Asian Books

This biography of the immortal Indian spiritual leader by the far-left American journalist Louis Fischer was first published roughly 18 months after Gandhi's assassination in January 1948. It thus benefits and suffers from the closeness of the personal relationship between the subject and author, and its extremely limited temporal perspective.

The author had two extended interviews with Gandhi at his ashram in May 1942 and June 1946. Not surprisingly, Fischer's physical descriptions are vivid and authentic. The reader can almost feel the enervating heat of India, taste the bland vegetarian cuisine, and above all see Gandhi's peculiar mannerisms and hear his sing-song vocal inflections. But Fischer is also much too close to the events that he writes about, and too emotionally involved with his subject. The twentieth century was blood-soaked and sparsely populated with significant political figures who sincerely preached peace and reconciliation. Nevertheless, the Gandhi that emerges from the pages of this biography is more painted icon than flesh-and-blood, although Fischer does describe him as a rather cold and inconsiderate husband to Kasturbai, his faithful, semi-literate wife of sixty-two years, while his falling out with his alcoholic and Muslim-convert eldest son, Harilal, is heart-breaking to read. Moreover, from the perspective of the early twenty-first century reader, two of the more interesting aspects of Gandhi's life and legacy are his impact on the civil rights movement in the United States, South Africa, and elsewhere, and the rise of modern India as a major global power. Obviously, given the publication date, none of this is considered in Fischer's work.

Gandhi has been described as a saint who tried to become a politician (Gandhi himself said that it was the reverse). The man that Fischer describes was, in my opinion, more cult figure than saint. Gandhi's religious views were incredibly pragmatic and highly unorthodox. For instance, Fischer argues that Gandhi interpreted the Bhagavad-Gita - the most holy of Hindu texts - as an allegory that preaches "desirelessness" and pacifism although the story is literally about God commanding Arunja, a member of the Kshatriya warrior caste, to fight and kill to fulfill his caste obligation. And it was Gandhi who attacked the Hindu practice of outcastes or untouchables and even coined a new term for them, Harijan or Children of God, and later named his weekly newspaper after them. He established ashrams first in South Africa and later in India that are reminiscent of modern day cult compounds with communal eating, sleeping and bathing, making their own clothes, and practicing a bizarre amalgamation of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and mysticism, all centered on Gandhi as leader-guru. There are probably a few places just like it today in Mendocino County.

And yet Gandhi was a leader of unusual appeal and effectiveness. His policy of Satyagraha (truth-force or love-force - or what we may call civil disobedience) triumphed against the British and Afrikaaners in South Africa and he had full confidence that it would ultimately succeed in his native India and around the world wherever injustice could be found. Whitehall had directly and closely ruled India for over half-a-century when Gandhi emerged as a powerful force for reform and home rule. Winston Churchill was dismayed in 1931 by "the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy's palace, there to negotiate and to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor."

The irony of this book is that Gandhi, undoubtedly one of the giants of the twentieth century whose reputation will likely only grow in the coming decades and centuries, in the end saw his own life as a tremendous failure. He dedicated himself to Indian self-purification, redemption, and honorable self-rule (which he called Swaraj). Fischer stresses that Gandhi had no desire to conquer or defeat the British, nor did he wish to see a small group of Indian elites take over the government. Gandhi's program was essentially a liberal religious movement; the fall of British rule would merely be a necessary by-product, not the end-state. The goal was a unified India of high-caste Hindus, Harijans (untouchables), Muslims, Sikhs and Christians living modestly and peacefully in simple villages wearing khadi (homespun fabric) loin clothes and shawls. Clearly, things did not turn out according to plan.

Nothing pained Gandhi more deeply than the Hindu/Sikh versus Muslim violence that accompanied independence and ultimately partition in 1947. Gandhi fought tenaciously to keep India united. He fasted and essentially threatened his own death if the leader of the untouchables, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, did not back down from a primary voting scheme for Harijan participation in the Hindu voting bloc. And Gandhi, a man of unnatural peace and forgiveness, reserved his most powerful words of insult and scorn for Mohamed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League and staunch supporter of a separate and independent Pakistan.

Indeed, Fischer correctly concludes that "[i]ndependence brought sadness to the architect of independence. The Father of his Country was disappointed in his country...Millions adored the Mahatma, multitudes tried to kiss his feet or the dust of his footsteps. They paid him homage and rejected his teachings. They held his person holy and desecrated his personality. They glorified his shell and trampled his essence. They believed in him but not his principles."

I learned a lot from this book and enjoyed it immensely.

This is simply put one of the best books I have ever read. Half of the reason is of course the topic - Mohandas Gandhi, who is one of the most important religious persons to have lived. The other half is that it is well-written, packed with information, and by an accomplished author. While Fischer's shorter book, "Gandhi: His life and message" is more concise and also a triumph, anyone who has read it or is a Gandhi enthusiast should acquire a copy of this book and read it.

This particular biography of the Mahatama is insightful and powerfully written. Fischer analyses Gandhi in a way that allows you to discover Gandhi for yourself and see connections between the world in which Gandhi lived and the man he became. It provides numerous insights that Gandhi's own humility may not have allowed him in his own autobiography. It does start out kind of slow, but Fischer's analysis of Gandhi picks up momentum after the first few chapters and becomes a page turner. Highly inspiring for those who want to further understand Gandhi's views and see them in relation to the world. Highly recommended!

Louis Fischer does his subject justice with a fine account of Gandhi's life. Despite the long duration of the Mahatma's struggle, the author keeps the book interesting pretty much throughout. Fischer's two first hand accounts of his meetings with Gandhi serve as a plesent break in the course of the book, giving it greater life, as well as providing a more personal insight into Gandhi. Thankfully the author remains well clear of blind adoration for the man, highlighting both his flaws and weaknesses. The only short coming is that the book was written before the rise of M.L. King and Nelson Mandela, thus fails to address the full influence Gandhi had and will have beyond India. Overall, I whole heartedly recommend this book of such an important subject, which was also the inspiration for the film.

This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader: An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books(..) Central to Bonus’ argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power. (...)

Locating Filipino Americans by Rick Bonus is by definition an ethnographic study. Having said that, ethnographic studies carry with them the benefits and risks of undertaking such a project. As most ethnographic studies of this nature are concerned one is able to push forward an agenda without really stating one's agenda up front. In this case, however, bonus is clear that his agenda is plainly descriptive. He deftly moves to describe the Filipino American communities in both Los Angeles and San Diego. Bonus is also clear that he is working within a multi-disciplinary framework and he is examining the connection between identity and space. Bonus posits that particular spaces allow Filipino Americans to react to and oppose the ways in which the dominant discourse has throughout history and via hegemonic institutions have removed this group of agency, hence voice. Bonus zeroes in on three particular "spaces." [1] "Oriental" stores, [2] the community centers (where the pinoys practice "palengke" politics), and [3] through the media via the local newspapers.

Identifying the spaces and articulating our mechanisms of resistance Bonus does us a big favor. First, he allows to see what it is we are doing. In this sense he makes us more self-reflective. Second, through this articulation we can now be self-reflective of how we use these mechanisms of resistance to our advantage. Self-reflexivity then allows us to move forward more aware of our actions and move towards some form of positive change. Bonus is also good at showing us how we "invent" ourselves (although the fetish for liminality does not really allow us to pin stuff down in any definite way) and through a reverse sense of "Orientalism" (see his references to Edward Said) in that we tend to appropriate what is needed and exclude what is not useful in an effort to cope with the situation at hand. On the other hand, it seems like Bonus is flirting with the idea that migration becomes a homogenizing experience - which the next generation is losing touch with their roots and becoming more "american" or what they perceive "american" to be. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing but that it is part of an ever-changing landscape of self-identity. Bonus alludes to several really key things that he does not really follow through with. What is missing is the complexity within the community itself. Bonus begins to write about the 150+ sub-groupings under COPAO in San Diego and another 200+ sub-groupings in San Diego. He alludes to a historical development in terms of migration (with a link to colonialism) and intra-ethnic division and loyalty that undermines social as well as political unity. Consider this work then a seed to even further complexity and exploration. Locating Filipino Americans is unique in that Bonus is grounded in a theoretical framework that allows us to get a better understanding of the state of affairs.

As much as labels allude to a sense of clear-cut definitions, Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian-American group in America just behind the Chinese. The Filipino-American community should be grateful and use this book in an effort to get a better understanding and potential that is clearly self-evident. Bonus has done an important piece that is as informative and thought provoking as it is inspiring.

Miguel Llora

This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader: An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books_.

Why do I feel such a deep sense of comfort when I am rummaging through dried fish, canned sardines and Spam at one of the many corner groceries along Jackson Street and Beacon Hill? What social function could "Filipino Time" (i.e., being perpetually late for meetings) serve for Filipino Americans? Or why is it that many times community meetings proceed like chaotic and politically-heated yelling matches?

Perhaps one of the more auspicious experiences of a reader is the time when something, whether a written or visual work, empowers one to see the everyday world freshly and with new eyes. Moreover, for someone like myself, who was a student of Asian American Studies, it is additionally gratifying to witness a new generation of Filipino American scholars making significant contributions to academia in such an original manner. Rick Bonus is currently an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, and he obtained his Ph.D. in Communications at the University of California, San Diego. His first book, Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity & the Cultural Politics of Space, is a highly accessible ethnographic study that analyzes the seemingly mundane worlds of Filipino "Oriental" stores and strip malls, community newspapers and beauty pageants in Southern California, and uncovers a powerfully rich and complex network of community building and resistance to racialization by Filipino American women and men.

Central to Bonus' argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power. This systematic form of exclusion on the basis of race and ethnicity has encouraged Filipino Americans "to respond to and resist invisibility, exploitation, silencing, and racial constructing, by history and by institutions, as well as a desire to claim a `space' within the rubric `American' on their own terms."

His analysis of these "spaces" in stores, community centers, newspapers and pageants shows Filipino Americans attempting to construct an identity that is both Filipino and American while interrogating it at the same time. This dynamic of resistance and interrogation is something that has historical roots in the Philippines' colonial history and a people's cultural attempts to flourish and define themselves despite oppression, categorization, and tremendous regional diversity. Bonus argues that these particular cultural practices directly challenge these forms of exclusion and invisibility while also reflecting an effort to claim a self-determined space in America.

In his study of these commercial establishments, Bonus combines oral interviews, multi-disciplinary theories, history and ethnographic fieldwork and provides sophisticated and thorough analyses of his findings. What is refreshing is not only the telling Taglish (i.e., a combination of Tagalog and English) responses by interviewees to his questions, but his scholarly commitment to the interviewees of the study. One can see that he understands the art of the interview because he is successful in having their rich voices and concerns speak for themselves. He preserves the excruciating details of the interviews so well that I can imagine them taking place before me - facial expressions, hand gestures and all.

Furthermore, I appreciated his conscious admission of his own location as an ethnographer in relation to the interviewees, and how his facility in Tagalog, his education and generational status opened certain doors to him that perhaps would not be open for other ethnographers. Bonus' scholarly eye roamed in these spaces being very much aware of his position as both a critical observer and a Filipino American, absorbing the meaningful details in his encounters with great openness, depth and reflection. Throughout the book, there are numerous instances where he lyrically describes the bustling in a community center before a big pageant, the cramped quarters of a small newspaper's offices and a reporter's passion to cover a story, or the noise and pungent smells of the market. Such descriptions capture a particular cultural spirit, setting the foreground for the poetic and political voices of the community members and their own views of what these spaces mean to them as individuals and as a collective.

Bonus' first book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary studies on the politics of race and space, and how identity is constructed and communities are enlivened on a daily basis. I don't think I will approach an Oriental store or participate in a meeting in the same manner anymore because this book has provided a sophisticated articulation of what such individual activities mean on a local, national and international scale. Now that this promising scholar is currently teaching at the University of Washington, I am very eager to see his research relate to Filipino Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader: An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books_.

Why do I feel such a deep sense of comfort when I am rummaging through dried fish, canned sardines and Spam at one of the many corner groceries along Jackson Street and Beacon Hill? What social function could "Filipino Time" (i.e., being perpetually late for meetings) serve for Filipino Americans? Or why is it that many times community meetings proceed like chaotic and politically-heated yelling matches?

Perhaps one of the more auspicious experiences of a reader is the time when something, whether a written or visual work, empowers one to see the everyday world freshly and with new eyes. Moreover, for someone like myself, who was a student of Asian American Studies, it is additionally gratifying to witness a new generation of Filipino American scholars making significant contributions to academia in such an original manner. Rick Bonus is currently an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, and he obtained his Ph.D. in Communications at the University of California, San Diego. His first book, Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity & the Cultural Politics of Space, is a highly accessible ethnographic study that analyzes the seemingly mundane worlds of Filipino "Oriental" stores and strip malls, community newspapers and beauty pageants in Southern California, and uncovers a powerfully rich and complex network of community building and resistance to racialization by Filipino American women and men.

Central to Bonus' argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power. This systematic form of exclusion on the basis of race and ethnicity has encouraged Filipino Americans "to respond to and resist invisibility, exploitation, silencing, and racial constructing, by history and by institutions, as well as a desire to claim a `space' within the rubric `American' on their own terms."

His analysis of these "spaces" in stores, community centers, newspapers and pageants shows Filipino Americans attempting to construct an identity that is both Filipino and American while interrogating it at the same time. This dynamic of resistance and interrogation is something that has historical roots in the Philippines' colonial history and a people's cultural attempts to flourish and define themselves despite oppression, categorization, and tremendous regional diversity. Bonus argues that these particular cultural practices directly challenge these forms of exclusion and invisibility while also reflecting an effort to claim a self-determined space in America.

In his study of these commercial establishments, Bonus combines oral interviews, multi-disciplinary theories, history and ethnographic fieldwork and provides sophisticated and thorough analyses of his findings. What is refreshing is not only the telling Taglish (i.e., a combination of Tagalog and English) responses by interviewees to his questions, but his scholarly commitment to the interviewees of the study. One can see that he understands the art of the interview because he is successful in having their rich voices and concerns speak for themselves. He preserves the excruciating details of the interviews so well that I can imagine them taking place before me - facial expressions, hand gestures and all.

Furthermore, I appreciated his conscious admission of his own location as an ethnographer in relation to the interviewees, and how his facility in Tagalog, his education and generational status opened certain doors to him that perhaps would not be open for other ethnographers. Bonus' scholarly eye roamed in these spaces being very much aware of his position as both a critical observer and a Filipino American, absorbing the meaningful details in his encounters with great openness, depth and reflection. Throughout the book, there are numerous instances where he lyrically describes the bustling in a community center before a big pageant, the cramped quarters of a small newspaper's offices and a reporter's passion to cover a story, or the noise and pungent smells of the market. Such descriptions capture a particular cultural spirit, setting the foreground for the poetic and political voices of the community members and their own views of what these spaces mean to them as individuals and as a collective.

Bonus' first book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary studies on the politics of race and space, and how identity is constructed and communities are enlivened on a daily basis. I don't think I will approach an Oriental store or participate in a meeting in the same manner anymore because this book has provided a sophisticated articulation of what such individual activities mean on a local, national and international scale. Now that this promising scholar is currently teaching at the University of Washington, I am very eager to see his research relate to Filipino Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

If you've been finding haiku and tanka either stuffy, obscure, or dreary and are wondering why so many people seem to like it, this book will set the matter straight. Contained within its pages are dozens of truly excellent poems that engage the reader with surprising, eloquent, original, and evocative images and sensations. Covering far more than the usual range of expression, they touch on everything from being interrogation by the police to motherhood. Usually 'women's literature' tends to focus on the author's narrow view of what women 'ought' to be; this book presents a broad range of women experiencing all manner of things with all sorts of attitudes.

Unfortunately, the book shares one fault with many others of its kind: The notes are insufficient. Yes, each poem should and does stand on its own, but not all of them make them make it across the cultural divide as well as others. For example, Nakamura's 'land-locked bride / tempted offshore -- / the open sea' can be read as the straightforward longing of a woman for a broader horizon, but if the reader also knows that Japanese women often commit suicide by wading into the sea and drowning, then it acquires an intensity that lifts it from the realm of the good to the excellent.

The other thing that disappointed me is that the Japanese originals were not included in the book. For those of us that can read a little Japanese, being able to decipher even a few of the poems in their original form is a great gift. Even those who can't can still look at the shape of the poem on the page and note patterns of sound and syllable that helps to convey some idea of the original.

Nonetheless, the poetry works and works well. It is a breathtakingly beautiful work, and compares favorably to that hoary old classic, Ueda's Modern Japanese Tanka. If you're wanting to introduce somebody to modern Japanese poetry, I'd give them this book over Ueda's book any day - male readers included.

"A Long Rainy Season" is a refreshing collection of contemporary haiku and tanka written by Japanese women. The poems within speak of loneliness, and breasts, politics and menstruation. It is inspiring to see the haiku eye expressed from women's points of view. There is nothing dry or dull in this volume, and the content is as varied as the women who wrote the poems. I would recommend this to anyone who loves these poetic forms, especially those who just can't see past Basho and his poetic brothers .

The beautiful unfolding of a tradition that simply has not existed in English until now. Here, we are given an anthology of haiku and tanka by contemporary women poets tackling modern topics - feminism, sexuality, politics - with an elegant aesthetic. Hopefully, this long, rainy, fertile season will
continue with much more from these talented translators of hidden treasures.

As returning travellers will confirm, throughout the Asia-Pacific a tsunami of social and techno-transformation is unceasingly at work, directing outmoded Western notions of how Asia ticks toward the millenial trash bin. Odd therefore, how infrequently arrive the necessary antidotes to such shopworn myths as the "Asian female as Suzie Wong," and "Mother Asia as great slattern of the world," or Asia as "the inscrutable Other," etc. How welcome then comes the panache and sheer breadth of discovery to be found in this exquisite brace of new women's poetry compilations from the Japanese. Whether in English or elsewhere, only occasionally do poetry collections of such excellence come along that find immediate place of honour among readers, other poets, translators and critics alike. "A Long Rainy Season" and "Other Side River" are such books. The first major anthologies of contemporary Japanese women's poetry to arrive in English translation, they compose a brickhouse-solid tribute to the depth and strength of Japan's women poets who--until now--have remained virtually unknown abroad. And how delicious these translations are! The deeper one reads, the more absorbing becomes the enculturation provided by their poetic concerns, which begin to grow with commensurate familiarity--feminism, identity, emergence and constriction, sexuality, child-rearing, aging, existence. Lowitz and her collaborators demonstrate an intuitive sensibility regarding what qualifies among Japanese women poets, and their selections and interpreting skills are convincing. For an awfully long time, what we've had available in English from Japan's women poets has been chiefly the rough-legged classical translations of Rexroth and his disciples. With these two new books, however, Lowitz, Aoyama and Tomioka expand the canon enormously, and it is not overestimating them to number "A Long Rainy Season" and "Other Side River" among the half dozen most significant collections of poetry to arrive internationally in the past few years. That they are presented in handsome, affordably priced editions from Stone Bridge Press, a relatively new press dedicated to translations from the Japanese, makes their happy arrival all the better. Producing volumes such as these cannot have been a light task and we are indebted to such cross-cultural work in service of the muse.

This is a good book because the author of book is using Iranian intellectuals in order to illustarte how Iranian lost their own knowledge. The author is encouraging Iranian people to think independently about Iran.

One of the best books I have read in the last couple of years. Dr. Milani's eloquent and well researched comparative study of literary texts written in Persian from Saadi to Golestan and Parsipour, sheds light on a multitude of interesting topics such as modernity. His well-thought knowledge of Iran as well as the West coupled with his academic approach creates an engaging reading that is quite pleasant and informational.

By illustrating that Modernity and its accompanying social, literary and political structures are not only relevant but also historically germane to Iran, Dr. Milani has dispelled the familiar notion that Modernity is a Western phenomenon and its adoption by Iranians, therefore, a confession of inferiority. The 'modern' format of the book - a series of biographical sketches -- is judiciously employed to cover substantial ground from the discussion of Sa'di as a harbinger of democracy and equality to that on the plight and role of the Iranian diaspora in its exiled state. This work is a must-read for anyone interested in Iran, modernity or world history in general. Dr. Milani's anecdotal style captures readers' attention, even those who are entirely unfamiliar with the subject matter. He is as brilliant an author as he is a professor and researcher. This work is an incredible contribution to academia and the global pool of knowledge. In fact, I have yet to read something of Dr. Milani's that is not superb.

Dr. Milani has done it again! The "Lost Wisdom" is an outstanding achievement by Abbas Milano who is fast becoming the eminant scholar on Iranian history and political affairs, if not already there.

In his famous work, "The Persian Sphynx", Dr. Milano demonstarted his amazing capablities as an objective and thorough researcher of history. Despite the injustices that he as a political prisoner had suffered at the hadns of government agents controlled by the late Mr. hoveyda, Milani mainatined his academic honesty, and reported the former Prime Minister for what he really was.

In this book, Milani is so amazingly find the paralells and commonalities between the Irnaian thinkers and those of the "West." His masterpiece clearly shows the craving for individual liberites and human rights among all nations, races and times, albeit each in their unique molds.

The "Lost Wisdom", at these times that all those who love Iran are so desparately searching for a way out of the Islamic dictatorship without being labeld as having sold out to the "West", is the greatest intellectual contribution that any Iranian scholar could have made.

The native Iranina reader will so quickly identify with the passages and have that nostalgic feeling all over. Those with less familairity with Iranian history and culture will soon fall in love with the beautiful and elequont, yet easy, style of Milani's writing, and will follow page after page.

My sincere thanks and congratulations to Dr. Milani for this wonderful piece of literary work.

Hamid Bahadori
Mission Viejo, California

Just what you need if your wife needs an indication that you are still "there"!

A diverse collection from classical, mediaeval and modern sources
including Manyoshu and Kokinshu, the poems have an elegant
simplicity. Brief biographies of the poets are supplied.
An exquisite volume well worth owning. It makes an excellent gift.

If you have a heart that is full of longing, a life that slips past too quickly, a love long lost or not yet known, a yearning for the spring, an ache for a distant tune partly forgotten or the remembrance of the scent of spring, then this book is for you. It will not lighten the load you bear, but it makes bearing it all the more meaningful.

More Wabi Sabi

Great things come in small packages has never been so true as it is with this little gem. Erotic, profound, and always beautiful, this is Japanese poetry at its short, short best. Read and enjoy.

This is a book to dive into, and lose yourself for days. Madame Chiang Kai-Shek is that good a story, and this is that good an account of her life. Madame Chiang used her political cunning and legendary drive to seduce supporters to her side of China's epic civil war during the middle part of the 20th century.

The Nationalist regime, headed by her husband, was hated by the Chinese people for its notorious brutality and corruption. But as portrayed by Madame Chiang, especially to American audiences, Chiang Kai-shek's government was a modern, educated bulwark of democracy and freedom for a country whose history had allowed little of either. Indeed, Madame Chiang personified the vaunted hopes, bitter disappointments and complex misunderstandings of the U.S.-China relationship, which vacillated wildly during her exceptional 105-year lifetime. Laura Tyson Li's incisive new biography, rises to the tall task of capturing this pivotal figure in all her splendor and humiliation, against a backdrop of war, revolution and unending political turmoil. Li, a journalist with a decade of experience in Asia, accurately portrays her as "beautiful, vain, witty, spirited, capricious, scheming, selfish, and driven."

What a character. What a tale.

The book opens in the waning days of China's second-to-last emperor in the late 1890s, when Mayling Olive Soong was born in Shanghai, the youngest daughter of a businessman who had made a fortune selling Bibles and presided over a family of savvy, idealistic and recklessly ambitious children. One married Sun Yat-sen, China's first president. Another became finance minister and acting prime minister of Nationalist China. Another became one of China's richest women. Mayling became Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

In an era when few girls learned to read and fewer traveled, Mayling was schooled in Georgia, then graduated from Wellesley College, where she excelled at French, violin and religious studies. She returned to Shanghai in 1917 just as China lurched into a bloody warlord period, and soon she was courted by the most severe warlord of all, Chiang Kai-shek. He divorced one wife and sent another off to Columbia University before Mayling agreed to marry him.

During World War II, Madame Chiang became a superb envoy to the United States, where her address to Congress in 1943 thrilled Washington, and her barnstorming across the country won renewed support and money to defeat the Japanese. In China, she was a poised partner to her husband, softening his imperiousness while sharpening his political machinations.

In Li's telling, husband and wife (who shared a bedroom with a screen separating their beds) could not have differed more. He was an early riser; she stayed up late watching movies. He was ascetic; she insisted on luxury. Still, they called each other 'Dar' (short for 'darling') and for years collaborated to cement fragile political alliances and keep a shaky hold on power.

The book has delicious tidbits, such as an affair with Republican presidential nominee Wendell Wilkie and her insistence on getting silk sheets when she stayed in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's White House.

Overall, Li delivers a thoughtful portrait of a complex woman and resists the considerable temptation to crucify her. That is a refreshing contrast to the shock-and-awe approach seen in so many recent books on prominent figures in China's recent history. Li deconstructs critical historical events with skill: the Xian Incident, when Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by rebellious generals; the 50-year house-arrest of the leading kidnapper, with whom Madame Chiang developed a curious friendship; Madame Chiang's mysterious disappearances for months at a time, caused, Li thinks by physical and mental illnesses, including debilitating hives, breast cancer and nervous breakdown.

More reporter than writer, Li assiduously draws on Madame Chiang's extensive personal correspondence, from archives around the world, to explain each stage of her drama. It's a spellbinding period of history. And it does not end well for the Chiangs. The Nationalist regime crumbled to the Communists in 1949. The Chiangs fled to Taiwan, admitting no fault, but blamed President Truman and vowed to retake the mainland. That dream faded gradually after Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975.

Madame Chiang's antagonistic stepson, Chiang Ching-kuo, would oversee a murderous suppression of dissidents as head of Taiwan's intelligence network. Paradoxically, as president, he later paved the way for the launch of Taiwan's democracy just before his death in 1988. That year, at age 90, she tried to rally Taiwan's Old Guard and prevent the onset of democracy she once spoke of so often. She failed.

Madame Chiang lived out her days in New York, watching China and Taiwan as one became capitalist and the other became a democracy. Despite her illnesses, she lived until 2003.

Ultimately, Madame Chiang was "a deeply flawed heroine," Li writes, "that rare creature who stuck resolutely to her beliefs, however misguided some of them may have been, through the decades and the trials."

Reading "Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady" was like going through everything in the attic and leaving nothing unexamined. Tyson-Li covers every aspect of Madame Chiang's life without ever letting us forget that life's relevance for today. The "Dragon Lady's" significance never disappears in the wealth of the personal, historical, political, psychological, medical, and religious dimensions of her complex life. Her fanatical anti-Communism calls to mind Richard Nixon's personal crusade. Her use of religion to define her and her husband's sense of destiny parallels certain leaders who employ religious language for similar ends. Her manipulation of people and events exceeds the ambitions of any demagogue who has come to believe his or her own public statements.

All this and more the author achieves with vivid prose that takes you into private parlors where Madame Chiang herself has invited you to tea, but leaves you feeling that just maybe everything you've heard is really true and that your hostess is neither monster nor statesman, but an enigmatic individual using the world as a stage to work out her insecurities.

It's surprising to note that this is the first biography of one of the most politically influential women of modern times, but MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK: CHINA'S ETERNAL FIRST LADY remains the only title to provide the complete story of a woman who seized unofficial and official power during China's civil war. Her position against Chinese Communism and her diplomatic relations affected decades of Chinese-American relations, so this book is key to a thorough understanding of not just the woman, but Chinese politics and influences in particular.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Laura Tyson Li has assembled a spectacular bio. It's page turner with the authority and detail of an encyclopedia. LTL has managed to keep her opinions out of the text. It isn't until the last chapter when through an informed discussion on the Madame's possible motivations that LTL becomes subjective.

While almost every aspect of this life is intriguing, certain people and episodes stand out. I had forgotten Zhang Xueliang until he emerged after a 50 year house arrest, after which he & his wife move to Hawaii. Apparently he was able to keep his pre-war fortune, or had been cared for financially; he is deemed a friend of the Madame. (Another 5 year house arrest of a physician who botches an operation of the General suggests house arrest is a common punishment for "friends" and other professionals.) Madame's war time US appeal for funds, with its cross country caravan of staff whom MCKS treats "as coolies" is certainly an episode worth a small volume. (The $800,000 she raises goes to her personal account.) While the Wendel Wilkie relationship (true or false) is intriguing, I fixed on the William H. Donald relationship, which may have been a professional friendship and refuge from her husband's authoritarianism, but her end of life treatment of him suggests something else.

There are a host of issues worthy of their own books. Perhaps these books exist but I don't know about them. One issue is the "arrival" of 2 million mainlanders to the island of Formosa, who's 7 million citizens seemed to have some degree of prosperity under the Japanese. While the Chaings arrive with resources, others huddle in makeshift places and cry at night. "Invasion" appears to be a better word for this arrival (particularly after 2/28), but it is certainly not portrayed as such (or allowed to be portrayed as such) by the Nationalists who felt entitled to rule and had the resources to make it so. Even later, Madame objects to the appointment of Taiwanese to government posts.

Another issue deserving its own book is Madame's money. Whether or not the NYC exterminators actually saw it, a closet of gold bars is not far fetched. For maybe 30 years, Madame's "charity" received a % of all imports to Taiwan. There were several "vacation" homes in Taiwan, one built at a cost of $2 million. Then, the resources brought from the mainland to Taiwan. This money provided Madame with luxury and a large staff until her death. How large was it? How was it acquired (any from the US war assistance?) and where did it go?

MCKS can be noted for her longevity alone. There must be something Guinness-worthy about her survival despite many years in a war zone, continued medical treatments, operations including several for breast cancer, nervous afflictions, a late in life automobile accident, lifelong cigarette smoking (and potential drug abuse) and at least one assassination attempt. Any one of these factors would tend to predict an early demise, not a life of 103 years.

If you read this book, it's riveting, so be prepared to give it time. Also, the level of detail might make continuity difficult if you have to make gaps in your reading time.

"Marx's Das Kapital" is noted Marx-sympathetic journalist Francis Wheen's contribution to Atlantic Magazine's series on book biographies. It's short, merely 120 pages of actual text, but it does the job well. Relying strongly on prominent secondary literature about Marx, such as David McLellan's excellent biography (Karl Marx, Fourth Edition: A Biography) and S.S. Prawer's equally fascinating study of Marx' use of literature and literary references (Karl Marx and World Literature (Oxford Paperbacks)), Wheen summarizes the background of Das Kapital, how it came to be, as well as its content and its reception.

Wheen is at his best in the journalistic parts, when he can give colorful and well-done descriptions of Marx's life and activities, his relation to Engels, his trials and tribulations while working on the magnum opus, and in commentary on Marx's books and style. On the other hand, his grasp of Marx's economic theories is very weak and likely to make things more confusing, especially since he misses the point and meaning of Marx's Theory of Value entirely. Also dubious is that he appends a chapter on 'afterlife' of the book, which is mostly an attempt to summarize all of the later Marxist tradition (from an anti-Leninist viewpoint) in a few pages, a task so impossible that its attempt is fruitless and uninformative.

However, Wheen is quite good at putting Das Kapital in its historical context, in emphasizing the rhetorical and literary qualities of the book and of Marx' thought in general, and the book also contains some fascinating quotes and remarks from pro-capitalist economists and businessmen who have come to see, to their own astonishment, that ol' Marx was a better analyst of the system they wish to support than anyone else. Let us hope the reader of this booklet will be inspired by this to attempt to delve into Marx & Engels' own works, which constantly show their relevance in new and unexpected ways. As Wheen demonstrates, this is precisely as Marx had intended it.

Mr. Francis Wheen's narration of the genesis of Karl Marx's Das Kapital deserves an honored space on the library shelves of every man conversant in current affairs.

John Gooch

Karl Marx. For some, those two four letter words elicit hissing recoils and vicious claw swipes. Just one glimpse of the man resembling Santa Claus' evil twin can send them into a relentless conniption of fury. They may equate Marxism with communist, socialist, Leninist, anti-American claptrap. After all, weren't the Soviets America's diabolical enemy? Didn't they breed Bolsheviks in our washrooms? Inject anti-capitalist fluid into our drinking water? And didn't they derive such sinister plots from their hoary prophet of doom, Herr Marx? Surely the mighty bearded one inspired the killing fields, the Gulag death camps and the Red Square parades? So why drudge up this hateful mess?

After the Berlin Wall and the USSR collapsed, and especially after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, which put the focus on Middle East terrorism, Marx has acquired a more innocuous aura. Nothing cools old passions like new enemies. This new era has allowed Marx to crawl out from under those who have claimed him as their ideological messiah. And many have claimed him. But why did they claim him, an impoverished exiled German journalist? And were those countless communist regimes of the past two hundred years accurate reflections of Marx's ideas? Where did those ideas come from?

This small book explores the origins and fate of those ideas through Marx's maniacal magnum opus, "Das Kapital." As spiraling, towering, and dizzying, and as incomplete, as Gaudí's cathedral, this sprawling tome usually goes unread. A reputation for Tolstoyian verbosity, Proustian opacity, and Gödelian complexity preceded it into the twenty-first century. Not only that, at some 1000 pages, the book's physical presence alone would intimidate anyone but the most recklessly courageous bookworm. Nonetheless, it somehow persists. The story of how it came to be makes up this much shorter book's first two chapters. Procrastination, neglect, illness, despair, and squalor almost kept it from appearing. Decades passed between its conception and its printing. Fredrick Engels, Marx's partner and financial supporter, egged him on through a parade of excuses and diversions. Along the way snippets of Marx's economic theory, such as use-value, exchange-value, surplus-value, commodity fetishism, immiseration, and dialectic, also dot the narrative.

The reception of "Das Kapital" following its publication, outlined in chapters two and three, surprised everyone, except Engels. It didn't sell. It seemed to have fallen, a la Hume, still born from the press. Engels blamed the book's dense obscurity. The one place it did catch on, to Marx's astonishment, was in Tsarist Russia. Though Marx passed on well before the 1917 revolution there, he nonetheless praised the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by a group called "The People's Will." He also spent the rest of his days waiting for the fall of capitalism. He and Engels seemed to revel in every economic disruption. But the big blow never struck. The boom and bust cycles that Marx outlined in "Das Kapital" never destroyed capitalism from within, as he predicted it someday would and should. Of course, it still could, but to this day the system endures.

Chapter three discusses Marx's legacy. Most of all, it rescues him from some of the crimes perpetrated by "Marxist" regimes. Vladimir Lenin in particular seemed to turn the Marxian dialectic on its head by postulating an elite proletariat "intelligentsia." Marx never condoned such a thing. As the twentieth century continued, Marx was also appropriated by academic movements such as cultural studies. The book dismisses these movements apparent "Marxism" through figures such as Louis Althusser. It also criticizes this movement's displacement of economics, which lies at the heart of Marx's work, with critiques of mass culture, such as television shows and candy wrappers. Most shocking are quotes from modern economists who support some of Marx's views on capitalism. So Marx wasn't blacklisted along with all those 1930s entertainers. Marx's legacy may just be beginning, but not as a revolutionary overthrowing the capitalist machine, but as an observer of the machine's working and flaws.

A better introduction to Marx and "Das Kapital" is hard to imagine. The book reads like a roller coaster in clear accessible language. Pros as well as cons of Marxist theory, its implications, and abuses receive apt attention, and Marx's turgid masterpiece comes to life. Anyone curious about "the spectre of communism" should start with this tiny but riveting - and appropriately colored - book.

If you're anything like me, you have neither the time, nor the patience to delve into Karl Marx's monstrous Magnum opus of political economics, Das Kapital. Fortunately, Francis Wheen has done us a great service by giving us this fantastic "biography" of a book that changed the world. The book is superbly written, and the audio version, eloquently delivered by Simon Vance, is equally good. It is a concise work; the CD version is 3.5 hours, while the printed format is only about 144 pages. My CD version is separated into three sections. The first section details Marx's life and the circumstances that led him to write such a groundbreaking book. The second section is a succinct exposition of Das Kapital. Wheen aptly outlines and dissects the basic principles of Marx's revolutionary economic theory, objectively pointing out both Marx's errors, as well as his numerous insights, many of which have proven true. While his prophesies of the collapse of the capitalist system have obviously not come to pass, Marx offers more insight into the "nature of the beast" than anyone else before, or since.

The final section deals with the book's lasting influence and Marx's legacy. Wheen points out that in most "Marxist" countries, Marx's ideas were never thoroughly researched and interpreted, their leaders simply took their own interpretation, made it an unquestionable dogma, and that was that. Ironically, it's been in western capitalist societies where Marx, due to the freedom of scholars to study him, has been more thoroughly understood. "Marxism as practiced by Marx himself," Wheen writes, "was not so much an ideology, as a critical process, a continuous dialectical argument." More simply put, Marx was not a Marxist.

Wheen clearly has a great amount of respect for Marx. And while he is quick to point out certain lapses in logic or prognosis, he maintains that Marx was one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 19th century. In fact, he predicts that we have not seen the last of Karl Marx, and boldly suggests that in the end, he may turn out to be more relevant than most would expect. All in all, I would recommend this as a great introduction to Marx or even a refreshing new look at an old subject. 5 stars.

I am really interested in Chinese culture so I was glad to find this book and learn more about its art. The book is nicelly illustrated and the pieces of art are well described so one can have enough information about them. I agree with the previously published reviews that this is an important book for those who want to know more about Chinese art.

This wonderful overview of Chinese art takes the reader on a delightful trip through 6000 years of history. Some 100 beautiful full-color photographs, some of them filling the entire oversized page, are used to illustrate this fascinating journey. The text is insightful and well-written and should appeal even to readers who are not especially interested in the study of Asian art. This beautiful (and remarkably inexpensive) book is not to be missed!

This is an amazing overview of the very best in Chinese art, including sculpture, painting, drawings, and pottery from ancient times to the present day. Roughly 100 full-color illustrations--many of which fill an entire page--are used to illuminate this insightful stroll through Chinese art history. The text is clearly written, and even readers with only a minimal interest in art are likely to enjoy learning about the fascinating history of Chinese civilization. Don't miss this one!

This wonderful overview of Chinese art takes the reader on a delightful trip through 6000 years of history. Some 100 beautiful full-color photographs, some of them filling the entire oversized page, are used to illustrate this fascinating journey. The text is insightful and well-written and should appeal even to readers who are not especially interested in the study of Asian art. This beautiful (and remarkably inexpensive) book is not to be missed!

I am fairly new to haiku and this poet. Was recommended to me, and I now do the same to anyone wanting to read and be calmed by the depth of understanding of our lives, animals, all nature around us, that is presented by Matsuo Basho. I now have two of his books, his travel journals, and return to them often whenever I need to mentally take a trip myself to another time and place. Everyone should read some Basho. I recommend this book.

While reading this book I realized that I knew nothing about haiku. I had always thought that the form of haiku, the 5-7-5 pattern was important but I had never really considered why this pattern mattered, or what one tried to accomplish with a haiku that could not be accomplished with a more free-form style of poetry.

This book, "Matsuo Basho," not only supplies an interesting history of the undisputed master of Japanese haiku, but it also contains an introductory lesson on the different forms of poetry that Basho utilized, the haiku, the renku and the haibun. Many of Basho's poems are included, both in the original Japanese as well as with a translation, and then interpreted. The author puts the poem in historical context, as well as gives an idea of the scene that Basho was describing. It is truly amazing how complete a scene Basho could bring forth using such a limited palette of words.

Also included are descriptions of Basho's travel guides, that he wrote on his many voyages across Japan, some highlights of Basho's thoughts on poetry as well as the author's personal interpretation of why Basho has remained a relevant poet, and will continue to remain so.

A fascinating book overall, and one that has led me to become interested in haiku and seeking out more books by this amazing writer, Matsuo Basho.

This delightful little book deserves a brief review, some stars. I read it twenty-five years ago, and can remember the experience with great clarity (which I can only say of a select few books). I didn't have high expectations when I picked it up, but found it surpisingly exciting and deeply satisfying - and grew to care for the book, and Matsuo Basho, long before I was done. If you have an interest in Basho or haiku poetry, this is a marvellous and friendly guide. As well as being a very readable biography of the man, it's also an excellent means of understanding and appreciating the poetry he wrote - what it was, why he wrote it, with whom, what they accomplished, and why it matters. And it's written with love as well as with knowledge. It's not dry at all. Ueda later compiled "Basho and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku With Commentary", which is a great collection if you want to go in deeper. But start here.

If you are looking for a complete collection of Matsuo Basho's poetry, this is not what you are looking for. However, if you are looking for a personal and literary biography of the haiku master and his influence on Japanese literature, this is what you are looking for.

The writing is clear and interesting and the text is liberally studded with examples of not only Basho's, but the the work of his contemporaries and students.

Definately for the literary minded.

The idea of a book full of arguments for the war in Iraq from liberal authors seemed so interesting that I immediately ordered it and started reading it as soon as I had finished my book of conservative authors not so happy about the war.

Seeing the way liberals had reacted to Iraq was one of the biggest reasons why I have started calling myself moderate instead of liberal. I'm not trying to imply that the word liberal is monolithic by any means, but seeing the way so many different types of liberals were so strongly opposed to this war (many times out of pure hatred of George W. Bush and nothing else), really made me take serious look at what I thought.

Some of the articles in this book are a bit dense, and the average reader might not be able to get through them, but there are numerous other brilliant articles in this book that make a very strong case for their arguments. Put simply, the main point of this book is that a perfectly logical case can be made in favor of invading Iraq from a humanitarian perspective.

The authors in this book are not fans of Bush in any way, but yet they still make the case that getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a good thing. One of the contributors, Adam Michnik, put it best when he said "I believe you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein."

Throughout the book, the authors pose tough questions such as "If Bush really did lie about the weapons (and knew that none were in Iraq), why did the U.S. not arrange to plant the weapons after the invasion? A simple, but ironclad point in my opinion. The authors also tackle many of the liberal points used to argue against the war. Michael Moore is mentioned several times and because of this book, I am firmly cemented in my view that Moore has about as many positive contributions to make to the political world as Ann Coulter (which would be next to none).

Something I found particularly interesting was that a lot of what was said could be found coming from the right, but the point here is that the talk of liberating the Iraqi people from these authors are genuine. Hearing someone like Sean Hannity making these arguments isn't convincing because he's only for liberating another country if a Republican President is the one doing it. You never hear Hannity-types making the liberation argument in any other case.

I sincerely hope that anyone calling themselves a liberal that is opposed to the war in Iraq reads this book. It really challenges liberals to look at Iraq from the humanitarian perspective and I would venture to say that if you're a Michael Moore fan or a Noam Chomsky fan that could make it through this book and not have second thoughts, you're no different than the Republicans and conservatives you accuse of being blinded by ideology.

Irrespective of whether it leaves you believing that the Iraq war was just, this book is a fresh and valuable perspective. It explores important and critical arguments of a sophistication and depth that the lightweights and bigots of the contemporary media simply ignore (whether through bias or ineptitude).

Read the introduction here:

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10415/cushman.pdf

...and another example of the books chapters is here:

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/menutest/articles/wi04/berman.htm

Highly recommended.

With the exception of Roger Scruton, all of the contributors to this thought-provoking book come from the left of the political spectrum. It is most refreshing to see that there are still rational people on that side and that the strident, hateful and juvenile shrieking that one encounters in the media are not the only voices of the left.

Part One: Reconsidering Regime Change, contains contributions by the brilliant Christopher Hitchens, Jeffrey Herf, Jan Narveson and Mitchell Cohen. These essays state the case for the overthrow of the sadistic Saddam whilst discussing the liberal and humanitarian case for the liberation.

The next section, Philosophical Arguments, includes a reflection on national interest and international law by the conservative Roger Scruton, an essay on a just war against criminal regimes by Mehdi Mozaffari, and moral arguments on sovereignty, agency and consequences by Daniel Kofman.

Critiques Of The Left is the third section. This contains the most interesting dissection of leftist positions and thoroughly undermines the fallacy created by the mass media that liberals and leftists were unanimously against the war. My personal favourite essays in this group include Pages From A Daily Journal Of Argument by Norman Geras, Ethical Correctness And The Decline Of The Left by Jonathan Re and A Friendly Drink In A Time Of War by Paul Berman, a liberal.

In European Dimensions, people like John Lloyd, Michel Taubmann and Anders Jerichow reveal that many prominent European intellectuals, including Vaclav Havel, supported the war on liberal-humanitarian grounds.

Part Five: Solidarity, contains an interview between the compiler Thomas Cushman and the Polish intellectual Adam Michnik. There are also moving essays by Timorese leader Jose Ramos-Horta, Johann Hari, Pamela Bone and Ann Clwyd. It is quite clear that unlike the rest of the Left, these authors have genuine compassion for the weak and the oppressed. An important point made here is that indifference to the plight of the oppressed means abdication of the duty to protect them.

The volume concludes with Liberal Statesmanship that contains Prime Minister Tony Blair's full statement to the House of Commons on 18th March 2003 and another speech of his titled The Threat Of Global Terrorism. They are both eloquent arguments for the liberation of Iraq that are rooted in principle and morality.

This valuable book demolishes many myths perpetuated by the academic and media elites and more importantly, exposes their malignant mindsets to some extent. For example, Johan Hari points out how Anti-Americanism has become a religion and how leftists ignore the crimes of sundry third world dictators. It is made clear that the anti-war camp really did not care about Saddam's victims. Then again, this is nothing new - leftists of the past also tried to suppress knowledge of Stalin's atrocities and those of Pol Pot.

Another lie that is exposed is the myth of American unilateralism. Forty Eight countries had joined the Coalition by March 2003 and in Europe, states like the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia strongly allied themselves with the USA. Many Asian states supported it too, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. That puts the myth of unilateralism to rest.

In his introduction, Cushman mentions the relentless campaign of hatred and disinformation against Israel by the United Nations and the travesty of a UN Human Rights body that that includes representatives of cruel totalitarian states like Libya, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

He also mentions the shady motives behind the anti-war position of France, Germany and Russia. These essays were written and the book compiled before the full extent of the UN Oil For Food graft became widely known, but this scandal of the century only confirms the hypocrisy of the leadership of the aforementioned countries.

The book is not flawless. Some of the writing is perhaps too self-critical and as a Reaganite, I obviously disagree with many contributors on a range of other issues. But they are brave people who are willing to stand up for their convictions in a hostile environment. I regard the George Galloway/Michael Moore Moonbat Left as one would a hairy spider, but these authors are rational and decent. Their concern for the wretched of the earth is genuine. Their hearts are in the right place.

I also recommend A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq by Christopher Hitchens, Unholy Alliance and The Anti Chomsky Reader by David Horowitz, The Force Of Reason by Oriana Fallaci plus everything written by the wonderful Norman Geras.

The essays in this book about the Iraq War and international law are for the most part in clear and accessible English and do not rely on theories that are left unexplained in the body of the essay itself. For that reason I would recommend this collection to people who are interested only in the development of international law and mores and who are not much concerned with the Iraq War.

For those who are interested in the Iraq War, this collection is, I feel, indispensable. Not because the authors agree (they do not) but because the debate in this volume has about it a quality that has been largely absent from the Iraq debate: candor. Thus while the authors disagree on fundamental issues such as:

* was the war in Iraq, on balance, justified;

* did the governments that lead us to war lie or act in good faith;

* was the suffering of the Iraqi people alone sufficient justification for war; and

* do we have what it takes to see this war through

they do so without simplifying the arguments and without assuming that the Iraqi people agree with their positions.

For as profound as their disagreements are, the authors agree that:

* Saddam's regime was genocidal;

* leaving Saddam in place was not costless either (and most immediately) to the Iraqi people or (eventually) to the West; and

* the Bush administration has terribly botched the occupation, thereby endangering the whole enterprise.

And finally these authors point out that when in a public policy debate, the liberals sound like Henry Kissinger while the conservatives echo John Rawls, the political landscape is out of joint.

This is the sort of debate liberals like myself had every right to expect in the days and months preceding the Iraq invasion. We did not get it (for reasons addressed in this volume). We get it here; in this collection of essays. I highly recommend it.