Asia Books

A newly married couple set off to follow the trail of Marco Polo. Along the way they visit places described by Marco Polo, as well as places Marco Polo never got to, such as the Hunza Valley.
In lands of foreign languages, the Shors encounter a variety of people from kings, queens and Shahs, to
villagers, guides and yak pullers.
After meeting in China where they both worked and lived, Jean Bowie and Franc Shor were married, although Jean wouldn't have know otherwise as the service was in Chinese. The Shors, both seasoned travelers, soon are honeymooning across parts of China. While on their honeymoon Jean, an ardent follower of Marco Polo, is reminded of his explorations.
After Franc is willing to make the trek, the couple start leaping the hurdles. They overcome numerous obstacles, impossible with todays traveling systems and security. While preparing to leave and traveling through Europe, Franc adopted a necessary maxim, " After we leave here we won't get anything good to eat." This he would recite anytime they both dined at a restaurant with appealing delicacies. " He says it in New York before we leave for Paris, and in Paris before Rome, and in Rome before Cairo." Mrs. Shor says, " The grass is always dead on the other side of the street."
After all preparations are finished, so they think, the Shors set off on an eight month exploration through the Middle East, following Marco Polo's footsteps and just like him, trying to make it to China.

I'd recommend this book for children or at least middle school. Written about tracing the steps of Marco Polo, the best part was the end where they slide with their yaks into the valley of the Hunzas in Northern Pakistan. The Hunzas are people who love in a mountain suntrap, with no written language, lots of apricot oil and no cancer. Fascinating. I'm sorry the authoress didn't write more books.

Wonderful travel book about a very volatile part of the world. Franc and Jean Schor travel through China after WWII on their honeymoon when Jean gets the idea to follow the route of Marco Polo after reading his account. After much planning with the National Geographic and cajoling of governments to issue the necessary visas they embark on an adventurous trip through much of South West Asia.

The more interesting accounts are of their meeting and befriending the Shah of Iran. They come to spend quite some time with him and his family. He even flies them himself in his converted B-17 over the "hot Desert" of Iran. They come away seeing the Shah as an enlightened leader who will modernize the country. Just to show you what a small world it is they meet Chief Justice William O'Douglas, at a dinner party in Iran. He seems to have spent allot of his spare time exploring in that part of the world as a hobby. At the dinner party he says, "I would much rather set precedent than follow precedent." In Afghanistan they get to meet King Mohammed Zahir, (who is 93 and presently in exile in Italy), by using a letter of introduction given them from the Shah of Iran. King Zahir grants them permission to travel through the Wakhan corridor, a very dangerous desolate area bordering China. They are the first "westerners" to travel this part of Afghanistan and write about it since the 19th century. The descriptions of abject poverty and their dealings with "duplicitous" Afghans still rings true today by all accounts we see in the news.

This is an enjoyable book describing the people and treacherous terrain of South West Asia. Franc and Jean Schor become intrepid world travelers who did many stories for National Geographic. As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy I reccomend the book highly.

Just after WW II when the world's inhabitants were still resting from their efforts and the Chinese Civil War was in a lull and westerners, especially Americans were welcome almost anywhere, a couple set out to see the remote areas of High Asia where few westerners had ever gone. They managed to travel in a time of relative safety compared with now.
I remember the days of hippies in the sixties riding local buses across Turkey, Iran snd Afghanistan on their way from Europe to Nepal. And the rivalry between the US and USSR for influence with the Afghan government and people. We and the USSR were competing with aid projects including modern mapping, road building, dams and other infrstrucure projects. There were even guidebooks detailing routes to and ancient monuments at Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, and elsewhere.
Whst makes these remarka relevent today was the relative safety of travel on the besten paths in the fifties and sixties.Then the world's interest in the "Roof of Asia" was inspired by the msny articles in the National Geographic in the forties and fifties. I followed the adventures of Franc and Jean and was saddened by their subsequent splittng up. I had even hoped to go there some day, especially to Tibet, but by the time I graduated from university, the Chinese Reds had long since closed the area east of the Wakhan to westerners. I had eagerly read Lowell Thomas's Tibet articles in the SEP as well.
I first read those articles in "real time" as a young lad in the forties and have retained an interest in the area ever since. I was never fortunate enough to travel to high Asia on mapping expeditions when the Army Map Service was working in Iran. I came to work at AMS too late to go to the field. In a few years oue field men had either been expelled or finished the work in most of the countries involved.
This book is not a scientific study but an impressionistic account of one couple's journey during a window of opportunity which will never come again, at least in the relative safety of the late forties.
The book is based on the articles that originally appeared in the Geographic magazine.

Written by a woman who was not a professional explorer, but rather an individual with a keen sense of adventure, and history. A modest and beautifully written work that flows so easily that it can be enjoyed in just a few sittings. It takes place in the period just after WWII before the world was over-run with cell phones, satellite photos and email. A true aventure from a simpler time...

What a wonderful idea for a book!
The brothers Jodha have excelled themselves...this is a thoughtfully conceived, well-shot, well-written and nicely presented books.
It makes one think...

After visiting South India (Dec. 03 - Feb. 04) and buying a lot of books about country, politics, demographics and landscapes, I looked for something that represents India as a whole. "Ageless Mind" is an excellent in-depth mirror of the Indian society in all its dimensions. Not so much the photos but the texts-interviews of the people are unveiling Indias magnitude and tragedy.
Highly recommended for some who would like to understand the dynamics and roots of "future coming world power".

I have recently picked up this book and read it only in bits and pieces but I must say that I am enjoying it immensely. I am not much of an expert on photography and can't speak about the technical aspects of this book but I must say that the photos with matching oral histories make this one a really absorbing affair. Some of the stories are quite hilarious, such as a patriarch who is bit of a tyrant as well an expert on time pieces, having written many books on the subject including a dictionary! He has got his own wife, his sons and their wives, and the grandchildren into this subject and so you have this extended family living with an unbelievable collection of watches and clocks. There are clock fashioned inside a banjo and a guitar, and there are these five-foot high, giant alarm clocks. It is also a very fascinating insight into the whole extended family system that you find less and less in neighborhoods today. The old patriarch says that nobody grudges the watches and clocks taking away all the space in their small flat because this was the condition "I put before my own marriage and then before the marriage of my two sons." So you have this photo of this eight-member family living in this one room tenement with these 2000 watches and clocks.

Photography on serious themes like homelessness, HIV, old age homes are always being done in that grabbing shots/reportage style which work very well in a newspaper context but don't have the same effect when put out in the form of a book. This book however goes in the other direction, taking the large format environmental portrait route more common to celebrity portraiture. More importantly, both in terms of the pictures and the narrations accompanying them, it addresses its theme with a lot of thought and patience. Just as well, since the book deals with the theme of ageing. Although, it has its share of celebrities, I could recognize only one - Pandit Ravi Shankar the famous sitar player, what makes it more interesting and valuable is its focus on the unknown, the forgotten or those who are simply down and out.

In another important change from the work done with such people and such environments, this one lets the people do the talking for a change, even when they don't seem to take very kindly to the book's writer or photographer. In the process this book highlights a world that even when far removed from ours, has human connections and concerns that are universal. The optimism, as one lady in this book puts it, "the years are like sugar in your tea cup. The last sip is sweetest," or the pessimism, as a traditional toy maker puts it, "what is a long life worth for those with limited means?" Then there are characters with their own peculiarities, a 100-year old soldier who thinks his teeth are coming back or a Chinese newspaper publisher, (that India also has a Chinese population was a revelation), who feels that the motto of the young is, "go for the cupboard keys first, then just say bye-bye."

The most inspiring person I came across among the 130 in this book was an eye surgeon who has been going around to really far removed places that have no hospitals and treating people for free. He has done more surgeries than anybody else in the world and has been at it for last 50 odd years. To me he seemed to be like Dr. Sheiwitzer who spent all those years in Africa and was immortalized in Eugene Smith's photo essays for LIFE magazine. But unlike the missionary-doctor this one wears his achievements lightly and says, "I am just an ordinary man and will serve as God wants me to. My instruments are my prayer and the operating room is my temple. My work has therefore been my pilgrimage."

Photography on serious themes like homelessness, HIV, old age homes are always being done in that grabbing shots/reportage style which work very well in a newspaper context but don't have the same effect when put out in the form of a book. This book however goes in the other direction, taking the large format environmental portrait route more common to celebrity portraiture. More importantly, both in terms of the pictures and the narrations accompanying them, it addresses its theme with a lot of thought and patience. Just as well, since the book deals with the theme of ageing. Although, it has its share of celebrities, I could recognize only one - Pandit Ravi Shankar the famous sitar player, what makes it more interesting and valuable is its focus on the unknown, the forgotten or those who are simply down and out.

In another important change from the work done with such people and such environments, this one lets the people do the talking for a change, even when they don't seem to take very kindly to the book's writer or photographer. In the process this book highlights a world that even when far removed from ours, has human connections and concerns that are universal. The optimism, as one lady in this book puts it, "the years are like sugar in your tea cup. The last sip is sweetest," or the pessimism, as a traditional toy maker puts it, "what is a long life worth for those with limited means?" Then there are characters with their own peculiarities, a 100-year old soldier who thinks his teeth are coming back or a Chinese newspaper publisher, (that India also has a Chinese population was a revelation), who feels that the motto of the young is, "go for the cupboard keys first, then just say bye-bye."

The most inspiring person I came across the 130 in this book was an eye surgeon who has been going around to really far removed places that have no hospitals and treating people for free. He has done more surgeries than anybody else in the world and has been at it for last 50 odd years. To me he seemed to be like Dr. Sheiwitzer who spent all those years in Africa and was immortalized in Eugene Smith's photo essays for LIFE magazine. But unlike the missionary-doctor this one wears his achievements lightly and says, "I am just an ordinary man and will serve as God wants me to. My instruments are my prayer and the operating room is my temple. My work has therefore been my pilgrimage."

Minnie Vautrin died at 55, by her own hands. Today we would call it post traumatic stress syndrome. Sometimes people have seen too much and given too much and they can't carry it all. Today Minnie Vautrin is remembered for the hope in Nanking she gave when all seemed lost before world war II as the Japanese invaded China.

Imagine being a simple school teacher from the Mid West, sent as a missionary to China to teach. Suddenly your school becomes a haven for 10,000 women who seek shelter against the invading Japanese Army. Vautrin could not even finish a meal or sleep a night without going out to fight off Japanese soldiers intent on hauling off Chinese girls from the international compound that had been declared a safe haven. She was slapped and pistol whipped. She was threatened repeatedly. She went without sleep. She went repeatedly to the Japenese authorities to protest. She even grabbed girls from the clutches of soldiers.

In the broader story, twenty four foreigners, including a Nazi German named John Rabe, saved 200 hundred thousand Chinese from extermination in a 3.8 km square safety zone in Nanking. The foreigners could have walked away. Instead they broke up rape attemtps, were pistol wiped, beaten, threatened at gun point. Unfortunately another 300,000 Chinese were killed, and at least 20,000 were raped, including grandmothers of 80 and girls as young as nine.

American missionaries in China have a mixed record. Those who stayed and saved the Chinese at Nanking have earned a special place in China's history. This book explains this history. If you want to understand China, this is worth reading.

With Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking, this book is essential reading for those who would like to know about the Chinese Holocaust: many millions of Chinese murdered by the Japanese during the Second World War.

Minnie Vautrin was a lady with compassion. She devoted her life in bringing education to Chinese women and girls in 1920s to 30s. She was well remembered not only by the people of Nanking but also by all Chinese people. During the Rape of Nanking committed by the invading of Japansese military in 1937, she risked her life in protecting over ten thousand women and girls in her campus. This book showed her courage. It was a remarkable story of the female over the male, the weak over the strong, the peace over violence. However, over the past sixty years, not many Americans know of this woman of humanity and internationalism. In 2001, I had the good fortune to attend her memorial at Shephard, Michigan with a small group of friends and her relatives. I delivered a brief paper on behalf of the citizens of Nanking for their respect and love to her. Dr Bates, another international team members son of 1937 delivered the grave site prayer.
As Americans, you should not miss this woman of the greatest generation. In December 13 2002, a statue will be set up in Naking to honor this American to China.
In 2004, Missouri House, City of St Louis and City of Overland made Proclamation on her birthday as Ginling Forever, Minnie Vautrin Day. In 2005, Illinois Governor honored her on her birthday and called for citizens of Illinois to follow her example. In September 27 2006, California Congressman Mike Honda introduced her on the floor for a Celebration Resolution - a significant gift for her 120 years birthday!
In 2003, with a group of friends, we set up Friends of Minnie Vautrin Scholarship Project to raise funds to honor her and her mission of Chinese women education in her Ginling College through United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. [...]

I first heard of the Rape of Nanking back in the year 1998 when I came across Iris Chang's _Rape of Nanking_ Since then I have read every book that I came across on the subject. Dr. Hu's book tells us of Minnie Vautrin an extraordinary woman who spent most of her life in China trying to help the Chinese people through education in religion. The book goes on to tell how Miss Vautrin risked her life day after day protecting thousands of Chinese women who seeked sanctuary at Miss Vautrin's college, Ginling.
Dr. Hu does a wonderful job giving the reader a backdrop of information, so the reader knows Japan and China's relationship with each other and the circumstances that led up to the Rape of Nanking. Dr. Hu also gives very detailed information in a short section about the history of American missionaries going to China. Wonderful book and an extraordinary woman.

Author Hua-ling Hu presents the deeply moving biography of an American educator/missionary who remained in Nanking to help thousands of women and children facing death. I could not set down the book until I finished it, then I started again in order to gain a keen appreciation for the thorough historical scholarship using sources that have not been available until Hu brought them to our eyes. This book should be read by historians, by missionaries, by anyone interested in fascinating biographies -- it is a compelling story with exceptional historical scholarship as the backdrop.

Here's a first rate addition to the literature on the original Flying Tigers.

It's exactly what the title promises, a thorough treatise on AVG colors and markings. Surprising how much these varied. As such, it's an excellent reference for those who like to know what those historic planes looked like. Note that this volume is listed in the Osprey Ace series, probably due to its picturing many of the a/c flown by ace pilots. Incidentally, the profile art is among Osprey's best, showing camo colors in scale effect (not full strength as in paint color chips) with realistic rendering of wear and tear on those well-used planes.

The text on such a subject could be dull. Not this one.

The author's long standing association with AVG veterans not only led to his expertise on the subject, it yielded many anecdotes and observations. These warm the text with the human element as well as adding bits of history.

Even tho' AVG history in general could be over-exposed, I'd expect that the freshness of the original material in this work will surely add up to heightened appreciation for this justly famous and prideful group.

The Osprey website says another volume on AVG Aces is in the works.

American Volunteer Group Colours and Markings
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #41 © 2001
By Terrill Clements


This may become a continuing refrain - "just what we need, another book on ..."

It's my hope that, in each case where that question comes to mind, I'll also be able to provide they answer, "Hell YES we need this book!" I'm pleased to say that this book on the often-covered American Volunteer Group - the AVG - is needed, welcome and very well done. And I say this as one who's got at least a dozen good books on the AVG, from biographies by Scott and Boyington to the recent and superb "Sharks over China."

I'm glad to be able to report that, once again, I'm finding that a new book - new to me, anyway, though it was first published in 2001 - that explores new aspects of even an often-explored subject is well worth having. In this case, author Terrill Clements interviewed several surviving Flying Tigers, and in the process, brought new insights into this well-reviewed topic. For me, this was a page-turner, with new insights into a well-traveled story, and lots of useful-to-modelers photos, drawings and pilot commentary.

Most students of things military will recognize the AVG - a group of three squadrons of mercenary pilots in the employ of the Nationalist Chinese government. Always under-strength and under-manned, these brave soldiers of fortune - themselves often cast-offs from the pre-war US Army Air Corps and the US Naval Air Service - blazed a trail of glory across the skies of Southeast Asia for barely six months. From their first combat on December 10, 1941 until July 4, 1942 when the AVG was disbanded and reconstituted as the 23rd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Force's China Air Task Force, the AVG destroyed nearly 300 Japanese combat planes in the air and on the ground, losing just 20 pilots and perhaps 35 or 40 aircraft in the process.

Not surprisingly, the AVG - the Flying Tigers - have been covered widely, in everything from a piss-poor John Wayne wartime propaganda movie to a series of books, articles, seminars and websites. Did we need another book? Surprisingly - especially if you're a modeler or you want to know more about the people who made up the AVG - the answer is a resounding YES!

The book is a godsend to modelers like me who have a "thing" for the American Volunteer Group - for instance, it has a dozen-page chapter that probes almost excessively (if "excessive probing" into AVG markings is possible) into the color schemes and markings of the group's 99 remarkably historical Tomahawk fighters. Not only are very specific details of even the smallest markings spelled out, but in many cases the author is able to say who painted on those markings - when - and where he bought the paint! In focusing on the people who painted and serviced and flew these Tomahawk fighters, the author swings back to further coverage on the markings: asking - then answering - specific questions such as "who created the various versions of the shark-mouth," for instance, and "how the squadron and personal markings evolved over time." For "marking nuts" (and who, among those who model the Flying Tigers, isn't something of a "marking nut" at heart?) this book is a "must" for your hobby bookshelf.

A personal aside about my fascination for the AVG's Hawk Model 81 Tomahawk - the primary mount of the AVG, which also flew a few USAAF hand-me-down P-40Es late in the Group's abbreviated lifespan - this AVG Tomahawk is a beaut! Not exactly a P-40, the AVG Tomahawk was built to a British Lend Lease contract as an offshoot of their Tomahawk Mk. II. These aircraft were then passed on, again through Lend Lease, to Nationalist China to help in their ongoing war against Imperial Japan. Other Tomahawks from the same production run were Lend-Leased to the Soviet Union, and amazingly - since the fall of the Soviet Union - a few of these Tomahawks have recently been discovered and are currently being restored to flight status or for museum displays.

The aircraft from this particular production batch is really an amalgam of the P-40B and P-40C, with features from both aircraft. However, when taken into the USAAF at the time the AVG disbanded, the plane was referred to "officially" as a P-40C. No matter what it's designation, to my eye the AVG Tomahawk is not only the most elegant and attractive P-40, but also the most deadly-looking.

Sure, later models of this Curtiss fighter had more powerful armament - six wing-mounted .50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns as opposed to the Tomahawk's two nose-mounted .50s and four wing-mounted .30 caliber Brownings - and these later models also had the ability to carry and drop bombs. They also had heavier armor and better gunsights - and very likely improved self-sealing fuel tanks, too. No question that the D and E models (the Kittyhawks) and the later F-model through N-model Warhawks were, in most cases, technically more capable warplanes. But the Tomahawk looks deadlier (at least to me), and because it wasn't weighted down with heavier armament and extra armor, it may well have been a bit more maneuverable - that judgment is really up to the pilots who flew both in combat, and this book didn't address that issue.

Speaking of judgment, one AVG pilot - a former US Navy F4F-3 Wildcat pilot - felt that the Tomahawk's firepower was superior to the Wildcat's. No question that four .50s had a more potent punch than two .50s and four .30s - but against lightly-built, unarmored Japanese aircraft, the higher volume of bullets from those six guns (and the .30s' inherently higher rate of fire) proved decisive in those brief on-target instances in combat.

Confirming this, one of the Japanese Imperial Army Air Force's leading surviving aces - quoted in the book from a recent TV documentary - referred to gunfire from the Tomahawks as a "rain of bullets" that never seemed to stop. He should know - hit by two .30 rounds from an AVG Tomahawk, he barely survived. Hospitalized for months, he didn't return to combat until long after the AVG had become the 23rd Group of the U.S. Army Air Force's China Air Task Force - and long after the fast-shooting "transition-era" Tomahawk had been replaced by later-model P-40 Kittyhawks with their harder-hitting but slower-shooting six .50 caliber machine gun battery.

Part of my preference for the Tomahawk - and therefore part of my interest in the AVG - is my fascination with what I call "transitional-era" aircraft. The P-35 and P-36 were the US Army Air Corps' first all-metal monoplane fighters with retractable landing gear, enclosed cockpits and heavier armament than the two rifle-caliber machine guns that had been common in all air forces from 1916 to roughly 1936. The early P-40s - the Tomahawks - were little more than re-engined P-36s, and were still what I consider "transitional" fighters. They didn't carry or drop bombs, they still had a mixed armament that included light rifle-caliber machine guns, and their radios sucked on toast.

However, the more robust P-40E had completed the transition. With heavy armor, decent radios, six .50 caliber heavy machine guns and the ability to drop bombs, the P-40E was fully the conceptual equal of the second-generation monoplane fighters such as the P-39 Airacobra (which some might consider a "transitional-era fighter, too" - that's open to debate, at the very least) and the early Allison-engined P-51 Mustangs. They were also the equal to other "evolved" planes that started out as transitional-era fighters, including the cannon-armed Hurricanes and the Daimler-Benz DB-601-powered Bf-109 E fighters. While these later P-40s might be better fighter aircraft - hell, they WERE better fighter aircraft - they had lost some of the distinction I think all those first-generation "modern" monoplane fighters shared.

When it comes to modeling, I prefer the transitional era fighters (this also applies to the jet era - I really like those first-generation jets, as well as those awkward hybrids like the Ryan Fireball) - and because I find the Tomahawk the most elegant of the breed, I'm particularly pleased with this book. For the Tomahawk modeler who likes the AVG, this book is sensational!

Along with this superb narrative are fifteen pages of color plates - including 1941-1942 color photos - and dozens of contemporary B&W photos. The photos are interspersed throughout the book, and accompany a narrative that focuses on the personalities - the pilots and ground crewmen - who made up the Flying Tigers, as well as their oft-reported combat operations.

While the book focuses more on markings than on aerial combat, it does note that in exchange for the loss from all causes of 20 combat pilots, the AVG racked up a confirmed kill rate of 296 Japanese aircraft, including many victories over Ki-43 Oscars (the equal, in speed and maneuverability, to the better-known Zero) flown by some of the premier fighter jocks of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. To all causes, the AVG lost about 70 of their 99 original Tomahawks - though more were lost to training accidents than to combat, and most combat losses were either planes bombed on the ground or shot-up Tomahawks that brought their pilots home before being turned into spare-parts bins.

At a time when the Japanese were clearing the sky of Allied planes over Hawaii, the Philippines, Java, Singapore and Western Australia, the relative handful of AVG Tomahawks - and an even smaller contingent of RAF Buffalos and Hurricanes - stood up to the largest aerial armadas to be seen in the Pacific before the start of the great Carrier battles of 1944, and gave better than they got. Much better!

In many cases during the defense of Rangoon, a dozen or so AVG Tomahawks and another dozen RAF fighters - including the often-maligned Buffalos - would rise to fight air fleets of 150, 200 or more Japanese fighters and bombers. While the Allies were too few in number to inflict losses sufficient to deter the Japanese - who seemed to have a near-endless supply of replacements - these AVG and RAF forces inflicted damage all out of proportion to their numbers, and lived to fight another day. And another day. And yet another day - in the case of the AVG, for six long months.

Even if you cut their victory numbers in half - an unjustified move, in my opinion, since so many AVG kills were confirmed by wreckage that fell in Allied territory or into occupied China were loyal partisans eagerly confirmed the victories - the AVG scored in combat at a trade-off rate that wasn't matched by the Allies until Hellcats and Corsairs took to the skies in overwhelming numbers more than two years later. With vastly superior numbers - and vastly superior combat planes - it's relatively easy to rack up impressive victory totals. When outnumbered 10-to-1 - or even 20-to-1 - while flying against combat-tested veterans ... when flying planes the world considers obsolescent, if not down-right obsolete - survival alone is remarkable. But to score a 5-to-1 victory margin over a confident and skilled enemy at the peak of his strength and power is all but unbelievable.

But, in the case of the AVG, the unbelievable was all in a day's work.

This detailed, superbly-illustrated 96-page book is pure Osprey, which in this case is a good thing - Osprey has a strong track-record of producing books that add real value to both the amateur historian and the avid modeler. Since I have a particular affinity for modeling early-model P-40s, this book has proven especially interesting and useful - but anybody with an interest in the Flying Tigers or in modeling the Tomahawk will find real value in this book.

I am a AVG fan from Taiwan, the Republic of China!! The history of the American Volunteer Group showed us the friendship between our two nations. The Cutriss P-40B(C)/Hawk-81A Tomahawk and P-40E Kittyhawk were really beautiful!! I can tell you the P-40s flown by AVG were the most colorful aircrafts in the history of the Republic of China Air Force. I decide to translate this book into Chinese for AVG fans in Taiwan!!

Osprey books are the greatest, though they're a bit pricey. The color plates are magnificent. (Incidentally, the cover shown here on Amazon isn't the actual cover of the book. The spelling of "Volunteers'" has been cleaned up, and the actual painting shows the collision of Parker Dupouy's Tomahawk with the Ki-43 Hayabusa flown by Lieutenant Okuyuma of the Japanese army 64th Sentai.) In this case, they're supplemented by many black-white photographs, most of them taken by the late R.T. Smith, including some never published before.

Here's a first rate addition to the literature on the original Flying Tigers.

It's exactly what the title promises, a thorough treatise on AVG colors and markings. Surprising how much these varied. As such, it's an excellent reference for those who like to know what those historic planes looked like. Note that this volume is listed in the Osprey Ace series, probably due to its picturing many of the a/c flown by ace pilots. Incidentally, the profile art is among Osprey's best, showing camo colors in scale effect (not full strength as in paint color chips) with realistic rendering of wear and tear on those well-used planes.

The text on such a subject could be dull. Not this one.

The author's long standing association with AVG veterans not only led to his expertise on the subject, it yielded many anecdotes and observations. These warm the text with the human element as well as adding bits of history.

Even tho' AVG history in general could be over-exposed, I'd expect that the freshness of the original material in this work will surely add up to heightened appreciation for this justly famous and prideful group.

The Osprey website says another volume on AVG Aces is in the works.

Buying this terrific Angkor temple guide book does not mean you shouldn't hire a licensed Khmer guide (not to be confused with a driver, who are not allowed to take tourists inside the temples) because the guides are schooled in the history of the temples, are fluent in a particular foreign language, able to advise on shopping, touring the countryside, cultural tours, but can take you to see temples when the light is best, the crowds the smallest & then explain what you are seeing. Buy this book, figure out what temples you want to see, read the history section & the sections on the temples you're going to see. Once you return, reread the sections on the temples you've seen, as it will give you a greater enjoyment of the incredible artistry & majesty of Ancient Angkor. This book does not replace a licensed guide, it enhances the experience. I also recommend Dawn Rooney's book because she writes about remote temples that are not in this book & in more detail, but I found her floor plans confusing.

Claude Jacques is an expert on Angkor, and has studied its history for 30 years. Photographer Michael Freeman has been taking pictures of Angkor for over 15 years. Together Ancient Angkor is the product of a partnership that has yielded over 350 color illustrations, and a well-written guide to the ruins of Angkor.

Included are detailed plans and descriptions,[even of lesser known temples not found in other guides]. The book is well thought-out -with suggestions of various itineraries, and information on hotels and other items pertaining to travel . This serves not only as a great tourist guide for travellers planning a trip to the ancient ruins but also a great book for armchair travellers with lush color illustrations and meticulous descriptions.

This book will guide you step by step (literally) through the magnificant temples of Angkor. And even if you weren't planning to go, you will want to for sure, after viewing Michael Freeman's superb photographs and reading Claude Jacques' expert commentary.

No matter where you wander on the very large site of Angkor, Freeman and Jacques are right alongside you, suggesting places to look and explaining what you are looking at. There are maps and temple plans, a glossary, and an index. For visitors with limited time, the suggested itineraries (from one to seven days' length) will let you make the most of your visit.

The book is especially helpful for photographers. Freeman, who has photographed professionaly at Angkor for over a decade, describes the best vantage points and subjects, suggests the best time of day to shoot, and provides itineraries that take you to each location just when the light is best.

The book is well designed and contains many helpful features. For example, a cross-referenced list of architectural features and mythological scenes makes it easy to locate temples that contain whatever the visitor is most interested in seeing.

In short, carrying this book with you is like having an expert photographer and historian as personal guides during your visit to Angkor. You probably won't even need to engage an actual guide, unless you want to pick up a bit of local color; everything you need is right there in the book.

This book is a fantastic combination of pictures and facts for people wanting to visit the Angkor temples. The pictures stir the imagination and the text provides the facts to go with the pictures.

In fact I recently used this book as my guide while visiting Angkor. It provides a section for each of the most-visited temples and will also give you information on suggested time to put aside for each visit and the best time to go. In fact, my guide at Angkor said this was the best guide book he had seen, and I saw other people using this same book to guide themselves around the temples like I did.

This book provides suggested itineries to the temples and the best times to visist for photography. whether you can actually manage to combine the two is debatable on a short visit. The books main downfall is not its content, but its weight which is quite heavy because of the good quality paper used.

The climate (extremely hot and humid - air conditioning is a worthwhile investment) can make visiting these monuments as trial at times, but they are worth the effort. All the buildings are unique, covered in exquiste carvings (which books can only hint at) and original. Some are still partly swallowed by the jungle. Straight out of indiana Jones.

Get this book, let your imagination wander and visit these amazing ruins if you can before too many other tourists turn up - for they are a world wonder not to be missed. And don't forget your camera - these are places begging to be photographed.

A lovingly prepared compilation of superb color photographs, maps, history and scholarly explanations of the major world monument that is Angkor Wat. The authors thoughtfully include suggested itineraries ( ranging from one to six days ), sites ranked by interest, peak times and locations for photographing and even helpful suggestions for accomodations. A must for planning a visit to Angkor Wat or for preserving memories.

It was great to go along for this exciting ride through Asia with a writer whose personal experiences bring destinations to life. The author's narrative is never over-bearing yet she still manages to get deep inside this wonderful continent.

Around Asia in 1 hour is true to its title. This new travel book by Yeoh Siew Hoon takes its readers through a whirlwind tour of Asia without missing a beat. It covers all aspects from temples to nightclubs and other drinking holes. It reveals what only an insider knows and it is fun to read. An exceptional experience by an exceptional writer.

From a normally logical perspective i find myself illogically drawn to Asia. So when I read this book it encapsualted a view from an insider but made an outsider like me feel perfectly at home. The images created are vivid and very real. This is a good read without too many complications. It leaves you feeling good and anxious to explore even more. The author clearly knows her stuff and comes across very credible. If you ever wanted to visit Asia - read this book and then explore, as an individual.

Written in her usual natural yet compelling style this book is a must for those who want an insiders view of the foibles and fashions, in the human sense, of south east Asia. Siew Hoon "finds the parts that others fail to reach." Delightful!

This is not your normal travel book. Siew Hoon is an insider who gives us a feel for Asian destinations with a few deft literary strokes which speak volumes. Siew Hoon's easy style and intimate knowledge of the destinations will be much appreciated by anyone who wants to get to the very heart of the matter in the minimum time.

No book could ever teach how to pollish a sword and this book does not try. What it does is lead the novice (or expert) through the complex and time intensive process of sword polishing. You will gain a better understanding of what the polisher (and sword maker) hope to achieve. Also covered are the basics of construction, shapes and terminology. Lots of detail into each step of the polish and what it is doing in bringing out the beauty of the blades construction, as well as some history and bios of current polishers. Great photos.

Very Informative Great book To lean about grades of stones and thier uses

Men have always decorated their weapons. The main items being decorated in the United States have been guns. But in Japan it is the traditional Japanese sword. Being more of a land of tradition, the Japanese sword became more or less standardized in shape as long ago as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and polishing the sword had to have followed shortly after that.

There are many books that describe the techniques of polishing and blueing guns. But this appears to be the first book available in English that discusses the polishing techniques used by Japanese craftsmen.

The Japanese practice is a strikingly different process than that used here. Polishing stones, not unlike whetstones but in far more diversity are used. A shop selling such stones is pictured with what appear to at least a couple of hundred different types of stones. And unlike here where stones are simply given numbers to indicate coarseness, in Japan they are given names.

The polishing area used with Japanese swords is a traditional form as well. It sits on the floor, and the polisher typically sits in a traditional position that most of us would find difficult to get into, and impossible to maintain for any period.

All in all, a fascinating book on techniques very different to those commonly used here.

After reading the book entitled "The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing" I now have a much clearer and detailed understanding of the process used by traditional Japanese sword polishers. The book takes the reader though all of steps from the foundation polish, used to shape and sharpen the blade, to the finish polish, which is used bring out the details of the steel and shape of the temper line, using good text and a fair number of detailed photographs. It includes some Japanese sword polish theory and how Japanese swords have changed over the historical periods. It also explains how the age of the sword can affect how the sword should be polished and what damage can and cannot be repaired by a polisher. In the last section of the book it contains a few profiles of professional Japanese sword polishers the authors of the book had interviewed which I enjoyed reading.
As someone who studies and appreciates the Japanese sword I found the book very helpful in educating me more about the process of how a Japanese sword is polished. I would recommended this book to anyone interested in learning in detail how Japanese swords are polished.

I wish I had this book 20 years ago when I first started to investigate the art of polishing. This book provides a wealth of information on the technigues, the material and the different ways that can be used to get a sword polisihed. In fact, the diversity of the art is highlighted by the book and certainly dispells the notion that there is only one way to restore a blade. The section on foundation polish discusses how to achieve the proper shape without removing too much material. The different stones are described and how each is used to establish and refine the shape. The finishing section covers the range of materials and tools used to bring out the grain and tempered edge unique to the Japanese sword. It also shows the burnishing and how to highlight the boshi.
There are sections that talk about the history of polishing, the schools of polishing and interviews with several modern polishers. As always there is a note warning about the perils to the blade that can be inflicted by an inexperienced person. The book doesn't reveal all the secrets to the art, such as the various forms of nugui (other than the basic hadori and sashikomi formulas),what types of stones work best with each school or era, etc. But it certainly does provide a well documented, well photographed look at this art form. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Japanese swords.

This book is fantastic for planning your trip between countries and used in conjunction with other travel books detailing the countries you're going to. I found myself relying more and more on it alone as a reference guide as I became more comfortable traveling, as it highlights the things to see / how to get there, and leaves the details to the traveler. I also found people fascinated by its hand-drawn maps (beware trying to get the book back from a crowd- including other travelers!). Now that I'm back, it's the only book that completed my journey with me, and resides in a place of honor on my bookshelf, tattered, dog-eared and stained.

I have read and perused many a travel book in my time and I have to say this one is a model for which others should be judged by. I have used travel books extensively through the 100 or so countries I have been to and I wish more travel tomes could match the authors love, maps and general details in their work as these two young fellas have....

I have known Mark Elliott for seven years and can honestly say that the man knows what he's talking about. He is, in short, a "professional traveler", making his way from Brighton to Bishkek and back with little more than a cheap backpack, a harmonica, and a sure sense of how to find his way among the labyrinths of the Asian hinterlands. He always returns with several nights' worth of good stories (to be told over a pint or three) and a collection of painstakingly accurate notes and maps of his travels. I have used the materials he sent me through private correspondence and found them to be unfailingly helpful, pointing out cheapskate tips and sightseeing suggestions that I hadn't found anywhere else. If you're interested in being a modern-day traveler of the Old Silk Road, then by all means get this book. It will point your feet in the right direction and open your eyes to cultures far removed from anything you could imagine while logged on to a computer, shopping for books. My copy also doubled as a pillow after a night of beers and Dixie dancing in a little outdoor bar along the streets of Turfan (but that's another story ...)

I used Asia Overland for the first 8 months of a 13 month trip and found it to be excellent. It is written by two guys who are just travellers themselves and have an excellent idea of what is essential when arriving to a strange new place where you do not speak the language.

At the core of the book are simple schematic maps of each country/area with notes written on them which rate and describe destinations, give travel times and costs, and even give recommendations of guesthouses or restaurants. More detailed maps are provided for large cities or areas particularily dense with things of interest. The format is very easy to understand and allows planning at a glance rather than by reading through pages of cross-referenced text. Again their grasp of what information is essential was nothing short of incredible. The book also contains a dirth of border-crossing info and tells you which visas you will need and where you can acquire them. From their own accounts they understood the border rules better than the border guards did on a few occasions.

More than the information it provides Asia Overland is a well written quidebook. Mark and Wil are extremely upbeat writers. Their senses of humor and personal accounts really made me want to go to all the places they wrote about. In summary the book is informative, accurate, entertaining and inspirational. If you are planning a trip to Asia, one country in Asia, or just trying to think of some destinations to visit, I highly recommend reading this book.

This book is excellent and essential reading for those of us who want to do an epic journey but also like to have help overcoming transport and beauracratic obstacles. I think the optimal would be to use this book in concert with a lonely planet style book as they cover different topics. This book is mainly a transport and visa stratgy guide with some helpful hints on routing. The LP books get the finer details on the budget accomodation for more cities.

Frost's book introduces new ways of thinking about that huge part of the globe which to me was a blur except for a few obvious countries and rivers. I hadn't visualized Asia as surrounded, defined, and connected by water. I hadn't thought about the impact of our consumerism on the growth of "containerization", or about the incredible diversity of cultures, religions, languages, and populations--and how this vast 'region' is being drawn toward modernization willy-nilly. Chapter 7, "The Architecture of Regional Integration," describes the process already underway. A whole new mental horizon now accompanies the word "ASIA." Very interesting.

One of Ellen Frost's stated goals in undertaking the task of showing how Asia should now be viewed as a fluid, maritime, cross-borders region rather than singular countries, was to show the design of what she called "Asia Major" in a way even us non-policy wonks can understand. She totally succeeds. I'm sure experts will learn a lot from her compelling take on "remapping" to "comb out this tangled landscape." But it is also for all the rest of us, Frost paints this word-portrait of Asia's profile, splaying out, as she puts it, far beyond its precolonial parental trading networks to what, thanks in part to high speed communication and transportation, it is becoming now--an integrated region whose contours extend from coastal India to the Russian Far East and coastal Australia, (with its `golden shrimp on the barbie") to Taiwan and China. If you're interested in learning more about the market-driven reality of Asia's new architecture, particularly China's resurgent role and everyone's security interests, pick up this insightful AND delightful book immediately! Americans, she says, should encourage Asia's regionalism--not just tolerate or fear it. This book goes a long way to help us do just that.

Previous reviews have rightfully emphasized the important insights Ellen Frost offers about an extremely important part of the world. Her exploration of "Maritime Asia" is enlightening and brings developments in this wide array of countries into useful perspective. It is a significant benefit to the reader that she does this with a delightful and entertaining writing style. For all its erudition, this is not a ponderous academic text - far from it. Rather, Ms. Frost uses easily accessible language and clever and amusing turns of phrase that keep the reader alert. In short, not only is this an excellent book from the substantive angle, it is also a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand better how this vast area will impact us all in the years to come.

Asia's New Regionalism, by Ellen Frost, is an ambitious and successful attempt to break old mental maps and present new ways of looking at Asia. The central theme is the match (or lack thereof) between the fast paced regeneration of maritime Asia, linking the booming economies found along Asia's coasts from India to Japan, and the comparatively ponderous government-driven push to promote regional organizations. But the glory of this book is Frost's sense of adventure, as she looks at breakneck change through different academic prisms. Government policy makers and businessmen interested in Asia wil find their minds fully engaged, students will find the text stimulating, and professors will spend the next decade attempting to answer the many questions she has raised.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the rise of Asia, especially why Americans hould be worried about the threat from China's manufacturing prowess and military build up. Ellen Frost takes a different tack. She looks first at the history of trade and cultural contact between what she calls "Maritime Asia" and the rest of the world as well as within Maritime Asia itself. Then she analyzes what has been happening recently and what is likely to happen in the future. Clearly there has been a realignment in Asia, spurred largely by China's economic growth, the rise of China-centered production networks, and the boom in manufactured exports to the U.S. and Europe.

Private actors are taking pragmatic steps that add up to what Frost calls "regionalization." Governments, by contrast, are pursuing "regionalism," but their initiatives are not likely to lead, at least in the near term, to genuine integration based on formal political structures. Asia will not mimic the European Union, or even the several common markets in the western hemisphere. Instead, Asians are inventing a new and more flexible rgional order--one that embraces China instead of seeking to contain it.

Frost writes clearly and in just 250 pages covers the history of Maritime Asia, the expanding geographic concept of the region (what she calls "Asia Major"), and the prospects for greater Asian economic and political integration. Anyone interested in what is happening today in Asia, not just scholars, can learn a lot from reading this book.

Martin Roll's book is all about the new frontier of global business - branding as a driver of business strategy. Roll shows us how branding drives shareholder value, with a focus on Asia - the companies, the issues, and the future.

One could argue that branding is the last competence of the West which has not been emulated or surpassed by the Asians. Forget cost cutting as a strategy. The future belongs to the brand. Roll's book gives us new insights into Asian cultures and consumers, explains country and celebrity branding in Asia, and provides us with eight penetrating case studies of Asian brands - Singapoe Airlines, Amanresorts, Shiseido, Samsung, Jim Thompson, Li Ning (look out Nike!), Jet Airways, and Giordano - in action. The section titled - "10 Steps to Build an Asian Brand" is worth the price of the book itself.

A must read for leaders interested in the future of business.

For more info, see this interview with Roll at the Zyman Institute of Brand Science: "Brading and the New Asia"
- http://www.zibs.com/roll.shtml

After a long time, I am reading a book that really is an amazing read. The author's writing style, the combination of theory and examples and the visual appeal of the book really respects the readers's time. Hats off to Martin Roll for writing such a terrific tool book to help understand the complex subject of asian branding. I would surely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing the latest of branding.

Working in the branding world myself as a Sponsorship Consultant the book Asian Brand Strategy clearly fills an important gap in the literature about branding. With Asia being the hot topic in business today Martin Roll manages to communicate a superb insight into the decision making levels and challanges of Asian companies. The book stands out through its clarity in which a sophisticated brand framework is brought to life. The great mix of theoretical and academic work combined with case studies and applied examples make this book stand out. It is the combination of the writing approach of this book and its Asian insight which makes it one of the most relevant business books I have read for a long time.

Asian Brand Strategy in a great book for both Western businessmen, interested in the Asian markets, and Asian Business leaders, who seeks to build brand equity. The book even creates an interest in both Asia and branding if you previously have no knowledge about it. It seems to be writen for both brand professionals aswell as for people knowing nothing about branding, since the language and layout is easy going, at the same time as it gives smart and clear insights to the brand building processes and the specific Asian characteristics. Martin Roll's many points are backed up by numerous interesting cases, and for me, writing my thesis on the topic of branding in Asia it has really been much helpful.

This book is a definite must read for Asian Management.

Martin Roll's Book on Asian Brand Strategy draws very relevant parallels between the Western approach to corporate management and marketing and that in Asian companies. Martin analyzes why Asian companies, which often have larger asset bases and investments in manufacturing than their Western counterparts often are not able to capture the same brand value. Case studies on Banyan Tree Resorts and Singapore Airlines give great anedotes for models that work in Asia.

As an American working for a major conglomerate in Asia, I was literally moved by the depth of his understanding related to the differences in management and approach to marketing.

Great reference and book to have!!