PACIFIC RISING: The Emergence of a New Worm Culture

by Simon Winchester ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1991

A vivid mosaic of the 50-odd countries bordering the Pacific, and of the people and resources that catapulted this ring of nations into their current position at the center of the world's economic activity. For (London) Sunday Times correspondent Winchester (Their Noble Lordships, 1982), one crucial moment in this ""Pacific Era"" occurred in May 1984, when most of the world's jumbo jets were for the first time recorded as flying over the Pacific rather than the Atlantic. That kind of idiosyncratic observation propels this account of the Pacific region, despite the author's failures to provide a clear narrative or analytical framework to his hybrid of travelogue, journalism, and history. Winchester's explanation for considering this motley group of nations as a unit--that, for the first time, they had ""started to look inward, at themselves""--makes for a rickety interpretative structure, and his admitted deficiencies in economics do not help in considering the new Asian industrial colossi--Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. Nevertheless, Winchester's travels throughout the length and breadth of the region have resulted in lively portraits of its inhabitants, including Australians bristling with resentment against Japanese tycoons; wealthy Britons fleeing Hong Kong before it is officially handed over to China; a young Hispanic gang leader driving a Rolls Royce through Los Angeles; and a guide who leads the author to the hill where Balboa reportedly discovered the Pacific. Equally skillful are Winchester's narratives of Magellan's great voyage, the rise of Nissan, the erection of the international date line, the origins of Confucianism, and the building of ""the unqualified symbol of the century,"" the Boeing 747. A talented journalist's group portrait--too crowded but teeming with life--of nations finally coming into their own.

Pub Date: April 19, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice Hall Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991

Categories: NONFICTION