Asian Books

There are many wonderful introductions to the work, life and ideas of Thich Nhat Hanh, and this is both one of the more unexpected, and one of the finest.

CALL ME BY MY TRUE NAMES is a comprehensive collection of Thich Nhat Hanh's poetry, presented here with occasional brief comments from the author following many of the poems. I initially purchased this for the comparatively famous title piece, which is a work of extraordinary moral power, and also of extraordinary literary control.

From start to finish here, the writing is economical and plainspoken - but not 'plain': to draw feeble Western connections, this is a distant stylistic cousin to the likes of Dickens, or perhaps Steinbeck - rather than resort to gimmicks, or technical flash, Thich Nhat Hanh has the respect or confidence in his own voice (or the voices of characters) to allow that voice clear expression.

Thus, a collection of dignity and skill. The Vietnamese Zen ideals and ideas Thich Nhat Hanh has been developing, exploring and living for decades are expressed with precision and grace, and he doesn't have to ask for a readers' interest - this work sparkles with calm dignity and life.

-David Alston

We were there the day Thich Nhat Hanh gave his lecture at Grace Cathedral. We were there, simply enough, praying in thebold Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill, having just stopped in to get out of the chilly fog on a windswept afternoon. People with dark suits and lengths of lavender ribbons were festooning the nave and aisles of the church with color and flowers, and placed a large jar of proteus on the podium floor. We later discovered that proteus was the favorite flower of Thich Nhat Hanh, and you can hear him croon with pleasure on the tape about the flowers, and if you do not understand the reference immediately, he's talking about how he sees proteus all over the world, so it's like a universal symbol of love.

We soon found out that Thich Nhat Hanh and his organization had sold tickets to hear this lecture but miracle of miracles, they did not kick us out, but allowed us to stay even though we did not pay the minimal fees charged. And what a lecture, filled with poetry and the pedagogy of love. By the time we went outside, the sun had burst out, and you could see a rainbow towering over Nob Hill with one end buried in the Mission and the other by Coit Tower. Afterwards we saw Thich Nhat Hanh, accompanied by two children, scampering through the famous maze in the pavement in front of Grace Cathedral. With glee they negotiated the twists and turns that baffle Western man.

This book is something special. Call me by my true names is more than a collection of poems by some crusty old Zen guy. The author's clarity and enlightening style have cut through my muddy mind like a knife through butter. I sit here covered in Goosebumps because Thich Nhat Hahn's poetry resonates with the voice of Buddha.

Call me by my true names is nothing short of spectacular.

His simple words reveal an ocean of truth of miseries, hopes, memories & dreams a normal citizen had, when Vietnam was bleeding.It also has all the good things that we have ever heard from elders or read somewhere. Simple yet powerful this collection is a close encounter with nature and life.

As many of us may (or may not) be aware, Nhat Hanh is at once a renowned Buddhist monk, a poet, and activist for peace; especially peace sought after during war time. This particular book brings together a collection of 100+ poems he has written and orated over 40 years. Each one gives the reader a glimpse into the very heart of this real life bodhisattva. Call Me By My True Names is perhaps one of his most profound and important, for it penetrates one's dualistic mode of thinking to the point of acknowledging all nature is within my own nature. True understanding stems from realizing there is no other in a traditional sense. What there should only be is, "How can I help this world?" Call Me By My True Names is awe-inspiring, one of the most powerful texts on interconnection and being I've ever happened to read. And simple, so clear.

This book covers practically every aspect of a spiritual life in it's contents, and it is my wish you will buy it. It should be on all beings shelves, for it's prose is delivered deep from the heart of a modern bodhisattva.

When I was a kid I though that the Chinese written language was impossible to learn (unless you were born there) and that the signs were just a bunch of arbitrary strokes impossible to remember.

All this changed when I picked up this book in the 1990s. I then discovered the connection between the Chinese culture and history, and the written Chinese language. It is thick with carefully chosen and categorized stories, often experienced by the author herself, about how a Chinese character reveals something about Chinese history, thinking, or everyday life in ancient times. The Chinese themselves are often strangely unaware about the etymology of their Hànzi characters, since the school system encourages rote learning. Its richly illustrated by drawings and photographs that shows similarities between something and the character representing it. E.g. how the character for "well" resembles the ancient Chinese way of constructing wells, quite different from western ones.

What this book is not:
- Its very, far from anything like a textbook in Chinese writing. But it may be the best soft introduction to such a topic. Its well suited for people that want to know something about the Chinese language, but don't want to spend time studying it.
- Its not a dictionary. It covers 500 characters in 350 pages. The characters are not selected because of word frequency, or usefulness in everyday life etc. Many characters covered are really rare.
- It doesn't say anything about how the signs are pronounced. It is strictly about how the Chinese culture embedded in the written language.
- If you stop reading before the last chapter you will believe that the Chinese language are mostly made up of ideographs or pictograms (a picture of something in the real world). In fact more than 90% of Characters are made up of Radical-Phonetic signs (explained in the final chapter) and character do not resemble anything "in real life". To "unlearn" this misunderstanding I will recommend J. DeFrancis: "The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy"

Because of this book, I moved to China and studied there in 2005. Without getting inspiration from this book a few years ago, I would never have thought it was worth even trying to understand the Chinese language.

CHINA : Empire of Living Symbols. By Cecilia Lindqvist. Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate. 424 pp. New York : Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1991 (1989). ISBN 0-201-57009-2 (hbk.)

Although Cecilia Lindqvist is a professional scholar of Chinese and was in fact a pupil of Bernhard Karlgren, one of the greatest sinologists of the 20th century, she is one of those rare scholars who, instead of devoting herself exclusively to academic publications, has not been afraid to produce a book designed for the general reader.

Her book, though founded in a specialist knowledge of both Chinese and China, where she lived for many years, is written with a light and engaging touch, is magnificently illustrated with numerous photographs, both black-and-white and color, line drawings, maps, Chinese characters, etc., and is so beautifully produced that it could be read or browsed with interest by anyone.

Her book attempts so many things, and succeeds so well in them all, that it would be difficult to overpraise it. It introduces us to the pictorial element of the Chinese script in a more engaging way than has ever been done before, and becomes in fact a painless way of acquiring a vocabulary of the basic building blocks which go to make up Chinese characters.

It relates these basic pictograms to a wide range of topics in Chinese cultural history in a sumptuously illustrated series of chapters dealing with - Oracle Bones and Bronzes; Man, Mankind; Water and Mountains ; Wild Animals; Domestic Animals; Carts, Roads, and Boats; Farming; Wine and Jars; Hemp and Silk; Bamboo and Tree; Tools and Weapons; Roofs and Houses; Books and Musical Instruments; Numbers and Other Abstract Characters. It also includes a chapter on Meaning and Sound which traces the development of Chinese writing from the early pictographs through to phonetic compounds.

The book is rounded out with a gallery of superb color photographs; a section on Character Stroke Order; a really excellent Bibliography of both Western and Chinese books (which unfortunately gives only the pinyin and lacks the sinographs for the latter); a table of Dynasties and Periods; and a full Index.

The book is a curious size, having been made 8.5 by 8.5 inches to accomodate its many photographs, is bound in full linen, stitched, and beautifully printed on a very strong smooth ivory-tinted paper.

Anyone who, after reading the book, would like to learn more about China's culture or writing system, will find that the fully annotated Bibliography with its extensive list of interesting works for further reading will provide many leads. These range from general books on the science and civilization of China up to such things as specialist Chinese dictionaries of the ancient bone and bronze forms of the characters.

Lindqvist's love of China, its people, language, and culture shines through on every page, and her book is clearly a labor of love. It can be recommended without reservation as a marvelous introduction to one of the richest and most fascinating cultures on earth.

This is a fabulous book on Chinese, though it's not a textbook on learning Chinese. It tells the history of the development of many characters, and is fascinating. The main part of the book goes back to the oracle bones and ancient bronzes and shows quite a few of the characters and how they developed. A chapter in the back of the book (where I started) tells how the characters were invented. It tells of the various strategies for creating characters. Every strategy devised for creating characters ended up being exhausted, and new strategies had to be created. One of the last strategies was the `radical' concept, where they would take an existing character that sounded like a word that didn't have a character, and they would add a `radical' to it to create a new character. This concept allowed for almost a limitless number of characters and was one of the final strategies. It's interesting to note that in ancient China, most of the words for daily life had no written equivalent. Writing for the most part was reserved for administrative tasks, record-keeping, etc. Words that were used for daily life for thousands of years had no written equivalent and posed great challenges to create characters.
The author is Swedish and the book was translated from Swedish to English recently.
It would be a great book for anyone studying Chinese, but it would also be a great book for Chinese children to learn more about the history of China. It really is a fascinating book that I can hardly put down...
This book also helps with learning (& remembering!) Chinese characters, but a reader does not have to be learning to read and write Chinese characters in order to gain a lot of insight not only into the language, but the Chinese culture itself.
By the way, did you know that the character for `self' Zì, originally meant `small nose'? In western society, when people refer to themselves, they may point at their own chest, whereas in China, traditionally, people pointed to their nose. That's how the character Zì, [which originally meant `nose'] came also to mean `myself', or `self']. It's also interesting to note that the radical for Bí [nose] is the same character for Zì [nose]. In fact, Zì means `small nose' and Bí means `big nose'.
The book is filled with all sorts of fascinating things...

I cannot believe how beautifully this book was written. Even as a Chinese educated in China, I was fascinated by this little book. It is not only about Chinese language but also about a people, a nation, and a civilization. This book made me re-think about my cultural heritage that I am extremely pround of already. I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in China and humanity in general.
Thank you Cecilia Lindqvist. Your professional expertise inspired me and your lovely sense of humor made my days.

Glad to see it was translated from Swedish. It is quite good, I have seen other interpretations of some characters than the ones she gives. Also I was hoping she would cover more characters. Still a very interesting book.

Tom Anderson
Anderson Analytics, LLC
http://www.andersonanalytics.com

I owned three anthologies of traditional/classical Chinese literature during my undergraduate career and this is the only one I've kept. It is by far the most complete and comprehensive. Personally, I also prefer the translations in this volume. The editors did a great job of shifting through all of the available translations and balancing accuracy with a sense literary artistry. Trust me, it's worth the price.

CLASSICAL CHINESE LITERATURE : An Anthology of Translations, Volume I : From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty. Edited by John Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau. 1176 pp. New York and Hong Kong : Columbia University Press and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000.

Sometime in the 1950's, a committee of bureaucrats sat down in the People's Republic of China to create a new system of transliteration for the Chinese language. As Chinese Communists, they shared an extreme loathing for traditional 'feudalistic' Chinese culture. In addition, none of them of course were native users of the Roman alphabet.

The monstrous and deformed offspring of their lucubrations, which was approved at the 5th session of the National People's Congress on February 11th, 1958, is the system known as 'Hanyu pinyin.' Although a system designed by Chinese for Chinese, it was eagerly fastened upon and promoted by certain benighted elements of the Official West, and is, sad to say, the system of transliteration employed in the present book.

Pinyin has been condemned by no less an authority than scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham, distinguished author of the multi-volume 'Science and Civilization in China,' who described it as "extremely repulsive." Others, too, have expressed disgust with it, including American author John Updike, a man remarkably knowledgeable about China, who finds it "grotesque."

In contrast to the familiar, beautiful, sonorous and elegant names produced by the Wade-Giles system of romanization - names such as T'ao Chien, Hsieh Ling-yun, Hsiao Kang, Ch'u Kuang-hsi, and so on - pinyin gives us names which sound like they belong to a bunch of gorillas. Meet, for example, pinyin's "Kong Rong" (page 418), a distant relative presumably of King Kong. Meet too "Cao Pi," son of "Cao Cao" (page 628), whose presence may account for the many instances of "dung" (or is it "ding" or "dong"?) scattered throughout the book. Meet them, that is, if you would rather visit Minford's Beijing than Waley's Peking.

Pinyin's uglification of China's past is bad enough, but it leads to a far larger and more serious problem. Sinologist Victor Mair, who in his own fine 'Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature' (1994) made the correct and sensible decision to employ Wade-Giles, cautions us that:

". . . the vast bulk of scholarly writing in English about Chinese literature employs Wade-Giles romanization. It would be terribly confusing and difficult for students without any background in the study of Mandarin (the typical student who will use this [i.e., his own] book) to try to follow up the readings with any sort of research if another sort of romanization system were chosen" (page xxxi).

So there you have it. PINYIN = Uglification + Confusion + a compounding of Difficulties, when anything to do with the study of China is already difficult enough. In other words, precisely what the Chinese Communists would have wanted : the beautiful made ugly, and the difficult made to look impossibly difficult to the general reader.

The only reason that editors Minford and Lau have condescended to offer us for the mess they have made in the present book is that pinyin is "now widely used internationally" (page lviii). In other words, dear general reader, it's trendy, and you're just going to have to bite the bullet and learn pinyin newspeak, or struggle with unpronounceables such as 'cen,' 'cuipin,' 'qiong,' 'xunzi,' or 'zhitui.'

A second problem with this book, since it lacks an index of titles, is that items can be impossible to find without searching through the entire 34-page Table of Contents. This difficulty is compounded by the Index of Authors, which is incomplete; amazingly it fails, for example, to mention Lao Tzu (Laozi), though extracts from the Tao Te Ching (but not its Chinese name) will be found on pages 202-206.

A third problem is that, judging by the pages of my own copy, there would seem to be a world shortage of printing ink. Instead of the print being crisp, clear, black, and readable, it's greyish. This makes it tiring and difficult to read (especially the footnotes which are printed in a miniscule font). It's rather like peering into a fog or mist.

A fourth problem is that there would also seem to be a world cotton shortage, since, despite its exorbitant price, the boards of this book are covered, not with cloth, but with mock cloth made of soft paper which is already showing signs of wear despite being brand new. But at least the printed pages are strong heavy stock, and the signatures are, as in real books, actually stitched.

As for the contents of this book (apart from their being liberally spattered with pinyin), they are, in a word, MAGNIFICENT! - Oracle Bones, Bronze Inscriptions, I Ching, Myths, Legends, Folksongs, Narrative and Philosophic Prose, Shamanistic Poems, Historical Wrings, Miscellaneous Prose, Women Poets, Drama, Literary Criticism, Ballads, Buddhist Writings, T'ang poets, Strange Tales, Zen and Taoist Poetry, etc., etc.

The book, in short, offers us a rich and brilliant selection of texts, in translations both literary (Pound, Waley, Rexroth, Snyder, etc.) and academic (Watson, Graham, Birch, Owen, etc.) - and contains almost every conceivable help and enhancement. These latter include full and informative introductions; extensive and useful annotations; numerous interesting black-and-white illustrations; seals; calligraphy; a few texts in the original Chinese; bibliographies; maps; an index of authors in both pinyin (full) and Wade-Giles (skimpy); and much else besides.

In sum, this book is clearly one of the richest and finest Anthologies of Classical Chinese Literature in English that we have ever seen. In terms of its contents it certainly deserves 5 stars. But in terms of the pinyin system which defaces those contents, a system which can be read with ease only by students of Mandarin - whereas if Wade-Giles had been used the book could have been read with ease by anyone - it deserves no more than a single star. Hence the 3 stars.

Who, after all, on opening a collection of writings by the refined, civilized, and highly intelligent ancient Chinese, wants to find instead a bunch of gorillas moving about in a mist ?

John Minford, one of our finer Sino-Anglo translators, here brings out a remarkably successful anthology of Chinese literature which stands together with the Norton's as a must-buy for lovers of Chinese literature. The book gives a comprehensive account of its beginnings from ancient classics (Book of Songs, Analects etc) to Tang luminaries Li Bo and Du Fu, using a collection of translations from Waley, Pound to Owen and Birch, while offering insightful annotations, readings and essays. There's a bit of everything: biographies, ballads, poetry, histories (a big genre in Chinese literature), and short tales, and a lot to delight the unsuspected.

Some things said in the last review seem so blatantly biased (and ignorant) I have to correct them there. There are actually very little difference between the Wade-Giles and the Pinyin system. Both are supposed to transliterate Chinese characters into Roman alphabets. So how can one makes Chinese more "beautiful, sonorous and elegant" while the other renders it like "gorillas"? What is important of course is how accurately they depict the spoken tongue. Pinyin does have an advantage over Wade-Giles in that it is more accurate: the poet Du Fu, transliterated as Tu Fu in Wade-Giles, is closer in Pinyin to the original, the Chinese character for "Du" pronounced with the consonant "d" (as in "death") rather than "t" (as in "tongue") in "Tu". The word "Beijing" is also better reflected (the two consonants, "b" in "bell" and "j" in "joke", are far more accurately rendered than "p" and "k" in Peking). It's sad that someone who obviously doesn't know Chinese tries to work his personal bias in others, and bringing out "critics" like Updike who doesn't know Chinese himself.

quote Tepi Tepi:
"So there you have it. PINYIN = Uglification + Confusion + a compounding of Difficulties, when anything to do with the study of China is already difficult enough. In other words, precisely what the Chinese Communists would have wanted : the beautiful made ugly, and the difficult made to look impossibly difficult to the general reader."

i agree with this absolutely, the part about PINYIN. given a choice i absolutely will NOT purchase any chinese translations with "modern" pinyin because it is not only ugly. it is because no one without the benefit of a chinese education, and therefore cannot actually read/speak chinese writings CANNOT do "pinyin" correctly.

(if you CAN read chinese scripts you would NOT be reading translations but the originals!)

pinyin of chinese into romanized english is s t u p i d.

for example Chin = Qin. "Q" is NOT pronounced "Ch" in english. "Q" is neither pronounced "Ch" in chinese. it is just too stupid. too difficult to even guess you are saying it right in english or chinese! Romance of the 3 Kingdoms: Tsao Tsao becomes Cao Cao. an english educated person without any chinese speaking/reading ability will pronounce "ka-o ka-o"! or Cow Cow.

in short to pinyin correctly you have to be able to speak/read chinese. when you speak to chinese who knows the works they will find your romanized-pinyin pronounciation extremely funny.

i implore all chinese translators to abandon pinyin! and return to the "earlier" methods of translations.

This is in response to the post below, which didn't comment on the book, and neither will I.

The use of pinyin is not stupid. Wade-Giles and pinyin are mutually unpronouncable or mispronounced by someone without training in the Chinese language. In my opinion Wade-Giles is even worse, though neither would do much good if you hadn't studied how to use them. (For example: Peking--Wade-Giles, when the Beijing of pinyin is much closer to the actual Mandarin pronunciation for someone without knowledge of how Chinese works. We also have the Tao/Dao issue--for those not in the know the first is Wade-Giles and the second pinyin. Reading the second if you only speak English is much closer to the standard Mandarin pronunciation).

In short, this is a refutation of the post below as it contained no useful information and is simply misleading.

Personally, I promote the use of pinyin as anyone who's studying mandarin now (or, I'd venture to say at least 99% of its students, and anyone studying in China) have to learn it. Furthermore, and contrary to the post below, it is useful for those of us who study Chinese, especially in a book where there are no characters for us to look at! We need to know the correct pronunciation, the way we studied it (pinyin), to figure out what they're talking about if it's not obvious from the context. In my experience pinyin is also more straightforward once the basics have been learned than is Wade-Giles.

....Now if we could only get them to include tone marks with the pinyin as well as characters (and I don't see why they can't do this) we'd have everything we could want.

(I rate a five in keeping with the rest of the posts here)

La comida oriental es muy delicioso y nutritiva aprender a hacer diferentes platillos orientales y prácticos.....

oriental, y no se quede EN LA ORILLA, CREYENDO QUE SOLO HAY COCINA JAPONESA Y CHINA, ESTE RECETARIO ES UN TESORO DE DELICIAS...La cocina judía es MARAVILLOSA !

MONEY AND CHEATING YOUR PALATE with fake, commercial Chinese, Japanese and all Orient cuisine !

This one is THE BOOK OF BOOKS ON EASTERN COOKING ! It's so easy to prepare, so fast, so unexpensive, so authentic and so DELICIOUS!

The best known recipes of Oriental cuisine...AND MANY UNKNOWN but also DELICIOUS !

I FEEL STARVED!!!
The real oriental Cuisine, not only Chinese or Japanese!
Here, one can discover The recipes of Israel, Indonesia, Afghanistan and many, many others...All of them DELICIOUS AND ORIGINAL !!!

As for content and art this book is fabulous, but I was kind of expecting more prints. The layout they chose for the book is interesting and I don't really find it necessary other than for a wow factor. To me it really didn't add anything to the prints inside, but to be fair, it didn't necessarily take away either. This book defiantly features what I enjoy best about Amano's art.

A good buy for Amano fans or any artist interested in graphic art and/or inking.

I bought this book for my boyfriend, who is a huge fan of the series. I cannot speak from my own experience with it, but from his near fainting reaction upon receiving it, I would say it is definitely worth the money. From what he has said, the artwork is incredible. I would recommend it for any fan of the series or the art.

The art in this book is detailed, beautiful, and breathtaking... I was blown away by even the pictues which were only sketches.

I recommend it highly to fans of Vampire Hunter D... as well as anyone who is an art fanatic or art book collector... or even just someone who loves Vampiric things in general.

This book is HUGE, which it should be to show off the fantastic artwork. Loved it! All Vampire Hunter D fans should get it, just don't expect it to fit in your book shelf.. lol! Pay close attention to the dimensions in the item description. It also comes in a slip case to protect the book.

The kind of book one wants to open and roll himself or herself all over the pages. Huge size, excellent paper, amazing printing quality, and I can go on practically forever. Much better than the Japanese edition which is small and most pictures are not even full size, but cropped. (Yes, I am crazy enough to own both editions!) Amano is a genius. His lines and forms are flowing, his colours mesmerizing. Invest in what will hold you spellbound for hours.

David Glantz may not write in the most exciting way or use tons of hyperbole or focus alot on the human facet of his stories on the Russo-German war, however as far as wealth of information on the Soviet side of things go there is no one better equipped in the western world to write about The Great Patriotic War. His access to Soviet military information is unprecedented and his attention to detail of the military operations second to none. When I first began reading Glantz's tomes on the war I had preconceived notions about this conflict. If Hitler had stayed on course for Moscow after the battle of Smolensk, if he had not split Operation Blau into a Stalingrad and a Caucauses dual front and kept those troops together for a concerted drive to the Volga, if Barbarossa had been launched in May instead of late June, if the Rasputista and bitter Russian winter had not intervened, if if if. And i truly believed Hitler could and should have won this war. After starting on Glantz's books around the year 2000 or so, and truly realizing the awesome potential in manpower and equipment the Soviets had, and realizing in these readings how unprepared materially and logistically the Germans were to fight this war my whole mindset has changed. I believe even if the Germans had taken Moscow Russia would still have won this war. Other then the Germans developing atomic weapons before anyone I have radically altered my view on Germany's chances here. The Soviet Union was destined to win this war no matter what the cost. Barbarossa more then anything else, was Hitler's greatest mistake in the war. I owe this new view to the works of David Glantz. His information is incredible, his summaries superlative, his conclusions inescapable. Dry and technical it may be, but for my money there is no better writer on The Great Patriotic War then David Glantz. Remember, Germany lost the war and 90 percent of her casualties on the Eastern front. Remember, the Soviet Union lost 27 million dead and most of her agricultural and economic bases and STILL won this war. She probably could have done so, although at even greater cost, without a second front in Italy in 1943, and in France in 1944. The Russian contribution to World War II must not be downplayed in the west. The war against Germany was primarily a Russian one, and David Glantz deserves accolades for being one of very few western writers to acknowledge this fact.

So, this is something that's only for professionals and hardcore fanatics, but it is highly recommended for them. It contains everything you ever wanted to know about the Red Army between 1941-43, and even more.

OK, nothing's perfect (5 stars means it's as perfect as it could be in our imperfect world), I can tell you one complaint. At one point he claims that command turbulance wasn't that bad even during Barbarossa. He cites statistics. But what I would've needed is some comparison. It's fine to know that less than X% of certain types of commanders were relieved of command, but it would've been nice to read some comparison: how was it with other armies... Without those, the data just hang in the air... (There were a few similar points - it's not much in a book well over 600 pages. So I still give it the 5 stars.)

Excellently detailed book! Some of the information is rehashed from previous Glantz books but put into very good context, especially with the enormous amount of details, tables, statistics, and facts. For those who are interested in learning more about the Eastern Front, and by more I mean really in depth like how many tanks per division/brigade/corps at certain periods during the war, what type of nationalities made up some of the rifle divisions/corps, or how many men were some divisions down to at one time or another (one guards division had 80!!! out of a required paper strength of over 10,000!!), this is a very good investment and you will not be disappointed! He also addresses some of the 'what if's' and 'myths' that have been created around the Eastern Front for the past few decades, so a big help in that respect as well.

Glantz does his usual excellent job on the Soviet military in World War II. He covers the campaigns, and the structure and development of the red army during the early part of the war. Separating much of the formation, commander and OoB material into the companion volume is actually a plus. Both volumes are easier to handle becuase of the size and it is easier to use two books to cross reference material.

Although hundreds of histories of Soviet-German war have been published in the last decade or so, they have for the most part either focused on large-scale operations, told the story from a predominantly German perspective, or, most likely, done both. Another unfortunate result of this has been the number of revisionist works, in some degree or another based on Viktor Suvorov's Icebreaker. In part this was out of necessity due to a a number of factors, including the lack of access to former Soviet archives as well as the repression of histories deemed embarrassing to important wartime heroes. David Glantz has once again answered this dearth of reliable Soviet-perspective war history with his newest volume Colossus Reborn. Using a massive number or Soviet primary sources he has written the comprehensive history of the Soviet-German war.

Glantz' book is divided into three parts to tell this story. The first is a chronological discussion of the first 30 months of war, subdivided into the initial period, which covers the war up to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad and then the second period, which covers the remaining 12 months. This first part of the book not only discusses the conventional view of the war but also clearly exposes the many Soviet operations that have lay hidden in virtual obscurity since war's end. Glantz also does a fine job showing how the Soviet-German war affected the course of WWII in general. Perhaps out of necessity this part of the book is rather concise. In any case it is still eye opening to have the vast number of counterstrokes, counteroffensives and strategic offensives laid out as they are here. As he himself points out, prior histories of the war have led to an almost constant and simplistic portrayal of operations as smooth periods of Wehrmacht offensives in the summer and Soviet offensives in the winter. He also clearly dispels the myth that the Red Army was simply along for the ride after the surprise attack and shows how Stalin and the Stavka repeatedly during the initial period of war attempted to organize counterstrokes as well as full counteroffensives.

Part two of the book is a very thorough look into the force structure of the Soviet army. This section is as comprehensive as one could possible ask for and retain a modicum of readability. Even as such, it is certainly the most difficult section to work through as it is basically a detailed look into how every aspect of the Soviet forces were reorganized from Front down to battalions in some instances. As such is feels at times to be comprised of endless tables of organization. This should not be overstated however, as this type of attention to detail is what most readers of Glantz have come to expect. Furthermore, it is this level of detail that sets him apart from most other widely published WWII historians. He does not simply explain to the reader that a particular type of unit was employed in a particular defensive or offensive action. He thoroughly explains how that type of unit came to be and gives the prior organization of similar units and why they failed to work.

Part three is a thorough analysis of the leaders of the Red Army and those that they led. The first subsection is broken up primarily into mini biographies of every major general, commanding every Front, Army, and Corps and all of their variants. It does so and gives a very interesting breakdown and percentages by year of the surviving and thriving general staff as well as command failures and traitors. Glantz then gives a very enlightening look into the soviet soldiers; who they were (ethnicity and gender are investigated here) how they survived, why they fought and what methods were used to keep them toeing the line, particularly after the hideous and demoralizing losses of the first six months. This section is probably the most readable of the three and is a very well written look into the human aspects of the war.

Finally, Glantz has once again written a history of the Soviet-German war that is groundbreaking, to say the least. Using sources that only he seems to be able to gain access to, he has delved more comprehensively into the factors that allowed the Red Army to first survive and eventually defeat Hitler's Wehrmacht, than anyone else before him. Yes, this volume reads quite dryly at times and the tables of organization can seem daunting but it must clearly be understood from the beginning that this is not a book for the casual history reader by any stretch. This book is meant for the dedicated historian of the Soviet-German war-those who need more than a basic overview of the military operations and geopolitical ramifications of the war. With all that said the only weakness that this book has are some instances of sloppy writing and subsequent poor editing. At times-particularly in Part I-this poor editing is truly frustrating and frequent. For the most part though, this is never more than a minor irritation. As a whole Glantz can, once again, be said to be the undisputed master of Soviet-German war history.

As a non-Indian, I had no idea where to begin with cooking Indian food. It all seemed so complicated and alien. Enter this book: extensive descriptions of what should be in your pantry and what to use it for, spice blends, oils, rice, chapati, and so much more it makes my head spin! Granted, the author is a little hardcore when it comes to prep, shortcuts are easily found (she wants you to grind all your own spices and blend them right before cooking, blanche tomatoes, make your own cashew paste, and other VERY time consuming and unnecessary things that I doubt anyone does unless they just have to). I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Indian cooking, not just recipes, but the principles of putting together a fragrant and flavorful dish with spice.

This is an excellent cook book and a must-have for every kitchen; each dish is very tasty and delicious.

I am relatively new to Indian cooking but this book provided easy-to-make recipes that were quite appetizing; each recipe has the author's own personal story, making it an interesting read as well.

All the recipes that I have tried from this book have turned out to be excellent. The book is very fun to read, with some interesting childhood stories from the author. The dishes are very easy to make and all of them are extremely delicious. This book is meant for anyone who enjoys cooking a wonderful meal for their family.

I was always on the look-out for recipes that covered Indian cooking methods from the basic foundation of making your own spices to elegant pairings of traditional Indian and Western ingredients. When my husband came home with 'The Dance of Spices', given to him as a gift at a seminar, I was surprised by the level of detail, care, and passion. Things that my mother cannot explain to me because of the miles between us, Laxmi has done comprehensively in her new cookbook. I have learned simple techniques like how to make my own ghee at home, understand the marriage of spices, and most importantly, how to make finger-licking Indian food in a San Francisco home. I hope you all enjoy this book as much as I have.

This book provides great insights into female archetypes of the Ming Dynasty. The depth of research along with a humanizing attention to story and detail make it a worthwhile read. I've recommended it to friends, to my women's book club, and to family members.

I loved this book, and now use it in my university teaching.
It changed my thinking about women in China, in particular, and about late imperial Chinese history in general.
Beautiful writing complements meticulous, penetrating research.
Six stars.

Victoria Cass has found them -- the heroes of the Yin smothered by centuries of stereotypes. In chapter after chapter, she helps these courageous women come to life again and inform us what it took to escape the constraints of Yang conformity. With the rush of these brave souls from the pages of this book comes a breath of fresh air to help us escape the stuffy pomposity of past and present generations of Confucian and Marxist ideologues.

With topics ranging from cult of qing, dramatis personae, Taoist eccentrics, Ming loyalists, Medicine women, matchmakers, to alme literati, etc, etc, Dangerous Women is unequivocally an indispensable resource for those who have an interest in Ming culture. I think it is one of the most rare inquisitions ever done in English on Chinese women.

Dr. Cass has written a thoroughly enjoyable and informative book about women during the Ming Dynasty in China. Most important, she demonstrates with a wide range of historical examples that there is much more to Chinese history and culture than its Confucian legacy. Aside from eliminating the China doll myth, Dr. Cass shows that there is a facet to Chinese civilization that is still connected to the earth, magic, and more feminine worldview. Moreover, Dr. Cass makes the case that you can not truly understand Chinese society without appreciating the crucial role that Chinese women, who found genuine means of self-empowerment (including shamanism), played in the world of the Ming.

Pittalwala may allow his characters to be baffled by their surroundings, but he never leads his readers astray. Unforgettable!

I happened on this book via an interview with Mr. Pittalwalla in a South Asian-audience magazine. My curiosity was piqued by the fact that he was a graduate of my University (in atmospheric sciences, no less). That he stumbled into a writing workshop, and went on to the Iowa Writer's Workshop - that impressed me no end.

I am not normally a fan of short stories, but these are INTENSE. You need to put the book down, catch your breath, and reflect on what you've just read. I haven't even finished reading the book, but the stories "A Change of Lights," "Ramadan," and espescially "Lost in the U.S.A." are some of the best things I've read in a long time. I'm a habitual book-byer (rather an oddity for a librarian) but this is one book that will stay in my personal library for a long time.

By the way, Iqbal, if you ever read this, I love the subtle dig on page 111 about "those idiots Mistry and Narayan" never shutting up.

Mr. Pittalwala is a gifted writer and a keen observer of the individual spirit. I have never been a short story reader; I prefer losing myself in the pages and chapters of a novel. Dear Paramount Pictures changed that! With his perfectly chosen words and incredibly sensitive insights, Mr. Pittalwala magically captures sights, sounds, smells and emotions in his stories about a rich culture of India, both in that homeland and in the U.S. Each story took me into the hearts and minds of the characters, and leaving me satisfied that I have shared their secrets, fears, discoveries and resolves.

A great book. A much needed easy read. Excellent stories and could relate to quite a few of them. Great humour with serious undertones.

Iqbal Pittalwala's first book of short stories is a very good read. Pittalwala has put together a fine portrayal of the characters in the stories as well as their own readings of their life situation. He has kept the style simple and the pages pretty much turn themselves. It calls to mind Rohinton Mistry's writing in its somber take on life for, mostly, middle class "Bombayites". However, despite its dark world view, the book allows for a gently sly humor at the expense of the vivid characters that populate it.

Whether it is woman confronting her horrific history as a homeless crippled mother in "A Change of Lights" or a father and a daughter's trip to the movies in "Bombay Talkies" or a woman deluding herself about her relationship and her talent in "Guruji" or two wives of one man and their three perspectives on the same situation, we are led with a quiet wisdom into truths about their lives.

Seeing the same thing from the point of view of multiple characters is wonderful, but not particularly unique in fiction writing. Pittalwala's talent is that he can reveal multiple takes on a particular situation from within the same character as well. And all these perspectives live together in this book in a manner entirely appropriate to the multiplicity of viewpoints and life truths that exist, not just for the book's characters, but that most of us encounter in the "real" world.

The book is OK (like any book, I guess), but Ibn Warraq is way too serious about the subject, in my view. It is understandable, considering the impact of Said's "scholarship".
But, still, Edward Said is not an "intellectual terrorist". I think there is a difference between terror and pogrom. To call Edward Said a terrorist, or an intellectual, would be as ridiculous as to call Trofim Lysenko a scientist, or a biologist. Terrorist have to hide his intentions. Pogrom is done with a certain assurance of impunity. That's exactly what Edward Said have done.
I guess there is some point in refuting Said's ravings. But overall it looks a little bit odd: really, if you are normal, you wouldn't go to a clinic for mentally ill for some quarrels or intellectual discussions. There are doctors or nurses for that.

Ibn Warraq, author of other brilliant and explosive books such as Why I Am Not a Muslim finally deals the death blow to Edward Said's mythmaking Orientalism (Penguin Modern Classics).

It is a needed critique because so many in the academy have been seduced by Mr. Said. Edward Said was a Anglican Arab raised to an upper class family that lived the life of the jet-set, travelling back and forth from mansions in Egypt, Lebanon and Jerusalem. Said, after his upbringing that included Armenian and Jewish servants, went on to claim that the west was racist for daring to write about the history of the 'East' from a western perspective. He claimed that only Muslims could tell Muslim history and only Arabs could write Arab history.

Warraq shows that not only was Said wrong in asserting that western portrayels of the 'east' were racist, but that in most cases the west romantisized the east and accepted it and learned from it. This is most true today when most western scholarship never critiqus the Koran or the 'east' but instead accepts all the myths it has itself created. This incisive and wonderful book dares to break down these myths and explode them.

Seth J. Frantzman

DEFENDING THE WEST: A CRITIQUE OF EDWARD SAID'S ORIENTALISM is the first in-depth critique of a work that for three decades has received nearly unanimous recommendation and discussion. Said's thesis was that the Western image of the East was biased by colonialist attitudes and racism: this reconsideration offers a powerful rebuttal to college-level audiences, surveying misinterpretations in Said's original survey of scholarly literature and providing college-level collections strong in history and culture with a fine reinterpretation. Collections housing Said's work need this rebuttal.

For 25 years, many leaders and candidates have accepted the willful misinterpretation of Western history instigated by Columbia University's infamous late professor, Edward Said. Western civilization could greatly benefit if current presidential hopefuls read this bromide of a book, identifying the damage Said caused---and providing a curative.

Politicians here gain a yardstick to measure Western cultural grandeurs (including intense self-criticism)---compared with ongoing social dysfunction, disintegration and horrors over 1,400 years of Islamic history.

Colleges requiring students to read Edward Said's Orientalism should also require this 24-karat tome, rebutting Said's flawed evaluation of the West---what Ibn Warraq identifies as inadequate methods, incoherence, tendentious interpretations---and amusing, but dangerous "historical howlers."

He credits Said for courage and self-criticism---in disparaging Arab writers insisting "the Jews never suffered..., the Holocaust is an obfuscatory confection created by the Elders of Zion," or supporting criminal French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.

But Orientalism's "pernicious influence" made Arab and Muslim self-examination---especially criticism of Islam within the West---nearly impossible, Ibn Warraq shows; it "taught an entire generation ... the art of self-pity," blaming all Arab and Muslim miseries on "wicked imperialists, racists and Zionists" whom Arabs and Muslims almost universally blame for their failure to reascend.

Alas, Said neglected historical Islamic imperialism---from Mohammed's invention of "one true faith" through the 17th Century, with reprises whenever wealth, time and war materiel sufficed. Petrodollars fueled the recent Islamic renewal of this effort---via "modernized" Muslim Brotherhood ancient Islamic strategy, supremacist jihad---and aggressive 21st century financial jihad through "shari'a finance."

Terror-advocating "experts" like former Pakistani Shari'a Court jurist, Taqi Usmani set Islamic banking standards for the MB construct that was established to promote Islamic supremacy. Usmani serves on the shari'a board of Saudi Arabia's terror-funding Dallah al-Baraka; in July 2007 he advised U.K. Muslims to live peacefully only until they acquire military strength to "establish the supremacy of Islam." Syrian Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah is a senior-level advisor to al-Baraka.

Christian, and not an Islamic scholar, Said nevertheless "bludgeoned into silence any criticism of Islam"---adding late-modern inadmissibility to ancient Islamic shari'a tradition: Muslims (or non-Muslims) criticizing Mohammed or Islam are guilty of blasphemy, punishable under Islamic law by death.

Ibn Warraq shows innumerable Western to Islam. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz avowed, "Napoleon's campaign" ushered Egypt from "centuries of obscurantism" into modernity, including discoveries of pre-Islamic Egypt, which now anchor Egypt's tourism.

Said held, "the Orient was viewed as something inviting French interest, penetration, insemination--in short colonization...." He ignored the German, Russian, Italian and Western Jewish scholars who created Islamic, Middle Eastern and Arabic studies, thereby gutting his thesis.

Ibn Warraq finds Westerners and Western history and thought characterized by "three tutelary guiding lights,"--rationalism; universalism; and self-criticism. Pursuing truth and knowledge, Westerners accepted others and all humanity--and consistently criticized societies to improve them. Sir Jadunuth Sarkar credited the English with India's 19th century Renaissance---a mass-recovery from 500 years of Muslim jihad invasions (1000-1525), when an estimated 80 million Hindus perished.

But Islamic orthodoxy remains "suspicious of `knowledge for its own sake'." Unlimited intellectual inquiry is "dangerous to the faith." The 2003 Arab Human Development Report thus found fewer books translated into Arabic in the last 1,000 years than Spain translates in one year; Greece (population, under 11 million), annually translates five times the foreign books as all 22 Arab nations combined (population, 300 million).

Arab and Muslim pleas for assistance often brought Western "imperialists" to the Middle East to start with, Ibn Warraq notes. Sultan Selim III declared Jihad after Napoleon's 1789 Egyptian conquest---joining the infidel British and Russians to protect his imperial territories from the French. In 1804, the Ottomans got territorial guarantees from Russia and Austria; In 1809, they again allied with the British. In 1866, the Sultan permitted Suez canal construction, against British and French objections. Egypt's Khedive Ismail nearly bankrupted his protectorate---and in 1875 sold the Suez to Britain for its £4 million nominal value to unwind debts. Only reluctantly, the British helped quell riots that followed---yet the Sultan refused Britain's request that he repossess canal ownership.

Said ignored historical evidence, mimicking superficial French "existentialists, structuralists, deconstructionists and postmodernists" methods, and "grandiose theories" supported by "flimsy history or empirical foundations." Said's signature work displays "laziness and arrogance" of a literary man lacking time for empirical research or need to prove his results.

Said offended worst by neglecting comparisons. Using them, Ibn Warraq affirms the West.

Said excoriates Western slavery. But Muslim traders were far more culpable. From 1700 to 1929, Arabs traded over 17 million black slaves---including 1.5 million who perished crossing the Sahara; little over 11 million crossed the Atlantic. The Occident outlawed slavery. Muslims saw Western abolitionists as "a threat to their very livelihood but also as an affront to their religion."

Tenth century Arab geographer al-Maqdisi described "Zanj," Bantu-speaking East Africans, as "people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair and little understanding." A 10th century Persian treatise called Africans "people distant from the standards of humanity." A 13th century Persian wrote, "the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanji." Islamic social scientist, economist and philosopher Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) argued, "Negro nations" submitted to slavery since they "have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals..."

Even "tolerant" Ottomans perpetuated slavery through tradition and religion---and lacked an abolitionist movement, write Ehud Toledano and Turkish historian Y.H. Erdem.

Ottomans also manufactured and traded eunuchs--boys castrated throughout southern Europe, North Africa and the Near East to maintain large Ottoman harems for the upper classes. Following "total removal of testicles and penis," eunuchs suffered extensive hemorrhaging and death rates upwards of 90% in sub-Saharan and west-central Africa.

Every Middle East scholar and library should own this book.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

This is a fine book by "Ibn Warraq." Rather than merely point out a few errors in Ed Said's "Orientalism," it launches into a full-scale defense of the West.

In my opinion, Ed Said was not the first human being to write an untruth, merely the first to put so many untruths in print. And while "Orientalism" is indeed ghastly garbage, one has to wonder about those on university campuses and elsewhere who have taken it seriously. Obviously, "Orientalism" should not be banned just as the words to the "Horst Wessel lied" should not be banned. But one would have to wonder about a university professor who, for political reasons, taught his class the Horst Wessel lied. And I have to wonder about the teaching of "Orientalism" as if it were scholarly work rather than trashy propaganda. As the author of "Defending the West" tells us, quoting Clive Dewey, "Orientalism" clearly touched "a deep vein of vulgar prejudice running through American academe."

Ibn Warraq gets off to a good start by mentioning the aggressive tone of "Orientalism," which he characterizes as "intellectual terrorism" given that it "seeks to convince not by arguments or historical analysis but by spraying charges of racism, imperialism, and Eurocentrism from a moral high ground; anyone who disagrees with Said has insult heaped upon him." And it is disgusting, as the author points out, to see Said's hatred of the country that gave him such privileges as a tenured professor at Columbia University (a university he did much to disgrace). As for his idea that French and British academic studies of Arab lands were part of an imperialist plan, Ibn Warraq reminds us that the first French university chair in Arab studies was founded in 1538 and the first British one in 1633, well before any French of British imperial adventures in the region.

On top of that, the author mentions that Said "always assumed the role in the West of an Islamic expert and has never flinched from telling us in unscholarly journalistic articles what the real Islam is." That's pretty rich of Said, a Christian agnostic. Ibn Warraq says that Said's work "has encouraged Islamic fundamentalists, whose impact on world affairs hardly needs underlining."

Of course, Said omits any context from which various Orientalists wrote. As Ibn Warraq puts it, "even a casual comparison of the rival imperialism of Islam" ought to show that the British Empire should not be dismissed as a purely negative historical force.

Does "Orientalism" at least make logical arguments, albeit using a distorted selection of material? No. It "displays all the laziness and arrogance of the man of letters who does not have much time for empirical research, or, above all, for making sense of its results." I found it interesting that a meritless work written by a propagandist can take years of work to refute, simply because some folks have decided to taunt others by honoring it.

Ibn Warraq applauds Western values as "a system that does not affront our reason and humanity." He warns us that "only within the framework of certain institutions can humankind hope to realize its humanity, that we discard our hard-won institutions at our own peril, the veneer of civilization of most people disappears outside their civilizing confines."

On the other hand, Ibn Warraq warns us that, a little paradoxically, Western rationalism, universalism, and self-criticism can lead to their opposites. For example, "limitless self-criticism leads to self-hatred, as witnessed in the buffooneries of Michael Moore, the exaggerations of Robert Fisk, and the fanaticism of Noam Chomsky."

I agree with the author's reaction to "Orientalism." And I recommend this book.