Rating: 
Summary: The sequel is never as good as the original
Review: While I didn't find this book as edifying as "China Wakes," it's still a good read. Its greatest strength is the vignette format, with anecdotes, history, and statistics from various countries in the region and chapters divided by topic. The authors admit, rightfully, that with the breadth of territory they cover in this book the treatment is bound to be superficial to some degree, but it makes for a much more engaging read for someone interested in Asian studies in a broad sense, rather than the usual academic "fine-toothed-comb" treatment of a narrow topic. Their writing style is nonacademic, which is both highly engaging and very refreshing, and helps this book to appeal to a wide audience, not just ivory-tower types. There are a few problems with the book, which can take something away from its enjoyability. First, there is a tremendous amount of editorializing. The authors may have felt this was necessary to tie together the disjunctive stories and histories they discuss, but I have a firm belief that the intelligence of the reader and the topic-as-chapter format would have made a much better tie than so much author opinion. That excessive editorializing and the overuse of "the upshot is" to explain things to the reader detracts from the maturity of the writing style. Additionally, the writers obviously consider themselves much more well-versed in Asia-related topics than most Americans. This is fine, but at certain points in the book the reader can't help but think that the authors mistake Americans for idiots. They assert, for example, that most people think of pastoral rice-paddy scenes, and not urban overcrowding, when they think of Asia. Who thinks that? I don't know anyone who doesn't tie overpopulation with India and China! Another example is when the authors assert (more than once) that people perceive Indonesia as stable. Who are these people? Most people I know, in wake of the East Timor situation (not the Bali bombing, since this book was published in '01) and religious/ethnic rioting in that country think of Indonesia as anything BUT stable. These weaknesses combine to give the reader a sense of being pandered to at times--a certain attitude of condescension, if you will. Overall, this is a good book. It's great for people not well-versed in Asian studies, because it's broad enough to give people an easy-to-read introduction to the region (with both strengths and weaknesses presented). It's also good, however, for people who ARE heavily involved in Asian studies readings, since most of us in academia don't get many chances like this to venture out of our chosen country/culture of study and view the region as a larger whole.
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