Asian Review of Books

Asian Review of Books

episodes

Interviews with authors of books reviewed in the Asian Review of Books.

Ronald Drabkin, "Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor" (William Morrow, 2024)

October 31, 2024

Beverly Hills Spy

Ronald Drabkin
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Frederick Rutland—”Rutland of Jutland”—was a war hero, renowned World War I aviator…and a Japanese spy. In the years leading up to Pearl Harbor, Rutla…

Andrea Benvenuti, "Nehru's Bandung: Non-Alignment and Regional Order in Indian Cold War Strategy" (Oxford UP, 2024)

October 24, 2024

Nehru's Bandung

Andrea Benvenuti
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1955, the leaders of 29 Asian and African countries flock to the small city of Bandung, Indonesia, for the first-ever Afro-Asian conference. India …

William T. Taylor, "Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History" (U California Press, 2024)

October 17, 2024

Hoof Beats

William T. Taylor
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Which society was the first to domesticate the horse? It’s a difficult question. The archaeological record is spotty, with only very recent advancemen…

Rohit Manchanda, "The Enclave: A Sharp and Hilarious Portrait of Womanhood in India" (Fourth Estate, 2024)

October 10, 2024

The Enclave

Rohit Manchanda
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Maya, the protagonist of Rohit Manchanda’s novel The Enclave (Fourth Estate: 2024), should be happy with her life. She’s newly single, her net worth s…

Maaria Sayed, "From Pashas to Pokemon" (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024)

October 3, 2024

From Pashas to Pokemon

Maaria Sayed
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

From Pashas to Pokemon (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024), Maaria Sayed’s first novel, is a coming-of-age story. Aisha grows up in the Muhammad Ali Road…

Kerry Brown, "The Great Reversal: Britain, China and the 400-Year Contest for Power" (Yale UP, 2024)

September 26, 2024

The Great Reversal

Kerry Brown
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth I tried to send several letters to her Chinese counterpart, the Wan Li Emperor. The letters tried to ask the…

Steven K. Bailey, "Target Hong Kong: A True Story of U.S. Navy Pilots at War" (Osprey, 2024)

September 19, 2024

Target Hong Kong

Steven K. Bailey
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

On January 16, 1945, dozens of U.S. Navy aircraft took off for China’s southern coast, including the occupied British colony of Hong Kong. It was part…

Peter Rose, "The Good War of Consul Reeves" (Blacksmith Books, 2024)

September 12, 2024

The Good War of Consul Reeves

Peter Rose
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Macau was supposed to be a sleepy post for John Reeves, the British consul for the Portuguese colony on China’s southern coast. He arrived, alone, in …

David Chaffetz, "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires" (Norton, 2024)

September 5, 2024

Raiders, Rulers, and Traders

David Chaffetz
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

After reading David Chaffetz’s newest book, you’d think that the horse–not oil–has been humanity’s most important strategic commodity. As David writes…

Marga Ortigas, "God's Ashes: Apocrypha" (Penguin, 2024)

August 29, 2024

God's Ashes

Marga Ortigas
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Climate change. The refugee crisis. The rise of social media. These big social questions—and others—inspired journalist Marga Ortigas in the creation…

Rachel Kousser, "Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great" (Mariner Books, 2024)

August 22, 2024

Alexander at the End of the World

Rachel Kousser
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, …

Juli Min, "Shanghailanders" (Spiegel & Grau, 2024)

August 14, 2024

Shanghailanders

Juli Min
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Shanghailanders (Spiegel & Grau: 2024), the debut novel from Juli Min, starts at the end: Leo, a wealthy Shanghai businessman, sees his wife and daugh…

Lio Mangubat, "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946" (Faction Press, 2024)

August 8, 2024

Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves

Lio Mangubat
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Baseball’s introduction to the Philippines. The slot machine trade between Manila and Shanghai. A musical based extremely loosely on the life of the s…

Roger Crowley, "Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World" (Yale UP, 2024)

August 1, 2024

Spice

Roger Crowley
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The spice islands: Specks of land in the Indonesian archipelago that were the exclusive home of cloves, commodities once worth their weight in gold. T…

Dan Morrison, "The Poisoner of Bengal: The 1930s Murder That Shocked the World" (Juggernaut, 2024)

July 25, 2024

The Poisoner of Bengal

Dan Morrison
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

It’s the 1930s. Amarendra Chandra Pandey, the youngest son of an Indian prince, is about to board a train when a man bumps into him. Amarendra feels a…

Bill Lascher, "A Danger Shared: A Journalist’s Glimpses of a Continent at War" (Blacksmith Books, 2024)

July 18, 2024

A Danger Shared

Bill Lascher
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Melville Jacoby was a U.S. war correspondent during the Sino-Japanese War and, later, the Second World War, writing about the Japanese advances from C…

Eric Thompson, "The Story of Southeast Asia" (NUS Press, 2024)

July 11, 2024

The Story of Southeast Asia

Eric Thompson
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Does Southeast Asia “exist”? It’s a real question: Southeast Asia is a geographic region encompassing many different cultures, religions, political st…

Michelle T. King, "Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-Mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food" (Norton, 2024)

July 3, 2024

Chop Fry Watch Learn

Michelle T. King
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1971, the New York Times called the Taiwanese-Chinese chef, Fu Pei-Mei, the “the Julia Child of Chinese cooking.” But, as Michelle T. King notes …

Jin Feng, "The Transpacific Flow: Creative Writing Programs in China" (Association for Asian Studies, 2024)

June 27, 2024

The Transpacific Flow

Jin Feng
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 2009, Fudan University launched China’s first MFA program in creative writing, spurring a wave of such programs in Chinese universities. Many of th…

Clare Hammond, "On the Shadow Tracks: A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar" (Allen Lane, 2024)

June 20, 2024

On the Shadow Tracks

Clare Hammond
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 2016, journalist Clare Hammond embarked on a project to study the railways of Myanmar–a transportation network that sprawls the country, rarely use…