A Biography of Cao Cao
Rafe de Crespigny is an Australian sinologist, now aged 90. He specialises in the history of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. His…
Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph
This 2014 book Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by composer and music critic Jan Stafford reward the patient reader. At 1077 pages it’s the definitive biography.…
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The Tang China & Japan
The record of a pilgrimage to China in search of the law. This is a 2020 reprint of a translation originally published in 1955. It…
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Pakistan
Pakistan has attracted adventurers and reporters alike. Its wild beauty and violent environment are an intoxicating mix. Here are 3 vivid reportages. Geoffrey Moorhouse traveled…
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The Adventures of Wu: The Life Cycle of a Peking Man
The Adventures of Wu. This is a book that I have pleasure dipping into once every Chinese festival approaches. In 2021 we celebrate the Mid-Autumn…
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Yamashita’s Ghost
Can the US commander who ordered this drone attack, which killed 10 civilians including 7 children, be charged for war crimes? Is mistake a valid…
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China and the West
An excellent book slightly marred by an absence of endnotes. It’s a great pity as this really is a wonderfully narrated tale of a friendship…
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The Dawn Raid
Sunday Star 12 Sep 2021 carried an excellent article commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Dawn raid on Guthrie Corp Ltd. But it failed to…
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Up the Country
Lord Auckland is infamous for launching the First Anglo-Afghan War which led to the disastrous retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad with only one lone British…
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Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters
On 8 September 2021, the Robert E. Lee statue was removed and cut into two pieces in Richmond, the ex-capital of the Confederacy. Intrigued by…
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Rachmaninov Concertos No. 2 & 3
‘If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it…’ -so said The Bard in Twelfth Night. Rachmaninov Concertos No. 2…
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