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…
Inside the Mind of Xi Jinping
This 2018 book is a slipshod work. It has no footnotes or index. One can’t even check the veracity of his analysis. Save your money.…
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Making China Modern
This 2019 book is the latest substantial history of modern China. It’s by a German scholar. It’s an excellent history well told. Rereading it to…
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The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy
This book was picked as one of the Financial Times’ best books of 2015. In 2016 the paperback version was published with a new preface…
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Letters of an Indian Judge to an English Gentlewoman
Reviews on this book in Amazon are written on the basis this is a real set of letters written in the British India era from…
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In the Shadow of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie burst into the crime mystery scene in 1920 with her The Mysterious affair at Styles. Since then, she has literally buried from readers’…
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The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers
McGregor’s prognosis at the end of his book is prescient indeed. He predicted that with “economic growth and resurgent nationalism” the Party’s power has been…
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Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II
There is a good description of Singapore in the early years in this book. The 10- story Fullerton Building was completed in 1928. It was…
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The Business of Judging
This collection of speeches is heavy, not in weight but in substance. Tom Bingham is recognized as the greatest judge of his generation. This book…
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The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers
Rereading this book for the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party on 1 July 2021, I can’t help but notice that this book while excellent…
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The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
This book sets out the plan and execution of the successful assassination of a key member of Hitler’s inner circle. The plot was hatched in…
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