An excellent resource for those who live and work at a place where Chinese and Western viewpoints coincide.
A fresh view of China's emergence as a global economic force from two writers with extensive personal background in the East and West, who take a careful historical approach to claims as to how the interaction among Chinese and Western cultures will bring a new dynamic approach to world trade.
Like many who have studied China’s growing influence in the West, these authors assert that the nation’s economic growth will change the world dramatically. This ambitious survey shows how distinct definitions of self, nation and empire have emerged and changed in the East and West throughout the centuries, drawing upon an extensive body of scholarship. Although Tai P. Ng holds a doctorate in geophysics, neither author specializes in academic China studies. However, each has an extensive background in both parts of the world. This may be why their refreshing approach eschews headline-grabbing predictions about inevitable conflict between China and Western nations, while also avoiding claims that either culture holds superior values. Neither China nor the West is portrayed as exotic or dangerous. Instead, this is a fascinating account of how past similarities and differences between the East and West provide the groundwork for a new culture that will reshape our lives in the future. The authors reveal that business and world trade are hardly new to the Chinese tradition even while contemporary interaction with the West brings a new dynamic to conventional trade. Academic readers may find this survey lacking in theoretical context and overly broad in summarizing significant historical events. But the authors’ careful research and personal experiences lend authority to their claims, providing an excellent introduction to China’s past and present that breaks down many common preconceptions. The sometimes pedantic tone could put off a novice reader, but the careful explication of central values in the East and West will reward those who want to understand why basic Western assumptions about the world differ from those in China and how global economics may evolve in the future. Moreover, a non-judgmental approach to both cultures makes this an important contribution to the body of literature about China written for the layperson.
An excellent resource for those who live and work at a place where Chinese and Western viewpoints coincide.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-41846-6
Page Count: 376
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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