Asian Books

Excellent book, it's helping me a lot with my Thesis at School.... I love it

incredibly depressing and negative, leaves one with a sick feeling in the stomach. but its happening in China every day.

This is an astounding book, but very difficult to read. I still shake my head in disbelief.

"The River Runs Black" by Elizabeth C. Economy is an intelligent analysis of contemporary China and its burgeoning environmental crisis. This engaging book helps us understand how globalization is reshaping China and issues an urgent plea for international cooperation to help monitor and rectify an increasingly worrysome situation.

Ms. Economy tells us how China's environment has been steadily deteriorating over the past centuries due to wars, political power struggles and overpopulation. However, today's problems
are attributable to specific policy decisions by China's government that has favored rapid economic development through engagement with the international business community. Unfortunately, the particular kinds of economic development favored by China's rulers has led to myriad environmental problems including deforestation, desertification, and air and water pollution. The collusion of local government and business interests has made it difficult to obtain reliable data or to implement solutions where it is feared that plant shutdowns might
result in mass unemployment and social unrest, making difficult problems seem untractable.

Environmental consciousness in China has increased as the problems have become more visible and as the country has engaged with the world economy. Ms. Economy profiles some of the courageous and inspirational individuals who have struggled for conservation, urban renewal and grass-roots democracy such as Tang Xiyang, He Bochuan, Dai Qing and others. While environmentalists have achieved some successes (such as protecting endangered species of monkeys and antelopes), the author believes that the government's championing of highly destructive projects such as the Three Gorges Dam proves that much more needs to be done.

Ms. Economy recounts the experiences of the former Communist nations of Eastern Europe to gain insight into how China might resolve its environmental problems. The Chernobyl disaster catalyzed local environmental groups into pushing for political reforms that brought down the Communists in the USSR and elsewhere. Recognizing that China's Communist Party is a "patronage machine committed to rapid economic development" and devoid of any ideological purpose other than self-perpetuation, Ms. Economy believes that increasing democratization in China could easily undermine the country's single Party system. Of course, China's leaders are keenly aware of this threat and consequently have tightly circumscribed the activities of environmental organizations, but the author is hopeful that the contradictions between increasing environmental degradation and the lack of a meaningful democracy will eventually force China's political system to change.

In the last section, Ms. Economy speculates about the manner in which China may develop in the future. The author envisions three possible scenarios: China goes green; inertia sets in; and environmental meltdown. Ms. Economy thinks that the U.S. should take the lead in encouraging China to develop its regulatory system and implement green technologies so that the country can embark on an environmentally sustainable path. Indeed, the unpredictable consequences of a Chinese environmental meltdown should give the international community pause to consider how it might help China -- and by extension all of us -- to avoid a worse case scenario.

I highly recommend this superbly written book to everyone.

Previous reviewers have said good things about this book, and I can only agree. It is notably superior to other recent books about the Chinese environment, which (though often scholarly) are long on polemics and short on comprehensive vision.
Dr. Economy focuses on politics and policies. These have been notoriously awful under Communism, but there is now a realization of the damage being done, and thus some hope. Dr. Economy is as optimistic as one could reasonably be. Incidentally, interested readers should also look up her very fine chapter in Kristen Day's worthy edited volume CHINA'S ENVIRONMENT AND THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
I am not so optimistic. One reason is that my training is more in biology, and I am aware that the devastating damage China has done to its environment will not be clear for 50 to 100 years. It takes that long for pollution and environmental degradation to show themselves fully.
As Dr. Economy says, China wanted to be "first rich, then clean" (that's the literal Chinese; she actually phrases it more academically). They thought that the west had done this. No, the west started conservation and scientific management long ago. The United States' golden age of conservation was under Theodore Roosevelt, when the US was still poor and rural. The US and western Europe never allowed anything close to what China has done. There was much degradation, but reaction always came eventually. China, like all Communist-led countries, missed this lesson. Marx had spoken: production is all, and top-down control is the way to do it. This has led, everywhere, to dismal environmental records, though much good has come from distributing food, health care, housing, etc., more evenly (this may no longer be the case). It is now too late. The white-flag dolphin, once common and resilient, is extinct, the Three Gorges are dammed, and much else has gone beyond possibility of repair.
Dr. Economy does not draw as sharp a contrast as I would between traditional management and Communist excess. Traditional China had major Malthusian problems, but they were caused more by imperial policy than by environmental mismanagement at the riceroots level. The peasants and workers created a system based on harmony and balance. The system was full of problems, and never got as harmonious as we would now wish, but it worked; it kept hundreds of millions of people alive in spite of a premodern technology, and it managed the key resources--topsoil, water, forests, and so on--sustainably enough that there was quite a bit left by 1950. Recent books trashing the old system have titles significantly featuring elephants and tigers instead of people. Even if you prefer the charismatic megafauna, note that China had some elephants and a lot of tigers in 1950.
So a flawed, antiquated, underproductive, but still well-designed and eminently functional system was sacrificed, and the result has been a royal mess. Yields of food are way up, thanks to modern technology (some of it developed in China by the Communists--to their credit), but the future is cloudy indeed.
If you want the best account of what can be done and what is being done, look no further than this book.

Not an easy read, but one that many Americans probably should...it demonstrates well how our life styles here in the US increases demand for cheap consumer goods, resulting in corporations poisoning other parts of the planet to supply them quickly and without major expense to us.

Incredibly sickening injury to the planet is well documented and presented in a professional way, and the book is very readable.

Recommended for all of those who need a greater repetoire of evidence that we are rather quickly destroying the planet, and as a means of strengthening arguments against "globalization" and consumerism.

This quasi-fantasy tale relates the story of 15 year-old Franklin whose Japanese-American girlfriend is killed in a car accident, then returns to him in spirit form to guide him through his grief. Hawes' young adult story would be bibliotherapuetic for a young teen who has experienced the loss of a loved one. The story also speaks to intercultural relationships and tolerance. Franklin's mother is raising him alone, and begins dating; which is another emotional challenge for Franklin, who is already dealing with more than a fair share of problems. The writing itself makes use of poetry and beautifully descriptive prose, providing young adult readers with a lesson in descriptive writing.

I so loved this book. I'm a big fan of what I guess you could term supernatural romances and this is one of the best I have ever read.This book shows that true love never dies, not even after death.It lives on. The book is fiction, but I was still so deeply touched by it.It could have been real. Pick this book up. You will love it.

Rosey In The Present Tense was an awesome book! This bookteaches you about how to cope with death, but not only that, but abouta a boy that won't let go of his girlfriend's death. Franklin just can't imagine life without Rosey in it, and he thinks he sees her...but is this a dream, or is it reality? Read the book to find out what happens next! This was an awesome book, and I encourage you all to read it! It makes you laugh, it makes you cry....all around, its a GREAT BOOK for young adults!

This book is a very great book. It was rosey who is this beautiful girl who has long black hair and she is very nice. There's this guy who had fell in love with her. He sleeps thinking of her, when he is a wake he just yhinks of her evry day and night.oh, and how great it felt to be with her, how deliget to hold her. It was like a dream had come true. He found rosey and automatical just fall in love. Rosey had felt the exact same way as her boyfriend. The sad thing is that they didn't really spend their life together for a long time. Rosey went and left him behind. She went up to heaven, but david always think that she is there still with him. David new that she was gone, but he just doesn't want to think that she had left him about two years ago. Rosey and david is very much in love, but their love is not close as it use to be. Yet still they still got each others in the heart.

Not because the book was unrealistic or overly romantic, but because it centered on such a genuine relationship. This short book was funny, touching, rich. One more example of what fine writing is being done for young adults in this country! I'd recommend it to anyone of any age.

Contrary to other information, this book is a good neutral source to the history of the middle east in maps.

The book does not take a stand on the issue of what land was and was not promised to arabs during the first world war. Anyone who claims they found an easy answer to that question in this atlas is misrepresenting the material.

Further maps show patterns of Jewish popluation growth. But none of the maps claim to show: 1) the price at which the land was sold, 2) that Palestine was a waste land, 3) the motives for land sales to Jews during the mandate and pre-mandate period.

Other maps show conficts between the communities within what is now Israel. They show a pattern of consistant and growing resistance of local people (palestinians) to the creation by force of a Jewish State around their homes.

The book also does not claim that Transjordan was ever a part of any intended jewish homeland, consistant with history. Any suggestion that the league of nations had ever sought to incorporate lands east of the jordan river into a jewish state is false. See the text of the mandate, the discussions of the negotiation of the mandate...etc. It is further false and not suggested by the book that the 1920-21 riots by palestinians against the mandate ended any jewish immigration.

The atlas shows the growing violence between palestinians and jewish settlers throughout the mandate period. What maps cannot show however are movements among the settlers to economically exclude all arabs from their lives. Movements such as hebrew labor which attempted to create economic segregation within palestine are not easily shown in maps.

The facts as shown by the book are that Palestinians resisted the creation of the mandate and a jewish homeland since the start. And that as the pace of jewish migration increased, violence and resistance increased in parallel. And throughout the mandate period there were deaths on both sides. The book also clearly shows the increasing violence that ended in civil war in 1948.

The peel commission did not find that Jerusalem was a predominatly jewish city. But it did use the example of the forced removal of greeks from Turkey in 1922 to suggest all non-jews be removed by force from the jewish state proposed by the Peel Commission. During the late 1930s, the Palestinians insisted on one country for all people. Every British proposal for division of the country involved large-scale explusions of Palestinians and a continuation of british rule over a large part of the remaining land (so-called international rule).

The book finally shows the war of 1948 and its disasterous results for palestinians. The flight of palestinians away from their homes during the war, the destruction of their villages by Israel and Israeli massacres like Dier Yassein of Palestinians are all shown in great detail. It also shows the patterns of settlement following the 1967 occupation of the west bank and gaza.

And while some will use the book to apportion blame, its better to look at the book and get a sense of who has lost what. Palestine, in 1921 was denied national existance and turned over to the british for colonization by europeans. In 1948, Democratic Israel was created by driving what would now be a non-jewish majority out of their homes within the new state of Israel. And after 1967, the clear intent of the Israelis to take all the land through settlements is more than visible.

Beyond that, arguments about what might have been in 1937 are utterly worthless today. The situation is that a huge population of Palestinians today lives in the west bank under Israeli military rule with no rights. That situation must change if there is to be peace. 1948 cannot be undone anymore than 1917 can be undone. But rather than apportion blame or point fingers or rehash the past, what needs to be done is to find a way to give the palestinians in the occupied territories a national state once and for all.

History can provide a source of facts, but it cannot make a peace. Peace can only be made by looking at the grim reality of the current situation and finding a solution.

My 1993 edition of this classic reference contains 147 maps imparting great wisdom, and a depth of understanding rarely presented in the evening news. Only three maps concern periods before the twentieth century. The third shows the Turkish conquerors' vilayet re-districting of the Holy Land in 1888, plus areas of Arab-Jewish conflict during the last three decades of Ottoman rule.

The book's fourth map clearly outlines the areas excluded in 1915 from the independence promised by the British to the Arabs, and requested by Hussein of Mecca for Arab cantons. Neither side mentioned southern Palestine, the Mutasarriflik of Jerusalem or the Jewish people--at all.

Further maps also evidence the eagerness of Arab property owners to sell waste land to Jewish settlers at very high prices, for very large tracts were made available.

Still others show the locations of Arab attacks on Jewish communities beginning in 1882. Through 1914, bands of Arabs assaulted at least 10 Jewish settlements between Jaffa and Jerusalem and in the Jezreel Valley.

From 1920 on, the maps show progressively more attacks, in which Arab assailants destroyed the new landowners' forests, wheat fields, orange groves and cattle, burned and stoned their shops and factories--and murdered unarmed Jews.

A March 1920 attack by a large number of Halsa Arabs on the Jews in Tel Hai killed six; an April 1920 attack on B'nai Yehuda killed one. In May 1921, Arab riots prompted Britain, the League of Nations' trustee of all Middle Eastern Mandates, to end Jewish immigration and "close settlement of the land" throughout Transjordan, both of which the League had sought, with Arab approval, only a few years earlier. Only these attacks, and the Arab 1929 riots that killed 20 Jewish children and elders in Safed, 7 in Hacarmel, 6 in Motza, 1 in Hulda, 6 in Tel Aviv, 2 in Beer Toviya--and 59 in Hebron-- persuaded previously passive Jewish farmers to take up arms, thereby defying British prohibitions against Jewish self-defense.

The fact is, Arab riots occurred well in advance of Israel's creation. They took scores of Jewish civilian lives. And then (in 1921)--as now--the only Arabs killed by Jews were killed in counter-attacks that followed the initial Arab assaults.

All this shows clearly on the maps readers reach page 14.

From here, the pictorials exhibit the precise dimensions of the 1936 Arab riots, with one page devoted to each of four months. The casualties to Jewish life and property were massive and nationwide. More riots in 1937 and 1938 followed.

Most enlightening of all, however, are those maps detailing the various partition plans over the years. The first of these, which the Jewish people accepted, and the Arabs rejected, was the 1937 Peel Commission proposal. The Peel Commission envisioned a tiny Jewish State, an L-shaped affair perhaps 6 or 8 miles-wide along the Mediterranean coast, from south of Rehovot to a few miles north of Acre with a northern corridor no more than 30 miles deep running from the coast, and inland on a border south of Afula to Beit Shean. Even this, the Jewish people accepted, and Arabs rejected.

But the Peel proposal was most remarkable for something else it inherently acknowledged: Jerusalem was not a "traditionally Arab city," as modern-day news repeatedly misinforms us. Its population--which was centered in the Old City--was predominantly Jewish. Christians and Muslims were minorities.

Thus the Peel Commission assigned Jerusalem, Bethlehem and a roughly oval-shaped area surrounding them, to an international trust to be managed by Britain for the League of Nations.

When that plan foundered on the Arab refusals, two subsequent 1938 partition plans proposed assigning even larger areas to the international trust. The more significant of the pair was the British Woodhead plan, as it was none too sympathetic to Zioninsts. Nevertheless, Woodhead expanded the international area encompassing Jerusalem and Bethlehem to include "traditionally Arab Ramallah" as well.

It is a lot more difficult after consulting this book, to lay blame for the Arab Israeli conflict solely on Israel's doorstep. The pictures tell the story. While the Camp David II final settlement offered in 2000 and 2001 is not shown, the book does contain maps of the "peace enclaves" as the future Palestinian Authority areas were then called. Moreover the later proposals almost seem unnecessary, given the illustrations of intense anti-Jewish attacks that began even before Israel was a state.

In short, Israel could and would have been much smaller than it is today if only Arabs had in 1937 accepted any Jewish state. They didn't, although none of the current issues even existed in 1937. But then, they had begun attacking Jewish farmers decades before Israel had any borders at all. These points are very telling indeed.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

Professor Gilbert may know more about this subject than any other scholar, and despite some inherent difficulties has reconstructed geographical areas with great precision. Even those who disagree with his views (occasionally expressed in the explanatory captions) must acknowledge the consumate scholarship underlying his maps--which have no "attitudes," only facts.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a fiercely debated topic with numerous accusations constantly being thrown back and forth. For someone just beginning to study the Arab-Israeli conflict, it can be overwhelming. This book is a collection of maps drafted by a professional cartographer to show the real dimensions of treaties, ceasefires, boycotts, and other historical moments in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Would you like to know exactly which land the Oslo Agreements included?

Would you like to know which parts of the Middle East belonged to biblical Israel?

Would you like to know which parts of Britain's Palestine Mandate they forbid Jews to dwell or buy land on?

This resource can answer all those question and more graphically showing you the exact boundaries of, countries involved in, and other important aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I particularly found this resource helpful in disputing allegations by people that "such-and such a percentage" of the land was to be given up in a treaty such as the original U.N. plan for Palestine or under the Oslo Agreements. After showing my fellow debater the actual maps, the arguments were ended since I was in possession of hard fact thanks to this fine reference book.

Sir Martin Gilbert is a well-acclaimed British scholar, who has written numerous titles in the Historical Atlas series, extensively written about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and was also officially appointed to write the biography of Sir Winston Churchill.

I have reviewed the 1984 Fourth Edition, but several editions have since come out with updated information and additional maps to reflect more recent developments. I recommend getting the most recent edition available.

I highly recommend this outstanding resource for anyone studying the Arab-Israeli conflict, whether pro-Arab or pro-Israeli.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Very informative. Gives a good understanding of the conflict by one of the best historians alive right now. Buy it.

Magnificient and soul-stirring poetry. The words flow like honey and transpose the heart into a restful state. It seems as if Runi had a direct connection to the glory of God. Sentimental and romantic to say the least. It is as if I was reading words written in gold and diamonds.

These translations are the purest and the most inspiring I've seen. Let this be your source of RUMI's teachings as it is mine.

"Seek not water, seek thirst."--Rumi

I have been searching for a copy of this book for over a year. While Coleman Barks seems to be getting better and better over time, Nader Khalili has arrived. These are wonderful selections, beautifully translated. Nader's style adds a wonderful touch to Rumi's sure words, and the resulting combination is truly inspiring. I can't sing enough praises for this book. Buy it, and help me convince Nader to write more. Anyone have his e-mail address?

These poems are so poignantly rendered in the English language from the Persian, it's as if Rumi himself had traveled forward in time to rewrite them just for us. You don't have to be a Sufi to appreciate the wisdom of these words, and you don't have to like poetry to find them unbearably beautiful. This is the ultimate gift of love.

This is the best Rumi rendition I've seen, by far - and I've seen pretty much all of them (from Nicholson to Arberry to Barks to Schimmel to Shiva to Star). Khalili takes in Rumi in the original Persian, ingests, digests, and spits out pure ecstasy in English. He is free with form and selective with the verses - yet his rendition is closer to the original Persian than many of the non-native translators'. I keep one copy in the house, one in the car and one at work - each page is a momentary trap-door into another world. Khalili's is as Rumi was intended.

[update: july 2004]I can also recommend Raficq Abdulla's "Words of Paradise" and Jonathan Star's "Rumi: in the arms of the beloved" as good translations/renditions.

The author goes above and beyond the "real" effects that the U.N.-U.S. imposed sanctions are producing up to this day to the average iraqui citizen.If the overkill of the iraqui infrastructure wasn't enough, sanctions have taken back the iraqui people to a pre-industrial age.

The United States Government blockades of Cuba and Iraq are acts of genocide against national groups, `deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part'. Simons summarises: "United States policy, a slow and knowing extermination of a national people, falls unambiguously within the terms of the UN Genocide Convention."

Eight years of sanctions have killed two million Iraqis, including a million children. Bush began them, supported by Major. Now Clinton maintains them, supported by Blair, `the perfect peacekeeper', in Kofi Annan's words. Protocol I, Article 54 of the Geneva Convention states, "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited." The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly denounced the US blockade of Cuba as illegal and demanded that it be lifted. (British Governments usually abstain on these votes.) Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney-General, says, "I see the blockade as a crime against humanity, in the Nuremburg sense, as a weapon of mass destruction. The blockade is a weapon for the destruction of the masses, and it attacks those segments of society that are the most vulnerable ... infants and children, the chronically ill, the elderly and emergency medical cases."

Some say we must ensure that economic sanctions respect agreed exemptions. The exemptions are for public relations: sanctions are designed to kill. A doctor might as well call for the humane implementation of torture. US and British Governments have consistently vetoed the delivery of baby food and medical supplies to Iraq. The US Government has consistently blocked contracts for medical supplies arranged by British companies.

The sanctions are a continuation of the war by other means. The war itself was more a traditional colonial massacre, with one side having a huge advantage in forces and weaponry. The US and British forces fired tens of thousands of depleted uranium (DU) shells. They are an illegal weapon, under UN Resolution 32/84 of December 1977, which bans the use of `radioactive material weapons'. The US Army admitted that some US soldiers were unknowingly exposed to DU radiation during the War. Obviously, we need not look any further for the cause of `Gulf War syndrome'. The US forces also used chemical weapons against the Iraqis. At the war's end, the US forces bombed troops no longer able to offer resistance, and those in retreat: both of these are war crimes.

To blame Castro and Saddam Hussein for their peoples' suffering is like blaming Churchill for the British people's suffering under the Nazi blockade, or like blaming the rabbis for the Jews' suffering under the Nazis.

It is a hideous mockery even to talk of an ethical foreign policy when genocide is being perpetrated. We should demand an end to the sanctions, otherwise we acquiesce in genocide.

The author provides a vivid picture of the effects of the US's methodical destruction of the life support infastructure in Iraq during "Desert Storm" and its relationship to, and the continuing use of, "Economic Warfare", i.e. "sanctions" to produce hundreds of thousands of deaths, targeting especially babies and children, the elderly and the chronically ill, by starvation and preventable diseases.

The author provides a vivid picture of the effects of the US's methodical destruction of the life support infastructure in Iraq during "Desert Storm" and its relationship to, and the continuing use of, "Economic Warfare", i.e. "sanctions" to produce hundreds of thousands of deaths, targeting especially babies and children, the elderly and the chronically ill, by starvation and preventable diseases.

The author goes above and beyond the "real" effects that the U.N.-U.S. imposed sanctions are producing up to this day to the average iraqui citizen.If the overkill of the iraqui infrastructure wasn't enough, sanctions have taken back the iraqui people to a pre-industrial age.

I enjoy American short stories, and I feel that reading this book opened my eyes to new perspectives. For example, I had not thought about the relationship between Asian and Latino immigrants in the 1940's. The themes are fresh and varied and it's possible to read the stories in whatever order suits you.

Hisaye Yamamoto was not a prolific writer, but her output of fine short stories spans decades. Central themes include assimilation and the loss of traditional cultural values, troubled marraiges, and, of course, the shameful internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. As a writer who was raised in the culture and who originally published many of these stories in Japanese American publications for a largely Japanese American audience, she produces uniquely authentic accounts of a lifestyle that has largely disappeared. Here are the farms, the oil fields, the New Year's celebrations, the dusty internment camps, the tragic generation gaps, the hopes, dreams, and loneliness of a people who are inclined to remain quiet about personal matters--these stories present a fully developed portrait of the Japanese experience in American and its consequences. Highly recommended.

These stories are beautiful, sensitive, thoughtful, and occasionally painful in their depiction of the condition, not only of Japanese- Americans, but of anyone who lives slightly off the beaten track. She writes with kindness, humor, and insight. I especially liked "The Legend of Miss Sassasagawara" and "Wilshire Bus," as well as the interview with her. Her stories remind me of Faulkner's and Flannery O'Connor's. If she had written more, I am certain she would have been better known.

I read 17 Syllables for an English class, and it will be one of the books that I won't sell back. My favorite stories were Las Vegas Charlie, Legend of Miss Sasagawara, and 17 Syllables. Many of the stories describe Asian characters trying to find their niche in America. Themes include generational and cultural conflicts, addiction struggles, and financial insecurities. Yamamoto seems to take a minimalist approach to her writing, which encourages one to reread her stories in order to extract more information.

"Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories," by Hisaye Yamamoto, was first published in 1988. The revised and expanded edition adds 4 more stories, for a total of 19. Yamamoto was born in 1921 in California to parents who were immigrants from Japan, and hers is one of the most remarkable voices in 20th century United States literature. These stories originally were written or published between 1942 and 1995, and thus represent many decades of Yamamoto's literary career.

Her style is a blend of delicacy and determined passion. The book as a whole strikes a balance between tragedy and tenderness, and her best stories are quite moving. Yamamoto's stories mainly have Japanese-American female protagonists, and offer glimpses into many decades of Japanese-American life. Some topics include troubled marriages, crippling addictions, racism, and relations among the many ethnic groups of the U.S.

Some stories deal with the experience of Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in concentration camps by their own government during World War II. Other important themes include the human toll of World War II on those Japanese Americans who lost family members in the war, and the cultural shift between generations in Japanese-American families.

The four new stories in the expanded edition are "Death Rides the Rails in Poston," a murder mystery; "Eucalyptus," about a woman's experience in a mental facility; "A Fire in Fontana," about a Japanese-American woman's connection to the African-American community; and "Florentine Gardens," which centers around a visit to a military cemetery in Italy.

Hisaye Yamamoto's work is highly regarded by many, and many of her stories have been anthologized (which is how I first read her work). It is wonderful to have her stories brought together in one volume; I feel richer for having read "Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories." One final note: as a fitting complement to the title story of this collection, I recommend Richard Wright's book "Haiku: This Other World."

Everything about this book is great: the food, pictures (we can actually see what the meal is supposed to look like)not to mention that the books were new and arrived in no time. I would definitely go back to this seller.

This is an amazing cookbook. If the bilingual recipes didn't give it away, the recipes would -- this is incredibly authentic and varied cooking. The other positive reviews here are exactly on the mark. The photos are a good indication of the real food you will cook.

After having now tried almost every recipe in this book, I can say that they are all absolutely delicious! This cookbook is essential for anyone who wants to learn how to cook Indo/Malay/Sing food. My boyfriend is Indonesian and had been bugging me for some of his childhood favorites such as Lontong. The satay is the best I have ever had, in or out of Indonesia. The recipes are also super easy. There is no complicated preparation for any of the recipes. Even someone who is a novice could make these with ease (and they will taste great!). I live in Tallahassee and we have one not too big Asian market. With a little searching, I found virtually all of the ingredients needed. Most of the ingredients are readily availible in your average grocery store. If you do have an Asian market, even a small one, they can often find something that you need, so don't be afraid to ask. The book itself is perfectly laid out and there are color photos of every single dish. I highly recommend this cookbook!

Finally, a cookbook that satisfies my frequent cravings for foods like padang spicy beef, sate, and hainan chicken!! After living in Southeast Asia for a number of years, I fell in love with the cuisine of this region and since then, I've been searching long and hard for a cookbook like this one to come out. It's easy enough to find decent cookbooks for Thai food or Vietnamese food these days, as a single search will turn up thousands of results, but it's truly a rare find to come across a cookbook on the foods of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore - especially one of this quality! The recipes, each of which is accompanied by a large, beautiful picture, are concise and easy to follow, and the food itself is simply amazing. Now that I have this book, I no longer have to suppress my cravings or fight the urge to fly back to the islands to get my fix of Gado Gado (Java styled salad), Kari Sapi (Malaysian beef curry), or Kangkung Tumis (spicy, Singaporean water spinach). Funny thing is, I never thought I would ever be able to make these foods myself! But what surprised me most was the fact that these dishes tasted even better than I remembered, coming out of my own kitchen no less! (now *that* is truly incredible). So do yourself a favor and buy this book - you'll not only save tons of money you'd otherwise spend at mediocre Malaysian/Indonesian/Singaporean restaurants in the area (if there even are such restaurants available to you), but you'll also be able to impress everyone with your newfound ability to cook dishes as delicious and as hard to come by as the ones shared in this cookbook. Definitely worth every penny and more!

Being a native Indonesian far away from home, I crave for the rich and savory flavor of the cuisine from these three countries. Unlike Thai cuisine, Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine is still not well known here in United States. Therefore there are limited restaurants that offer this cuisine. You can imagine my agony of having to suppress my craving until I make a trip to these restaurants in NYC or Toronto. It all changed after I bought this cookbook. This cookbook is amazing! It contains 68 recipes that are divided into Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian recipe sections. A one-page spread picture accompanies each recipe, which is very helpful for people who are not familiar with this cuisine. The author starts by introducing the countries and their cuisine followed by glossary of ingredients, seasonings, spices and herbs. It then continues with recipes for stocks, condiments, pickled salads, sambal chilli sauces (used like chutneys in Indian cuisine), and assorted spice pastes. These spice pastes are used in a lot of the recipes and they are what give this cuisine its fragrant, rich and savory flavors. This book offers specialties from Singapore (Hainan chicken rice, spiced sparerib soup, spring roll, laksa, spicy crabs, sweet coconut rice balls, etc), Malaysia (fried noodle, coconut rice, sate, beef curry,vegetable with grated coconut, etc) and Indonesia (beef rendang, eggs in spicy red sauce, java salad or gado gado, turmeric fried chicken, etc). I have tried more than a dozen of the recipes and they all taste fantastic! Most of all they taste authentic. They are a huge hit with my American boyfriend and roomate. There are some ingredients that are hard to find, even in Asian markets (especially in small towns). I had to shop online at an Indonesian grocery store to find most of the hard to find ingredients like candlenut, dried galangal, pandan leaves, palm sugar, kaffir leaves and shrimp paste. However, they are worth it. I use dried galangal because I don't have access to fresh ones. I substitute fresh red chilli with bottled ground chilli paste called Sambal Oelek. It works just as wonderful! I think this is the most authentic and remarkable cookbook I have. It is simple, clear, precise and a gem. I would recommend this cookbook if you want to bring authentic new flavors to your table. It helps ease my homesickness. Nowadays, I call my mom up to say "I made beef rendang today!"... something I had never said before this cookbook.

I decided to read "Six Records of a Floating Life" after spending a summer in Suzhou, the city of Shen Fu's birth and his home for many years. When describing this work, my Chinese friends were quick to use words like "romantic" and "touching". However I was skeptical since I had also heard that this book detailed Shen Fu's relationship not only with his wife, Yun, but also concubines and courtesans - thus setting it far outside the scope of what is traditionally considered "romantic" by modern, Western standards. Yet, if one is willing to keep an open mind and look at Shen Fu's extra-marital relations (which are, in fact, treated very briefly) within the context of the time and culture during which he wrote, one can see that that author and his wife were very much in love and cared passionately for each other for more than twenty years. Fu's description of the airy joys and carefree pleasures they experienced together as husband and wife are sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone who's every been in love.

Yet, with great happiness Shen Fu also experienced great pain and numerous hardships. Considered a failure in both business and scholarship, he was never wealthy and he struggled to provide even a modest living for himself and his family. Indeed, Fu drifted from place to place, job to job, often relying on friends and relatives to provide him with money and shelter. Adding to the pressures of poverty was his wife's chronic illness, which eventually took her life. Shen Fu's description of his wife's death is truely heart-breaking, as he writes:

"Her spirit vanished in the mist and she began her long journey... When it happened there was a solitary lamp burning in the room. I looked up but saw nothing, there was nothing for my two hands to hold, and my heart felt as if it would shatter" (p. 89)

Part romance, part tragedy, part travelogue and part memoir this book indeed lives up to it's reputation as a classic. Shen Fu articulates the joys and sorrows of ordinary human life with the skill of an artist, and he is always someone with whom we can identify. Like we all do, he struggled to find peace and comfort while trying to bear the weight of sadness. Whether you're interested in Chinese history and culture or not, this book deserves to be read and appreciated.

There are so many contradictions within this quirky memoir that it could only possibly be true.

This is a memoir of life right around the start of the 19th century. It recounts the adult life of Shen Fu, a man who appears to have been ordinary in the extreme. Although educated, he did not pass the literary tests of the civil service. At best, his career could have been a secretary under one of the successful examinees, but his times weren't always the best. His positions never lasted, and his business attempts failed. Often, he sold his possessions and his wife's down to the clothes on their backs (or less). He fell out with his family, in a time when filial duty was enforced by law, and became outcast in almost every sense.

But his life never wholly failed, either. Perhaps it was the glow of nostalgia, but his twenty-three years of marriage were always a joy to him, even when his wife's health failed, and even when she may have been the source of some of his problems. They had their times of poverty, but never to the point of starvation. He was honorable enough to quit a corrupt position when it offended his honor too deeply. He was devoted enough to heal the familial rifts. His joys and Yun's were simple - travel, each other, the beauty of the full moon, and maybe a little too much wine shared with happy company. Shen Fu and his devoted Yun never demanded much from their lives, and usually got enough to enjoy.

The text wanders. The first three chapters chart the ups and downs of the marriage to his beloved wife. She died early, from some frightening disease. Still, she and he accepted it stoically, or mostly did. The fourth chapter collects a few decades of moments together, the sights and sounds of travel. With his wife and after her, Shun Fu visited temples, sacred caves, and pleasure districts, reported in some drifting collage of personal history. Despite the "six" promised in the title, we have only four. It's probably better that way, according to the appendices.

I really think I would have liked Shun Fu. He was honest enough, loving enough, and devoted enough to his children. Even when his own situation deteriorated badly, he fostered his son as best he could and sheltered his daughter with people who could marry her well. He never wholly succeeded or failed, but muddled through the chances that appeared to him. He was no grand hero, nor villain, nor idle dreamer, nor driven workaholic. He was just a guy, living some guy's life pretty well. Maybe he dressed up his memories just a bit, but don't we all?

//wiredweird

"Six Records" (also known as "Six Chapters of a Floating Life"), c. 1805, is an extraordinarily frank autobiography that is totally unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of Chinese literature. It describes the life of the author Shen Fu and his beloved wife, Ch'en Yun (1763-1803), in extremely revealing detail. The intimacy and joy shared by the couple are as unusual by normal standards of Chinese married life as is the author's daringness in revealing them to others. Their close, playful relationship stands in defiant opposition to the staid decorum of married life expected by Confucian ideology.

A thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring read. Ch'en Yun is a woman ahead of her time who admirably balances her love of learning and passion for life with her duties and obligations as a traditional Chinese wife.

a very, very good book to get to know the everyday life of late imperial Chinese!

If one reads the introduction, this book is not meant to be read as a sequential narrative, instead it is a collection of memoirs and hence the word "records" in the title. Through this collection of records and memoirs, readers are welcomed to peer into segments of the author's bumpy life.

The records follow Shen Fu on his numerous failed attempts to find contentment in life: As an educated man, Shen Fu tried to gain a position through civil examinations but got nowhere, he tried his hand at being a painter but found that he had no talent, he made friends with people who eventually betrayed him, he got into debt and was disowned by his father, and the final blow came when he lost his child and beloved wife, Yun. In the end Shen Fu's decided to live a "floating Life" by giving up worldly matters to wander China.

Shen Fu is also a groundbreaking author. He is very descriptive of his environment, which is uncharacteristic of Chinese writers of his time. Through Shen Fu's accounts the reader can experience the long lost customs of ancient China, for example, lonely men with a bit of pocket money can visit brothel boats sitting "like aimless floating leaves" on the river.

Moreover, Shen Fu's accounts of his wife, Yun, were against conventions because he does not cease in describing her only as a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law according to Confucian ideology, but he portrays her as an intelligent and adventurous woman who was willing to dress up as a man to visit a temple (which forbids women) with him. To Shen Fu, Yun was his soul mate and she transcends his memoirs into a love story. She is present from his first record, "The Joys of the Wedding Chamber" where they first met as an arranged marriage to his last record, "The Delights of Roaming Afar" where Shen Fu is constantly reminded of Yun, long after her death, when he travelled to places he wished he had brought her to.

Lastly, Shen Fu's tone is full of indignant passion making him an amusing storyteller. The translators (Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui) translate Shen Fu's work without losing his ease and personality, making the book a delightful read.

Keeping in mind that not many authors in feudal China reveal an honest account of their times and even less-so the intimate accounts of their domestic life, this autobiography is wonderfully rare.

I read the 1973 monolingual translation with a preface by journalist Gloria Emerson and historical background provided by Alexander Woodside. I also searched the Internet for background information about this epic poem. I found that it is considered to be Viet Nam's most prominent work. I don't recommend embarking on this work without any background information, otherwise it won't make much sense.

A young woman named Kieu's family suffers misfortune due to corruption. Her father is falsely arrested and she ends up having to sell herself to pay his ransom. She then suffers a series of betrayals, lost loves, and setbacks. For the reader to fully appreciate this he/she must have some familiarity with Vietnamese history.

One reviewer complained that the translation is not exactly accurate. Unfortunately, whenever a work is translated there is virtually always some sacrifice of accuracy for clarity or fluidity. Translation is also an art. In this case the translator has managed to create or, more likely, preserve a poetic sing-song quality.

I love this book, its great if you want to knowabout the Tale of Kieu. However, I dilike the translation. I don't think they're right in some places. I don't see how they're translated from Vietnamese to English correctly. In some ways, they do not make sense.

_The Tale of Kieu_ is engaging in a whistfully episodic sort of way. This version is more complete than the paperback (Vintage press), offering a few dozen extra verses not offered in the earlier edition. Ultimately a victory by the hand of fate, the long-suffering heroine Kieu eventually becomes queen, but only after becoming a prostitute, and suffering a complete loss of social status.

Though Kieu's wanderings are somewhat episodic, the entire epic is rather enchantingly framed by a Cinderella-like relationship with a departed spirit who protects the girl and woman. For Kieu's dependence upon fate (and her impotence as a female within her society), the tale can seem like another tiresome account not of female heroism, but of misogynistic fun with a female lead. Nonetheless, as Thong's introduction explains, Kieu can also be seen as a depiction of strife-torn Vietnam, a country whose history of national sorrow precedes the Vietnam war by centuries.

All things considered, this book is certainly worth the brief effort that will go to reading it. Anyone doing research along the lines of women's studies would definitely benefit from this work.

Vietnamese, or no, it is difficult not to respond strongly to the tale of Kieu's woes and dignity in the face of misery. Kieu's story is one in which bad fortune, conflicting duties, personal caprices and betrayals, and petty tyrannies all play a role in creating an existence for her that any reasonable person knows would have humbled them to the point of madness and despair--think of King Lear howling as he holds the body of Cordelia in his arms. This is not what happens to Kieu though. Through a life that forces her first to abandon love and to endure all manner of humiliations and heartbreak for the sake of her family's freedom she maintains an integrity and gracefulness that transcends all the suffering the taboos that she breaks. She is a picture of how one can remain strikingly upright in a world where every type of bad fortune from a monsoon to a B-52 air raid carried the temptation to fall down low.

Though it seems naïve to make it explicit, The Tale of Kieu is a morality tale peculiarly suited to speak to the sensibilities of any people under the yoke of tyranny; be it foreign or homegrown. The nature of tyranny is its unpredictability and most of the history of Vietnam could be written as a history of tyranny; whether Chinese, French, American backed, or completely native. In a society where little is certain, moral adaptability coupled with a sense of duty is valuable beyond quantification. Though not a hero in the sense that her lover Tu Hai is, a rebel and a fighter capable of greatness, she is a hero whom it is possible for ordinary people to emulate. Fate that has made her life a tale of woe, but she never becomes disgraced by it and she certainly never descends to depths of hatefulness of Scholar Ma, Dame Tu, and the company they keep. Even though turned into a courtesan and blown through several horrifying winds degradation in her fifteen years of exile, she is still as righteous and as dignified as she was when she ransomed herself to save her father and brother--even if it is only the reader and not she who sees it.

The profound longing for home and hearth is not something peculiar to the Vietnamese. That longing though became much more to so many Vietnamese in the one hundred sixty years after its publication and could be related to by millions because of the experience of Vietnam under colonialism and decades of war. Kieu never finds peace--and it is only peace, certainly not a happy ending--until she makes her way back to her family and rights the wrong she believes she did to her first love, Kim. Her experience will be like that a leaf in the wind until she is able to reach home. For millions of Vietnamese from the time of this poem's publication down to our exile and uncertainty wrought by forces beyond their control have Kieu's lamentations and experiences parallel their own. Whether in the suburbs of Paris or Los Angeles, a foreign worker in Russia or Germany, or simply forced far from home in Vietnam itself to earn a living, Kieu's experience as an exile knowing none of the security she knew at home speaks to a larger collective experience which is something of a national trauma. Her story is their own.

Kieu's story is not only a profoundly a Vietnamese story, it is very much a story where the protagonist has to be a woman. Nothing says that man could not be as much of a victim of vast impersonal forces and of circumstance as Kieu was, but her travails are gender specific--the product of being a woman in a traditional Confucian society. Just as in others. Confucian society values female virginity and chastity very highly, so it is a peculiarly womanly form of suffering when the trick played on her by So Khanh and Dame Tu forced her to part with her own virginity. Though subtle this is still a form of rape and it is a form that a polite society could stomach. Kieu's decision to allow herself to be prostituted has a metaphorical parallel for all those Vietnamese who had to compromise themselves in order to survive because of the capriciousness of forces beyond their control. There is consolation in the actions of Kieu for every person who under the duress of tyranny has been made to bring themselves low.

The scene in The Tale of Kieu where Kieu dispenses justice to all those who have wronged and graces to all those who have shown her kindness while she has been buffeted from one place to the next is one of the most satisfying scenes that I have ever come across in fiction, comparable to Prospero forgiving all his enemies when they are within his clutches near the close of The Tempest. Like The Tempest the trial that Tu Hai allows Kieu to put all her enemies through--rewards for righteous, mercy for the contrite, death for the wicked--shows some of the greatest hopes of the society that it was written in and for. The want for justice, to reward the righteous and to pardon those not as righteous as ourselves and willing to admit as much while living in peace is the great hope that is held out by the trial and ultimately would seem to be the want longing of every Vietnamese, and every person of conscience who has known injustice and insecurity.

This is the epic tale of Thuy Kieu, a middle class teenage girl who was as gifted as beautiful. The future, despite its promising outlook turned out to be a life-wrecking nightmare for Kieu. Her travails are beautifully described in this lengthy narrative poem written by Nguyen Du, a 19th century scholar.

The work explores the many conflicting virtues imposed on Kieu by a Confucian society and how they affect her life. It is a classic as it is taught in school and quoted by almost any Vietnamese: the verses are even recited at social gatherings. Huynh Sanh Thong has done a great job in translating this work in English.

I was a pilot in the Apache Scouts and Charlie flew with me. His book is true and as real an account as can be written. This gives readers a good look at the s... we went through!

Highly recommended. Very well written and easy to read. Tattletale captivates you from the very beginning and does not let go. Not a blood and guts or brag story, but a well balanced and honest view of what is was like as a grunt humping the paddies and as an observer flying in a LOH with a bit of humor, sarcasm, and wit sprinkled throughout. This book is difficult to stop reading once started-it puts you right on scene. It also glances into the not often talked about ventures into Cambodia by American forces. Tattletale also mentions the conflict and its effects from a family at homeýs viewpoint. Do not less this one pass you by-it is first rate all the way!

The extensive review that is online was actually written by David Volz, feature writer for the Nashville News not by Charles Rusiewski as the title indicates. I only submitted the review which was so well done. I, too, own the book and have found it to be be outstanding. Tattletale takes one back to a period in our lives and Palek makes one relive those years as if were happening now. The book packs quite a punch and brings back emotions that were once put at peace. A tremendous job!

Charlie Palek knows military history may be written by generals and politicians, but the stories they tell are really about those who fought and died. Palek's book, "Tattletale," offers a no-holds-barred portrait of the joys and miseries of a combat soldier in the Vietnam War, in what he calls "a dark time in this country's history."

Some 30 years after he came home from his second tour, Palek decided his experiences were worth recording. The reader can almost feel the oppressive heat and huymidity, smell the gun oil, sweat and burning flesh, hear the gunfire and screams, know the coppery taste of fear and see the horrible sights that become all too common in war.

His brutally honest writing style, seasoned with humor, recounts his two combat tours in Viewnam during the height of the war and the part he played in two of the best known battles, the Tet Offensive and the incursion into Cambodia.

His book also touches upon the anti-war protests, the incredibly inept government policies and the reactions of friends and family at home.

Charlie found himself in the 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry of the 9th division and joined the Mobile Riverine Force. The outfit suffered an 80 percent casualty rate as they patrolled the Mekong Delta, south of Saigon. As a radio telephone operator (RTO), someone called him "tattletale" because it was his job "to tell on the enemy" when a firefight erupted. RTOs were prime targets for snipers. For the next 22 months, he humped the paddies in search of Victor Charlie.

The reader quickly learns that Vietnam was a war with no front lines and no clear objectives; endless, mind-numbing patrols punctuated all-too-frequently by gut-wrenching violence. Palek tells what ponchos were really good for, why flak vests were seldom worn and what it's like to have a huge tarantula crawl over your face. The jungles, rice paddies and canals tormented the grunts with skin infections and mosquitoes "the size of helicopters."

His book is filled with tales of good buddies ("we fought for each other, not the government") good and incompetent officers, and the hardships suffered by the Vietnamese civilians. Humor was a coping tool for Palek. "That's what kept me sane." Various experiences are tied nicely with Murphy's Laws of Combat, such as "If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush;" "When in doubt, empty your magazine;" and "Friendly fire--isn't."

KPaleks second tour gave him the job of door gunner in a helicopter. Unbelievable, his second tour in the air provided even more intense combat experiences. Many times Palek looked directly into the eyes of the enemy. The incursion into Cambodia was the "most intense experience of my life" as U.S. troops finally took the battle to the enemy's previously untouchable sanctuaries across the border.

The book discusses all the happenings at home with anti-war protestors. By the end of the second tour, a military career no longer looked so inviting. "There were too many idiots in charge." Palek's closing words of his book accurately sum up his view of this most controversial war. "The men that faced bullets everyday, whether they were on the ground, on the water or in the air, did a damned fine job and I hope they never forget that." Let no one forget that.

Reviewed by David Volz, Nashville News. Submitted by Charlie Rusiewski.

Rarely, if ever, do we ever get to read two different views of how a war was fought from the same combat veteran. Author Charlie Palek's memoir "Tattletales: A Two Tour Vietnam Veteran's Combat Experiences on the Ground and in the Air" provides the reader a wonderful opportunity to see and feel how that war was for those who were engaged in fighting it. Not how some general saw the war but how the common solider lived through it all.

I loved his book and how he tells his story by periodically using that old military axiom called "Murphy's Law." The author certainly has a wonderful sense of humor and does not take himself so serious. His portrait of his two tours of duty--one as a RTO (radio operator) humping the boonies and the paddies, to being a scout observer on a helicopter where he saw the war from tree top level: totally different and contrasting kinds of experiences and dangers. (The title of his book refers to having had these two military jobs; as RTO he told where the enemy was when they found or engaged with them; and as a scout it was his job to tell where the bad guys were at - thus he was a "Tattletale.")

Palek captures the attention of the reader right from the beginning story with his interesting beginning that got me hooked, then made smile. His book is not a series of lectures, or written in some textbook style--it is more like he just "talks" to you about his time in Vietnam. His story is at times can be sad, funny, frightening, but always riveting. You will feel pulled into his life story as he unfolds it page by page. It took him 30 years to sit down and write it but it feels fresh like a first told tale from a returning solider back to the base camp. His writing style is relaxed and not formal. It is an easy read and one that will keep you turning pages until you have finished the entire book.

The last section written by members of his family is a novel way to tell his total story. Through their own experiences and observations they share their emotions and comments--adding greater depth and some more understanding to the whole war experience as felt by those who lived through that time of our history.

This book is given the MWSA TOP RATING - 5 STARS

A MUST READ BOOK!