Asia Books

There are very few books on and by queer of color. This book is a very significant anthology that has not been equaled for over 8 years.

This book is an amazing and masterful piece of work. Due to the significant lack of material pertaining to the South Asian Diasporic LBGTQ community one can easily see the relevence and necessity for such a publication. Personal, provacative, critical, analytical, cross-cultural, and ethnically specific are keywords that come to mind in reviewing this title. Highly recommended for any LBGTQ person regardless of ethnicity. A useful resource for any student pursuing academic studies in Queer Studies or South Asian Studies. As relevent today as it was when it was first published!

The South Asian lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender movement has come a long way since 1993, but Ratti's book is still a primary source of information on the subject and hence a milestone for the movement. The chapters are highly variable in quality but are all eminently readable. Readers are strongly urged to check out www.trikone.org and the khush listserv to see where the desi queer movement is heading these days.

This is an extremely important collection of works on gay and lesbian themes from South Asia for two reasons. Firstly, the genres are authentic, and not filtered through the lenses of Western scholars. Secondly, it successfully relates the context in which homosexual identity is constructed in South Asia. It also has some useful historical essays, and great poetry. A must read for ANY student interested in South Asian gay and lesbian culture.

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

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

What a character. What a tale.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meet one of the most gallant warriors of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. This biography depicts ARVN Major General Hieu under different facets: his personal life, his military career, his military exploits, and his unjust death. It reveals General Hieu as an unsung hero, whose tactical and strategic skills put him among the best soldiers of modern times, at par with General Rommel of Germany, Patton of the United States, Montgomery of England and Leclerc of France.

The Internet format of this biography has received wide acceptance from its readers with more than 20,000 visitors the first year. One reader comments, "Besides its military historical value, it has room for deep, emotional feelings," and another reader writes, "Of all the military stories I have read, yours is the most touching. What a fine officer General Hieu must have been, so very much an all around person. I did not know him. But I am sure glad I have read about him; it seems as if he comes alive again through your stories, and once again he is an inspiring figure, as his modesty transcends the years," Vietnam War Veterans have found it "fascinating", "incredibly factual," "exceptionally superior," and something that "may well be required reading in high schools, military college..."

Containing first hand military documents pertaining to operational orders, it provides a rare presentation for ordinary people; one is allowed to see how a divisional commanding general plans and executes his battles. The story of an individual life, this biography offers an illuminating insight of the ARVN and provides a unique perspective of the Vietnam War.

This book gives answers to the following questions:

- The NVA has General Vo Nguyen Giap. Does the ARVN have someone comparable?

- How did General Hieu score next to General John Norton, Jr of the US 1st Cavalry Division?

- How did General Hieu score next to General Albert Milloy of the US 1st Infantry Division?

- What did General Dennis McAuliffe of the US Big Red One Division think about General Hieu?

- How did Colonel John Hayes, Senior Advisor of ARVN 5th Division, evaluate General Hieu?

- How did the ARVN 22nd Division score next to the US 1st Cavalry Division?

- How did the ARVN 5th Division score next to the US 1st Infantry Division?

- What role did General Hieu play in the Ia Drang Valley Battle (US 1st Cavalry Division), Pershing Operation (US 1st Cavalry Division), Dong Tien Operations (US 1st Infantry Division), Total Victory 46 Operation (US 1st Cavalry Division)?

- How did the ARVN Airborne Division score next to the US 173rd Airborne Brigade and the US 101st Airborne Division?

- etc...

This biography, a reader would notice at the outset, is not written by a historian, an investigative reporter, or a professional biographer. It originates instead from the pen of a younger sibling seeking to resolve the mystery surrounding his brother's untimely death. This legitimate curiosity has evolved into a collection of articles depicting General Nguyen van Hieu as a family man, a patriot, a military strategist, and a man of integrity. This collection of articles authored by siblings, friends, and fellow military men unexpectedly converges to project a dynamic image of an intelligent soldier and brilliant strategist engaged in the twofold quixotic task of overcoming a corrupted military hierarchy and fighting the invading North Vietnamese communist army. The book presents the reader with glimpses of a man living the yin aspect of the Vietnamese society (egalitarian, flexible, spiritual, congenial) and, at the same time, confronting the yang aspect of the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy (male dominant, rigid, self-serving, elitist, concerned with face and status). Without any claim to being systematic or thorough in his research, the author has nevertheless gathered a number of revealing personal anecdotes, testimonies from living witnesses, declassified documents from the National Archives, letters from former military academy classmates, phone interviews, excerpts from books, and so forth. From this cacophony of voices emerges the image of a virtuous man, caring father, loving spouse, and competent general respected by Vietnamese and American military personnel of all ranks. The reader would no doubt be surprised to discover this unsung hero in the stark background of negative memories of the Vietnam War and betrayal of the Vietnamese people by the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy. Though modest in its presentation, the book manages to do justice to a dedicated soldier and competent general, who is mostly unknown to both the Vietnamese and the American public. After reading this fascinating biography, the reader comes away wondering what might have been had this uncommon general, who epitomized the true Vietnamese people, been allowed to fully exercise his military competence.END

This biography, a reader would notice at the outset, is not written by a historian, an investigative reporter, or a professional biographer. It originated instead from the pen of a younger sibling seeking to resolve the mystery surrounding his brother's untimely death. This legitimate curiosity has evolved into a collection of articles depicting General Nguyen van Hieu as a family man, a patriot, a military strategist, and a man of integrity.

This collection of articles authored by siblings, friends, and fellow military men unexpectedly converges to project a dynamic image of an intelligent soldier and brilliant strategist engaged in the twofold unenviable task of overcoming a corrupted military hierarchy and fighting the invading North Vietnamese communist army.

The book presents the reader with glimpses of a man living the yin aspect of the Vietnamese society (egalitarian, flexible, spiritual, congenial) and, at the same time, confronting the yang aspect of the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy (male dominant, rigid, self-serving, elitist, concerned with face and status).

Without any claim to being systematic or thorough in his research, the author has nevertheless gathered a number of revealing personal anecdotes, testimonies from living witnesses, declassified documents from the National Archives, letters from former military academy classmates, phone interviews, excerpts from books, and so forth. From this cacophony of voices emerges the image of a virtuous man, caring father, loving spouse, and competent general respected by Vietnamese and American military personnel of all ranks. The reader would no doubt be surprised to discover this unsung hero in the stark background of negative memories of the Vietnam War and betrayal of the Vietnamese people by the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy.

Though modest in its presentation, the book manages to do justice to a dedicated soldier and competent general, who is mostly unknown to both the Vietnamese and the American public. After reading this fascinating biography, the reader comes away wondering what might have been had this uncommon general, who epitomized the true Vietnamese people, been allowed to fully exercise his military competence.

(P.S. Please use this book review instead of the earlier version I sent to Amazon.com this morning. Thank you. Tri V. Nguyen)

This text presents and illuminating perspective into the highest Vietnamese traditions, and is a fitting posthumous tribute to a ranking member of South Viet Nam's highest military cadres. Written as a sibbling biography, it is richly peppered throughout with mild bias, something freely acknowledged by the author, which nevertheless does not detract from the wealth of objective information, and data that are only enriched by a personal, if family-oriented point of view. This book extolls the virtue of Vietnamese tradition with the highest esteem, as exemplified in this in-depth analysis of one man's contributions to his motherland, set against the backdrop of one of southeast Asia's most tragic and sad chapters in history. Factual information is well presented with adequate supporting documentation and numerous pictures give this historical personage a very vivid and intimate familiarity. The details of some of the information presented can be simultaneously revealing and startling. This book is well-balanced in the extremes: One man's virtues and rapid progression through the military ranks being consistently contrasted with the insidious prevalence or corruption or corrupt practices by the government which he is sworn to protect and defend. The admiration of the author for the Major General lies in stark contrast to the shameful behaviors of so many government officials at all levels, including the presidency, which must bear the brunt of the responsibililty for the eventual downfall of the government of the Republic of Viet Nam. "I am only the instrument of my brother. General Hieu's biography is a self-expression ... General Hieu drew a clear-cut line between the two military and private life areas. This explains why he was able to maintain his integrity and virtue while working with other corrupt and low-moral generals ... The majestic aura that soldiers perceived in General Hieu's personality came from his inner strength, not from an artificial majesty requiring the use of a general's baton, or a combat camouflaged outfit, or a cigar, or an imposing guard detail, etc... And thus they genuinely respected and loved him dearly ..." General Hieu was assassinated in his office headquarters on 8 April 1975. Except in the fact that he was shot to death, official reports and eyewitness testimony remain internally contradictory. by: Dr Michael JM Raffin 1st. Brigade, 5th. Infantry Division (Mechanized) Province of Quang Tri, Viet Nam July, 1968 to March 1969

This book is okay, I had to read it in school. I've read better books before but if you are a person who likes to read historical books. then this book might be the type you're looking for. It's told from the point of views of 17year old Simon and the Roman Commander, Flavis Silva. it's Interesting how you get to know what's going on both sides of the 'war' During the last few months before the Romans won

Though I wouldn't recommend this book for younger audiences because of the violence and references to camp harlots, it was a compelling drama. Besides the political and religious aspects of the story, there is the underlying love story of unrequited love between Simon and Deborah, who is pledged to his best friend, John. It is the story of courage and hope despite overwhelming odds. By writing from the Roman general's point of view also, we get a look at his insights into the situation as well as political greed, corruption, honor, and cruelty. The themes in this novel are universal.

This book held my interest from the first pages. It's told from the Roman commander's viewpoint and the son of the Jewish leader who wants to be a physican and succeeds just at the time when he must kill those he loves. The last chapters had me in tears. It really brings alive the people and problems of the period. Imagine the Romans, surrounding the fortress, having to haul in water and supplies for months in the desert heat, and the Jews - trying to stop the building of the ramp which would let the Romans use their battering ram to break into their fortress. Don't have to be Jewish to find the book fascinating

Gloria Miklowitz has written an interesting work of historical fiction, that will leave young readers awed at the Zealots courage, and disgusted with the Roman resolve to conquer all. The author uses several devices to keep young adults both male and female reading including the friendship/conflict between the young narrator and John, the rising military leader for the Jews and their struggles in loving the same young woman. Alternating voices of the young Jewish narrator and the commander of Roman forces are easily distinguished and insightful. Adults and young adults will have plenty to discuss and think about. Not recommended for ages ten and under, for the mass suicide at the end would be both frightening and difficult for younger children to comprehend.

Abildskov perfectly portrays the heartbreak of loving more than one can be loved. In liquid prose, she both startles and cajols, rendering a painfully honest tale of heartbreak. I read this beautiful book in a single sitting.

This is a lovely work about a women's journey to find what love might mean- and no way is it trite. Ms. Abildskov is placed in a foreign country with new stimulations, finding for herself that love can show itself in a variety of forms and yet hasn't she maybe felt love before without recognizing its subtle ways? I hated to have this story end. I held myself back reading- trying to let each moment penetrate my feelings as they might have Ms. Abildskov. Her descriptions are as beautiful as they are heavy, letting me visualize and feel the weight of her emotions.
A lyrical non-fiction memoir that left me feeling like I had been granted a gentle good-bye:
"Are you sorry to go? I ask
Kind of, one woman says
In a way chimes the other. But it's time, you know what I mean? You can't stay forever. I mean this isn't real life." (page 115)
Stay inside the real life Ms. Abildskov recreates and savor the moments. I for one was very sorry to go.

I picked this up because I thought it was about teaching in Japan. Having taught abroad (China and Egypt), and having taught many Japanese students in the US, I thought it was a travel book about the teaching experience.

It turned out to be something very different. It is common knowledge among expat teachers, that some US men teach abroad to meet women, who "unlike American women, know how to treat a guy". As I got beyond the introductory pages about sensing and "watching" Japan, I wondered if this book was about the reverse, liberated American women shattering a taboo and having sexual exploits in a foreign land.

Further into the book, there is more insight. This is a highly sensitive person, looking for a place, affirmation, love, or maybe permanance in a world that hasn't offered it to her. Needs transcend her awareness of the wake she leaves behind. Despite her deep love (or is it need) for one man, she entertains two others. The man she loves wants her in some way, but is emotionally unavailable. Of the other two, one is married, and the other, as a worker in a noodle factory is not a serious suitor. I would expect that both have emotional scars from their relationship with the author. None of the three men speaks English well enough to have a normal, let alone nuanced, conversation with her.

The book chronicles, after 7 years retrospect, her memories of the encounters, from her observation, along with a backdrop of the intrigue of a foreign adventure.

I would recommend this to anyone going through a romantic breakup. Like a conversation with a fellow sufferer, it could offer a balm. The pain comes through the detail of obsession for the lost. The writing is very good, and I like the remembered conversations italicized and not quoted, since there is no way they can be exact. For those looking for a travel adventure, or insight into teaching English, this is not the book.

The cover is great. The oragami figures in subtle colors clearly evoke Japan.

I could NOT put this book down. Ms. Abildskov has created a story of such difficult beauty and courage, such clear and striking insight, such sweetness and humor and fury, every page took my breath away. A journey, from the moment I opened the book to the wee hours of the morning. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I found a reference to this book while trying to find an authentic MiG-21 camouflage paint scheme. The book is excellent in its limited coverage and contains very specialized material. Not designed for the casual aviation reader.

As a US Navy Radar Intercept Officer flying in the back-seat of Phantom IIs, I had two engagements with Mig-21s during the Vietnam war...won one, lost one. Winning is a lot more fun, that's for sure, but both types are very interesting. Reading Istvan Toperczer's book, "Mig-21 Units of the Vietnam War" was like taking a little peek inside the Mig pilots' play book...it gave me an idea of how they planned and set up their attacks... and it reinforced for me that we already had pretty good ideas of what was coming when we took them on in aerial combat.

This book has a lot of superb photographs, drawings, illustrations and words which all flow together very nicely and make reading it a real enjoyment. If you are interested in fighter-flying it will be very interesting, and for those who actually fought against the Migs in Vietnam, or tried to engage one, it will be intensely interesting. It was a unique experience for me to read this book and be able to critique it from the vantage point of one who actually lived through it. I highly recommend it as a purchase, and certainly it will make a great gift for any aviation buff, most particularly any military pilot. This book is not just another "book about flying", it is the product of some very thorough research and painstaking efforts to match-up all the reports by Dr. Toperczer, and reading it is like reading a colorful history book on a subject which you love.

Dr Istvan Toperczer has produced several books on the North Vietnamese People's Air Force and surfaced more photography and information on their side of the battle for the skies over North Vietnam against the United States than all the other researchers combined who have tried to elicit this type information. This volume is a welcome addition the Osprey series that deals with type aircraft (in this case the MiG-21) in conflicts. As the thirtieth anniversary of the conclusion of hostilities over North Vietnam approaches in 2003, it is fitting that this work has arrived for the many veterans and interested readers to be able to add to the considerable work on the subject which is always light on the aspect of the NVPAF perspective. The ability of this fledgling air force to introduce the MiG-21 into combat with "home-grown" pilots with a modicum of success in challenging the latest US fighters is a worthy read.

There has been some very good writing on the USAF side of the airwar over North Vietnam(for example 'Thud Ridge' by Col, J Broughton). This book gives at least a glimpse of what that war looked like from the other side.
The dialogue has a slightly scripted feel, but given that English is a second (at least) language for most of those involved, and the descriptions are to some degree at least the formalised language of the combat report, this is perhaps understandable.
The production is to Osprey's usual high standard with an interesting selection of colour profiles, and some very striking b/w's, the shot of a MiG 21 being airlifted into position under a Mil 6 being particularly memorable. Another feature is the attempt to reconcile the claims of each side with admitted losses.
Primarily a modelling resource, this is also a useful historical document, drawn from primary sources. I found it interesting enough to look for the author's other volume on MiG 17/19 units.

Thoroughly recommended

It may be fitting but it's hardly proper that the most popularly acclaimed works of literature from America's most distinctively unpopular war -- among them, Michael Herr's "Dispatches" and Phillip Caputo's "A Rumor of War" -- reflect the growing socio-political ambivalence that undermined America's resolve in that war. It's understandable but a shame that first-person accounts by participants in the war, such as L.H. Burruss' "Mike Force," that project the author's strong belief that what he and his comrades did was necessary and honorable were largely ignored by the arbiters of popular literary taste. It is encouraging that "Mike Force," published in 1989, has been reissued. Along with a new wave of war literature exemplified by Mark Bowden's widely popular "Black Hawk Down," this revival points to an emerging readership that apparently, at long last, accepts soldiering as a worthy vocation.

One would hope that readers of this new wave of war literature will work their way back to discover such gems as "Mike Force," which give a needed balance to the collective memory of a war that for too long has worn the dunce's conical cap.

Burruss, who tried teaching high school English before joining the Army, and who taught again briefly after his first hitch before deciding to make the Army a career, has a ghost-writer's skill with language. What lifts "Mike Force" far above the usual ghost-written account is that Burruss' narrative smokes and crackles with reality, losing nothing -- neither detail nor passion -- in its translation from principal to interpreter.

Burruss includes everything -- his irritations and agonies, confessions of bad judgment and frank acknowledgments of competence, moments of weakness and triumph and even the irreverent hijinks and scrapping of boys learning to be men in life's toughest academy. Burruss retired as a lieutenant colonel and deputy commander of the elite Delta Force. His book is honest, unpretentious and illuminating. He includes well-turned, heartfelt, haunting poems, which he composed on or near the battlefield, usually in tribute to a friend lost or severely wounded.

It's high time for "Mike Force" to be included among the books that must be read by anybody who wants a balanced picture of the Vietnam War and by all who simply want an unfiltered glimpse of what it's like to carry their country's flag into humankind's darkest quarter.

LTC Burruss, wrote one of the definitive books on the use of indigineous troops in the Vietnam conflict. The tactics, techniques and procedures learned by the men of the Mike Force in battle, have now been passed to a new generation of Special Forces soldier now fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

COL(R) John Tobin, SF

LTC L.H. "Bucky" Burruss is the real thing. He's one of the original members of what's known as Delta Force and even received praise from the British SAS.

Bucky lead a Special Force "Mike Force" in Vietnam. These were quick-reaction forces composed of Montagnard tribesmen led by American or Australian Special Forces advisors. The Mike Forces were probably the least known of all of the SF activities in Vietnam, but they saw plenty of action. Bucky was in the thick of the fight with guys like Mike Donahue, Larry Dring, "Blue Max" Pfeistenhammer and Clyde Sincere. The book is well worth the read if you want to learn about some of America's "Silent Professionals."

Don't be fooled by the trashy men's magazine cover on this book. It is one of the best accounts of the Vietnam War from a soldier's perspective that I've read. Those looking for a chest-thumping narrative will be surprised to discover a writer of surprising range, subtlety and honesty, a soldier who never paints himself as a hero, and emerges as more of one because of it. We will never fully understand the Vietnam experience in this country until we embrace the memories of those who served, who risked their lives and saw some of the best in their generation killed. When the best accounts of that episode are compiled, "Mike Force" will be among them.

"Moore pursues in even greater detail in Minor Wife the changing social roles of Thai women (changing, but not always quickly or for the better) and their relations among themselves and across class lines and other barriers."-- Vancouver Sun

"What distinguishes Moore from other foreign authors is how much more he understands its mystique, the psyche of its populace ..."---Vancouver Sun

After being in Asia 20 plus years and reading a couple of Chris Moores books, his new one "Minor Wife" is a tale that moves quickly through to the murder plot but at the same time slows down to describe each of the main characters Detective Calvino comes in contact with the solve the case. Chris's accurate and detailed descriptions of people and places in Thailand makes you feel like you are sitting in the corner watching the drama unfold before you with the smell of mekong and coke so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. Detective Calvino leads you thru the best and worst of Thailand from the seamy sides of life in brothels to the upscale country clubs of the rich and famous and untangles the knots that bind them together throughout the investigation that the officials have all but written off as an unsolveable and unworthy expenditure of assets to solve the case of a murdered prostitute nick named 8K, which is also her price for a round of bedroom olympics. A must read, I couldn't lay the book down until Calvino had led me all the way through the labyrinth of pimps, yings, golfers, and real estate tycoons. Too bad that Calvino is only a fictional character because you'll want to book a flight to Bangkok and have a drink with him after you finish the book.

My full apologies to Chris Moore for not doing this review sooner because Minor Wife proves that after ten years of outstanding work in Thailand,Cambodia and Vietnam,both Vinnie Calvino and his creator,Chris Moore,still have the powerful ability to get your attention and make you voluntarily go through thie story.Minor Wife is a very appropriate title in that much of Thai society is a contrast between major wives and mia nois,the lesser wife of a man.This novel takes one through these two worlds that can often intermesh in manners that are not pleasant whatsoever.Moore finds himself involved in this area and deals with it as he has before in his previous adventures in the darkest--and most interesting--hearts of Southeast Asia.It was also sanuk to see his expat friend from Cold Hit,McPhail,return with his own sarcastic outlook of expat life in Bangkok for people such as himself,Calvino and Quinn the upper-class level of expatriate.The chicken fight that McPhail arranges for a chicken named Calvino vs a chicken named Hitler is well worth the price of the book alone and likwise,the chaos of Songkran on the streets of Bangkok is entertaining to those of us who have been in Thailand and are fully expected to act like small children as we soak the hell out of anyone walking before us!For myself,however,I can honestly say that the part of this novel that I find most intriguing and a firm reminder of how long I've been reading about Calvino's life in Bangkok is the scene where he is in the room of his long-term secretary,Ratana.Chris shows us so much of the hidden thoughts and insights of both characters without fully taking you into their feelings or even allowing either character to make a complete verbal statement to the other one and this piece alone is perhaps the best part for fans such as myself who have been here from the start.The last segment to this fantastic story that got my personal attention was the character Darryl,a golf instructor who was badly injured in a motorcycle accident and is currently having troubles with using and pronouncing the proper word in the average sentance.I can relate to this because I was involved in a motorcycle accident in Chiang Mai in '99 that split my head open and left me in a coma for three weeks.It took me a long time to remember even the smallest details and there are times now when I forget names of family and friends and this is a deep time of fear for me.Chris' rendering of Darryl is yet another striking example of a writer who knows how to make his characters realistic and gets you to keep coming back looking for more.Please read this book for the best possible insight into the expat world of Thailand!

Arun Shourie gives the picture of the motive of missionaries in India. Christians should read this and understand that missionaries in the past were militants just as they always point out the Muslims countires as Islamic Fundamentalist. The author gives vivid details and one can easuily follow how Christianity spread in India and the world.My thanks to the author for dispelling the myths Christians have about Missionaries. Chirag Parikh San Jose

A man of acute perception and immense integrity. One of the greatest social and political writers of India. Just like every other writing of his, a thorough and clear analysis of the missionary institution, it's ideology and practices as applicable to Indian society. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in contemporary social issues in India.

Reviewed by C. J. S. Wallia

Arun Shourie is India's leading writer on politics and history. He has been an economist with the World Bank, a consultant in the planning commision and the editor of Indian Express. Among the many honors and awards for his writings, noted for rigorous analysis and meticulous research, he has received the International Editor of the Year Award, the Dadabhai Naoroji Award, the Magsaysay Award, and the Astor Award.

In Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes, Dilemmas, Arun Shourie focuses on the intentional misinterpretations of Hinduism by Christian missionaries. The book is based on an invited lecture, he gave at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in January 1994. The bishops got quite an earful! Nonetheless, to their great credit, Shourie notes, "the bishops, the senior clergy, and scholars gathered at Pune heard him politely with unwavering attention." He adds, "Had I urged the themes of this lecture to our 'secularists', they would have denounced them as 'communal', 'chauvinist-fascist' and, having labeled them, they would have exempted themselves from considering what was being said."

Shourie quotes from a recent issue of the Texas-based magazine Gospel for Asia: "The Indian sub-continent with one billion people, is a living example of what happens when Satan rules the entire culture... India is one vast purgatory in which millions of people .... are literally living a cosmic lie! Could Satan have devised a more perfect system for causing misery?"

Swami Vivekananda during his historic visit to the U.S., a hundred years earlier, wrote: "Part of the Sunday School education for children here consists in teaching them to hate everybody who is not a Christian, and the Hindus especially, so that, from their very childhood they may subscribe their pennies to the missions .... What is meant by those pictures in the school-books for children where the Hindu mother is painted as throwing her children to the crocodiles in the Ganga? The mother is black, but the baby is painted white, to arouse more sympathy and get more money. What is meant by those pictures which paint a man burning hisown wife at a stake with his own hands, so that she may become a ghost and torment the husband's enemy? .... If all India stands up, and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesmal part of that which you are doing to us."

Is this fair to the missionaries? one asks. What about the numerous schools, colleges, and hospitals the missionaries established in India? Did they have a hidden agenda? Yes, says Shourie quoting from Gandhiji's Collected Works. In Gandhiji's discussions with missionaries, they acknowledged that "the institutions and services are indeed incidental, that the aim is to gather a fuller harvest of converts for the Church."

Many of the missionaries who came to see Gandhiji had in his words "designs to convert" him to Christianity. "But what is your attitude to Jesus? the missionaries would always come around to asking Gandhiji. He was a great world teacher among others, Gandhiji would say But that he was the greatest, I cannot accept. He had not the compassion for instance of the Buddha, Gandhiji would recount.... The reverend gentlemen would retire with the imprecation, 'Mr. Gandhi... soon there will come a day when you will be judged, not in your righteousness, but in the righteousness of Jesus."'

In the central section of the book, "The Division of Labour"-- among the British administrators, missionaries, and European Indologists-- Shouire cites extensively from historical documents to establish that these three groups colluded in essential agreement that "India is a den of ignorance, inequity and falsehood; the principal cause of this state of affairs is Hinduism; Hinduism is kept going by the Brahmins; as the people are in such suffering, and also because Jesus in his parting words has bound us to do so, it is a duty to deliver them to Christianity; for this, it is Hinduism which has to be vanquished."

Macaulay's notorious minute instituting English as the medium of instruction in India, says Shourie, "was laced with utter contempt for India, in particular for Hinduism, for our languages and literature: of course, Macaulay did n6t know any of those languages... his ideas about Hinduism had been formed from the calumny of missionaries .... But the breezy, sweeping damnation-- even a century and a half later, the imperialist swagger takes one's breath away."

Shourie quotes, at considerable length, from the writings of two high-ranking nineteenth century British administrators, Richard Temple and Charles Treveylan. Richard Temple: "...the missions in India are doing a work which strengthens the imperial foundations of British power.. the results are fully commensurate with the expenditure." Trevelyan: "A generation is growing up which repudiates idols. A young Hindu, who had received a liberal English education, was forced by his family to attend the shrine of Kali, upon which he took off his cap to'Madam Kali,'made her a low bow, and hoped her ladyship was well."

Most of the European Indologists were far from being the objective scholars they pretended to be. The two most prominent Indologists were Max Muller and Monier-Williams, both committed to uprooting and destroying Hinduism.

Here's what Max Muller, the best-known European Indologist, wrote in a letter to his wife. "...I still have a lot of work to do... my translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of that religion and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last 3,000 years."

Monier-Williams, the second holder of the Boden chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University and whose Sanskrit-English dictionary is still used, wrote in its preface that "the Boden chair of Sanskrit was set up by Colonel Boden to promote the translation of Christian Scriptures into Sanskrit, so as to enable his countrymen to proceed in the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion." He told the Missionary Congress held at Oxford on 2 May 1877, "The chief obstacle to the spread of Christianity in India is that these people are proud of their tradition and religion." His dictionary, he hoped, would enable the translation of the Bible into Sanskrit and "when the walls, of the mighty fortress of Brahminism are encircled, undermined, and finally stormed by the soldiers of the Cross, the victory of Christianity must be signal and complete."

Looking at the cauldron of calumnies cooked up Christian missionaries, the imperialists, and the so-called objective scholars, makes the outrage expressed by Swami Vivekananda and Gandhiji entirely understandable. Gandhiji wrote: "If I had the power and could legislate, I should stop all proselytising.... it is the deadliest poison that ever sapped the fountain of truth."

To present the point of view of the Church, Shourie has included a 50-page report distributed by the Catholic Bishops at the Conference. This report describes the four churches which make up the Church in India--the Syrian Christian communities in Kerala; the Padroado Church originating in Goa, the Tribal Churches in Central India and in the North East; and the Dalit Churches.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the intellectual history and cultural make-up of contemporary India.

Arun Shourie, as always, starts out with exhaustive and authoritative research, quoting extensively from the gospels, the Church, and other Biblilcal research published over the ages, and then proceeds to the conclusions. The conclusions drawn by the book are that even though the Church worldwide has long abandoned most of the falshoods it has used throughout the ages to convert people, in India, missionaries are still using those to convert people. Example - missionaries in rural and tribale India employ this favourite ploy: a stone idol of a Hindu god is immersed in water, where it prompty sinks. Then a wooden cross is immersed in water where it floats. The missionary then proclaims, 'How can your God save you when He can't even save himself?!!' Incredible but true. Section by section, chapter by chapter, Arun Shourie strips away at preconceived notions held by many people regarding the Church, the Bible, the gospels, and the historicity of those books, people, and events. To call it a 'neo-Hindu' view of Christianity is misleading, and suggests a narrow-mindedness to the book that is simply not present. I found it highly readable, and recomment it.

Buruma has the key to a door I, a newbie Nipponophile, use: cinema. His own personality leaks tastefully into his blend of experience and academics. Just the levels I like! Some of the articles are a little outside my area of interest, but he managed to hook me into finishing them.

I found Buruma's collection very absorbing, especially helpful to someone living out East (Hong Kong and Singapore), as I was in the late 90's. The Singapore essay, "The Nanny State of Asia," is an extremely perceptive look behind the official facade of Harry Lee Kuan Yew's police state. If you plan to visit/live in S'pore, the things the locals won't dare discuss with you (out of fear) are dealt with here. Even if you're just travelling from the armchair, this is a well-written and (again) extremely absorbing read.

As someone who lived out East I rank this up with Christopher Lingle's Singapore's Authoritarian Capitalism and Stan Sesser's The Land of Charm and Cruelty (another great essay collection on various Asian countries) as books helpful to the Westerner trying to learn about the region. Buruma's God's Dust has more essays on Asia, including S'pore. For Singapore, I also recomend Francis Seow's A Prisoner in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, and Paul Theroux's Saint Jack (a Singapore novel set in the Seventies but (I found) remarkably up to date in the attitudes it records of both locals and expats).

Very well documented essays about the East, although most of the articles are treating already out-of-date items. Still they will continue to be essential reading for historians.

In his ironic style, he unveils the lies and double-talk of political and industrial leaders. E.g. Sony's Akio Morita's statement that 'today's Japanese do not think in terms of privilege', while he almost disowned his son, when he wanted to marry a popular singer.
Other targets are Benazir Bhutto, Cory Aquino, Imelda Marcos and most of all the imperious leader of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew.

I recommend nevertheless the autobiography of Yew 'From first world to third', because it is an essential read in order to understand what's happening in China today. Lee Kuan Yew is Jiang Zeming's best friend.

Buruma is a very perceptive observer and reader. His analyses of writers like Yuhio Moshima, Mircea Eliade or Junichiro Tanizaki, or movie directors like Nagisa Oshima or Sayajit Ray are brilliant.
This book is to be put on the same high level as the works of Simon Leys on China.

Sceptical of all talk of "asian values" (profound "culture differences" used to justify the denial of human rights), Buruma is a clear-sighted observer of the East. Buruma describes the phases that Western visitors to Japan tend to go through; an initial phase of delight oft succeeded by rage, and ultimately leading to a sort of near manic-depressing rapidly-alternating hatred/love of the East. Buruma, while obviously retaining a great love and respect for Eastern culture combined with a deep scepticism about "asian values", is unseduced by either extreme. The book opens with essays on individual figures, such as Yukio Mishima (it is impossible to take Paul Schrader's 'Mishima' seriously after Buruma's curt dismissal of its portentious bombast) and Wilfred Thesiger (again, one sees this oft-romanticised figure anew, as a misogynistic, rather sinister worshipper of racially pure noble savages) It closes with a section of essays devoted to Japan, on topics as diverse as Michael Crichton's Black Rain, the Hiroshima peace industry, the treatment of black American baseball players in Japan and the continuing echoes of Pearl Harbor.