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Book reviews Archive
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An uneven illumination of statehood struggles (Global Asia review of Palestine, Taiwan, and Western Sahara)
The following review appeared in the December 2023 issue of Global Asia. QUESTIONS OF STATE sovereignty, in the modern sense, begin in the late 16th century with the French political philosopher Jean Bodin’s masterpiece Six Books of the Commonwealth. In the following century, the English thinker Thomas Hobbes produced perhaps the defining work on sovereign power, Leviathan. […] -
A tale of three contested states (Taipei Times review of Palestine, Taiwan and Western Sahara)
The following book review appeared in Taipei Times on December 14. When this book was published in July, few could have foreseen the resurgence of violence in Gaza. The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 and Israel’s reprisals have rendered the dim prospects of long-term peace even fainter. With the death toll accelerating at a terrifying […] -
Tracking Taiwan’s modern development (Taipei Times review of A Century of Development in Taiwan)
The following book review appeared in Taipei Times on November 9, 2023. It’s no fun beginning a review with an extended whinge; but it’s not often that an academic work is so plagued with errors as to make one wince and mutter in exasperation within the first few pages. Many are basic grammatical mistakes — […] -
Strait talk: Taipei Times review of ‘War and Peace in the Taiwan Strait’
The following review appeared in today’s edition of Taipei Times: How likely is war in the Taiwan Strait? What kind of conflict might it be? What circumstances would be most likely to trigger it? And how can these circumstances be averted? These are the central questions of this penetrating and perspicuous work. Having examined various […] -
Droppin’ hip-hop knowledge, Taiwan-style (‘Renegade Rhymes’ review for Taipei Times)
The following review appeared in today’s Taipei Times. Confession: Despite being a diehard fan of golden age hip-hop and having had the privilege to interview some stalwarts of that era, including Public Enemy, Ice T and DJ Premier, during my early years in Taiwan, my grasp of Taiwanese rap music is feeble. MC Hot Dog, […] -
Taiwan’s old Southbound Policy (Global Asia review of ‘Imperial Gateway’)
The following book review appeared in the March issue of Global Asia. When Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen unveiled her administration’s “New Southbound Policy” in 2016, it’s unlikely that historical parallels with imperial Japan crossed her mind. Yet as this compelling monograph reveals, from the moment Taiwan was ceded to Japan, plans to turn the island […] -
Taiwanese as second-class imperialists (Taipei Times review of ‘Imperial Gateway’)
The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Among the many atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, the Sook Ching massacre was notable for the involvement of Taiwanese. Having captured Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese army and its accomplices killed at least 25,000 Chinese. Prominent among the invaders’ henchmen was […] -
All the World’s a Stage: Shakesepeare and Taiwan
The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: A few years ago, I attended a Shakespeare workshop in Taipei. As someone who only began to appreciate the Bard outside the classroom, I was excited. Several Taiwanese were participating in the four-week course, and I was curious to see what they would make of it. […] -
Democratic maneuvers in the twilight (review of ‘Democracy and Rule of Law in China’s Shadow’ for Taipei Times)
The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: For those countries and states unfortunate enough to lie within China’s penumbral fringes, “the space within which democracy and the rule of law operate is fraught with tensions.” This observation from Amy Barrow’s conclusion to this fine collection summarizes the unifying preoccupation of the book’s 11 […] -
Conveying the atrocious (review of ‘A Son of Taiwan’ for Taipei Times)
The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Unlike Transitions in Taiwan, the previous White Terror-themed collection from Cambria, this latest anthology addresses Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) crimes head on. In Wu Chuo-liu’s (吳濁流) almost novella-length “Potsdam Section Chief,” for example, the depiction of protagonist Fan Hanzhi’s wanton venality is unvarnished. He is shown […]