Book Description
Inside of Hong Kong lies the infamous Walled City. Strangers are not welcome there. Police hesitate to enter. It is a haven of filth, crime and sin. Prostitution, pornography and drug addiction flourish. Thirthy thousand people-maybe twice that-live in a few cramped, dismal acres. Jackie Pullinger had grown up believing that if she put her trust in God, He would lead her. When she was 20 years old, God called her to the Walled City. She obeyed. And as she spoke of Jesus Christ, brutal hoods were converted, prostitutes retired from their trade, and heroin junkies found new power that freed them from the bondage of drug addiction. Hundreds discovered new life in Christ. Chasing the Dragon tells the whole amazing story-exactly as it happened.
Customer Reviews:
Chasing The Dragon.......2007-09-19
My wife and I could not put this book down as we read it together. It is filled with excitement as the author battles against opium and drug abuse as well as every other kind of demonic evil. In every case, she wins the battle for the souls, minds, bodies and spirits of men and women in Hong Kong. There is one victory after another as men and women are set free by the power of God's Holy Spirit. We highly recommend this book for those seeking release from drugs, alcohol and demonic bondage.
Sincerely, Rev. Richard and Holly Lang
Christian missionary evangelist.......2007-04-02
The testimony of Jackie Pullinger, and her life among the poor and addicted in Hong Kong. This is a reality to be in touch with.
Wow! What a God! What a Jesus! What a Holy Spirit! What a woman!.......2006-10-28
Finally, a woman follows Jesus with ALL her heart. Then, she lets Him teach her how to win the desperate and depraved that she has been trying to do without the power of the Holy Spirit. She receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, follows advice to pray in tounges 15 minutes a day and miracles start happening. She has lived by the Lord leading her already, but now she shifts into high speed Holy Spirit action. Mostly boys and men are saved, delivered from (Satan's kindom into The Kindom of God,) are baptized (in the sea,) and are given a prayer language, usually immediately upon conversion. Then follows healing and deliverance from herion and opium addictions through prayer. She is often catnapping in buses and on ferries because she is available day and night to help these guys. She helps many women too, but it is men whom she really has an impact with.
Well, the story is so amazing everyone should read it.
Passion Du Jour.......2006-08-05
This book is a heart-wrenching rollercoaster that challenged me to live more passionately. If anyone ever tells you that God is not real or he doesn't care about humanity...refer them to this book. Jackie's life is living proof that we have a loving and living God. Be careful...it will wreck your Western Culture!
Faith in Action.......2005-12-28
Every once in a while there is a person that is willing to step out in complete faith. Jackie Pullinger is one of these people. Leaving her homeland of England, Ms. Pullinger embarks on a journey of faith that lands her in Hong Kong with just 'three days' worth of money. But it is not in her money that Jackie has put her faith, rather her book reveals the processes that taught her to place it firmly in Jesus Christ and nowhere else.
The hindsight record in her book tells of what appears to begin as a stumbling to find her place and ministry, really was Jesus directing her steps. Ms. Pullinger learns to pray, trust and live out her faith in one of the worlds toughest environments. Surrounded by prostitutes, drug addicts and forgotten people she testifies of a Savior who can set the captives free. Her story is the testimony of life after life that is set free. The results she witnesses astounds all involved including police, the courts, the addicts and prostitutes themselves, fellow Christian workers and the reader.
Ms. Pullinger's account is compelling and remarkable. The reader will find many points to be challenged and encouraged in their own spiritual journey. The reader may also be challenged by her methods and practices, some of which would be considered unorthodox and dangerous to one's spiritual walk. Jackie Pullinger is a pioneer. Her willingness to put her money/life where her faith is and walk the talk has paid in ewards that leave much to rejoice over.
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- The Struggle To Save Thailand's Biodiversity
- Alan Rabinowitz may be a biologist, but he is certainly a skilled writer.
- With Friends Like Alan, Who Needs Enemies?
- A captivating story of the state of the tiger in Thailand
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Chasing the Dragon's Tail
Alan Rabinowitz
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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Beyond the Last Village: A Journey Of Discovery In Asia's Forbidden Wilderness
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Jaguar: One Man's Struggle To Establish The World's First Jaguar Preserve
ASIN: 0385415176
Release Date: 1991-10-01 |
Book Description
In 1987, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz was invited by the Thai government to study leopards, tigers, and other wildlife in the Huai Kha Khaeng valley, one of Southeast Asia's largest and most prized forests. It was hoped his research would help protect the many species that live in that fragile reserve, which was being slowly decimated by poachers, drug traffickers, and even the native tribes of the area. Chasing the Dragon's Tail is the remarkable story of Rabinowitz's life and adventures in the forest as well as the streets of Bangkok, as he works to protect Thailand's threatened wildlife.
Based on Rabinowitz's field journals, the book offers an intimate and moving look at a modern zoologist's life in the field. As he fights floods, fire-ant infestations, elephant stampedes, and a request to marry the daughter of a tribal chief, the difficulties that come with the demanding job of species conservation are dramatically brought to life. First published in 1991, this edition of Chasing the Dragon's Tail includes a new afterword by the author that brings the story up to date, describing the surprising strides Thailand has made recently in conservation.
"Rabinowitz seems to crave risk and adventure, and the story of his hazardous years 'chasing the dragon's tail' in the Thai forest?which includes encounters with angry poachers, a narrow escape from his own leopard trap, and the aftermath of his participation in an opium counci?makes engrossing reading. He also reveals much about Thai life and its contradictions. . . .
?Publishers Weekl.
"...one of the best recent books on Thailand. Although essentially the record of a zoologist conserving wild cats in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, the book also offers a penetrating account of author Alan Rabinowitz's struggle to come to terms with Thailand and the Thai people.
?Far Eastern Economic Revie.
Other titles by Alan Rabinowitz include Beyond the Last Village and Jaguar.
Customer Reviews:
The Struggle To Save Thailand's Biodiversity.......2006-08-21
This book describes the day-to-day life and frustrations of renowned conservationist Alan Rabinowitz in Thailand. While the large mammal biodiversity of the country is amazing, it is being severely depleted. The large mammals are victims of a local culture that seems to think of wildlife as free wealth to be plundered for subsistence or luxury.
While he is primarily a conservationist, Dr. Rabinowitz sometimes assumes the role of animal rights advocate as he describes acts of heartless cruelty by the locals towards animals. Examples: a python which is skinned alive by some of his servants (it is easier to remove the skin when the animal is alive), and a magnificent gaur (the largest wild cattle species in the world) which had died a slow death from starvation after its jaw had been shattered by a bullet.
A distinctive feature of Dr. Rabinowitz's passionate first-person narrative is that he cares for wild animals as individuals apart from his desire to save them as species. His study animals are given Thai names and not numbers. He is emotionally involved with their well-being and does not maintain the cold detachment towards them that one might expect from a scientist. He also does not hesitate to give vent to his anger and anguish when one of the animals he has grown familiar with dies a horrible death at the hands of poachers. His view of the local culture is heavily influenced by how they treat animals and is understandably negative. This has been described as "cultural imperialism" by a reviewer but it is hard not to be moved by the sufferings of animals which are skinned alive and left to die in agony. Readers would have to judge for themselves on this point. In my opinion, Dr. Rabinowitz would have failed in his duty as a conservationist if he did not portray accurately the problems of saving Thailand's biodiversity - and most of the problems undoubtedly stem from the fact that the local culture does not see animals as deserving basic human sympathy, kindness and ethical treatment. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
Apart from the above sociological aspects of conservation in Thailand, the book contains a lot of information about the mammals themselves and their ecology. There are detailed descriptions of radiocollaring leopards and other wild cats which are very exciting, as are some of the descriptions of the largest cat of them all, the tiger.
Alan Rabinowitz may be a biologist, but he is certainly a skilled writer. .......2006-01-23
This is the true story of a biologist with a dark past heading to a small Asian country to study leopards. Though the story is about animal conservation, the human interactions are what make the bulk of it. The author is an emotional person, and the conveyance of his feelings and thoughts in his writing make this story very entertaining. He is also very candid about some of the things he did in Thailand.
I have to say one more thing about his writing style. As I was reading the book, I could picture myself hiking along the trails of the forest reserve, or talking to the forest monks. I cringed and felt helpless as I read of the daily cases of skinning and cooking animals alive. And I felt the sense of helplessness and frustration of trying to stop an entire nation from devouring every bit of wildlife left.
With Friends Like Alan, Who Needs Enemies?.......2004-05-01
Self-indulgent prose about a self-involved man's self-pitying and self-important journey halfway around the world to assert himself and his culture on other people. I'm not qualified to comment on his zoological practices, but I don't come away impressed with him. His writing is C level work -- simply wretched. It does have the quality of being revealing, but not necessarily of the point he labors and fails to make. This book is a depressing first-person account of cultural imperialism. No wonder Americans are so universally reviled in other countries...
A captivating story of the state of the tiger in Thailand.......1997-10-01
"Like his first book, Jaguar, Rabinowitz's Chasing The Dragon's Tail is a telling testimony to the difficulties emarked upon in the attempt at large predator conservation. Rabinowitz's books are a must read for anyone interested in habitat preservation and conservation."
Book Description
At the culmination of their professional careers, great Oriental physicians often write books setting forth the mature versions of their clinical vision, their creations and accomplishments. Chasing the Dragon's Tail is a book in this tradition, but one that also charts a course for future explorations. Thus, while it details Dr. Manaka's clinical system in its fullest and most effective form, it is also an invitation to further investigation by one of the most inventive Oriental practitioners of the preceding generation.
The text introduces Dr. Manaka's major clinical and theoretical accomplishments by describing how the "X-signal system'' is the foundation of human topology, function, and response. In essence, the X-signal system defines qi, yin-yang, and the five phases as clinical events, just as traditional Oriental thinkers recognized these ideas through right-brain pattern recognition. While Dr. Manaka references some of the most advanced scientific thinking of our era-information theory, holographic models and new paradigms-his explanations are full of practical tests which readers can use to confirm his ideas for themselves. The core of the text is a complete description of Dr. Manaka's treatment system. This is of great importance, not only because Dr. Manaka was recognized in both Japan and China as one of the foremost practitioners of his generation, but also because the system has already proven itself adaptable to many others. It is thus a clinical manual of unique value because it describes Dr. Manaka's most important techniques: ion pumping and other root treatments, as well as his distinctive use of fire needles, channel stimulation techniques, sotai, moxibustion, and other modern Chinese and Japanese clinical developments. Beginning with a step-by-step template for formulating and confirming a diagnosis, Dr. Manaka provides the instructions necessary to apply these techniques quickly and with confidence. The text concludes with case histories and appendices that provide supporting technical details.
Customer Reviews:
East meets West on common ground.......2001-06-19
Using ideas from chaos, quantum, systems, and information theory (and many more), this book is a truly fresh and much needed perspective on TCM. The X Signal System abandons the causal theory of western biological sciences to answer the questions of TCM and effective treatment, and draws explanations and theories of energy, information exchange, and life from modern physics.
I am a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and am young in the arts, but it is clear that the foundation laid in this book will be used as a framework for western science to gain a new appreciation for Acupuncture.
We have learned much since the Huang Di and his ministers, and now with the help of Manaka, we can focus on effective treatment in modern times, as well as the classics.
- Thomas
An Approach to Japanese Acupuncture:.......2000-08-12
As an entry into the possibilities of acupuncture, within and beyond "TCM", this is a great book.
As an entry to understanding a methodical practice of Japanese acupuncture, - a must have.
As a reference for an experienced acupunctutist who is interested in further studies on treatment options, again a must have.
Simply (and not so simply) Brilliant and Exciting!
An indepth look into the Art of Advanced Japanese Acupunctur.......1997-04-16
Covers the entire spectrum of Acupuncture with
emphasis on the latest discoveries in Advanced
Japanese Acupuncture. Excellent introduction
on a vast number of treatment modalities. Teaches a workable method of Abdominal Palpitation for Channel Disturbance. Gives
wonderful new scientific research on the possible workings of Acupuncture. Provides the non-needle practitioner with a workable and very powerful system which includes the use of Open Points.
Dr. C Ledwell OM
Book Description
‘The art of fighting without fighting’, is how Bruce Lee described his martial arts style in the film Enter the Dragon. This can equally well be said of the art of fighting for the movie camera. From post-Second World War Japan, to present day Hong Kong, the martial arts film has been one of cinema’s most enduring and popular genres. This lucid introduction to the martial arts film is a welcome companion to a remarkable cinema, written for interested filmgoers as well as established aficionados. Chasing Dragons explores how the genre has adapted to satisfy the shifting demands of an increasingly international and diverse audience. It covers the cinemas of Japan, Hong Kong and America, exploring over fifty key films, their texts, fighting techniques, stars and directors, set in the distinct cultures producing and forming them. It introduces readers to the Japanese masters of the samurai film – Kurosawa Akira, Kobayashi Masaki, Okamoto Kihachi, and the lethal swordsmen of the screen, from Zatoichi to Miyamoto Musashi. Here are the superstars of Hong Kong – from the original kung fu hero Kwan Tak Hin to the international break-through of the ‘Little Dragon’ Bruce Lee in the 1970s, the groundbreaking works of Sammo Hung in the 1980s and the continuing success of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The surge of interest in martial arts cinema in Hollywood is examined, from the lows of exploitation ninja movies to box-office blockbusters including Matrix and Kill Bill, placing these films in their full context for the first time.
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Dante Mancuso has had just about enough of working for "the company," a covert security operation that's sent him to foreign hotspots and left his conscience raging with regrets. So when a seductively distant young contact called "Anita Blonde" assigns him, in Domenic Stansberry's Chasing the Dragon, to return to his hometown of San Francisco, where his estranged father has died in his sleep and where he can help destroy a heroin-smuggling ring, Dante imagines it as an escape. Even though it means reconfronting suspicions he'd brought on himself seven years ago, when as an SFPD homicide cop he'd pushed too hard to probe a customs inspector's death. And even though it will reacquaint him with Marilyn Visconti, the wild-haired Italian who had ditched Dante's cousin to be with him, only to then flee mysteriously.
Edgar-nominated author Stansberry (The Last Days of Il Duce, The Confession) locates this novel's heart and the majority of its action in North Beach, San Francisco's traditionally Italian district of 19th-century rowhouses, "drunks caterwauling in the midnight streets," and "old Calabrese ... all dressed in black, hunched over like crows on the wire." But finding his plot's principal thrust is not quite so easy. Dragon wants to be, at once, an emotionally charged account of Dante's struggle to recalibrate his life (by reconnecting with family and friends, and finally closing the customs inspector case) and a thriller centered around a "sting" meant to trap two drug dealers linked to one of Chinatown's most nefarious old clans. While the latter thread provides some late-chapter fireworks, it's the former that keeps this story enthralling, being nourished by Dante's response to the losses of both his father and uncle, his evolving partnership with a henpecked Chinese-American homicide detective, and his tormented encounters with the contrasting Misses Visconti and Blonde. Long-secreted photographs, a duplicitous pol, and a lawyer with a lust for lamé skirts all contribute intrigue to Stansberry's tale--enough so, that Dante's relative shallowness goes almost unnoticed. Fortunately, this protagonist will have the chance to sprout more dimensions: Chasing the Dragon is the first installment of a new series. --J. Kingston Pierce
Book Description
At The Company, a shadowy security firm, Dante Mancuso is tired of leading a double life. His latest assignment sends him back to his old North Beach neighborhoodas himself, with strict instructions to reconnect with his estranged family, his ex-lover, and even his ex-colleagues in the San Francisco PD. This time playing himself leads him down a dangerous and surprising path. Edgar Award winner Domenic Stansberry introduces a new hardboiled series written with a combination of clear homage to the genre and a breathtaking voice all his own.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting atmosphere.......2007-03-21
This was my first Domenic Stansberry book. Being from the San Francisco Bay area, I thought he deftly captured the essence of the street life and the old italian neigborhoods. Loads of authentic atmosphere! The story moved quickly, and I read it in a few long sittings, unable to put it down. I'll probably read more of his work, but he's worth giving a try.
IMHO
J.Jenkins
Nearly Great.......2005-06-18
Interesting characters who all inhabit and are comfortable in the gray area, great descriptions of San Francisco past and present, keen insight into relationships between Chinese and Italians as neighborhoods commingled and histories and cultures intertwined.
This is a brutal book that brings to mind Pelecanos, though not quite as realistic or street wise. Also, not all of the plot lines are fully played out.
Still, an interestng read that asks questions and forces you to think. One note: the typos in the hardback are inexcusable and will hopefully be cleaned up in the paperback version.
Disappointing.......2005-04-10
The most interesting and best-developed character in this book was the city of San Francisco, the flavors and nuances of which the author captured beautifully. Unfortunately, I found the human characters flat and uninvolving. There is good dialogue and suspense, but also massive coincidences and dangling threads left at the end. I was sadly disappointed in this book.
Suspenseful -- Great Story!.......2005-02-20
Intricate and suspenseful, Chasing the Dragon is an absorbing, well thought-out mystery. Stansberry is an excellent storyteller, rotating perspectives throughout the book, giving the reader a look into the mindset of good guys and not-so-good guys. He paints a vivid picture of San Francisco with its Chinatown, its shipping docks and its old Italian neighborhoods. The main character, Dante, is one that the reader grows to respect despite the shady work he does and atrocities with which he's involved. We sympathize with him and his lost love, Marilyn, hoping for a reunion. We also hope that he gets to the bottom of the murders that have touched his family. Stansberry masterfully weaves together several lives and their stories while ultimately surprising the reader in the end. After the book was finished, I found myself still thinking about Dante and the rest, wondering if they will ever be the same.
Stansberry is a skilled writer. This book makes me want to read more of his work. From the onset, I was absorbed with the San Francisco scene and the possible underworld of that city-the criminals and the policemen that have to deal with them. I like novels that give me a good feel of a place-like I am right there with the characters. Stansberry does it well. This was definitely a good read. I highly recommend Chasing the Dragon.
Just Short of Wholly Satisfying.......2005-01-11
Chasing the Dragon is an enigma. Aspects of this book are very, very good. Other elements, however, leave much to be desired. At times, the latter almost (but not quite!) overshadow the former. What results is a story that will entertain, touch and excite you: a story in which "the good" predominates but one in which "the bad and the ugly" will also leave you scratching your head in puzzlement.
Dante Mancuso is an ex-San Francisco homicide detective now living in New Orleans where he does the occasional odd job for a shadowy intelligence/security agency called simply "the Company." One night Mancuso receives a phone call from his Uncle Salvatore informing him that his ailing father has died. The Company seizes on this personal tragedy to send Dante undercover in his old neighborhood, the North Beach area of San Francisco. While back home for the funeral Mancuso is to pick up the pieces of his old life, which means insinuating his way back into the family business of running a wharf-side warehouse. His aim is to set up a sting operation involving some shady local businessmen and a powerful Chinese family rumored to be involved in heroin smuggling.
But, as that famous novelist says, you can't go home again. In addition to rekindling the flame of a painful old romance, Dante is also haunted by the case that drove him off the police force and out of `Frisco in the first place - the disappearance of a Chinese businessman and his family and the murder of an important local politician. After his uncle is murdered, Mancuso begins to fear that there may be a sinister connection between those events from nearly a decade ago and his family's business.
In places, the plot of Chasing the Dragon is opaque at best and, at worst, downright murky. As compelling as the characters are their motivation is never clearly or persuasively set forth. What's more, the role of the Company and their purpose in orchestrating events as they do is left frustratingly obscure. Is this a private security firm or a government agency of some sort? Simple questions such as that are never adequately addressed.
That being said, one still has to give Stansberry very high marks for his brilliant and evocative use of local color. The author brings the streets of North Beach literally alive in the pages of this book. Vallejo and Fresno streets appear, as do Grant and Columbus avenues for example. Anyone familiar with that lovely old section of San Francisco - and even those that aren't - will feel the fog brush against their cheeks and their calves begin to tighten as he or she walks with the novel's characters up the steep stairways and sidewalks that are so much a part of that picturesque area.
The problems with this book notwithstanding, there's certainly enough promise in its pages to warrant the reader keeping his or her eyes out for the author's next offering in a projected series featuring Dante Mancuso. One hopes that there he will "accentuate the positive" and clear up some of the ambiguity that causes this book to fall just short of being wholly satisfying. (James Clar-MYSTERY NEWS)
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- Shawcross or Kaplan he ain't, but it's a good read
- C'mon, it's a great read!
- You can't go wrong when you're writing about Khun Sa
- This book is a big letdown
- Interesting at times, but overall disappointment
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Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle
Christopher R. Cox
Manufacturer: Owl Books
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The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom
ASIN: 080505507X |
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Cox, a reporter for the Boston Herald, traveled into the Shan State, the lawless region of northern Myanmar (or Burma) that produces much of the world's opium, to interview Khun Sa, the drug warlord who built himself a jungle empire on drug profits and who styled himself a Shan freedom-fighter. Khun Sa, who has since "retired" and lives in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), is a complex character. This account of bearding the devil in his lair combines thorough research, high adventure, and prose pungent with the odor of poppies blooming on remote mountainsides.
Book Description
A reporter's journey into Burma to interview the mysterious drug lord, Khun Sa.
Customer Reviews:
Shawcross or Kaplan he ain't, but it's a good read.......2001-07-23
I just finished reading Cox's book, and while I heartily agree with the criticisms of his literary style (there is a reason that Cox writes for the Boston Herald rather than the Economist or Atlantic), I found parts of it to be very engaging, with only the second-to-last chapter being a disappointment. The epilogue in particular makes up for a lot of slow going towards the end of Cox's Shan State visit. While he attempts to keep the hero worship under control, Cox does not exhibit the maturity that a seasoned writer like William Shawcross does, nor is Cox as adventurous as he seems to believe; the current king of the hill among hardbitten, well-educated nightmare-travel journalists has to be Robert Kaplan, whose penchant for jumping into open graves ought to shame Cox. Nonetheless, I learned a great deal about the history of Burma and the autonomous states within what is now dubbed 'Myanmar'. Cox appears to have assiduously researched his destination, much more than I would expect the author of a ... paperback to have done. Provided one does not demand exhaustive political analyses and policy recommendations from every travel writer on the shelf, this is a light-weight adventure tale which happens to be shelved in the non-fiction category, and should not disappoint those looking for material concerning one of the few remaining mysteries among Southeast Asian countries.
C'mon, it's a great read!.......2000-10-06
Wow. Talk about a peltering! Poor Chris Cox writes a good and entertaining book about his looney adventure in Thailand and Burma, and the critics go ballistic. The venom is astonishing!
Well, the fact is that Chasing The Dragon is a pretty interesting tale, and certainly offbeat considering that it begins with a private mission to find MIAs in SE Asia ... in 1994!
But its more than simply a whacky story. There's a goldmine of history on Burma and Thailand, and I think Cox is one of the few writers to have actually put recent (post-1950) Burmese politics into a coherent framework.
Along the way Cox gets his interview with Khun Sa (the crux of his journalistic mission), and that's quite a coup. But that he also has some adventures; takes Xanax to adjust to his 12-hour jet lag; and describes some of the seamier corners of Asia is not outside the scope of the story. That's the way that travel in Asia often is!
Ecotourists might be offended. There is too much here that doesn't work for that strict Puritanical mindset ("Porno tapes as a gift to Khun Sa! My God!"). But you don't have to be a Robert Pelton fan to understand what's happening in Chasing The Dragon. You just have to have gone off the Lonely Planet path to a world that is markedly different from your own.
You can't go wrong when you're writing about Khun Sa.......2000-02-19
Although Cox's journalistic adventure narrative begins slowly, mired in pretentious descriptions and glamorized, over-dramatized, Hunter S. Thompson wannabe-gonzo bragging, it soon settles into a much more sophisticated groove, bolstered by Cox's significant grasp of Burmese history, Southeast Asian politics, and obligatory willingness to mix with the locals, dabble in a few vices, and refreshingly steer clear of "ugly American" stereotypes and boorish behavior abroad. The meandering of the book, between wandering Thailand's red-light district, sharing the quest of obsessed American POW hunters, and a good deal of astute political analysis, can lose the reader a bit at times, but by the last hundred pages one is fully engrossed, engaged, and rooting for Khun Sa and his ragtag band of drug-financed outlaw good guy rebels, while booing and hissing the bureaucratic US officials who forego supporting the Shan, valiant enemies of the odious Burmese regime, because of our hypocritical and shortsighted "war" on drugs. Sadly, since Cox published this ambitious work, Khun Sa has given up his guns and his poppy fields, betrayed by his own Shan rebels beause of his half-Chinese ancestry and perceived greed, and the old man is now doing lucrative hotel/casino business deals with the Rangoon regime. Oh well, at least Cox got in one hell of a narrative description before this "drug lord" decided to call it quits. Anyway, the relevance of the Golden Triangle to the international smack trade is now fading away, as the Afghan Taliban find that they can endure their diplomatic isolation quite nicely, thank you, by flooding world heroin markets in the name of political Islam.
This book is a big letdown.......1998-06-13
After narrating myriad topographical and geographical details of the region in mostly unreadable, ostentatious prose, Cox finally finds his prey. And what does he do? He sits down and turns on his tape recorder while Khun Sa gives his boilerplate speech. Talk about a "shaggy dog story!" Talk about a waste of time!
Interesting at times, but overall disappointment.......1998-01-27
Cox takes on an ambitious journey to write about his impressions of the Golden Triangle, Khun Sa and the opium trade. While Cox does manage to provide an education regarding the region in terms of history, politics, and society, his writing style is lame. Cox writes in a manner that highlights his lofty opinion of himself; he seems to think he is really cool for taking on a journey which not a lot of others would consider. He likes to address his advertursome life of travel, danger, booze, drugs (Xanax) which seems so self-satisfying. And while his one-liners aren't as pathetic as you'll find in Rambo movies, they're not far behind. Basically, if you think the guys who write for Fielding's Dangerous Places, you may like Cox.
Average customer rating:
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Chasing the Dragon: Assessing China's System of Export controls for WMD-related Goods and Technologies
Evan S. Medeiros
Manufacturer: RAND Corporation
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ASIN: 0833038052 |
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Examines the structure and operation of the chinese goverment's controls on exports of items that could be used in the production of weapons of mass destruction.
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Chasing the dragon
Cathy Smith
Manufacturer: Key Porter Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0919493505 |
Average customer rating:
- Disappointed.
- History to be straightened yet
- Who lost China?
- Witnessing China's Revolutuon
- Accolades
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Chasing the Dragon: A Veteran Journalist's Firsthand Account of the 1949 Chinese Revolution
Roy Rowan
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1592282180 |
Book Description
In 1949 the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, and eastern Europe had arranged itself into a constellation of communist satellite states, when China-the world's most populous nation--succumbed to what seemed to be an insurmountable tide of communist successes. Dumbfounded, America wanted to know, "Who lost China?"
Roy Rowan was one of only two living Western journalists who covered the fall of China, and in Chasing the Dragon, he recounts his personal experiences during one of modern history's most tumultuous and significant events. Writing for Life magazine from such datelines as Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenyang, Taiyuan, and China's Gettysburg-Xuzhou-he watched the horror and spectacle of the world's oldest continuous civilization tear itself apart as Chairman Mao Zedong's ragtag army saturated the Chinese countryside, choked off major industrial cities, and waited for them to "fall like ripe melons." With the fall of each city, Rowan had to plan an emergency evacuation by whatever means possible.
Through Rowan's personal interviews and experiences we meet colorful characters such as "Big Ears Tu," the crime boss of Shanghai's infamous Green Gang; "the Generalissimo" and his wife Madame Chiang Kai-shek, whose
dulcet tones of flawless Wellesley English belied her cool ruthlessness; the irrepressible Claire Chennault of "Flying Tiger" fame; and a personal acquaintance with Zhouenlai, who would become China's premier under Mao Zedong.
In the decades since, Rowan has traveled back to each battlefield, and has covered China for Time, Life, and Fortune. Chasing the Dragon is his fascinating firsthand account of an event that still continues to shape our world.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed........2006-09-27
If you are like me, looking for an in-depth coverage of the campaigns that determined the fate of China, you will be disappointed. The book wasn't interesting until I was almost half way through it. At times I felt like I was reading "A Veteran Journalist's Firsthand Account of Himself during the 1949 Chinese Revolution". The thrilling part of the book was twenty something pages of the Epilogue in which the author takes you on a whirlwind tour of China from 1949 to the Age of Yao Ming. The author's abiding interest in and love of China was quite touching.
History to be straightened yet.......2006-07-18
1) For the guy who came from Taiwan, you should have confidence in the courage and conscience and faith of your fathers and uncles who fought heroically the war against the Chinese communists. The Chinese communists, no doubt, inherited all the weapons and arsenal of former Japanese Kwantung Army from the Russians. The same weapons also supplied the communist troops to the south of the Great Wall. Russians, other than Japan equipment, also gave trains of American Lend-Lease weapons to Chicom, not to count the German guns and cannons.
2) For the ordinary Amerticans: remember FBI had a report on Chinese communists in America in 1954. The Chinese communists, in 1920s, 30s and 40s, were in San Fancisco and Washington DC and NY. They, together with Russian agents, had turned America against Republic of China. A book worthy of writing could be titled "DECODING CHICOM IN VENONA". The experts on VENOA, however, could not thread together the spelling of Chinese names, something that would be probably covered by me if nobody else is to pick this topic within the coming year.
3) Freda Utley already pierced the myth of 2 billion American aid to ROC. I have ROC itemization to support what Freda stated.
4) The million men campaigns are another topic to be touched on. What is to pierce the myth of communist defeat of half a million government troops would be the same riddle or puzzle as to the exact number of communist troops at the time of Japan surrender. Chicom claimed they had 1 million regular and 2 million militia in 1945. The truth is that they never had more than 400,000 men in Aug 1945. Only after you fully expose the myth of the numbers will you truly come to terms as to the cuase of the collapse of ROC. Incidentally, Truman did know that communist troops never had more than 400,000 in Aug 1945. Read Truman's memoirs and you will find the exact number I had mentioned here. Then why would Truman ignore the truth? Truman and his cronies had an agenda.
Who lost China?.......2005-06-02
This book is a great personal account of the fall of China. The main characters: Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Lin Biao, Chen Yi, Fu Zuoyi, Communists, and Chiang Kai-Shek, Madame Chiang, Chiang Ching-Kuo, Nationalists; Clare Chennault, Bill Gray, Henry Luce, President Truman, and many others were covered in great details. As a person who was born in Shanghai, I left Shanghai with my parents in May, 1949, I was educated in Taiwan under the Nationalists for 20+ years. I always wondered how Nationalist lost China to Communist? Nationalists got $3.8 bn from USA, weapons, millions of troops, yet could not win the war, truly amazing! During the battle of Xuzhou, Chiang lost 550,000 men and Communists captured 300,000 in just 65 days. Chiang never fought strategically. It is a lesson for all of us, General Myers.... and the ones in Iragi today. $$$ do not dicate the winners or losers in any war. Roy Rowan led a wonderful life covering these events. He gave an excellent talk at Shanghai Tiffin (lunch) club, New York city, on April 23, 2005.
Witnessing China's Revolutuon.......2005-01-14
In "Chasing the Dragon," veteran journalist Roy Rowan relives his coverage of the final battles of the Chinese civil war and the victory of Mao Zedong's Communist army over Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. It was a climactic chapter in world history that launched the author's distinguished career.
He reported on the bloody siege of Mukden, Manchuria, the million-man battle of Xuzhou and the fall of Shanghai, momentous events that few foreign correspondents covered. Though a young man, Rowan was already a seasoned China hand, having directed truck convoys for the China National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the regional counterpart of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In that capacity, he had seen the corruption of the Nationalists, which later prompted President Truman to say, "Chiang Kai-shek's downfall was his own making. His generals surrendered the equipment we gave him to the Commies, who then used the arms and ammunition to destroy him."
Rowan was not, in his words, "a do-gooder out to save the starving Chinese" but a man hoping to find "exciting stories to write about as a freelance journalist." His freelancing paid off. A picture story he sent to his literary agent in New York was published in Life, and the magazine hired him to cover the war.
After the Communist takeover, Mao "slammed down the Bamboo Curtain," Rowan writes, "closing the vast land to all Americans but a few Communist sympathizers, just as his mentors in the Kremlin had done with the Iron Curtain." Rowan then moved the Time-Life bureau from Shanghai to Hong Kong. He went on to cover the Cold War in Europe, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He returned to China in 1973 and visited several more times to report on the results of burgeoning capitalism there.
This is a revealing book about stirring events that led to the rise of contemporary China. I highly recommenbd it.
Norman Ritter, journalist and corporate communications consultant
Accolades.......2005-01-01
This book has received great reviews from Smithsonian magazine, People magazine, and Time magazine. See my web site: www.royrowan.com
Average customer rating:
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Chasing Dragons
Tom White
Manufacturer: Off Route Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0967480701 |
Book Description
A novel about environmental wars in southern West Virginia
Customer Reviews:
Chasing Dragons.......2000-10-20
This book was the most exiting dragon book that I ever read.
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