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Asian Review of Books
Asian Review of Books March 30, 2023

My Strange Shrinking Parents

Zeno Sworder

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
When the two immigrant parents in Zeno Sworder’s latest illustrated book go to the baker asking for a cake for their son, the baker asks for something different instead of …

Asian Review of Books

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

Asian Review of Books March 23, 2023

Money Machine

A Trailblazing American Venture in China

Weijian Shan

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In 2010, Ping An took over Shenzhen Development Bank, ending an experiment that had never been tried before, and not been tried since: a foreign company owning and managing a …
Asian Review of Books March 16, 2023

On Java Road

A Novel

Lawrence Osborne

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
The star of On Java Road (Hogarth: 2022), the latest novel from Lawrence Osborne, is Adrian Gyle, a down-on-his-luck correspondent in Hong Kong, in the midst of its 2019 protests …
Asian Review of Books March 9, 2023

The King’s Road

Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road

Xin Wen

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Many of us–who maybe aren’t historians–have an image of the Silk Road: merchants who carried silk from China to as far as ancient Rome, in one of the first global …
Asian Review of Books March 2, 2023

Our Man in Tokyo

An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor

Steve Kemper

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In the years leading up to the Second World War, the U.S. was represented in Japan by Ambassador Joseph Grew: born from a patrician family, Harvard-educated, ran away to the …
Asian Review of Books February 23, 2023

The Fraud Squad

Kyla Zhao

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Can anyone break into high society? From Cinderella, Eliza Doolittle and Jay Gatsby to Don Draper and Anna Sorokin, characters that can fool their way into the elite through their …
Asian Review of Books February 16, 2023

Jerusalem Falls

Seven Centuries of War and Peace

John D. Hosler

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
When the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate entered Jerusalem in 638, the city was quite different from what it is today–one of the most important cities for three religions. As …
Asian Review of Books February 9, 2023

Kopi Dulu

Caffeine-Fuelled Island-hopping Through Indonesia

Mark Eveleigh

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
“Kopi Dulu,” means “coffee first” in Indonesian–a common phrase from Indonesians who are happy to have coffee anywhere, anytime and with anyone. At least, that was Mark Eveleigh’s experience, as …
Asian Review of Books February 2, 2023

Takeaway

Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter

Angela Hui

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Food journalist Angela Hui grew up in rural Wales, as daughter to the owners of the Lucky Star Chinese takeaway. Angela grew up behind the counter, helping take orders and …
Asian Review of Books January 26, 2023

Anglo-India and the End of Empire

Uther Charlton-Stevens

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
It can be easy to think of colonies as having two populations: colonial subjects, and colonial overlords from Europe. It’s an easy narrative: one has power, status and privilege, the …
Asian Review of Books January 19, 2023

Ships in the Desert

Jeff Fearnside

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Many of us have likely seen photos of the Aral Sea, and the rusted Soviet-era ships, sitting in the desert with no water in sight. The Aral Sea is now …
Asian Review of Books January 12, 2023

Ploughshares and Swords

India's Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War

Jayita Sarkar

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In 1974, India surprised the world with “Smiling Buddha”: a secret underground nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan. India called it a “peaceful nuclear explosion”—but few outside of India saw it …
Asian Review of Books January 5, 2023

A Continent Erupts

Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945-1955

Ronald H. Spector

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered to the United States, ending the Second World War. Yet the Japanese invasion had upended the old geopolitical structures of European empires, leaving old …
Asian Review of Books December 29, 2022

Making Meritocracy

Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present

Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
What does it mean to be a meritocracy? Ask an ordinary person, and they would likely say it means promoting the best and brightest in today’s society based on merit …
Asian Review of Books December 22, 2022

Hong Kong Takes Flight

Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Global Hub, 1930s-1998

John D. Wong

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
On July 6, 1998, the last flight took off from Kai Tak International Airport, marking the end of an era for Hong Kong aviation. For decades, international flights flew over …
Asian Review of Books December 15, 2022

Lost in the Long March

Michael X. Wang

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In 1934, tens of thousands of Communist guerillas fled Jiangxi, in an extended retreat through hazardous terrain to Shaanxi in the north, while under fire from their Nationalist enemies. The …
Asian Review of Books December 8, 2022

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

Jamil Jan Kochai

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
The first story in Jamil Jan Kochai’s newest collection has an interesting title and premise. “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” leads The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and …
Asian Review of Books December 1, 2022

The Sassoons

The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

Joseph Sassoon

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
The Sassoons were one of the great merchant families of the nineteenth century, alongside such names as the Jardines, the Mathesons, and the Swires. They dominated the India-China opium trade …
Asian Review of Books November 24, 2022

Himalaya

Exploring the Roof of the World

John Keay

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
“History has not been kind to Himalaya,” writes historian and travel writer John Keay in his latest book Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). The region …
Asian Review of Books November 17, 2022

In Asian Waters

Oceanic Worlds from Yemen to Yokohama

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In the nineteenth century, one group of American merchants reported an odd request from the Vietnamese emperor. An envoy asked if the traders could help procure a commodity brought by …