Gleach does a wonderful job of presenting both worlds while maintaining an objective outlook. I have truely enjoyed reading this selection based on that alone. Gleach manages to keep you informed of the details yet helps you to gain new prospective on the view of both cultures. He not only tries to make sense of what happened in the contact period but does a good job of making you understand why it happened the way it did. Not your average Native American/ Colonial Conflict documentary. A wonderful job of teaching the Native side that you never learned in school. Blaming neither side for the outcome Gleach will make hard work of any other writer pulling off one as good.

Fred Gleach's piece is both acute and aggresive. Fered Gleach writes this book like only Fred Gleach can. This means a lot. Not everyone can live up to their potential. Fred Gleach lives up to his potential here. I tell you- this is Fred Gleach writing from Fred Gleach's heart. This means a lot. Some of us write, and it is not from the heart, or it is to get tenure. But Fred Gleach here writes this book like only Fred Gleach can. Some things, like the truth, is important. This Fred Gleach's message. This book is very Gleachian. This means a lot.

Buy it.

I read the book before going to Burma and really enjoyed it. It gives you a good idea of the way people live, and the problems they have. A very nice story.

A comment to the ones that already read the book :

When I entered the Shan State and saw the Orange plantation a few teardrops went through my face.!

Have seen on Austrian Television a documantary film on the life of Mrs/HHPrincess Inge Sargeant called 'Die himmlische Prinzessin'.. am so deeply touched and impressed with a life led there under the hardest of circumstances and trying now to help refugees from Burma as such. Am an Austrian myself and have lived uproad (Africa), so feel a bit the more for her formidable life led there and a special graciousness and truly wish I'd be able to meet her real in life some day..

Great book about the dreamers of the South Pacific. It is a collection of short stories of important and not so important dreamers who have wanted to make a name for themselves in the South Pacific. Stories range from brutal mutiny to the early history of the Hawaiian Islands.

I read this book several times and would recommend it to any one interested in the history of the South Pacific. I have read most of his books, and found it to be one of his best. I enjoyed Tales of the South Pacific, but his non-fiction work was very informative.

Mr. Dix has written an exciting book full of timeless information. Particularly pertinent now, in the face of what is happening in Afghanistan, he brilliantly illustrates the effective use of indigenous forces inside a mostly hostile country. A country where most Americans would be unable to fit into. This is not the sort of book I usually read, but I was struck by the timeless, unconventional and utterly logical methods of warfare Mr. Dix used to bring about successful campaigns. Without pointing fingers or complaining about what went wrong with the Vietnam War, he merely states how he made his own campaigns successful. What is evident, between these lines lacking in self-pity, is a loss of innocence. For this brave, unique man, he was only doing a job, albeit proudly. A very exciting account, if somewhat understated. At times, his dry wit shines through and makes me smile. Thank you, Mr. Dix, for being the man you are. For setting an example for other people. For saving lives. For any young man desirous of becoming a member of our very honored Special Forces - any branch - this should be required reading. History repeats itself. Let's learn from it.

This is truly a fascinating account of what one man went through during the war. His heroics are impressive and almost unbelievable. I am amazed that he survived. He deserved the medal for what he did. This book should be read by anyone who is interested in war and what heroes are made of.

This is a very well thought-out text. The author states that it is not intended for self-study, but if you have a facility for languages, have studied an inflection-driven language such as Latin and have had a year of a modern language that uses the Devanagri writing system, you should be ok. The format is similar to that of Moreland and Fleischer's Latin text, with brief lessons covering single-serving chunks of morphology, followed by vocabulary and exercises in translation and composition.

Given that the book is a part of the "Michigan Papers on South and South-East Asia", I was a bit apprehensive about it being too scholarly and unsuitable for a beginner like me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it otherwise. The author has the rare combination of an authentic grooming in the traditional Sanskrit learning and a long experience of teaching the language in the West to western students, and this shows in the book to the reader's advantage. Nevertheless, it is a book that demands diligence and effort from the reader. I liked the way the book provides a set of relevant words in every chapter which are used immediately afterwards in the exercises, for this allowed me to quickly refer to them for their meanings. The exercises are also very well thought out, though I wish the author had provided answers to them so that a student could bolster his confidence by verifying his answers immediately, but all in all, the book is well worth the money I spent on it.

A very revealing work. Gives the anatomy of North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong units, as well as their operational applications. Discloses the broader regional political objectives of the North Vietnamese communists as it relates to subjugating Laos and Cambodia, and in doing so verifies the "domino theory" that so many critics of the war were quick to label as "fabricated." "Secrets" is a good military "X's and O's" of how a "just cause" was allowed to suffer from geopolitical naivete, and the ultimate price that was paid.

This is definitely the most thorough book that I know of on Viet Cong tactics, doctrine, weapons, etc. Especially tactics. The section on the "prepared battlefield" is especially illuminating.

Thai historian Thongchai Winichakul's account of a critical period in Thai history pairs an originalap proach with thorough academic research. As the subtitle 'a History of the Geo-Body of a Nation' already suggests, the book deals with the crucial episode of the formation of Thailand as a nation-state.

Inspired by Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson's seminal work on nationalism, the author explains in his introduction that he intends to focus his analysis on a by historians much neglected aspect of the spatio-temporal category: geography.

Taking the traditional Buddhist worldview as a starting point, he describes how 19th Century Siam, as Thailand was then called, had to come to terms with the many alien concepts considered commonplace in the science of modern geography. Many of these concepts were to have important political implications.

Deriving its political system from the Buddhist 'Mandala model', the Siamese initially had great difficulies coping with the elementary aspects of political geography. Boundaries and more in particular border demarcations were, if not unknown altogether, considered of minor or no importance in the political view of the traditional ruling class. The Siamese were perfectly at ease in dealing with often illdefined and fluid spheres of influence, frontiers and the 'thick lines' of the boundary regions separating the indigenous political entities of Southeast Asia. Likewise they saw no contradiction in the double sovereignty under which the territories at the 'margins' of the regional kingdoms often fell.

But the Siamese proved to be fast learners and Thonchai quickly dispels the myth that the Siamese were mere victims of or only innocent bystanders at the high political game that was played by the colonial powers in 19th Century Asia. Instead he contends that Siam was very conscious of what was at stake and was just as much a player as Britain or France.

'Siam Mapped' is an innovating, provocative and very refreshing account of a very important phase in the history of Thailand. Already exercising its influence on the further course of research into the development of the Thai national-state, this book is a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the history of Thailand or nationalism in general.

This brilliant work focuses on how this conflict between more local conceptions of space, often based on budhist cosmology, and more western concepts of politically bordered and defined states led to the crisis of 1893. Thongchai Winichakul's essential thesis concerns not a typical narrative of how Siam, and later Thailand, came to be, but how the perception of space changed in order to allow the creation of what he terms the 'geo-body' of the nation. This geo-body, whether as a map in schools or a logo for a political party, serves as one of the key ways in which nationalism is transmitted from generation to generation. In short, this work provides a new analysis of one of the many ways in which the Thai nation was created as an idea. As such, this book is valuable reading for those interested in Thai and/or Southeast Asian history, or in the discourses and transmission of nationalism in general.

Did you ever wish you were the 19th-century Richard Burton, looking at the white spaces on the fringes of a map and wondering what lay inside them? I have; I suppose you have too. Those days are gone for good, though. Mark Elliott's book, however, turns that concept on its head. In it he presents a series of lovingly crafted maps of Southeast Asia, packed with enough information to get me there in the first place, yet vague enough to encourage me to explore it on my own. Some guidebooks can be so overwritten as to make me feel like, "Why bother going? I've already read about it." This book, though, sits inside my briefcase and tantalizes me. It's fun to read, too; I read it on the train and laugh out loud, and everyone in the car is shocked. It answers all the essential questions -- especially what to do if you just can't finish your dinner of dog meat. (Think about it!) What I've seen of Southeast Asia matches what I have read in this book. And for the places I haven't made it to yet, well, this book goads me into going farther.
If all a real sailor needs is a ship and a star to steer her by, then all a true traveler needs is a backpack and this book to journey by. Buy it -- you will not be disappointed!

This is a pretty unique travel book for low budget travelers. It takes all the practical information that you need to survive but then throws you in to explore for yourself showing you where to get free information rather than regurgitating the standard stuff that you get free anyway, yet taking great pains to show you money saving details like where the bus stop into town is when you arrive at any of Bangkok's bus stations. There are so many maps that it can actually be better (as well as much cheaper and lighter to carry) than a series of one country guides. One thing that takes a while to get used to is the icons which make the maps look wild the first time you look at them, but when you get used to them means you get info packed in a small space. In cities where there are loads of guest houses just a "traveler area" is marked which seems like a good idea. Transport is summarized not in words but in sort of spider-like schematic maps which show times, prices, etc and diagrammatically give a good idea of where in a town to find the bus in the first place. On the other hand if you want accommodation much above the budget level this is not the book for you. By the way with all the SARS paranoia it is a great time to be out here in SE Asia!

If you want to know how to cook Southeast Asian cuisine (and this is NOT the same as Chinese), this is the cook who knows. She knows her ingredients with an intimacy not present in most other cookbook writers of this region's cuisines. One factor critical to success in cooking SouthEast Asian fare is to know how to blend together the exotic ingredients for a particular dish. This is especially important for Malaysian/Indonesian cuisine -- and is not often done well enough. Ms Solomon certainly has the knowledge. In my opinion, this is the most valuable aspect of her book.

My grandma found this book at a rummage sale in Australia, and she brought it all the way to the USA for me. The first receipe I tried was such a success that I've been cooking from it ever since. This book is good for those of us who love a good receipe but haven't the time or patience to experiment. I especially like her use of substitutes and pay special attention to her remarks about a receipe. When charmaine says a receipe is good, it turns out spectacular!

The most detailed guide to the southern Atlantic coast of the Sunshine State - a magnet for hundreds of thousands of tourists. The Adventure Guide to Southeast Florida takes you beyond the high-rise condos and urban sprawl to find natural, beautiful South Florida at its best. As with all Adventure Guides, the emphasis is on outdoor activities - kayaking, canoeing, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, turtle- and manatee-watching, and dozens of other ways to have fun. Many sidebar interviews with local experts and guides offer insights on everything from canoeing the Loxahatchee River to swimming with dolphins to seeking out great horned owls! Accommodations, restaurants and sightseeing too. Maps.

The authors bypass neon signs and designer boutiques in search of adventurous Florida... and they find it. Anton Community Newspapers