his impressions of soldiers and his humanity toward the enemy which brings chills to the reader. Meanwhile, just when I least expected, I found myself belly laughing his wit. This book is a must for anyone who enjoys true-to-lie accounts of how it was in the air trenches.