Asia Books

This book is the best source on Japanese cruisers for any type of source wether its for the dedicateted historian or model enthunist. I myself am building a 4.2m model of the heavy/seaplane cruiser Mogami and by reading this book and using its exilent drawing I found out that the plan were total wrong parts copyed from other ships. Note for Modelers this is an exilent book for begining a model it includes hull profiles, profile drawings and brige cut away drawings. Put this togeather with Janusz Skulski's book Anatomy of Ships Book The Heavy Cruiser Takao and you have just about all the deatalis for an IJN cruiser.

Book is sooo HUGE that it should have been divided into 2 books. Everthing you would want to know about japanese cruisers and then some!!!!Highly recomemeded!!!

This book is easily the most complete book of it's type in the English language. Every picture, drawing and description as well as narrative fill in a huge void on this subject of Japanese Cruisers.

There is few stones left unturned by this work describing design philosophy, weapons and control systems, machinery and operational history of the designs and ships. Diagrams and photos are plentiful and are placed in the narrative extremely well.

This is the sort of work that needs time to delve in to all it has to offer the reader but the time is worth every second.

There are few adjectives that give this book it's proper due.

First thing I thought when recieving this book from our tame white van man was: that is very well packed. Till I discovered that about the whole package was the book itself.
I found it a very interesting read.
It gives a complete insight in the development history of these cruisers and show the choices made in designing these ships and the factors (technical or political) that influenced these choices.
The amount of detail is amazing. Where can you find drawings of the development of the bridge structures, even of individual ships within their classes ?
It must have been an incredible amount of work to sift through all the material that went into this book and write it up to a balanced and succesfull story about these ships.
Apart from my enthousiasm for this book it has a few small drawbacks.
Some of the drawings are printed on such a small scale that the keys are hardly readable. I would have liked some more photographs; but I very well understand the choices made, and they are certainly sufficient.
The operational histories are a bit dry and a bit to much of: and then we went there and then we went there.
What I missed was a reasoned discussion about the operational value of these ships in conflict with or in comparison with other relevant warships of their time.
But I consider them minor compared to the wealth of ordered information and relevant background as for instance the structure of the japanese navy, radar development and gun control systems. Illustrative for the quality is a nice detail as the description of the significance of the ships names.
A treat tot read, but reserve enough time to do it.

This book is EVERYTHING it is advertised to be. The term "definitive" is often overused, but not in this case.

Wonderful book of the Island's favorites along with Sam's favorites. The food in Hawaii is delicious and this is a welcome addition to my shelf for bringing those flavors to home when we can't be there. This is one of my favorites of Sam's book because anyone can cook from it.

I haven't tried to make anything yet and it's mainly because I don't know what each dish is simply by it's title. There are only a few photos of his dishes (and they're not next to the recipe, the few given are all in the center of the book). I like to know what a recipe should look like when it's done so I know I've done it right - this book seriously lacks in that department, something I find very important in a cookbook. However, if that doesn't bother you and you just want the recipes, I'm sure it's great because Sam's a great chef.

Sam Choy has always made cooking hawaiian style simple for me. I like his sense of humor and food combinations. My only problem is finding fresh ingredients here in eastern Washington. I use this book primarily for summer luau parties and impress all my friends. It has lots of variety.

With an UKU here and an OPAKA PAKA there, a touch of mango and crushed lemon grass, coconut hull fires and roasted HAPU UPU U, new ways to whisk a mother hollandaise,and flavors that jump right up off the page.That is Sam Choy's Island Flavors.
When exploring new techniques and language in cooking it really is irrelevant if the recipes are complicated, compound, simple or sublime, what matters is if they work. The recipes in Island Flavors work. Too often the reader/cook is duped into buying a cookbook by the way it looks and the food displayed, or by the hype and narrative of paid critics and TV shows. Thankfully there is no illusion to this cookbook. I have found the recipes to be both true to the pan, and true to the palate.
This is a highly recommended cookbook for the novice as well as the more experienced cook. It is full of great information, and you can feel Sam Choy's love of food throughout the book. Food is love so why not read and cook with those who love the craft, and leave the dilletantes of cuisine to gather dust on the backshelves, or in the late night hours of Emeril hell. Sam Choy cooks great food, is a great chef, and is a great food writer. Cook along with him as you read and you will understand why so many of the great chefs are smiling all the time. Food this lively can only make you happy.

All of Sam Choy's books are good, but this one has a special place in my kitchen, because it covers the gamut of dishes. Unlike his seafood and Poke books, Sam provides some of the finest "home cooking" recipes of the islands.

Well done!

I have found most books concerning "foreigners" or "foreigners running businesses" in Japan to be either overly pedagogical, overly repetitive, or downright depressing. Kudos to Carl Kay, Tim Clark and the editors. They have done a marvelous job putting together a fast-paced book, rich with facts and unique insights on real "gaijin" success stories. And, it's not about the typical white, Anglo-Saxon corporate raider from New York City. We hear feel-good stories of Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs, too. I couldn't put the book down. Order it now and you'll end up recommending it to your friends, as I have.

The authors accurately portrayed how foreigners living in Japan can become successful entrepreneurs and address the country's unmet needs in financial, real estate, IT and health care services. Shortcomings in the market have been corrected by persistent foreigners who don't take "no" for an answer.

Although this 2005 book was intended for non-Japanese readers, it contained so much insight (which was not available in Japanese publications) that it had to be translated into Japanese.

In the 1980s, Japan was seen as an unstoppable economic juggernaut, a tsunami that would wash over the entire world. Then, suddenly, everything went wrong. Japan went through a decade of correction for its sudden rise. China and India stepped up on the stage as Japan faded into the background. An entire sub-industry of knowledge - that of the so-called "Japan expert" - has mostly disappeared. The general consensus seems to be that Japan rose rapidly, stumbled, and is now quickly on its way back to global irrelevance.

But then Carl Kay and Tim Clark produced this small book. It essentially says, "wait a second, there's a lot of opportunity in Japan. In fact, now might be a better time than ever!" It is a message that is absolutely correct, and one that the outside world still seems to be ignoring. Outsiders seem to get caught up on the macro issues in Japan; the aging and shrinking population, the looming national debt, the general national malaise, the long and prestigious list of foreign multinationals that have gone to Japan and failed. What Carl and Tim's book advises us to do is to understand and embrace what is still there. Japan is still the world's second largest economy in nominal terms. Even after the "lost decade," Japan's economy is still larger than China's and India's combined. There is a shortage of workers, and a shortage of new ideas. Japan doesn't need foreign multinationals to come in and swallow up her domestic companies. Japan needs entrepreneurs! Japan needs thinkers and builders! And unlike China or India, foreign entrepreneurs won't face hundreds or thousands of domestic entrepreneurial competitors.

Carl Kay and Tim Clark interviewed dozens of entrepreneurs in Japan, many foreign born, some Japanese, all of whom succeeded because they "thought different." It is a testament to Carl and Tim's skills as writers that each story is clear, engrossing, and illustrative. It is the best book on Japanese business or economics I have read in at least two decades. Read this book, become inspired, then move to Japan and make your dream reality.

This book is good value for money. In accepting the end of Japan Inc, it shows how and where opportunities are opening up in a range of service related areas from healthcare to shopping malls. The economics behind the book is that Japan neglected services and frills when it was playing economic catch up with the West. The business potential stemming from that is immense; while the Japanese excelled at making electronic gadgets, they lagged in a range of other areas. Instead of clobbering us over the head with a dense academic treatise, the authors give us plenty of examples where huge gaps in the market are creating lucrative market niches for a range of foreign players. If you are interested in running a service business in Japan, this small book will give you quite a few hints and a lot of hope. Definitely worth a read: so much so that I gave my copy away to some fashion designers who are making headway here.

As a layman who is neither well versed in Japanese business practices nor inordinately interested in Japanese culture, I found this book to provide fascinating insights into Japanese culture. The book is easily accessible for the non-MBA type and for those who are not intimately associated with the nuances of Japanese culture. Very interesting read and I would highly recommend it.

Peter Hopkirk is a child of the British Empire, having been to many places where generally only mad dogs and English men dare venture; among other exploits he was a soldier with the late and largely unlamented Idi Amin. As a historian he has made a name for himself as a very capable chronicler of the Great Game in Asia in the 1900s. This is his book about the Western Drang nach Osten, the quest of European, an American, and Japanese explorers to investigate Tibet and its secrets.

Tibet was a backwards and forbidden kingdom ruled my monks under the Dalai Lama; with China, Russia and the British in India keen to encroach on Tibet, the Tibetans were at least equally determined to keep foreigners out; officials who let foreigners get past them on their mad quests for Lhasa were at times decapitated on orders from on high. Hopkirk recounts the stories of the various Englishmen, Indians, the American and others who were intent to be the first to make it to Tibet and sometimes Lhasa, who did so in disguise, in an airplane, behind rifles the Tibetans couldn't match and more (I am frugal with details lest I spoil the stories.) I highly recommend them.

When it comes to delineating the history of Central Asia and environs, few writers can touch the craftsmanship of author Peter Hopkirk. In his hands, what could easily be boring history, becomes, instead, vibrant excitement. As in his other books, Hopkirk makes these mysterious and fabled lands come alive. In this book he describes the many attempts by adventurers from the outside world to penetrate remote Tibet and its almost-mystical capital, Lhasa. Chapter by chapter Hopkirk ticks off the sagas of these opportunists, some seeking fortune and fame, some on their majesty's (or tsar's) service. In the contest between Tibet versus the world, Tibet scores early and frequently, thus keeping the others out. But eventually, overpowered by modern weaponry, the outsiders win. It's tempting to cast this in terms of good-guys versus bad-guys. But it's not that easy, as the reader will see. What IS easy is declaring this book a fantastic and exciting history of a mysterious land that just wanted to be left alone.

Hopkirk stays on top of the world with this book!

Learn about the "real" Tibet[before China invaded]...

An extensive review of the many attempts to gain access to the hidden city of Tibet. Well done, authoritative, exciting events in the time line of the many documented attempts to gain a look into the mysterious city that has been protected from outsiders for centuries. The reasons from military desires to the hope of finding hidden gold deposits are some of the many exploits of carefully planned adventures presented by Peter Hopkirk. They will keep your interest from beginning to end, guaranteed.

Although extraordinary geography was the best natural defense the Tibetans had against foreign invaders, it can also be the sole reason that lures many a traveler, visitor, and tourists to Tibet to date. Of course, religion, spirituality, culture, art, and life on the high altitudes in the most extreme of climates are other reasons for venturing into this land. In Hopkirk's book, trespassing by foreigners, especially Europeans, was an extension of the Great Game, the struggle between Britain and Russia for expansionism in Central Asia. Military supremacy, a face-to-face encounter with the Dalai Lama, or recognition by the Royal Geographical Society and other prestigious societies at the time was the prize for people from different walks of life--missionaries, soldiers, geographers, naturalists---to venture into this forbidden land. Alas, no matter how well-guarded the country, especially Lhasa, was, the Tibetans' defense was no match to the military might of the British. China proved to be a formidable occupier as soon as the British lost their firm hold on Tibet during World War II. An American pilot was the first intruder from the air---by accident. Nonetheless, relentless trespassing by foreigners was the inevitable truth that many Tibetans must have found hard to swallow.

The book is a masterpiece of historical writing. Starting with Tibet's stupendous geography, the book segues on the origin of Tibetan Buddhism. Eventually the reader is initiated to the challenging craft of punditry, the only way the outside world could glean some scientific information on this forbidden land. If Hopkirk intended to instill wonder and suspense on the reader as he narrates a series of close calls by pundits and disguised explorers from being caught and daring-do attempts by intruders in order to be recognized as the first outsider to set foot on this forbidden land, he has succeeded. With exquisite writing style and a penchant for vivid description of people, places, and events, the book is a highly engaging read. Those who risked their lives and their families to venture into a forbidden land can be easily blamed for folly, but Hopkirk brings out the humanity in them. Every adventure is told so well that can make good reading anywhere and anytime. History reading can't get to be more fun that this!

This book was given to me less than a month after I returned from a trip to Bhutan in the late fall of 2006. If you are seeking only a portable guidebook on your trip, look elsewhere (I used Lonely Planet). But if the objective is to find the best photographic portrait of a very special place, this is the book for you. This is a reduced version of a book that measures 5x7 feet, that weighs 150 pounds, and that holds a Guinness World Record. It is also a charitable project, intended to provide funds for university education of Bhutanese students. Although the book was published in 2004, I noticed that it includes several photos (such as those of Dochu La and Taktsang Gompa) that were taken before some recent and rather dramatic changes. I cannot help but conclude that many of the shots will become historically significant over time. But as an artistic collection, the photos are truly stunning. It is unusual to find not only intimate shots of a beautiful group of people, but majestic views of the incredible landscape. I look at my copy often, for it transports me to the other side of the world.

nous avons visiter le bhoutan l'année passer et vu le livre dans un suisse guest house et depuis on le cherchait. Tres heureux de l'avoir trouver de superbes photos les paysages, monastères, le peuple et coutume que nous avons pu rencontrer pendant notre voyage inoubliable, merci

This book is amazing, it is just like you are there. Extremely well packaged and shipped 2nd day air via UPS. Worth every penny.

The first time I walked into the West Chicago, IL library after the Bhutan book was placed on display, I thought I had been transported to the Himalayas. Standing in front of these gorgeous mountains, I could feel myself being pulled in. Subsequent days as the pages were turned, I was impressed with the beauty of the area, the beauty of the people, the vibrancy of their costumes. I make a lot of trips to the library-don't want to miss a page. Thanks Dr. George Hawley for donating your son's wonderful work to West Chicago. Worth a trip to view where ever it is on display.

Let's face it. You'd be stupid not to get the "Better Together" deal, which includes an $8 map of Bhutan with the $15,000 book!

Ngor details the coming and going of the Khymer Rouge regime in Cambodia. This was a purely evil regime. As Ngor states Angwa was the all knowing, all seeing Cambodian regime. Unfortunately, they were simplistic in how they chose to solve Cambodia's problems. Not enough food, empty out the cities and send the urban population to grow crops. Medical problems, well grind up vitamins and give shots to the population. While the city and rural population grew thinner, the soldiers and the regime bureaucrats got fatter and fatter. Ngor details the incredibly evil regime of Pol Pot. In the end, some of the evil doers meet justice. One of the regime region's chiefs is roasted over a fire and Ngor gets to see the end of this evil man.

This is the life story of Haing Ngor. He survived three prison camp experiences in the gulag of Cambodia. He ended up seeing this evil regime of Pol Pot replaced with a North Vietnamese backed Cambodian puppet regime. He eventually is placed in the U.S. and then goes on to star in a Hollywood film called the Killing Fields. This is a great story of love and endurance. It is all true.

What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons.

I was drawn into this book after first viewings of the film "The Killing Fields." At the time, I was unaware of a lot of the background to many of the events depicted onscreen, and was looking for something a bit more detailed.

As it turned out, this book was something far greater than that, on a par with the writings of Primo Levi, or Elie Wiesel as a depiction of survival amid the most grotesque extremes in ideological depravity humanity could conjure up. Through survival, later stardom and human rights work, Dr. Ngor became (and posthumously remains) one of the great human rights educators of our time.

In this eloquent autobiography, he also accomplishes something else - vivid and affectionate portrayals of Cambodian culture (pre-revolution), and a detailed description of the slide into civil war and the anarchic chaos of Phnom Penh immediately before the fall.

And he also crafts a love story; a memorable and majestic one, of a romance that he attempted to nourish in spite of the societal upheaval occuring around him and his wife. The detail in his descriptions of family are affectionate, and also written with a rare clarity - for this, among many other reasons, this book is a classic.

-David Alston

What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons.

This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979. However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you. In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content. Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives. For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again. As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country. These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime. May he rest in peace.

The collected works of one of the greatest poets of T'ang dynasty China. Essential reading for students and admirer's of Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Red Pine's excellent translations of the poems of Han Shan, a great sage of China usually referred to as Cold Mountain, meets, and even exceeds the high standards we all have come to expect from this great translator.

Written twelve centuries ago in the mountains and forest of China, Han Shan's poetry set the standard for all later Zen, Taoist poets. The poems of Cold Mountain reveal the heart and mind of enlightenment with images ranging from the isolated peaks of snow-capped mountains to the drunnken revelry Chinese cowboys. It is no wonder that his work has been one of the staple sources throughout the history of Asian and Zen literature.

This work has been significantly revised and expanded since its initial publication in 1983. Red Pine has created a masterpiece with this new bilingual (English and Chinese) edition presenting all of Han Shan's known work (and even some of the great poems by his two friends, Shih-te, (aka Pickup) and Feng-kan (aka, Big Stick).

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain is an awesome source of classic Chinese wisdom poems!

This revised edition includes a new and comprehensive introduction, excellent notes, and even photographs of the area (and caves) where Han Shan lived and wrote.

An outstanding achievement!

This translation is very readable. The notes are always very interesting and help the text come alive. Red Pine has really provided a lot of value through them - without them, some of the poems could be very obscure. It is rare to find a translation of the complete works of a Chinese poet: most books only present a selection. If one takes the time to read the complete oevre, however, the author comes alive in a different way - you begin to recognize certain recurring moods and themes; in the end, you feel you have learnt something about the things that concerned him, and come closer as a result.
The only criticism is that Red Pine uses a personal transliteration that is neither pinyin nor Wade-Giles; as a result, it is often hard to be sure of the identity of people and places he mentions.

As other reviewers have already stated, this is a very nice volume of poetry, very nicely put together with the original chinese on one page and the translation on the opposite page. This is the third volume of Han Shan that I have, and it is by far the best in terms of completeness and the essence of the translations. Get a copy or three before the print run is over!

This beautiful edition of the legendary poetry by the "Zen" poet Han Shan is a priceless contribution to know and experience his fascinating and miraculous, almost stoic and sometimes mystical utterances. Carefully edited, wonderful translations. I am happy to have purchased this book as a gift for a good friend

Cold Moutain chuckles still
as he reads through my eyes
those poems that he carved in stone.

Appropriate now
as they were back then,
his laughter knows no bounds.

No center, no boundaries,
all opposites dissolve.
Suchness beyond "as one".

Moon over sea,
Wave against rock.
All returns instantly!

Having grown up watching the classic television adaptation of the book, I have always had a great admiration for Pandit Nehru. A few years back I bought the book and it was sheer joy to read through and to get to know India personally. Even though I am an Indian, I would say, that I felt more close to India after reading this book. I would bet, this is one history book you will not put down for sure.

In today's perspective, when everyone is looking at and talking about India, there are lots of misconceptions. Unfortunately, most of us (Indians) have forgotten our roots and have no clear idea of our own country. I would bet you pick up randomly any number of Indians and ask him or her about the history of India, and everyone will come up with his own version, which is almost always far away from truth. I have to accept that I too belong to that category, but now with "The Discovery of India" by my side, I believe I won't go wrong. For instance, how many of us know that the real inhabitants of India, the real Indians were actually the South Indians (Dravidians) and rest of us are all Aryans the non-inhabitants? How many of us know that the so called caste "Kshatriyas", "Brahamans", "Shudras" had nothing to do with religion but was an indentification of one's occupation? How many of us know that the word "Hindu" didn't mean "a person who follows Hinduism" but "The citizens of Hindustan"?(Pardon me if I hurt someone, but that it is a fact. If you already know, then hats-off to you)

I personally believe, every Indian must read this book and more so every politician, the current bunch of people regardless of whichever party they represent, because none of them have any idea what India is all about. Unfortunately!!

This book is compiled from Nehru's letters to his teen-age daughter from a British prison. Reading Discovery of India gives a glimpse of the intellectual level of politicians who contetsted British rule in 40's. India owes it's recent "Hi-Tech" growth to Nehru and his vision of sustainable freedom through knowledge and education.

I read Nehru's treatise once when I was in 10th grade and appreciated little of it. I chanced upon the book again recently and decided to hash out the book from the first page to last. I was very impressed with his deep and insightful interpretation of various historical events in the 5 millenia long history of my country, and of his objective portrayal of the same. He was not overtly parochial as I suspected he would be, but was critical of my countrymen and of our culture and their actions when necessary, and lauded their actions when they were justified. Particularly interesting to me were his writings on the social evolution of our caste system, which is said to be a great problem, and is constantly criticized (particularly by the you-know-who's of the western world). However, Nehru showed that, the system in it's ancient and present forms are dogma-induced perversions of it's intended goal, which was to provide checks and balances to racial and class-based divisions that plagued other "more civilized" Hellenic and Saxonic/Nordic societies in Europe (he also pointed out that the caste system enabled ancient Indians to avoid the sick barbarity of the mass slavery of other human beings with minds and thoughts like our own, something which all civilizations other than India and those in the Far East have practiced on a nauseatingly copious scale). Also, I was impressed by his organized portrayal of the British Raj which, by all accounts other than those of the Europeans, was a savage massacre and rape of our land and people to satisfy the Anglo-Saxon bloodlust (while it did have a small number of benefits, it did not justify the claim of "Pax Brittanica"). If I were to paraphrase the British occupation based on his writings, I would have to say that his contention was that, while the British enslaved our people in order to "civilize" us, we wound up civilizing them, as, in the final analysis, they were amenable to reason and dialogue and consequently we were able to sue for our freedon through civil disobedience rather than wage bloody wars for it like other countries like the United States were forced to do.

However, one criticism for this work is that Nehru has often been a tad shaky on his facts. One might argue, of course, that his main intention was not to provide a litany of names and dates, but explanations and interpretations. But one must remember that history is a science as much as it is an art, and the scientific method entails detailed records of all the facts before providing an interpretation of them. Nehru is a little deficient on this. For example, he summarizes the spectacular rise of the Mauryan Empire in just 1 paragraph, without describing the palace intrigues that lead Kautilya to engineer the rather dramatic fall of the Nanda Dynasty and crown Sandracottus/Chandragupta Maurya as the Emperor after driving out the Celucid Greeks. He only touches the interesting bits about the invasions of Demetrius and the Scythians and Huns (though he does mention Mihiragula the Horrible), the mistreatment of the Buddhist monks by the Sunga Kings, and the grand achievements of the Gupta Empire that entail all that is finest about our people even to this day. Also, his portrayal of Muslim rule in India is somewhat biased, and he only describes the bad bits, such as the jizya and the pagan tyranny of Aurangzeb while glossing over the good bits during the reigns Emperors Akbar, Jehangir and all those chaps who tried to build bridges between Hindus and Muslims. He did not write about the reletavily progressive outlook of Indian Muslims (relative to the Persians and Afghans of that time) that laid to the establishment of the Ghulami (Slave) Dynasty in the Sultanate, when Iltutmish, a poor slave, rose in the ranks to become an Emperor, or of our first Empress, Razia al-Din (although the incompetence of the Tughlaq dynasty negated much of that later).

All in all, though, I'm glad I read this book as I know more about my roots than I did before.

Written by Jawaharlal Nehru for his daughter Indira, this book is an introduction to the history of India as well as an insight into Nehru's political vision during the fight for Independance.

The narrative framework is that of Nehru's stay in prison, which gives him time to write and look back on the history of the sub-continent, and on the Nationalist movement.
I find this work simply amazing. Nehru doesn't just tackle a few centuries of "Indian" (he actually speaks about a lot more than the present days India) history, he tries to offer a panorama through the ages, from the Indus Civilization (just discovered a decade or so ago at the time) to his entry in history. This history of India is eminently political, as the title proves it, since Nehru invites us to discover India, an entity that did not formaly exist yet. His presentation of the sub-continent's history aims at : doing justice to the incredible richness of the indian past and culture that was overlooked by the British (see MacCauley for instance), creating a history of the subcontinent as a "unified whole" (from Asoka to the Mughals and the British), and finally, summing up the nationalist movement's history.

However biased Nehru's view may be, his presentation of the facts is incredibly compelling and classifies this text as an uplifting testimony of his political views. No matter how much one knows about the more objective history of India, it is impossible to resist partaking in his dream of a unified country. This view might be criticized as imperialistic or just unrealistic since he thought of India as India + Pakistan + Bangladesh, nevertheless when reading this book it is possible to forget everything about history and share a bit of the fiever that animated Indian Nationalists of the Congress.

I find this book extremely informative as much in terms of Nehru's views as in terms of history. However you will need another source on the history to balance Nehru's unifying enthusiasm, for instance India a History by Keay is a very good read as well as an information packed volume (with nice photos).
As a final word I'd say that Nehru's take on the history of Islam in India is very intelligent in its attempts to minimize and expalin the gap that was starting to increase dramatically between the Congress and the Muslim League and is useful when trying to understand the origins of the Muslim/Hindu clash (here again, other sources are needed, but it's still worth taking in consideration).

There is nothing to say other than 'to understand India'- this is where you need to start. A book like this only comes along once in a lifetime and I'm glad I've benefited from its wonders.

This is the real story of Dieter Dengler's experiences in Laos. When compared to the movie RESCUE DAWN, it becomes obvious that the movie is a lot closer to the truth than it's critics advocate.

I finished this book on Memorial Day 2008. It is still relevant to our
position of freedom and life.

Escape From Laos is truly an amazing tale of survival. Having a first hand perspective like no one else has, Dengler tells this story with almost no emotion, describing each terrible situation without shying away from the reality or overdramatizing. A quick and interesting read.

Best book I read in 2007 and I'm squeamish about war narratives. Riveting, astounding, a profile of courage and mental agility. This is the bible of survival techniques.

I shudder to think what details were edited OUT of this book.

I also recommend the film "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" where Dengler himself takes one back to the scene of these horrors.Little Dieter needs to Fly

On February 1, 1966 the American pilot Dieter Dengler (1938-2001) took enemy fire and crash-landed his plane in Laos while on a secret mission. After surviving in the jungle on his own he was captured, tortured (hung upside down with an ant nest around his neck, submerged in a well, dragged by an ox through a village), then taken on a three-week jungle trek to a Pathet Lao prison camp called Par Kung. Dengler recalls that it was nothing like he imagined a prison camp might be, but instead a tiny enclave of a few huts exactly twenty-one by twenty-two steps in size. There he met six other POWS, two American and four Asian (which later became a source of tension), who had been imprisoned as long as two and a half years. Later they were transferred to the very similar Hoi Het camp. When starvation threatened both the prisoners and the guards, and the prisoners overheard the guards saying that they planned to shoot them, they made an elaborate plan and escaped. The fellow POWS were separated after the escape, and Dengler and his buddy Duane Martin teamed up. Lice, leeches, ticks, ants ("the true torment of the jungle"), sweltering days and cold nights, torrential rain, dumb mistakes and incredibly good luck, and the human will to survive--these are only part of Dengler's first person narrative. Incredibly, after soldiering on for so long, Dengler and Martin stumbled onto some villagers, scared them, and in the space of a minute they had beheaded Duane. After surviving twenty-three days in the jungle after his escape, hallucinations, wandering in a circle, tumbling over water falls, and eating things you never should eat, Dengler was rescued in an improbable stroke of luck. He lost sixty pounds in the six-month ordeal. In 1997 Werner Herzog made a documentary about Dengler called Little Dieter Needs to Fly. More recently Herzog dramatized this survivor's tale in the film Rescue Dawn (2007). This is a gripping book that reminded me of Alfred Lansing's Endurance about Shackleton's Antarctic survival story.

I read the true story of the My Lia Massacre when it first came out, and then knew why when we came back we were called baby killers. Now that I have read this book on My Lia I wonder how they let something like that happen and what makes me mad is that nothing more has been done about the people that done it all. I personelly think that all the people that took part should be put in jail and left there, but other then that it was an excellent book to read.

The major problem with this work is that from the beginning, it tries to explain the My Lai massacre as a function of the corruption inherent in the Vietnam War. It is reminiscent of Jospeh Caputo's attempts to exonerate himself by blaming the war for the corruption of his soul and his order to assasinate two suspected Vietnamese spies. The problem with both of these approaches is that the events are never placed in their proper context, that is, as occuring during a war whrer millions of soldiers served honorably. Instead, the event transcends time and space and is explained as product of the impersonal forces of war and their effects on the soldiers who served in Vietnam. My Lai, then becomes the epitome of this "Zietgiest", if you will, of the corrupting influence of war and its effeects on the participants.
Granted, the behavior of the men of the Americal division in the My lai episode is simply unforgivable, but plenty of heroic soldiers served in the division, as did millions of other soldiers in Vietnam without the requisite number of massacres one should expect if the war was so traumatizing and corrupting. A better approach would be to explore the personal flaws of those involved and begin an explanation from there. The real tragedy is not the effect of the war on the perpetrators, but the real human failure of those who participated and the circumstance they would find themselves in that exploitred their deficiencies of character. The victims are truly victims because they were subjected to the actions of these men not because of something they did, but by the mere juxtoposition of events that allowed these terribly flawed men to enounter them in war.
It seems disingenous, as well an insult to the victims and those who served honorably, to blame this event on impersonal forces such as the "corrupting nature of war" rather than focusing the blame squarely on those individuals responsible. If not, the tendency is to transcend space and time, take the event out of context and view as a manifestation of an American Holocaust in Vietnam. Nothing could be further form the truth. The authors should be reminded that those who cannot distinguish between a tragedy and a holocaust yearn to be taught the difference.

I thought that Lt Calley was made a scapegoat for the
event that happened at My Lia, but after reading the book.
I find that he was a coldblooded killer,and cause many other young men to be the same way. I will never understand why Cpt Medina,and the other oficers involved in this incident was not brought to trail. The order given by these Oficers were just as much the cause of the problem, as were the men that did the actual killing.
I served two tours in Nam , and I thank God that I never
witnessed any such thing. I would probably have been brought to trail myself for killing those that would do such a coldhearted
thing.
However I must say that I am exremely proud of those that did not participate in the shooting.

An excellent and even-handed book. As a father of four, I would take my helmet off to Thompson and hope that I would have done the same thing in those circumstances.

However, as a jumpy eighteen-year-old who had spent three months seeing his buddies slaughtered in booby trap after booby trap, having their heads blown off by snipers you never see or get to track, Army trucks full of draftees decimated by grenades thrown by smiling elderly villagers and children, I really don't know how much I would have given a damn for any village anywhere in that country.

Yes, the massacre was wrong, and thank God for men like Thompson, but if anybody is going to judge My Lai or any other total breakdown of discipline and artificially-sustained morality, it should be men and women who have served in extreme combat environments, not bourgeois middle-class Liberals who have never had to get their hands dirty.

Vietnam was a filthy war, and because it never had a distinct purpose or Win Scenario driving it, it was a pointless war. Ironically, one of the things that triggered My Lai was the very fear and frustration generated by the VC's own tactics, including the mutilation of American corpses and the constant goading and provocation that GI's had to endure.

This was the same Enemy that massacred French garrisons and lined the approach roads with the severed heads of the defenders to demoralize the relief columns. The same Enemy that even booby trapped live babies in order to kill American soldiers and shock them into a state of psychological collapse.

Read the book, by all means, and be outraged. Yet while the massacre can never be justified, with the kind of background, only some of which I have just outlined, it can perhaps be understood - above all, as others have rightly said, in the absence of strong leadership and the stability provided by having a good sprinkling of experienced Vets throughout the Company.

No, it should never have happened, but then, neither should the War.

My family fled Vietnam in 1979 and settled in the U.S. I always believed that the Americans were the "good guys" in the Vietnam War. After reading this book, I now have a much different view. I see the conflict as something that is much more complex than what I was taught in high school. The Viet Congs committed many atrocities during the war, but it seems as though the Americans committed just as many--if not more--atrocities. The My Lai Massacre is a shining example of the low regard that a large number of American soldiers had for Vietnamese peasants.

I highly recommend this book as it debunks the myths surrounding the Vietnam War. In addition, the authors call into question the moral character of not only the "grunts" that gunned down old men, women, children, and even babies, but also the officers high up the chain of command that tried to cover up the massacre. Moreover, the authors are highly critical of the military justice system that basically looked the other way even in the face of overwhelming evidence that a massacre indeed did occur.

The book serves as an important reminder of the horrendous nature of war where good young boys can turn into cold-blooded killers. In light of the recent events in Haditha, Mukaradeeb, and Hamdania, among others, we need to learn from past mistakes so that we don't repeat them.