Asia Books

After close to 2,000 pages, "The Story of the Stone" reaches its end with this volume. This book represents the second set of 20 chapters out of the 40 reputedly edited and redacted by Gao E, and arguments about the chapters' validity (both as a work in themselves and as part of Cao Xueqin's novel) are a sort of scholarly pastime.

The most salient comment on the problem may be the one offered by John Minford when he writes that regardless of academic debates, these chapters are what we have, and they "have been accepted as *the* ending for centuries." Minford's translation continues to be a worthy successor to David Hawkes' version of the first 80 chapters, and I found this last volume to be more satisfying than I had often heard.

At this point, recommendations are all but moot; no one should be starting the story here, and if you've come this far there's no good reason not to read the last 400 pages.

~

This book was written one year before the French Revolution, in 1788, in Beijing, China by a riches-to -rags nobleman called Cao Xue Quin. It is viewed by many as the greatest classical Chinese romantic novel ever written.

I read the original Chinese version of this book when I was in high school, many years ago. At that time, my impression was that it was a Chinese Romeo and Juliet type tragic love story, in which the main characters Bao-yu and his cousin Dai-yu (Black Jade) suffered the fate of unfulfilled love, and no ever after. There was more to it than that, but I could not figure out what.

Recently, I re-read the book (the current trans- lated version). This time it sounded like the Adven- tures of Tom Jones, in which the teen-aged playboy Bao-yu was dallying in the ranks of the female members of his household (his cousins and maids), longing after many but only truly loving Dai-yu.

It was also a bit similar to Upstairs Downstairs -- a big noble clan with all its ladies, young misses and maids, and their lives of adventures and tears. But something was still missing. There was a theme, a message, which draws me and others to this great work of literature.

I finally figured it out: Almost all the WOMEN in this book were described as elegant, sophisticated, intelligent, graceful, excellent decision makers, and above all, beautiful. Most MEN, however, were described as fools, red-necks, unfaithful, heart-breakers, nogooders, users of prostitutes and abusers of power!

What I am looking at is a book (or one-MAN crusade) of Early Feminism. It is all the more remarkable because in feudal China, women did not have equal status. "marrying for love" seldom existed. It was more like "married by parental arrangement". Poor girls were sold as maids into rich households, or worse, they were sold as second wives or concubines.

The confirmation of my theory came from the author Cao himself. In his introductory book review, he said, "Thus begins this book ... I have hidden the real events and substituted them with fiction ... There were real persons in the inner-chambers, and their stories must be told ..." (Modern translation: I have real women in my household).

This message would make this a truly revolutionary work, not only in feudal China, but even to-day.

Should have first read the book review by the author.

I really enjoyed this book, a part of my self-directed curriculum to understand China (all of which, by the way, has been incredible). Not only are the characterizations excellent and the period wonderfully evoked (at least to my knowledge), but there's all sorts of great maid sex and other bawdy hilarious stuff. The only question I have now is why does it seem like Volumes 2-4 are not available... although vol. 5 is? Maybe I'm overlooking something obvious, as persons with Chinese maid sex on the brain are wont to do.

I read the other reviews on this page, and I thought I should add something: this novel is unbelievably beautifully written, and the English translation is absolutely superb.

You cannot find any better example of novel-writing skill in any language.

I've read all parts of The Story of the Stone. It starts and ends in a mystical fashion; coming full circle in a traditional ying/yang way. Wonderful five volume story about two wealthy families closely connected to the throne. Although there's not much known about the true author, I suspect that it was written by a maid. There is incredible detail from the perspective of the servents working for their sometimes nutty employers. The family actually built a garden at one point in honor of a visit from a daughter who had been chosen to be a royal concubine. If you want to immerse yourself in the ups and downs, daily life, (warts and all) of 1750's Chinese culture don't miss The Story of the Stone et al.

In the backdrop of the events that take place in and around the ever volatile Kashmir-Pakistan-Afghanistan region, this is a book which provides a refreshing insight into the context through which we can seek to understand the pitiable state of affairs. The author is an unabashed leftist (with a truly remarkable career) and his views do come across strongly in a few pages, but for all the criticism that can be poured over the inclinations, the historical narrative is a masterpiece.
Its a sad tale by all standards, its a tale of how a lust for power and downright megalomania have ruined a cause, a tale of deluded sense of destiny wasting opportunities, in summary its a tale of why South Asia largely is in the situation of near despair as it is currently. The tale beings with the machinations of the Muslim League in the pre-Independence era , followed by the rather vacuous implementation of governance once the state of Pakistan was established. Spineless and confused leadership led to the entry of the army into governance, a decision which largely has left Pakistani democracy crippled. One megalomaniac (Yahya Khan) followed another (Ayub Khan) and meaningless wars were fought. Downright oppression of a legitimate victory by the citizens of East Pakistan led to the formation of Bangladesh. Bhutto brought in a glimmer of hope , but was quick to deceive and was shockingly replaced by Zia ul Haq, the rebirth of Democracy post Zia was largely marred by extreme corruption. Benazir and Nawaz Sharif frittered away a golden opportunity only to be followed by a dictatorship again.
Switchover to the present and Pakistan faces the ignominy of US troops operating on its soil. Here's where the author brings in a unique perspective, wherein the much feared vision of the Jihadists controlling the nuclear button may be a myth largely and sadly because the army is now all pervasive. From a readers perspective the shift between the historical narrative and the commentary on the current situation is apparent and it feels like 2 books spliced together. The historical narrative is extremely engrossing while the summary and interpretations of the present sometimes gives way to a rant. Nevertheless a priceless book for anyone seeking a honest appraisal of the history of Pakistan

Excellent coverage of recent as well as past events! Tariq Ali has come through again.

The author writes in The Guardian (London):
`They don't ban books any more, or at least not recently, which is a relief and a small step forward.' I wrote in a preface to my latest book on Pakistan [The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power] after explaining how the previous two had been, at different times, banned by military dictators. I was wrong. I had foolishly assumed that since General Musharraf had not banned books his civilian, supposedly democratic, successors would also stay the course. The Pakistani distributors of my publisher, Simon and Schuster, who had no problems selling ghost-written volumes by Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto (published by the same house), have for the last four weeks been waiting for `clearance' from the Ministry of Information (i.e. Propaganda) to import my book. The Minister, Sherry Rehman, is a former Karachi journalist.
Her public embrace of Sarah Palin notwithstanding, she had a reasonable civil liberties record, often preached the virtues of legality, political morality, civic virtues, freedom and equality. They lie now at her feet, broken and scattered shards as the Government stumbles from one crisis to another. A war on the Western frontier, a run on the banks, a disaffected public is not enough. They still have time to stop books. Did she really think that working for President Zardari meant anything else? Her friends tell me she is not responsible for the ban and is trying her best to `expedite clearance', but if not her, who? The man at the top these days is well-known as a semi-literate who has never read a whole book in his life. But there is a chain of sycophants stretching down from the Prime Minister's office to the most lowly civil servants, whose task as loyal retainers, is to second-guess and please the master.
They don't realise that its totally counterproductive to ban a book in these times and even if they did they wouldn't care provided the master was happy. I've received e-mails from many friends in Pakistan who have expressed delight: `what an honour to be banned Zardari', ` surely you realise the book will be smuggled in from India', `everyone will want to read it now', etc. And one from a literary scholar urging me to read a short-story by the late and very great Saadat Hasan Manto: `Please read Manto's `The New Constitution'. It is the same old law. Nothing changes because no government in the last 63 years has made any attempt to even tinker with the state structure and a bureaucratic system designed to oppress. You should have felt surprised if your book wasn't to be banned.' All this may be true, but is still depressing. The short story, incidentally, was written during the raj when the 1935 Act of India promised limited democracy and Ustad Mangu an old tongawallah in Lahore attempted to test the new order by responding to racist abuse and violence from an English soldier by beating him up. Mangu was arrested but kept screaming `New constitution, New constitution.' His jailers told him `What rubbish are you talking? What new constitution? It's the same old constitution you fool.' Manto concludes: `Then they locked him up.'
My book is still locked up, but is being translated into Urdu for publication in November which will be a release of sorts. That edition does not require a clearance, but one can never be too sure in Pakistan. And in case you were wondering the book is a very sharp critique not just of military dictators, but also of their civilian counterparts, whose corruption knows no bounds. One mustn't exaggerate. When the Amsterdam Synagogue, mimicking the Inquistion, excommunicated Spinoza in 1656, they decreed: `May he be cursed by day and by night....may God never forgive him. We order that no one have commerce with him by speech or in writing, that no one give him the least sign of friendship or approach him or live under the same roof as he, that no one read a work written or composed by him.'
I got off lightly.

october 9 2008, after last night's presidential debate, i recommend getting ahead of the reductionist version we will get through the mainstream media. Tariq Ali's
The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power

takes us from The Partition in 1947, thru the War in Bengal (aka West Pakistan, aka Bangladesh) with a death toll approx 2 million, of course you remember, right?), to the present, and the continuous American support for the succession of military dictators strictly in the interest of a stable government, which finally cost, at least, the birth of that nuclear power.
Who are the people? btw, i learn that the Rolling Stones wrote "street fightin' man" about Tariq.

enjoy, and get ready to tremble...

This is an interesting exploration of Pakistan's history and current problems. Tariq Ali, who first gained fame as a leftist student activist in Great Britain in the 1960's, grew up in Pakistan, the son of a leftist editor of one of Pakistan's major newspapers. With his strong connections to the elite in Pakistan he has been able to personally know some of the big shots of the country's oligarchy. He makes use of the insight such connections have given him into the dismal inner workings of Pakistani politics in this book.

He portrays Pakistan as a government controlled by a corrupt bureaucratic-military oligarchy in alliance with feudal landowners and heavily dependent on American backing. The majority of the population lives in horrendous poverty. Communicable diseases and malnutrition are rampant. The Pakistani military and intelligence services greatly assisted the Afghan mujahedeen drug running business in the 1980's. The effects on Pakistan were disastrous. According to Ali, Pakistan had only a few hundred heroin addicts in 1977 but had two million ten years later. But to adopt the view of the Western imperialists--that Pakistan is a cauldron of serious poverty, nuclear weapons and jihadists chomping at the bit--is quite wrong, Ali cautions. Islamic fanatics have terrorized Pakistan since the late 70's when General Zia, with Saudi support, began to provide them with state backing, but they represent a very small segment of Pakistani society. Pakistan has a strong secular tradition and Islamic fundamentalist parties have been never achieved much at the ballot box. Secular parties are even strong in Waziristan, supposedly the main center of jihadist agitation in Pakistan. However what could throw more Pakistanis into alliance with the jihadists, Ali warns, is substantial U.S military operations in Pakistan. US air attacks in Pakistan's western frontier have killed many civilians. If the U.S decides to engage in more substantial military action on Pakistani territory, Ali warns that this might very well throw many Pakistanis into alliance with the jihadists and split the Pakistani army. Segments of the Pakistani army might very well violently resist such aggression by a foreign power, ally with the jihadists and then Pakistan's nukes might find their way into the hands of terrorists.

A large part of the book, and maybe the most interesting part of it deals with the saga of the Bhutto family. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto created the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) as his personal political vehicle to ride the wave of the popular uprising against the dictatorship of General Ayub Khan in 1968-69. Bhutto had been a minister under Ayub and violently urged on the Pakistani military in its genocidal butcheries in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971. (The factors leading to Pakistan's mass slaughter and the internal workings and flaws of the Bangladesh independence movement are discussed extensively in this book). Bhutto rode to power promising free health care, free housing, guaranteed food and other socialist rhetoric but he almost completely avoided implementing his promises while in power. He was executed by General Zia on trumped up charges in 1979, after a kangaroo court trial. Ali describes how he got to personally know Bhutto's daughter Benazir in the 1970's and 80's. He expresses some admiration for Benazir's courage in leading resistance against General Zia. But he is unsparing in his account of the gangster character of Benazir's second government (1993-1996). Benazir and her husband Asif Zardari accumulated at least 1.5 billion while she was prime minister and he minister for investment. Courts in England, Spain and Switzerland launched charges against the Bhuttos for receiving tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from western corporations. Most of the corruption charges against the Bhutto's were dropped as a result of an amnesty for corrupt politicians declared by General Musharraf. Zardari, of course, is now president of Pakistan. Ali also implicates Bhutto and Zardari in the murder of Bhutto's brother. Murtaz Bhutto had been highly critical of the corruption and hollow politics of his sister's regime. In September 1996 the street to Murtaz's house was closed down and dozens of police officers descended upon him and machined gunned him and his bodyguards to death. Meanwhile, Benazir decided to put herself at the disposal of the Bush administration during the crises in Pakistan last year. This fidelity to American imperialism made her a sterling figure in the eyes of the American media and her assassination was mourned as the loss of a great secular democrat and stateswoman, etc. Her stratospheric corruption was forgotten as was her sponsorship of the Taliban in the mid-90's.

Ali also discusses the murder of Daniel Pearl. He argues that several pieces of circumstantial evidence suggest that the Pakistani government may have had some involvement in it. One such piece of evidence is the fact that many Salafi terror groups of the type that claimed credit for Pearl's murder have been the creation and tools of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)..........

Ali also discusses the most recent crises in Pakistan, touched off by the firing of Pakistan's chief justice after the latter's investigation of corruption in Musharraf's economic privatization and the "disappearance" of hundreds of dissidents.

I have borrowed this book twice and came here now to buy my own copy that I can write in. My Indonesian vocabulary is mostly nouns and those are mostly names of fruits and food dishes. "Eat Smart" taught me how to ask for lawar without blood in it--that alone is worth the price of the book! In Indonesia, I'll be toting this next to my dictionary at all times. At home, I'll keep it in the kitchen to have the recipes handy.

The authors have written a series of Eat Smart books that no traveler to foreign countries should be without. Each book covers a separate country--Eat Smart in Turkey, Eat Smart in Brazil, Eat Smart in Indonesia and Eat Smart in Mexico--and is chock full of information that you won't find elsewhere within the covers of one easy-to-carry paperback. Individual chapters cover such topics as the history of the country's cuisine, regional foods, how to shop in the local markets, mail-order sources for suppliers of ingredients, and a collection of recipes for typical dishes found in that country. Especially useful is each book's extensive menu guide, listing menu terms alphabetically in the language of the foreign country, with a description of the dish in English. That section is followed by a chapter titled "Foods & Flavors"--listing the foreign terms for foods, spices, kitchen utensils and cooking techniques, with an English translation/description. These books are well researched, accurate and very informative. Highly recommended. --Sharon Hudgins, editor, Chile Pepper magazine

Soundly researched, clearly written, artistically illustrated, "Eat Smart in Indonesia" is the most comprehensive and readable survey of the whole scope of Indonesian gastronomy I have ever come across. It is equally valuable as a solid reference work for the scholar and as exotic inspiration for the chef or home entertainer. Bill Dalton, founder, Moon Travel Guides; author, "Indonesian Handbook"

For a country of 17,000 islands and 670 dialects, and complex traditions, religion and culture, no one-including Indonesians-can claim to know more about Indonesia's traditional food tastes than the authors of Eat Smart in Indonesia. Their guide is the first ever published with in-depth information about the unique and diverse food of Indonesia. -William W. Wongso, culinary educator, president of William F & B Management, Jakarta, Java

This little book is essential for travelers to a country where food is riotously varied, delicious and, to most of us, utterly unfamiliar. It begins with a brief historical survey of the cuisine, citing the contributions of successive immigrant or colonial groups, then slices the other way, with sections on Indonesia's major culinary regions and their specialties and characteristics. Recipes, a listing of US sources for ingredients, then phrases in Indonesian all follow. Two alphabetical listings are the heart of the book: One is of menu items, with brief descriptions and notations; the other is of "foods and flavors" (and utensils, cooking methods and so on), in Indonesian, with English translations or explanations. The whole is thorough, information-packed and mouthwatering.

Ruth Pennington Paget has written another great book!
This one truly captures the initial culture shock one
feels when travelling, especially a westerner in an
Asian culture. I lived in Japan for 6 years myself
and Paget's book really expresses the wonder and
discovery of living in that beautiful, exotic country.
More great writing, from a wonderful, generous writer.
Highly recommended!

This book is short and sweet. Ruth's writing style has a natural flow and she displays a keen sense of humor that kept me laughing throughout. If you are interested in an authentic account of the exchange student life, a quick and smooth read, or just a good laugh, this book comes highly recommended.

Ruth Pennington Paget's "Eating Soup with Chopsticks" is a sentimental and sweet tale about one momentous exchange summer in Japan. Then-teenage Ruth is full of profound observations about life and shows a maturity beyond her years. These memoirs will help you see the world through "green" lenses! Pack your mental bags and head on a trip to Japan!

At the age of sixteen, Ruth Paget traveled to Japan as an exchange student. Although she had traveled internationally before, she had never had such an intense immersion into a foreign culture. And Japan was very very foreign. "Eating Soup with Chopsticks" shows the remarkable poise with which this sixteen-year-old faced what many people would consider a challenge. In her search to understand her host family and culture, she jumped in with both feet. She did so by immediately identifying what she and her hosts had in common, which was a sense of respect that quickly developed into a sense of affection. It shows the growth that can occur when you appreciate and accept differences between people.

Ms. Paget's account of her summer abroad lovingly recounts scenes of daily life in Japan, and amuses with anecdotes of a Midwestern girl's first encounters with raw fish and wasabi. But the overriding lesson of this book is that wonderful things happen when you take off your blue glasses - and open yourself up to discovery. It should be required reading for every American teenager.

If you added what you know now to a diary you wrote 20 years ago without changing the original script, it would read like "Eating Soup With Chopsticks." This charming memoir of a life-defining experience captures the innocence and youthful enthusiasm of an adventurous spirit learning to see the world. The lessons of language, history, and cultural perspective are more important than ever as we evolve toward a global society.

This book is amazing! It is an emotional story which is portrayed through stunning illustrations. What an essential classroom reference! The story is told beautifully and eloquently - perfect for sharing between a caregiver and child.

Tina Wuehr
Pipsqueak Publishing

A chorus of "Again!" emanating from three grandchildren affirmed the goodness of Jana Laiz's "Elelphants of the Tsunami". With the second reading we searched a world map to locate this event. Embedded in the text of this true story are three words that needed explaining - a great way to increase a child's vocabulary. My grandchildren and I rate this as a very well-written and timely book that is beautifully illustrated.

I was moved to tears when I read this book. The author writes with deep sensitivity and made the story easily accessible for young children and adults alike. The illustrations are vibrant and beautiful, perfectly matching the language of the story. What a wonderful book! I highly recommend it! I am a teacher and I read books everyday. This is a great one!

This sensitive portrayal of the 2004 tsunami is ideal for families and educators. The beautiful illustrations and the rhythm of the language give it a rolling cadence that makes readers feel as if they are being swept away by the story.

The eight elephants from Thailand who rush to save the lives of some 50 people who nearly perished during the sunami are excellent reminders of the innate desire to help those most in need. This book is an excellent nod to loving Planet Earth and gives a different perspective through the elephants. Not only is a plethora of information packed into this book, but it done so in a way that is very accessible.

Kudos to this book, author and illustrator!

The story is gracefully and respectively presented in this wonderfully illustrated book. It's importance goes beyond depicting and reminding us of a tragedy - but also for illuminating us on the wonders of the fabulous creatures with which we share this planet. That elephants have this superb sense of recognizing and realizing wonders of nature that we as humans can not even perceive - gives us much to consider socially, scientifically, and ecologically. Thank you for writing this story in a most accessible format!

Excellent review of climbing history in both Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Not a picture book, but there are loads of them out there. This tome covers first ascents and failures, AND is well written. A dream book for this history lover. A real treasure and endlessly fascinating.

Wonderful, well written, interesting book. Held me fascinated through all it's many pages. Read it just after finishing "Three Cups of Tea". A good match, now I can understand the politics of the area and the difficulties of the climbs that lead up to the present. Fascinating how they are all intertwined.

I'm about 150 pages into this book. It's been excellent so far but sadly lacking in one area - a good map of the Himalaya, from K2 in the west to Kangchenjunga in the east - and the many towns and villages mentioned in the book. It would have been ideal for the authors to include one on the endpapers. Then the reader could quickly flip there for reference. There are smaller maps throughout but many of them frustratingly do not include many of the place names mentioned. I have ordered the only map I could find - by Nelles Verlag - and will pick up the book again when it arrives. I actually bought it for a gift, so I'll be including the map with the book.

I read about this book from a review on the New York Times Review of Books and I ordered it from Amazon. I am basically a hiker though I bought it originally for my teen age nephews but it too technical for a teen ager.

Highly recommend it.

This is an excellent history of mountain climbing in the Himalaya. Isserman and Weaver do a masterful job, not just of recounting the history, but placing the efforts in political and cultural context. There were long periods where access to these mountains was restricted or forbidden. There has also always been a competitive thread to the missions, as climbers tried for all kinds of "firsts." Of course the history is filled with both triumphs and tragedies, and the authors tell these stories in a most engaging way. I have only two small nits with the book. First, it ends in the mid 90s, even though the book was published this year. And second, while there are lots of photos and maps, I wish there were more of the latter, as I kept looking for the mountains, glaciers, towns, and other geographical entities. But these aside, this is an altogether wonderful book.

I love, love, love this book! It's an incredible story of a mother who lost nearly everything in the war except the one thing she fought desperately for: her children. She gave birth to an infant right before being forced into the Japanese internment nightmare, and amazingly, he survived, too. I hope I can be half as amazing for my own kids as this mother was for hers.

This is the story of a mother's incredible determination, devotion, courage and strength all aimed at saving her children from the ravages of a Japanese concentration camp.

We do not get to know the role religious faith may have played in Clara Olink Kelly's mother's life prior to the Japanese invasion of Java. However, given the times, her Dutch culture and her social status, one can imagine that she lived a Calvinist role of being a submissive, demure, obediant wife. Religious faith obviously were very important to her during the three and a half concentration camp years as she read scripture stories to her children. One wonders, however, would Clara's mother have survived if she had been alone with no children dependent upon her?

The real downer of this memoir is the betrayal committed by Clara's father. It is not difficult to understand how after nearly four years of being separated from his family and all that he endured in working on construction of the railroad line over the River Kwai, that he would be most vulnerable to entering into an extra-marital relationship, especially not knowing if his family was even alive. However, once he knew they had survived, it seems he did not give a hoot. He was totally responsible for his wife and children languishing four more months in an Allied concentration camp. In the meantime he enjoyed himself exploring post-war business opportunities.

The result of his neglect was that his wife's berberi worsened and his son nearly died. We do not know but perhaps Mr. Olink was a jerk from the beginning. If so, then after the war he took being a jerk to a whole new heighth!

This reviewer is not like the others who have commented here so far. I had no relatives who experienced anything like what Clara Olink Kelly describes. However, Paul, an acquaintance of mine who is from Holland, tells how it was that his parents and younger siblings endured the Japanese concentration camp in Sumatra. Paul's father also was a forced laborer on the River Kwai rail line. Paul's mother and siblings experienced the same deprived and depraved conditions as Claras' family. Paul's family came out of the ordeal as an intact family. Clara was not so fortunate.

Some readers might wonder how Clara, nearly six decades later, could possibly remember the "exact" words uttered by the others in her life when she was but four to seven or eight years old at the time. We must remember that all autobiography's and memoirs reveal a process that we all go through as we tell our life stories. We repeat those stories over and over again until we get them "right."

The Flamboya Tree, by Clara Olink Kelly, was very touching.
This is a part of history that people should know about. We know about Japan invading Pearl Harbor,and other places, but what we don't know is the people who became effected by the war.
Clara tells this story so well, she makes you feel like you are there seeing all the tragic events yourself.
This is one book that I would highly recommend to everyone, I think we can learn a great deal from it and have a better understanding of war itself.

I loved this book. It tells a story of courage, bravery, and family. It vividly captures an aspect of WWII that (sadly) is unknown by most people. My grandmother was also a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp in Indonesia and gave birth to my dad while in the camp. They are both gone now and this book helped fill in so many of the details of their story. Thank you Clara Kelly for telling your story, and telling it well.

...It's awesome! I am so thankful to Ms. Kelly for sharing her experience. My Grandmother was also a prisoner of the Japanese in Indonesia during WWII. She had 2 babies (my dad, 6 months, & uncle, 1.5 years). I have heard 'pieces' of my Grandmothers story, but she has never been able to speak of it all. Now I know why. This book is truely a favorite of mine and always will be. Thank you Ms. Kelly. God Bless.

We started our five week tour of India with Let's Go India Nepal, and found the Footprint guide four weeks into our tour. After looking it over, we quickly realized how much detail, clarity, and completeness we were missing. We didn't open Let's Go again, other than to retrieve our bookmark.

Some of the telephone numbers were slightly off, but that is par for the course in India. The correct numbers were easily located via directory assistance, which the book informed us of.

We stayed at two of the highly recommended hotels between US$5 and US$6 a piece and were delighted by the overall quality and cleanliness we found.

Its descriptions of some of the sights surpassed even that of our tour guide.

We liked this guide so much that we now use Footprint guides for our travels wherever they are available and up to date.

WARNING: The guide warns that the prices for many tourist attractions will go up on Jan 1, 2001. They actually went up on October 18, 2000. Now at most major tourist sites in India, foreigners pay the same number of dollars as Indian's pay rupees.

A comprehensive guidebook to India which proved indispensable during our three month trip. Detailed descriptions of the history and layout of the various tourist sites renders local guides and guidebooks largely unnecessary. A broad based guidebook of nearly 1400 pages, it includes digestible background sections covering history, language, religion and politics which enhanced enormously our appreciation of Indian life and culture. Despite the wealth of information its handy size, hardcover and tough binding stood up well to the rigours of backpacking. The up-to-date hotel and restaurant sections cater for the full spectrum of travellers - from budget back packer to luxury holiday makers. The opinions offered are balanced and fair, providing enough information to plan and enjoy your trip without unfair bias - in contrast to many of the other India guidebooks we consulted. An added advantage of using this little known guide was that we avoided the ubiquitous "Lonely Planet" bores who tramp through India reciting parrot fashion the recommendations and opinions of the LP authors and researchers.

The India Handbook is a thoroughly well-researched and detailed guide. The most informative guide on the market, it provides invaluable information which is useful to both the short and long-term visitor to India, particularly by the inclusion of accurate large and small scale maps. It is also strong and compact. However, perhaps the most appealing feature is it's direct and non-chatty text, packing important and need-to-know facts into a notey yet precise format, leaving the reader to form his/her own opinions on people and places.

I spent one month travelling all over India with the 1999 edition of the India Handbook and what a life saver it was. The book was fantastic with its information and right on the money everytime with hotel rates, ferry schedules, etc. The brief anecdotes were especially helpful and I really appreciated the open mind the book had quick not to judge a country full of many different aspects. The book was enlightening and in my hand all the time, but my mind was still open to new experiences which were not preconceived by the authors. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone who really wants to experience India in a different light!

We hav just completed an excellent three week journey through India. Much of this would simply have not been possible without the help and guidance of this excellent guide. For instance we have just come back by road from Goa to Mumbai through some very varied and interesting countryside including a trip up into the Ghats which was quite hairaising anlong narrow, twisty roads. The road conditions were such that it took us much longer than we anticipated. The Handbook did not let is down but suggested an excellent hotel at Kiplung. In addition, we found that the descriptions of the sites more than compensated for not having guides available at Orccha for instance. The only time we had problems was when we did not consult the guide sufficiently!

This is, as other reviewers have pointed out, a comprehensive but very challenging book, one that requires some background knowledge of the Persian Empire before starting. The translator, Peter T. Daniels, at the end of his introduction recommends that the non-specialist reader start with Wiesehofer's Ancient Persia, an excellent book in its own right and one that complements Briant's magisterial tome. Academic reviews I have seen endorse this, and I strongly agree with them.

This book is one of the best books on this subject and it covers rise and fall of Achaemenid Empire in details. Pierre Briant has showed his ability to use his extensive research to seek the truth about this great civilisation and he has examined Babylonian inscriptions and Egyptian documents to support it.
The theory of decadence of Persian Empire was introduced by some scholars and it has dominated the
Studies of ancient Persia but this book gives us an opportunity to study new evidence and to overcome the Hellenocentric view which has infiltrated Iranian studies.
I salute Pierre Briant for his dedication and love for Iranian history and for giving us such a valuable
Book and I recommend this book to readers with passion for Iranian history and to those who seek the truth about the past.

Pierre Briant's book "From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire" is probably the best book on the Persian Empire thus far. Pierre Briant use not only the western sources but also the eastern sources on the Persian Empire. He painstaking pieces together just about every bit of info on the Persian Empire to give the reader a panorama view of their culture. If you are intrested in the History of Persia this is a great book have on the book shelf!

This book is discussing pre-Islamic era of Iran. This book is discussing founder of Iran Zamin Cyrus the Great who found daynasty of Hakhamanishian. This dynasty came to an end by invasion of Alexandra.

Dear Friends,

This book is not light reading for the casual dilletante, it is a scholarly book by a world renowned author who has produced the last book to be writted on the Achaeminid Persian Empire pending the discovery of a huge new archive of inscribed tablets that will provide a new book A NEW LOOK AT THE PERSIAN EMPIRE: THE X CUNEIFORM TABLET ARCHIVES.

I took a course on the Achaemenid Persian Empire from Professor Pierre Briant when he was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute in 1997 when I was in graduate studies in ancient history there. He is fully conversant in every piece of literature and archaeological evidence on the subject.

Be prepared for a lot of reading, the book is 1196 pages long,everything is referenced. The actual text starts on page 13 and ends on page 876, the other 300 pages are research notes, pages 977 to page 1050. There are indexes on personal names and topics. The Bibliography is from page 1059 to page 1124, a full 65 pages!

Those of you interested in numismatics will be sorely disappointed unless you have been unable to find a convenient genealogical table of the Achaemenid Dynasty

My own interest at the present time is in anceint weapons, also an area that is not covered by this book. I for one would like to see a book titled ARMS AND ARMAMENT OF THE ANCIENT ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE that would illustrate swords, daggers, spears, missile weapons, armor, helmets, horse trappings, chariots and anything else in the field.

If you share my interest in ancient weapons, please feel free to join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientweapons or emai me at jpisc98357@aol.com. For those of you interested in a broader based discussion of anceint Iran, there has been a new discussion group formed. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Iranica-L There is not yet any content to the group which has staked out the eras from pre history until the Muslim conquest in the 7th Century.
There is a good site if you are interested in the Parthians at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Parthia-L The participants of this group are heavily into numismatics.

This book is not a good source for artifact studies, there are no photographs at all and the iconography illustrated is all done with line drawings. The maps are adequate but are not plentiful.

For those interested in a supplement to this book that will give you a real taste of what the Empire's captial looked like, I would recommend Persepolis Recreated, a book and DVD that reconstructs the great palaces of Persepolis using modern graphics technology. It is available for $85. from the producer, Farzin Rezaeian. Call (708)386-2720 to place your order.

Best regards, John Piscopo

This book is meant to be a military analysis of the World War II axis however it comes off as an excellent diplomatic history. It shows that Germany has never been able to grasp the concepts of coalition warfare and its do it alone strategy was always going to be its undoing. The first part of the book looks at the history of German warfare before World War II. The analysis with regards to Operation Barbarossa is deeply flawed. The assertion that Russia was the primary target of Germany's desires is wrong. The evidence shows a greater tendency towards Britain than Russia. Also the analysis of Japan's role in the coalition is something that deserves further looking into. I think the author dismisses it too quickly.
Despite those flaws this really does provide a comprehensive look at how the Axis functioned and especially the role of the minor powers like Romania and Hungary. It is very easy to see that while Germany nominally had control each of these Axis powers was able to contribute in their own way. The end of the Axis comes with the battle of Stalingrad and the demolition of the Axis forces as well as the failures in North Africa. The lack of Axis supplies was a tremendous problem and one that was not going to be overcome without early strategic victories. When these were not made the loss became inevitable. This book is a very clear military analysis and accomplishes a lot in 200 pages. Despite the few flaws mentioned I highly recommend the book.

Having followed the career of this distinquished historian, this work has tremendous value. DiNardo's thought process is quite organized and very cerebral. It is obvious the research balances his writing considering that today's fact-finding is often shortchanged or erroneous from over use of the internet. The author did his homework.

Although I don't have much interest in German history during this period, I found the book engaging. This is certainly a work that should belong on private library shelves of each World War historian. Excellent!!

Germany And The Axis Powers: From Coalition To Collapse by Richard L. Dinaro (Professor for National Security Affairs at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College) is an introductory work of impressive scholarship focused upon the intricate probabilities that the Axis coalition was little more then an ignorant grouping of claimed Hitler followers. Incorporating newly recovered facts of the battles fought from the Eastern Front to the Balkans, Mediterranean, and North Africa, Germany And The Axis Powers unveils an entirely different history than previously perceived by military historians. A seminal work recommended for professional and academic 20th Century Military History reference collections, Germany And The Axis Powers is highly recommended for its profoundly educational and informative content to all World War II historians and students of the era.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" is an in-depth analysis of the ability of the Axis powers to conduct coalition warfare. This book is excellent for anyone wanting to go beyond the "History Channel" level of knowledge on World War II. Using original source material, the author provides rich details to describe his thesis. The quality of the historical research is along the lines of Gerhard L. Weinberg's epic "A World at Arms". While the author uses a chronological framework to scope his thoughts, he avoids telling the entire history of World War II. Instead he remains focused on the key events that framed German attempts at coalition warfare. The work requires a good general knowledge of World War II history, which most readers of this book will already have.

While Germany's alliance with Italy is well known, I found the chapters on Germany's attempts at coalition warfare with Hungary, Finland, and Romania to be the most interesting, since these countries are rarely discussed in most accounts of World War II. DiNardo correctly describes the differences between coalition warfare and parallel warfare, a key component to understanding World War II coalitions. Breaking out the different levels of coalition warfare conducted by the German Army, Navy, and Air Force set the book apart from more basic accounts. Dinardo also avoids "wehrmacht envy" which taints many books on the Germany military. He provides an accurate and balanced view of German military capabilities, without falling in love with the subject.

I recommend this book to any serious student of World War II military history who really wants to get to heart of the German way of war.

This well-written and extremely interesting book breaks new ground in its examination of Nazi Germany's inability to effectively wage coalition warfare with its allies - Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland.

Author Richard L. DiNardo shows that the Third Reich's partners followed Germany because they hoped to benefit from Hitler's New Order, rather than from either a common ideological adherence to Fascism or a common commitment to save Europe from Bolshevism. Hitler and his generals, however, were reluctant to fully incorporate their allies into their wartime command structure or strategy. Dinardo shows that this reluctance was a legacy from the First World War, when, for the most part, Imperial Germany refused to take its allies seriously.

DiNardo discusses Hitler's own attitudes toward his allies (he prefered bilater over multilateral arrangements) and then examines the performances of the Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland in North Africa, the Balkans, and Russia. Some, such as the Italians in North Africa, performed much better than is generally recognized in the west. Most were hampered by a shortage of modern equipment, especially tanks, fighter aircraft, and bombers. All, however, collapsed relatively early in the war. Indeed, according to DiNardo: "The twin German disasters of Stalingrad and North Africa effectively destroyed the Axis as a military alliance."

The ability to wage effective coalition warfare differed among the various services of the Wehrmacht. The German Navy was probably the most successful, although due to differences in doctrine and technology, the cooperation between German and Italian submarines was not as effective as it could have been. Next came the Luftwaffe, although it failed miserably in the sharing of technology, particulary aircraft and aircraft engines, with its allies. Finally, came the army, which, DiNardo notes, cleary took the prize when it came to failure in coalition warfare. The major exception to this was Rommel's conduct of coalition warfare in North Africa.

The German War Ministry too was of little help with its extortive practices, which ensured that the Romanian, Hungarian, Italian and Finnsh armies remained hopelessly outclassed in terms of weapons and equipment against their Soviet opponent.

Foruntately for the Western Allies, the inability of Hitler and his generals to build a functional and effective basis for coalition warfare contributed significantly to the downfall of the Third Reich. Indeed, as the Allies knocked knocked one Axis power after another out of the war, the Germans were forced to come to their rescue, burdening the already debilitated German war industry and armed forces.

"Germany and the Axis Powers" thus contributes to a better understanding of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the valuable contributions of Italy, Romania, Hungary and Finland during World War II to the Axis - and the Allies!