CHANGING ASIA

Again Central Asia, with many of the same places visited. But the angle is totally different, the method of handling the material makes it new and fresh and vivid, rather than reminiscent of a fascinating personal experience. For here we have a first hand account by a famous -- and essentially modern -- journalist, and Austrian, with a genius for ferreting out the essentials, the significant, challenging truths behind the facade. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, through Samarkand and Bokhara, he goes, searching out the changing face of Asia, bringing into sharp relief, the history, the poetry, the romance of the old days, with the industrial metamorphosis which is making new men, new scenes, new religions, new society, where generations had stood unchanging. A challenge -- an eye-opener. Here it is that the world's future supply of cotton may have its source, the world's supply of silk. Methods old and new are inextricably interwoven, the best of the old adding savour to the new. Illustrated with 19 aquatone prints and a map. And remember -- the man can write!