When English adventurer, James Brooke, first set foot in Sarawak in 1839, little did he know that two years later he would be ruler of the state, and that for a hundred years, his family would control the small Southeast Asian nation, and expand its boundaries to what it is today. Although the Brookes administered Sarawak as their own little kingdom, and without interference from any western power, they were influenced by British colonial administration in the Malay states. Naimah Talib does a very credible job of documenting the similarities and the differences between the Brooke administration of Sarawak and the British administration of their Asian colonies. Her treatment of the periods of Charles Brooke's rule (1868-1917) and Vyner Brooke's (1917-1941) are excellent, but the chapter on James Brooke's rule from 1841-1868 could have been better developed. This was the beginning of Brooke administration in Sarawak -- the time when the foundation was being built, and it deserved a deeper, more thorough examination. On the whole this is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the how and why of Brooke administration of Sarawak.

The first third of this Sierra Club book was put to use on our Outer Banks vacation. This is a good book that covers every part of the coast, not just the barrier islands. I liked the historical and cultural background presented on each area. I expected there to be a great deal of information on the local flora and fauna since it is a Sierra Club book, and there was. It provides a wonderful listing of birds and animals to keep your eyes out for. There are also good explanations of the geology behind the coast in the introduction. I would have liked a little more information about each area (there is no info on lodging, food, etc.) and some of it was outdated. The book is appealing because it covers the entire southeastern coast, so I know I will use it in the future!

In 1995-1996 when i was at working at AF station jodhpur(rajasthan),icame accrossthisbook,as i was interestedin vedas and earlier also,i had gone through many other translations,but thebook translated by shri devichand is certainly defferent from the other translations.he took a lot of trouble toget the correct translation of each sukta and each mantra using various references,this traslation throughs newlight on such ancientbook ,which was misunderstood by almost every indian as well as the foreigner scolrs.

i congratulate the author for his work and reccommend the scolers of ancient literature ,withspecial reference to AV,must read this book. spsharma

There is a surprising lack of general books on the Chinese languages aimed at students and amateur linguists, and Norman's book fills this lacuna admirably. Although coverage is uneven in parts, this book presents a survey of the language that is a tribute to the author's scholarship. More importantly, lucid language maintains the reader's interest and the book is a joy to read.

Many areas, including general typology, historical phonology, the writing system, the classical language, the modern language and dialectal variation, is covered to a greater or lesser extent, as are certain sociolinguistic issues relevant to the language. In particular, the historical linguistics and dialectology aspects of the language are well explained, the section on Modern Chinese being somewhat weaker.

The book, however, is not aimed at complete neophytes. A certain familiarity, albeit slight, with the Chinese language and history is presupposed, and the reader needs to be aware of, if not acquainted with, the basics of historical and comparative linguistics. Nonetheless, it is far from being an abstruse work understandable only by specialists in the field.

All in all, Norman has done a marvellous job in condensing the vast field of Chinese languages into a book of reasonable dimensions which is relatively error free. It will no doubt become a valuable general reference on the Chinese language.

I first visited Indonesia in 1984 and fell in love with Bali. I have since returned each year to the "Island of the Gods" from where I have been exploring the rest of the Indonesian Archipelago, and since 1991, I share my time equally between Bali and Winchester, Massachusetts. Of course, I am always eager to know more about all aspects of Balinese life. Although there is a plethora of books about Bali dealing with its wonderful culture and its arts, it is not the case about its particular history. After a while, it became obvious to me that this important missing part of the puzzle was essential to further my understanding of the complex character of the Balinese. The history of Bali is clouded in the mist of time, and reliable informations on the subject tend to be scarce and are not easily available. Historical documents, written in old Balinese language are obviously not accessible to a non-specialist Westerner such I myself. Because of the special relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia, there exist numerous documents written in Dutch, covering the last few centuries. However, as with most people, the Dutch language is not my forte.

Therefore, it was a "revelation" to come across Robinson's book, "The Dark Side of Bali". The book covers in details the historical and political events in Bali, from the end of 19th Century until the aftermath of the 1965 coup d'etat. It relates the Balinese experience under the Dutch colonial domination, during the National Revolution, 1945 - 1949, the Sukarno era, 1950 - 1965, and the military coup of 1965 and its aftermath. It reveals another face of Bali, the hidden face of Paradise. It is a scholarly book based on Dutch and Indonesian sources. It reads well, and contains an impressive number of references. Geoffrey Robinson, Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, is obviously an expert on the subject, as demonstrated by this in-depth analysis of the social and economic roots of the deep divisions that have, since colonial times, penetrated and defined the Balinese society. Robinson shows how in the 1920's, the Dutch restored and in some cases created a "traditional" Bali to counter a perceived nationalistic threat. This was achieved by resurrecting and maintaining the old ruling royal families as guarantors of these traditions. The Japanese occupation during WWII, relying mostly on the sudras (lower cast) upset the exiting social order, and explained the social problems which existed until the Sukarto period, and eventually led to the horrific massacred of 1965, and the ascend of General Suharto to power. Robinson presents a picture of Bali quite unlike the idyllic, peaceful island promoted by the tourist industry, but a society influenced by the World's politics and driven by class and ideological conflicts. This book surely belongs in the library of anyone interested in Indonesia in general and Bali in particular.

Michael Leifer's Dictionary of the Modern Politics of South-East Asia is one of those reference books treasured by those with a broad professional interest in the subject. It's concise, accurate, nicely cross-referenced and has a useful further reading list.

All of which make it an even greater disappointment that Leifer and his publisher have not seen fit to publish a revised edition to encompass developments post-July 1997

This is a very comprehensive study of Anglo-Cherokee relations from the late 17th cent'y to the end of the American Revolution. The most valuable aspect is how Hatley draws or teases the Cherokee perspective out of the available source material. In this, Dividing Paths is a model for seeing BOTH sides of conflict in colonial America, not just the English settlers' side. Although the initial chapter or two seem to be a little too heavily laden with academic jargon, the author hits his stride soon thereafter in what is a very readable book. My biggest criticism is that he fails to take in to account North Carolina's role in Cherokee relations, in which NC & SC were competitors. This is a significant oversight, but the book is "strong" nonetheless.

This is one of the best Japanese Grammar books I have bought. The best feature, in my opinion, is the fact that the books does not restrict itself to Romanji (Romanized Japanese writing) or Kana (the phonetic Japanese writing). Instead, all the expressions and vocabulary given is written in both Kanji and Romanji from lesson 1. And there are quite a few lessons (about 40)! So by the end of the book you will be reading page long passages in Japanese!. This may be a bit rough in the beggining (since reading Kanji is hard because each character can be read in *MANY* different ways), and that is why I suggest another book, like Eleanor Harz Jorden's "Reading Japanese", since it has many reading drills and will make you more confortable with reading more quickly. The combination of these two books makes the reader very familiar with common Japanese sentence structures and day-to-day Kanji characters. Definetly a great buy!

We are quasi freqent travelers of The Natchez Trace and have always loved stopping to learn, as we drove this beautiful parkway. We have had several guides, but none come close to the scope of this book. From ancient peoples, up to recent developments along the Trace, this is an easy to read, yet comprehensive history. I highly recommend you take it along as you drive the Trace, I intend to do that very thing later this summer!

This book has all the practical and background information -- and more -- that any backpacker or ecotourist would need to visit this mindblowing destination, truly one of the wildest, most exciting, and most remote places left on the planet (recently renamed Papua or West Papua). This place has it all -- some of the most pristine and richest rainforests anywhere, amazing and vibrant tribal cultures (some, like the Asmat and Dani are retain many of their traditional customs), loads of interesting, colorful, and strange critters (ex. Birds of Paradise), and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. (Irian/Papua has the tallest mountains between the Himalayas and the Andes). Muller gives ample and well researched descriptions of the natural history, political background, and cultural context of Irian/Papua, as well as what any traveller will naturally want: practical tips on where to stay, what to do and see and how specifically to do it. There is also other essential stuff on recommended travel items, medical info, and other key stuff you'll want to have handy. There simply is no other book that gives so much background material as this one. For that matter, Muller's other guidebooks on Indonesia are similarly excellent. The Lonely Planet and Moon guidebooks to Indonesia are OK for other parts of the country, but very inadequate when it comes to Irian, so if you're headed there or thinking of going, this book is definitely the one you want. The pictures are also great, and will get you rearin' to go. I would have given it 5 stars, except for the fact that it doesn't have much info on several interesting parts of Irian -- but that's not Muller's fault, there are just some places that are just about impossible to get to. That said, there is more than enough data here on the obvious places (Baliem Valley, Jayapura, Biak, Asmat, Birds Head) that a first, second, or third time traveller to Irian/Papua will want or need.