The US is called mei guo – the Beautiful Country — by the Chinese long before the current trade war and the hostile relationship arising…
View More The Soong Sisters – Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
This book could be better. The author obviously knows a lot and has done a lot of research. Unfortunately, the editing left much to be…
View More Interesting – Moral Combat: A History of World War II
A 2009 movie based on Tolstoy’s final year; The Last Station is based on a novel by Jay Parini published in 1993. Unfortunately, this movie…
View More Tolstoy’s last year – The Last Station
I bought this book mainly to see Julius’ analysis of The Merchant of Venice in particular and William Shakespeare in general. I have always been…
View More A difficult read – Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England
This is a wonderful history of Shanghai told through interlocking portraits of several Chinese who played prominent roles in Shanghai history from 1900 to 1946.…
View More Pre-World War 2 – Old Shanghai: Gangsters in Paradise
This is an excellent history of the British in Malaya. The period covered is from 1880 to 1960. It is well-written and full of anecdotes…
View More Excellent – Out in the Midday Sun: The British in Malaya 1880-1960
This series has its charm. The characters are well fleshed out and likable. But the plots are rather simplistic and if you are looking for…
View More Delightful – No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – The Complete Series (2009)
The hieroglyphs script was only deciphered in 1822 by Jean Francois Champollion. That is 23 years of hard work after the Rosetta Stone was found…
View More Wonderful – The Code-breaker’s Secret Diaries: Rediscovering Ancient Egypt
This book published in 2007 is the most recent English language biography on Zhou En Lai after Eldest Son by Han Su Yin published in…
View More Average – Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary
This book is not a narrative history of China. Readers looking for a primer on Chinese history will not find it here. Instead what we…
View More Excellent – On China