Rating: 
Summary: Another mis-led American?
Review: I highly recommend this book if you want to know what it is like to be a white person in Laos. I don't recommend this book, however, if you are a Laotian who wants to learn about what really is happening in Laos. I don't doubt Mr. Dakin's integrity in his reporting, but I do, however, find much fault in his analysis of his encounters with Lao people. As a Laotian American myself, I was a little disapointed at Mr. Dakin's condescending tone and was diassapointed to find that this was just another one of those, white-guy-writes-about-"exotic"-country books. I did learn a lot from the book and admire Mr. Dakin's attempt to increase awareness about Laos but I would like, one day, to read a book by a Lao person about Laos.
Rating:
Summary: Another mis-led American?
Review: I highly recommend this book if you want to know what it is like to be a white person in Laos. I don't recommend this book, however, if you are a Laotian who wants to learn about what really is happening in Laos. I don't doubt Mr. Dakin's integrity in his reporting, but I do, however, find much fault in his analysis of his encounters with Lao people. As a Laotian American myself, I was a little disapointed at Mr. Dakin's condescending tone and was diassapointed to find that this was just another one of those, white-guy-writes-about-"exotic"-country books. I did learn a lot from the book and admire Mr. Dakin's attempt to increase awareness about Laos but I would like, one day, to read a book by a Lao person about Laos.
Rating: 
Summary: Poy Souvanavong...
Review: I recently been to Laos early 2004, it was nice to compare my experience with that of Mr. Dakins, being that we are as he put it, "in the same age group." By the time Mr. Dakins had his experience in Laos, things have changed very dramatically since his tenure, so its not an exact comparison, (myself being Lao-American).
Every step of the way, i tried to imagine his encounters with that of my own experience, and i have some of the same notions, although i never talked politics when i was there, which for me was the first time I've step foot in Laos since my families own exodus some 25 years ago.
Mr. Dakins nicely link the present circumstances with that of past, giving a nice history lesson along the way, but especially putting a face on that history made the book ever more interesting.
Although my own experiance is one i will never forget, and one i truely love, my return and how i will look upon that return next year(2005)will be effected by Mr. Dakins writing, that is to play less and to imagine more. Being that my own family was mentioned in the book, and being from North Carolina, lets say i have connected well with the literature very well.
His experience was almost like my own, the Honda dream from which most of my liaisons occured, the wealthy families that I encountered and their snobbish attitudes, but especially my encounters of the people he considered the lost generation.
I enjoyed the book very much, and do recommend it, even though some of the parts i do question.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Read!
Review: This book is a wonderful read. It takes you to a far away place in Southeast Asia. It gives an in-depth view of the people who have lived in Laos from the point of view of a young American who lived and worked there for two years. Here is a short review of the French colonization of Indochina, the American war in Vietnam, Communism in Asia, immigration to America, the importance of tourism, foreign aid programs, the drug trade. It's all here in the stories of real people: Laotians and foreigners who reside in Laos in the forests of the north, along the Mekong River and in the capital city of Vientiane. This is a must read for students of Southeast Asia, travellers who have been or plan to go to that part of the world and for just about anyone who wants a better understanding of the interaction of people from Europe and America with the people of Asia. Readers will learn a lot about Laos but they will also come away with a very thoughtful understanding of the people who have lived in Laos.
Rating: 
Summary: Idealism denied
Review: This is an excellent first book by a sharp observer and talented writer. The book is informed by a positive and optimistic outlook. Dakin offers a number of sympathetic and humane descriptions of people and circumstances in Laos and conscientiously follows his observations up by tracking down relatives of his Laotian contacts living in the United States; his analysis of the psychology of exile (and of would-be-exile in some of the dissatisfied Laotians he describes)is full of insight. He is aware of his own inexperience but this does not prevent him from falling into the trap of this his first experience of the rat-race as unique to Laos and blaming it on the regime. Subsequent events, too, have demonstrated how mistaken he was about the immobilism of the regime. (Half the country's roads are now paved and the tourist boom will soon have swamped much of the sleepy Laos some of us have come to love). Yes the NGO's are largely inefficient and self-perpetuating, but something at least is being done (for example by CESVI around Luang Prabang).
He clearly starts out on the side of the angels politically, but as a product of bread-and-circuses America he is understandably naive about the institutionalised wickedness of US foreign policy over the last century and beyond. Though angry about the US bombing spree in Laos he falls for at least one of the whoppers perpetrated by his CIA contacts, namely that the Laotians had the sophisticated US chemical warfare technology needed to mount aerial chemical attacks on the Hmong, and his political analysis falls safely within the shallows of US colonialist ideology. Nonetheless this is an excellent first book, and we can only hope that his radiant honesty will ensure that any future publications will take on board the thinking of Noam Chomsky in "Rogue States," "The Culture of Terrorism" and so on.
Rating:
Summary: Young American finds himself in far away land....
Review: While I did not live in Laos (I have visited) I had a simillar coming of age experience in Japan. Dakin does a great job at describing a still very unknown land (who even knows where Laos is), the beautiful people, and the angst he experiences as a just graduated Princetonian. His descriptions of his office (picture a small three - four room office in a non-descript soviet era office building) and his own small "house" are particularly interesting for people who have not been there before. The sounds, sights and smells of the streets of the capital city come alive as Dakin explores the city on his Honda Dream motorcycle. Most importantly he describes the relationship Laos has as one of the world's poorest countries with Developed nation's AID agencies. There is a great chapter on consultants in which he talks about a Japanese tourism consultant who is really a retired manufacturing employee who knows little to nothing of Laos, and nothing about tourism development. If you are interested in learning more about a wonderful country Dakin's book is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Young American finds himself in far away land....
Review: While I did not live in Laos (I have visited) I had a simillar coming of age experience in Japan. Dakin does a great job at describing a still very unknown land (who even knows where Laos is), the beautiful people, and the angst he experiences as a just graduated Princetonian. His descriptions of his office (picture a small three - four room office in a non-descript soviet era office building) and his own small "house" are particularly interesting for people who have not been there before. The sounds, sights and smells of the streets of the capital city come alive as Dakin explores the city on his Honda Dream motorcycle. Most importantly he describes the relationship Laos has as one of the world's poorest countries with Developed nation's AID agencies. There is a great chapter on consultants in which he talks about a Japanese tourism consultant who is really a retired manufacturing employee who knows little to nothing of Laos, and nothing about tourism development. If you are interested in learning more about a wonderful country Dakin's book is a must read.
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