THE SPLENDORS OF ASIA

India, Thailand and Japan in 156 superb photographs prove how successful black and white can be: yet one must consider this book chiefly as a postscript to other books in the field. This, because Robert Payne's text tends toward the esoteric, requiring a background in the studies of architecture, religion, mood, history to balance his rather arbitrarily selective approach. In this context, he provides a new focus, a more penetrating vision. Viewed pictorially, this is very rewarding.