Asian Books

"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 .

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.

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.

Rumi was one of the greatest of the Sufi teachers. But until he met his teacher,Shamis-i-Tabrizi, he was only a Sufi scholar who was spiritually asleep. After teaching Rumi for three years Shamis left his student, and Rumi became one of the world's greatest poets whose spiritually inspired writings inspire millions of people from all the world. We know a good bit about Rumi's life, but very little about Shams, his teacher. Through the work of a diligent Iranian scholar who collected manuscripts which were accounts of Shams oral discourses both before and after he met Rumi we get to know Shams in ways not available to us before. Me & Rumi: The Authobiography of Shams-i Trabrizi is a translation of those manuscripts which allows to get to know Shams a little better. These short discourses are not easy reading, but by reading and reflecting on each passage, we can acquire seeds for our meditations. I don't recommend this book unless you are willing to work hard for the precious spiritual insights available through study and meditation. If you are mentally and spiritually lazy, don't waste your time or money. If you curious and want to broaden your spiritual perspectives, this book is well worth your money and study.

"When a sincere man begins to dance,
the seven heavens, the earth, and all creatures begin to dance." - Shams

Little did we know about Shams Tabrizi, except that he was the enigmatic master of Maulana Jalalludin Rumi. Now we may get an inside picture through this wonderful autobiography, translated by a thorough scholar (William Chittick). Moreover, it may correct certain childish misconceptions we may have had about both Rumi and Shams.

This is an authentic biography, however rather atypical. From the translator's introduction: "The first thing we need to remember about the Discourses is that it was not written by Shams. Rather, one or more individuals in Rumi's intimate circle took notes while Shams was speaking, often, but not always, when Rumi was present. (...) What is certain is that he never saw a final version - or if he did, it has not survived." Consequently, this autobiography does not read as a continuous story, but consists of random notes in the original manuscript, organized however into chapters in this English translation.

Who was Shams Tabrizi? You must read the book in order to answer this question for yourself. Shams recounts: "What then do you know of me? I went into that thicket where lions wouldn't dare to go (...) and awesomeness settled into me." Indeed, what did anyone know of him?

What is clear from this book is that Shams's heart-secret (sirr-e asrar) was no match for contemporary mystics, although he did respect just one or two or perhaps a few.
With every encounter he would reveal the other's state (hal) and spiritual standing (maqam) through gnostic insight, and invariably he would manifest as idol-breaker. Then they would flee his presence, being incapable to tolerate his face.
He is very critical even of the great ones in Sufism, particularly Bayazid Bistami and Mansur Hallaj, whom he frequently mentions in comparisons, or even Junayd. He says: "The station of `He is the Real' is far above that of `I am the Real'. And explains: "The difference between me and the great ones is just that - what I have inwardly is exactly what's outward."

He appears to have been vastly different from other Sufi masters. Whereas others would train recipients with "preparedness" to become saints (wali) and masters in their own right, Shams was made for a different task. He says: "I haven't come to do with the common people in this world - I haven't come for them. I've put my finger on the pulse of those who guide the world to the Real."
He explains, "If everyone in the inhabited quarter was on one side and I was on the other, I would answer every one of their difficulties. I would never flee from speaking (...) The inhabited quarter is where the people reside. The other three quarters burn from the shining of the sun, so people don't live there."

All his life he served the Companion. "My goal in the idol-temple is the image and beauty of Your face. If I want the idol of words for the sake of those meanings, it will not happen without the Companion. The Companion must be there."
And elsewhere: "When someone finds the way to be my companion, his mark is that companionship with others becomes cold and bitter for him." And: "I have a pearl within me. Whenever I show its face to anyone, he becomes estranged from all his companions and friends."

He would accept no disciple, but all his life he was waiting for the one, to become his sole companion; who was to be Jalalludin Rumi. Shams: "From the day I saw your beauty, inclination and love for you sat in my heart."
And he explains: "There are many great ones whom I love inwardly. There's affection, but I don't make it manifest. Once or twice when I made it manifest, I did something while keeping company with them, and they didn't know and recognize their duty in companionship. I took it upon myself not to let the affection become cold. When I made it manifest with Mawlana, it increased and did not lessen."

If you read carefully, you may discover from the text the universal rule of companionship and its graceful severity: "What is before your heart? Say whatever there is! If there is an obstacle, tell me about it. If you tell me about the obstacle, I will teach you the Path. It will become easy, because I know the Path better than you."
And elsewhere: "Whatever the state that comes, you should quickly tell the companion about it and be done with it. Don't think, "How can I talk like this to the companion?" The companion will see it, even if you don't talk about it." And: "As long as pride and existence are within you, you must say `God is greater', and you must intend the sacrifice."

"Without doubt, whenever you sit with someone and are with him, you will take on his disposition. On whom have you been gazing that tightness should have come into you? If you look at green herbs and flowers, freshness will come. The sitting companion pulls you into his own world. That is why reciting the Koran purifies the heart, for you remember the prophets and their states. The form of the prophets comes together in your spirit and becomes its sitting companion."

What they experienced in their mutual company transcended the secret-of-secrets of anyone but themselves. Rumi sung in verse: "The whole description of Godhead in Shams of Tabriz transcends any notions concerning free will and ordainment." While Shams: "This was a cask of Divine wine, its lid caked with grime. No one was aware of this. The cause of this cask being opened was Maulana. Whoever seeks to understand this must be aware that the cause has been Maulana."

We do not know what befell Shams when he finally disappeared. After Rumi's death, Fakhruddin `Eraqi (his contemporary poet-mystic) would often speak of Rumi; he would sigh and say, "No one ever understood him as he should have been understood. He came into the world a stranger, and left it a stranger."

When one reads a translation cum introduction by a scholar, one doesn't want to "read" the ego of the scholar between the lines. One doesn't want to be put on sidetracks by speculative claims that serve nobody but vain academia. Far from such limitations, I think Chittick has done a thorough scholarly job. This book is a must-own for anyone seriously interested in Islamic Sufism (or any tradition for that matter) in general, and (auto)biographies of mystics in particular, even though this autobiography forever remains: advanced reading.

"I'll not put you in the heart or you'll be wounded,
I'll not keep you in the eye or you'll be lowly.
I'll give you a place in the spirit, not the eyes or the heart,
so you'll be my companion at the least breath."

"Even if it be after a thousand years, these words will reach those for whom they're intended."

"They're all seeking the benefit of knowledge. You should seek for good deeds, so that you may obtain good from the Companion. This is the kernel, that is the husk."

Who was Rumi's beloved? Who was this dervish who overturned Rumi's world, leading him to leave the safe path of knowledge and enter the burning path of love? Who was he before he met Rumi and how was he changed by this encounter? If you, like me, wondered about this timeless story of lover and beloved, you can meet Shams in this book and read his own words in English for the first time. Although it lacks a narrative structure, it brings him alive in moments of vitality. The story of Rumi and Shams is the story of the meeting of two human beings that, like the conjunction of two planets, realigned the fates. My novel about them, like Siddhartha or Last Temptation of Christ, is the tale of the lover of God, the mythic story of the human soul. This book offers a description of the human beloved who stood, for Rumi, as the divine beloved.

It's hard to overstate the importance of this beautiful book to anyone who has been touched by the Sufi path, and especially Rumi. Chittick has provided us with a portrait of Rumi's master, Shams of Tabriz--and he's not what one might expect.

Rumi has become famous in the contemporary West for his divine poetry--and rightly so: he is one of humanity's greatest lovers and poets, and this comes across in every line. But as others have asked: Do we honestly know what this "love" Rumi talks about really is?

Here we have Shams of Tabriz, master to Rumi, the man Rumi loved most in the world, in Rumi's eyes a spiritual being of the first order. And he can be cruel, insensitive, and harsh. Lots of people around him hate him. If I remember correctly, he even makes a fart joke at one point.

He's seen as almost an embarrassment in a company of dervishes and scholars. And yet one suspects that this has more than a little to do with his ruthless and relentless practice of exposing imposture and hypocrisy--reminiscent of the work of Jesus, with the same sad, predictable result.

The connection between Rumi's love and this wild man's character is the absolute, uncompromising love of God. For this, really, is the love of Rumi: it brooks no insincerity or reservation. It is the essence of Islam: utter submission to the divine. Shams reminds us, as he reminded those around him, that this has nothing at all to do with sweet words and noble sentiments, with putting on spiritual airs and gaining the admiration of the faithful.

This can be a painful reminder. It threatens what the ego craves. And the love of God threatens the self as well--as Rumi and Shams both show us, when we truly love God, there is only love and God: we disappear. Shams' job was to show Rumi what this really meant. Rumi's job was to show us--despite the fearful protestations of the ego--what it really is: beautiful and joyful.

God bless William Chittick for this wonderful gift.

I was privileged to know and very fortunate to have served with Roy Benavidez. His entire life was a struggle: from his difficult early years in Texas, to his incredible struggle to remain in the Army after his first tour's devastating wounds, to his amazing jump status qualification after the doctors told him he would never walk again, to his incredible heroism that resulted in the MOH (but only after another long battle with the bureaucracy that refused to acknowledge heroism at a time that the country was trying to "forget" Vietnam) and finally, the redemption that came on the White House steps with the MOH ceremony, the "last" MOH given out for Vietnam service. I am glad that Brassey's has put the book out in paperback so that kids can read about Roy and learn to never give up. God Bless You, Roy.

MSG Roy Benevidez was an amazing person, and that's putting it mildly. In spite of his fearful wounds from his first tour-of-duty and doctors saying that he would never walk again, he went on to become an elite member of the US Army Special Forces. His actions in combat showed him to be brave, his actions after made him a hero. Roy Benevidez was not out to gain glory and status from his actions, nor did he ever look for pity because of his humble upbringings. Though his ancestry was Mexican-Indian and Hispanic, he always said, "I prefered to think of myself simply as an American." He had a "never say die" attitude, and strong sense of morals. He possesed neither vanity nor false modestly, and he served as an example of what one can accomplish in a lifetime. Sadly, MSG Roy Benevidez died in 1998. He truely was an American Hero! May God bless his soul.

I met MSG Benavidez in 1990 while stationed in NJ. I had the distinct honor of driving him around for 2 days while he was there to speak, and that experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. One thing that I remember is him saying that 22 years later metal fragments were still occasionally working their way out of his body.

I still have his picture hanging on my wall after 14 years. I have an extremely short list of hero's; Roy Benavidez holds the top slot...

Roy Benevidez must have been an incredible person. The feelings and thoughts he shares through out the book shows that behind "The Medal" there was a very real individual. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what really goes through the mind of a hero.