Product Description
Though Latinos and African Americans have lived together in large cities as neighbors, there is much that is still misunderstood between them. Those who live in non-diverse locales have only news and entertainment representations on which to base their information about the two cultures. This new collection of essays brings together the latest interdisciplinary works by scholars examining conflicts and convergences among Latinos and African Americans in mass-mediated and cross-cultural contexts. Contributions in the form of both empirical as well as critical ethnographic research present compelling works in cross-cultural relations, news, entertainment, news media, education, and community relations. ... Read more

Product Description
As world attention is renewed and refocused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the sixtieth anniversary of its seminal year of 1948, Marda Dunsky takes a close look at how more than two dozen major American print and broadcast outlets have reported the conflict in recent years. Beginning with the failed Camp David summit of July 2000 through the waning of the second Palestinian uprising in the summer of 2004, she finds that the media omit two key contextual elements: the significant impact that U.S. policy has had and continues to have on the trajectory of the conflict, and the way international law and consensus have addressed the key issues of Israeli settlement and annexation policies and Palestinian refugees.Dunsky explores how reports of the conflict routinely take on the contours of American policy and rarely challenge the premises of this "Washington consensus." She also examines the media's responses to allegations of biased coverage and gauges the effect that mainstream news reporting has on public opinion and U.S. foreign policy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Comprehensive, disciplined, informative, engrossing.
While there are many excellent books on the history and politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Marda Dunsky's PENS AND SWORDS is the only recent, comprehensive book-length treatment of its coverage in the media. Dunsky, a journalist, shows herself to be a brilliant analyst-detective with a disciplined methodology. A treatment of American mainstream media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be either an enormous, multi-faceted investigative project or a simplistic reduction in the service of a predetermined ideological agenda. Dunsky, to the relief of this reader, chooses the first path. PENS AND SWORDS draws extensively on interviews with numerous journalists who speak candidly about the particular challenges of reporting on a conflict that generates powerful emotional responses from readers. Despite their numerous insights and fascinating anecdotes, one wonders if these writers lack a certain critical objectivity: if you ask a self-respecting journalist if his own coverage of an issue is biased, or if he adjusts his coverage to lessen the noise from angry readers, is he likely to answer in the affirmative? Dunsky also provides transcripts of well-chosen interviews and news coverage from multiple print and broadcast sources. Viewed through the lens of Dunsky's sharp analysis, a persistent, insidious, and pervasive distortion in the coverage snaps into focus. PENS AND SWORDS cites four informative academic studies of media bias. One such study involves a humorous situation in which the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago fails to publish the results of a study it commissioned to examine perceived anti-Israel bias in the Chicago Tribune, presumably because the Tribune is found by the study authors to be "aligned with an Israeli perspective on events." Dunsky offers informative background information on a few selected issues--including how international law and consensus address Israeli settlements and the rights of Palestinian refugees, as well as the role of U.S. policy in the conflict--to substantiate her assertion that the failure of U.S. mainstream media to cover the conflict accurately has as much to do with omission of essential historical context as inaccuracy in what *is* reported. Readers who desire better coverage are left in the difficult spot of talking about what's *not* there. PENS AND SWORDS is a stunning accomplishment from Introduction to footnotes. Can a book on media analysis be an engrossing page-turner? This one is.

EnlighteningThis book is an amazing piece of reses
This book is an amazing piece of research and writing. I thought I was fairly well-informed on the issue, but it definitely changed my thinking.

The book also is a courageous effort, challenging the conventional wisdom on such issues as Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlements. The facts clearly support the conclusions.

Journalism schools should make this required reading for reporting students. The introduction alone could form the core of a solid course on "objectivity." ... Read more

Product Description
This collection examines transnational Asian American women characters in various fictional narratives. It analyzes how certain heroines who are culturally rooted in Asian regions have been transformed and re-imagined in America and have played significant roles in Asian American literary studies as well as community life. The interdisciplinary essays display refreshing perspectives in Asian American literary studies and transnational feminism from four continents. ... Read more

Product Description
In recent years, a large number of young Japanese have been migrating to New York and London for the purpose of engaging in cultural production in areas such as dance, fashion, DJing, film, and pop arts in the hope of 'making it' as artists. In the past, this kind of cultural migration was restricted to relatively small, elite groups, such as American artists in Paris in the 1920's, but Cultural Migrants from Japan looks at the phenomenon of tens of thousands of ordinary, middle-class Japanese youths who are moving to these cities for cultural purposes, and it questions how this shift in cultural migration can be explained.Following Appadurai's theory of the relation between electronic media and mass migration, and using ethnographies of twenty-two young migrants over a five year period, Fujita examines how television, film, and the internet influence this mobility. She challenges emerging orthodoxies in the general discussion of transnationalism, demonstrating the disjunction migrants experience between the pre-existing expectations created by media exposure, and the reality of creating and living as a 'transnational' artist participating in a global community.Intersecting long-term, multi-sited ethnography with emerging transnational and globalization theory, Cultural Migrants from Japan is a timely look at the emerging shift in concepts of national identity and migration. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

WEAVING A TAPESTRY OF THE AMERICAN HOPESCAPE
This anthology features 25 Asian-American voices (writers of short stories, poetry and drama) which editor Lawrence Yep has carefully chosen as representative of the Asian American experience.The authors reflect a variety of backgrounds: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai, yet they share basic commonalities of the immigrant experience. Yep'sintroduction explains why he refers to these Voices as Dragons; he also includes brief explanatory paragraphs among various sections of the book.Primarily it offers points of view from teenagers or young people who are struggling to define their roles in this new world of America, while retaining their cultural heritage.

Most of the protagonists are torn between the desire for acceptance in the broad spectrum of American pop culture, while trying not to betray the dreams and memories of their odler generations. The cover on the paperback edition wordlessly portrays the Chinese rice bowl (symbolic of food) and the Japanese art of orgami (creativity), both depicted against a stark landscape. These "American Dragons" have caused it to bloom with fertility and beauty--thus deserving our literary respect;in fact, their experiences reflect and validate those of most immigrants to our seemingly affluent shores.

Advice from someone who knows what she's talking about!
Considering that there is such an enormous godless vacuum for Asian-American voices in ANY medium, and that most novels about 'Asians' are written by non-Asians, just being published earns 'American Dragons'three stars. Notice I gave it _only_ three stars?When I first sawthis book at the Berekeley public library I snatched it up quick thinking"Wow!A book of all Asian-Americans writing about beingAsian-American?This is sooo cool!" And was quickly disappointed. The writing was sub-par and a lot of the stories revealed internalizedanti-Asian sentiments and stereotypes.IF THESE AUTHORS WERE NOTASIAN-AMERICAN THEIR STORIES WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED. That is notto say that the writing is 'terrible'.As a collection, I think it isWONDERFUL that such a wide array of Asian-American viewpoints andexperiences have the opportunity to be shared with such a wide audience.Iencourage all Asian-Americans to speak of their experiences and in thatrespect, this book is a worthwhile endeavor.Also, the problems Ihave with 'American Dragons' are the same problems I have with many otherAsian-American writings which share the same shortcomings (namely politicalcorrectness, low writing quality, extremely soft and non-informed stanceson society and race, exotification of self, internalized racism, and asomewhat cliche title for starters).HOWEVER-- As far as being apolitical statement this is not something that I'd label a 'boat rocker'. Politically speaking, I would rate the authors/pieces as a 3 overall.On apolitical scale of 1-10, 1 being 'I shop at the Gap.I like MTV.If Ipretend like I don't see, maybe my problems will go away.'and 10 being'Arrgh!I am an enraged revolutionary!Down with the hegemony!'Considering the book is edited by Laurence Yep (I really enjoy his writing)and is something of a watershed for Asian-American youth literature, it isa let-down.The best adjective to describe 'American Dragons' as a wholeis 'lukewarm' (leaning towards cold).Another description is 'bland'.Athird is 'extra mild, hold the revolution' This book was obviously meantto be an inocuous bookshelf companion for teens.And there's nothingnecessarily wrong with that.But considering there are so few outlets andresources for Asian-American youth I would have hoped for something thatpacked more punch.My biggest gripe with this compilation is that itattempts to 'speak of the 'Asian-American' experience' so to speak.Butthe field of writers it draws upon is too narrow and it holds back,ultimately failing in its purpose. As far as I recall, there are noaccounts or viewpoints of 'urban life', teen violence, homosexuality,feminism, poverty, hate crimes, 'liberal' Asian parents (as opposed to thecliche traditional ones), non-conformists, or other realms that are veryrelevant to, but not often addressed by Asian-Americans. Racism,assimilation, identity-searching, and the ensuing _rage_ and confusion thatmany Asian-American teens feel but may be unable to verablize are notdiscussed at all in an emotionally honest, forthright dialogue.There areinnuendos and undercurrents but nothing you can sink your teeth into.Andin my humble opinion, very little that speaks of how Asian-American teenstoday must live and interact in a mulit-ethnic society and with mainstreampopular culture.Most of the pieces dealt with connecting with theauthor's 'Asian' heritage.Which is refreshing.It is impressive that theauthorscome from a wide variety of ethnic and national backgrounds.Thestories, likewise, encompass a wide variety of locales and moods.It wasworthwhile reading about different Asian-American perspectives.I actuallyenjoyed a few of the stories, and to be fair the writing quality and stylesvaried greatly.One of the stories, about a Vietnamese-American boy andhis night actually struck a chord with me (even though I'm not Vietnamese) The writing level overall is acceptable considering it is aimed at arelatively young audience. Although I am not thrilled with 'AmericanDragons', I *am* thrilled that a compilation such as this was evenattempted and I PRAY that many more will follow and improve.Hooray forthe authors, publishers, and supporters of this book.Even though I findmuch to criticize, it is because I expect so much from Asian-American'voices'.Many of the shortcomings I see could have been improved upon bythe addition of different authors.I would recommend this book toAsian-American youth.For anyone else, I would not discourage you frombuying 'American Dragons'.

It Lacking
This book lacks content, and is deprived of moral constituency ... Read more

Product Description
This groundbreaking volume is among the first to explore the Asian-American experience from a gendered perspective. Yen Le Espiritu documents how the historical and contemporary oppression of Asian-Americans has structured gender relationships among them, and has contributed to the creation of social institutions and systems of meaning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

former student of Professor Espiritu
Once again Professor Espiritu has written a book that not only conveys the Asian American experience but more importantly the human experience.This book is for those of us who live the Asian American experience and forthose willing to educate themselves about our country's racial heirarchycompounded by the disparity between genders.

I found the book to be an excellent source of information.
I really enjoyed reading this book.Even though, I "knew" the political and societal situations of Asian Americans in the United States, it still was an eye opener.This book gave me an oppertunity to understandsome of my believes and how they were formed.I think it is a must readfor everyone who is from Asian decent and who would like to understand theAsian American experiences.The author did a wonderful job of integratingall aspects of Asian culture.I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
In an extraordinary blend of eloquent narrative history, vivid personal recollection, and oral testimony, Ronald Takaki relates the diverse 150-year history of Asian Americans. Through richly detailed vignettes--by turns bitter, funny, and inspiring--he offers a stunning panorama of a neglected part of Americanhistory. 16 pages of photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

The First Step to World Peace is Understanding Another's Culture
There is so much misunderstanding and miscommunication in this planet and home we call Earth.

Over the years, people of different ethnic groups started to drift apart and create their own unique and functional societies. As you've seen over the years, tensions from different ethnic groups have caused racism, suffering, death, and war.

I believe that, even though this was assigned to me in a class, everyone can still find something useful in this book. Many times, I would turn to another chapter that I was purely interested about, say for example the Koreans. I have no idea how they think or what happened in their history.

With that said, pick this book up because you might contribute to an eventual world peace and unity. Understanding another's culture and spreading that curiosity and knowledge is a small feat but makes a huge difference.

Great catch
I am very pleased with the book. It's an essential item to have in a library and the hardback cover makes it that much better. The low price is amazing and the book is in great condition. I hate it when my used books I buy are all marked up. Took a little while to deliver though, but worth it for the most part. Thank you!

a review from an asian
I purchased this book in order to save a couple dollars from buying the same book at my school's book store. Little did I know, I didn't need the book for class. But regardless, the book does have some interesting stories and information about Asian American history, and best of all, at least for my experience, it's a damn good paper weight. I'm satisfied with this book and I advise all people to purchase this book for its sheer paper weight qualities alone.

Scenes of Asian American History
"Strangers" is a comprehensive history of Asian American immigration into the US. This is history that one will not get from mainstream history classes.Dr. Takaki weaves his story with extensive research and eyewitness accounts.

For me, it brought home their struggles to come to America, to make a living and to be accepted as American.On a personal note, some of the types of incidents described in the book were experienced by my relatives and myself.

Dr. Takaki shows that the characteristics that establishedAmericans reviled in these "strangers" were a by-product of exclusionary policies.For example, exclusionary immigration policies constrained the population of eligible immigrant females forcing immigrant males to find company with white females. This led to interracial dating/marriage and raised the ire of white Americans.Laws against miscegenation, interracial marriage, followed.

It's not an easy read, but definitely worthy of your consideration.

Best Book I Have Ever Read
its about how Asians are still not welcomed here after a few centuries. People of all races should read this book. America targets Asians and finding ways to extort money from them, which is still happening today. ... Read more

Product Description
Violent and sometimes fatal acts of racial hatred are drawing increasing attention around the nation. For the first time, voices of Asian Americans and Asian Canadians have been brought together to discuss the multidimensional impact of racial crime in their lives and through their work as attorneys, teachers, community activists, students, or business professionals. The authors explore the relationship between the physical or verbal acts and issues of ethnic identity, civil rights of immigrants, Internet racism, sexual violence, language and violence, institutionalized racism, economic scapegoating, and police brutality. Because hate crimes span legal, social, and emotional contexts, many of the contributors write in a narrative style that blends personal experience with social theory or political commentary. They offer valuable perspective on combating hate crime in coalition building and community resistance, legal prosecution, police training, victim services, and racial justice movements. The depth, emotion, and intelligence of these compelling chapters make the book important reading in courses in Asian American studies, race and ethnic studies, sociology, criminology, and human rights, and for anyone looking to understand the ongoing struggle of racial violence and human rights in North America. ... Read more

Product Description
Poised at the intersection of Asian American studies and dance studies, Choreographing Asian America is the first book-length examination of the role of Orientalist discourse in shaping Asian Americanist entanglements with U.S. modern dance history.Moving beyond the acknowledgement that modern dance has its roots in Orientalist appropriation, Yutian Wong considers the effect that invisible Orientalism has on the reception of work by Asian American choreographers and the conceptualization of Asian American performance as a category.Drawing on ethnographic and choreographic research methods, the author follows the work of Club O' Noodles--a Vietnamese American performance ensemble--to understand how Asian American artists respond to competing narratives of representation, aesthetics, and social activism that often frame the production of Asian American performance. ... Read more

Product Description
A follow-up to the 1992 bestselling classic Asian Americans—with all-new interviews that brilliantly illuminate the vibrant, ever-changing communities of Asian America.

"Everybody thinks I'm crazy. They think a Japanese country singer can never make it in the U.S. But I followed my dreams."—Hank Sasaki, country and western singer/songwriter, interviewed in Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century

The collective term "Asian American" comprises more than twenty distinct nationalities and ethnic groups, and today there are more than 12 million Asian Pacific Americans living in the United States. In this all-new collection of fascinating interviews with students, lawyers, engineers, politicians, stay-at-home moms, and activists, Joann Faung Jean Lee again draws upon her great skill and sensitivity as a journalist to reveal a rich mosaic of Asian American identities.

We hear a range of voices: Dale Minami recounts his historic involvement in a landmark legal case that changed the way America understands the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; Ruby Chow remembers how she used her position as a beloved restaurateur to launch a successful campaign for county councilwoman in Seattle, Washington; and Daniel Jung speaks of the complexities of African American and Korean relations in Los Angeles, where his father owned a liquor store when Daniel was a teenager in the 1990s.

Candid and compelling, the interviews reveal intimate and often conflicting thoughts about Asian American identities, immigration, family, relationships, and educational and professional achievement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A compilation of oral histories of first-generation to fourth-generation Asian-Americans
Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century is a compilation of oral histories of first-generation to fourth-generation Asian-Americans with roots in China, Japan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, or Laos. The first-person testimonies are grouped by general topic - from a passion for music that transcends cultures, to education and work, to the difficulties involved in carrying on after the 9/11 attacks. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this compelling anthology of riveting testimonies. Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century is both a worthy contribution to multicultural studies shelves and an extraordinarily fascinating experience that readers of all backgrounds can enjoy. "More than ten years ago the conditions in China weren't that good; it was hard to make a living, so everyone wanted to come to the united States... Today, not everyone wants to come to the United States. It is sort of half and half. There are jobs now in China, people have money, and life is even better than in the United States - there is a chance to live in a nice place, earn money, and have a good job, so coming to America isn't what it used to be in terms of demand."
... Read more

Product Description
Drawing on recent developments in theories ofrace, gender, sexuality, identity and nation, thisbook is a study of interracial desire as a theme inliterary texts by Asian American male writers.Animportant part of this project is the centrality ofrace and sexuality in the context of U.S. citizenshipand national identity.Throughout this book theauthor seeks to answer these questions: How have theconcepts of race, gender, and sexuality beenincorporated into the definition of American identityand the granting of American citizenship?What arethe strategies Asian American male writers haveemployed to assert their masculinity and nationalmembership?This literary study not only gives marginalizedAsian American men an opportunity to express theirown perspectives on issues of race, gender,sexuality, and identity, but it also seeks todiscover a pro-feminist masculinity as an alternativeto the traditional violent and misogynist stance of(Asian) American manhood. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent. The Korean American community is the fifth largest Asian American subgroup, after the Chinese American, Filipino American, Indian American, and Vietnamese American communities. The United States is home to the second largest overseas Korean community in the world after China. ... Read more

Product Description
The 442nd Infantry, formerly the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was an Asian American unit composed of mostly Japanese Americans who fought in Europe during the Second World War.The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment. The 442nd was a self-sufficient fighting force, and fought with uncommon distinction in Italy, southern France, and Germany. The unit became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients, earning the nickname ?The Purple Heart Battalion?. ... Read more

Product Description
Unwilling to see Asian American women silenced beneath the noisy discourses of feminists, cultural nationalists, and Eurocentric historians, Wendy Ho turns to specific spoken stories of mothers and daughters. Against reductive tendencies of scholarship, she places her own conversations with her China-born grandmother and her U.S.-born mother and her own readings of other Asian American women writers. She finds in the writings of Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, and Fae Myenne Ng not only complex mother-daughter relationships but many-faceted relationships to fathers, family, community, and culture. Always resisting the simplistic explanations, "In Her Mother's House" brings Asian American women's experience as mothers and daughters to the forefront of gender and ethnicity. ... Read more

Product Description
This book charts the growth of the Internet as a news medium across the Asia-Pacific region and identifies key themes in the development of online news environments in various countries of the region. It assesses useful resources for the news sector and also contextualises these themes in comparison to related developments in other parts of the world like the US, Europe and Latin America. The Internet and wireless technologies have impacted the new media sphere for news (or "newsphere") along the entire news value chain: news gathering, research, interviews, surveys, publishing, access, delivery, workflow, cost, pricing, financing, archiving, texture, associations, experience, instruction, ethics, legislation, and regulation. The media analysis used in this book is based on a framework developed by the author over the years, called the 8Cs of the Digital Economy: connectivity, content, community, commerce, capacity, culture, cooperation and capital.In other words, the power and success of the Internet and wireless media as a news platform depends on the size of the user base, nature of content services, interactive communities, sustainable business models, human resource capacity, progressive culture, cooperation between key sectors of society, and funding for entrepreneurs and startups in new media ventures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Looking at the internet economies... of India, China, Japan...
This book, edited by an ex-IITian who is now a prolific evangelist of the
Net, promises us "snapshots" about what the Internet is doing in five Asian
countries and Australia. Using essays submitted by people who understand the
issues -- from South Korea, China, Singapore and Australia.

"This book," argues editor Dr Madanmohan Rao , is the first
to chronicle and dissect the unique role that the Asia-Pacific region is
playing today in the domain of the Internet economy, particularly during the
current transition."

Given the perfectionism with which he works, 'The Asia-Pacific Internet
Handbook: Episode IV -- Emerging Powerhouses' edited by Dr Madanmohan Rao
comes close to that aim.

Besides looking at the current state of the Net in these five countries --
three from the Far East, India and Australia -- this book also has a general
introduction that raises a number of interesting questions.

For instance: Are Asian countries, companies and citizens lagging behind
their counterparts in the US and Europe in Internet adoption, while yet
leading in some pockets? How fast is 'e-culture' permeating through the
region's corporate and government circles? And what is the human dimension
of the Internet economy across the ASia-Pacific, especially in these times
of the dotcom bust?

Rao traces the growth of the Internet in Asia in four episodes -- the birth
of the early computing infrastructure in Asia (1960-1980), the rise of the
early Internetworks, the academic Internet, and the Asia-Pacific Network
Information Centre (1980-1995), the rise of the commercial Internet and
datacom deregulation and early wireless networks in Asia (1995-2000) and the
rise of emerging Internet powerhouses of Asia, including the countries
covered (starting c. 2001).

"With a population of over three billion people, the 23 countries comprising
the Asia-Pacific region represents a rapidly growing and lucrative segment
of the global Internet market," argues Rao.But one could question how
evenly spread the potential is. Can Japan -- leading the West in a number of
trends -- be treated in the same basket as other lagging-behind parts of Asia?

Dr Madanmohan Rao is one of those IITians who went West, returned back home
early, and is going great guns in focussing on the promise of the Internet
here. His background, as varied as his writings, have taken him to
journalism (at the UN bureau of Inter Press Service), and even being
vice-president of IndiaWorld at Mumbai.

Still in his thirties, the Bangalore-based writer has dabbled in an eclectic
range of interests, even while taking part in the Internet lecture circuit
in some 40 countries across the globe. This, and writing skills untypical of
the techie, make him eminently suited to put together this volume.

Interestingly, his own e-mail address is digitalnomad at hotmail.com. An apt
address for someone who roams the world like the current-day version of an
experience-hungry sixteenth century conquistador who has suddenly discovered
a whole new world out there.

(His story of how he shifted from a geeky, techie subject to studying the
politics of communications -- thanks to the 1990-91 Gulf war and the type of
coverage it kept getting particularly in the West -- is surely
interesting... But that's perhaps off-topic here.)

For this book, one rushed straight to the chapter on India, which begins
with an enigmatic quote -- "The orange that is squeezed too hard yields
bitter juice. Indian proverb translated from Kannada."

This chapter builds interesting pen-pictures, using a journalistic style to
which Madan is no stranger. For instance, there's Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO of
India's leading e-commerce site Rediff.com started by an ad agency of a
similar name. Working out of Mumbai, Balakrishnan replies to "a thousand
e-mails a day" from 3 to 6 am ... even before the sun rises.

Madan tackles the issues that matter -- connectivity, content, community,
capacity, culture.... ("In terms of content, the number of websites focusing
on India is estimated to be around 250,000, mostly in English, followed by
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati and Kannada.") This is information.
This reviewer struggled to find some 2001 websites, when putting together a
compiliation of the same at the turn of the millenium (See
http://www.bytesforall.org/i2001.html)

Even a cursory glance throws up some interesting snippets:

* India is an extremely content-rich country with a very
free press climate, unlike some of its other
Asian counterparts: the news, culture, entertainment,
sports and medical knowledge base of this country can
easily sustain dozens of portals and vortals for a
content-hungry consumer marketplace consisting of
domestic users, NRIs (non-resident Indians, numbering
20 million in over 120 countries around the world),
international businesses, and enthusiastic Indophiles.

* The Indian PC market differs from other Asian markets
in more than just its low rate of PC penetration.
It is dominated by local assemblers rather than
national vendors like Legend in China (which enjoys a
26 per cent market share) and Samsung in Korea.

* Indian PC shipments, according to IDC, were worth
about 1.88 million in 2000-01, but will grow to a
fifth of the Asia-Pacific sales (excluding Japan)
by 2004. In 2004, Indian PC sales are expected to
be 7.5 million. (Will it really?)

* For a country of a thousand million-plus, just 0.7 million
modems were sold in 2000-01.

* India is likely to experience, perhaps as no other
country has, an explosion of cybercafes in the
new millennium. Many people can afford Rs 30 (around
70 cents -- now the figure is one-third that) to
check their e-mail for half an hour every few days
in the local cybercafe instead of owning their own
PCs and Internet accounts.

* Many Internet consumers in India are beginning to
derive significant local benefits by accessing local
content on the Web; sub-national content is beginning
to appear on sites dedicated to specific cities
and states (e.g. Goa, Kerala).

Other chapters in this book, as mentioned above, deal with the Internet in
Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and Singapore.

Madan writes to shape opinions and mould the future shape the new domains
like the Net could take on. He obviously cares about who reads his output;
and is one of those using his skills and knowledge to network people and
help find solutions that make a difference.

His last co-authored book (with Osama Manzar and Tufail Ahmad) was The
Internet Economy of India, 2001. Reading this book was like browsing a
website -- it was catchy enough as a website, and as informative as one
would expect a book to be.

This new book is both informative and interesting. It's published in 2002 by
Tata McGraw-Hill. See www.tatamcgrawhill.com/digital_solutions/madan Other
contributors are IDG News Service's Tokyo correspondent Martyn Williams,
Softbank Research (South Korea) senior analyst Jin Young Kim, ZDNet Korea
Inc general manager Ms Jihee Nam, telecom consulting firm BDA China managing
director Duncan Clark, and co-founder of Editor.com Australia Grant Butler.

-------------------
The Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook
Madanmohan Rao (Ed.)
Tata McGraw-Hill
2002
ISBN 0-07-044519-2
Pp 370. ... Read more

Product Description
Book Two comprises volumes 5-8. As "Junior Tuesday" primaries approach, what sort of deal is Senator Yamaoka cooking up? And how did a scarred young Japanese-American war veteran come to marry the blondest hair and bluest blood in New England? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Texans, Gun Control & a Japanese take on them
Having been born and raised in the Texas that Kawaguchi attempts to capture in his portrayal (done fairly well, IMHO, if a bit stereotyped), I think I can safely say that if Yamaoka really had walked into a Texas bar and given that pitch on gun control, he never would have walked back out again.Well, he would have, but only on a stretcher.Other than that, it's good book, and that ends on a cliffhanger, no less.

Intriguing
The mangaka (manga creator) of Eagle is Kaiji Kawaguchi, who is famous for his manga The Silent Service, which English language critics have called "reminiscent of Tom Clancy", because it utilized the rogue submarine premise of The Hunt for Red October.Eagle is a both a commentary on politics in modern America and a somewhat soap-operatic story of relationships.At the beginning of the story, reporter Takashi Jo is called to his boyhood home on Okinawa, a small island in the Japanese archipelago, to identify the body of his mother.While he is going through his mother's apartment, he notices that the picture of his father, an American soldier who he never knew, is missing from its customary place.Shortly after this, he learns that he has been assigned to go to America to cover the campaign of Kenneth Yamaoka, a Democratic senator from New York who has recently announced that he will campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.The reason for his selection is baffling to Takashi, and to his colleagues and superiors - he has never covered politics or international affairs, and he admits to himself that his articles were merely filler for the local editions of the paper he works for, the Maicho Shimbun.

Takashi learns, not long after arriving in America, that the reason for his selection was personal, not because of his professional qualifications.As a reporter, he has to struggle to maintain his objectivity in the face of ambivalent feelings about Senator Yamaoka, animosity from the Senator's wife Patricia, his love for the Senator's adopted daughter and press secretary, Rachel, and the shifting political currents around the charismatic senator.The first four volumes of Eagle (about 100 pages each) have been released both individually and as part of an omnibus edition which combines the four volumes into one paperback.Kawaguchi traces the senator's personal history, telling the story of his transformation from enlisted soldier to influential lawyer to politician, and reveals enough of the behind the scenes story and the public events - fundraisers, debates, and primaries - of Yamaoka's campaign to make the reader want to know more.

Kawaguchi's drawings are more realistic than those of most of the manga which have been translated and released in America; they couldn't be called superdeformed or kawaii (cute) by any stretch of the imagination.The artistic style goes well with the story and mood of this manga.I'm definitely hooked, and I can't wait to read the four forthcoming volumes of this series, to see what happens next.

This is starting to get interesting. . .
If you've read my review on the first volume of the "Eagle" saga, you know that I wasn't particularly impressed with it.Well, I have to say that this volume had me truly enthraled.Particularly the"debate" between Yamaguchi (? sorry I can't quite keep his namestraight) and Albert "Noah."The whole buisiness of 'is itbetter to train the sheep or the sheepherders?' really had my attention.Ifound my self arguing with both men.I'm still not absolutely certain thatthis book is a keeper, but the fact that I was internally debating thecharacters is a good sign (for me, anyway) that this novel is goingsomewhere.So far, this has been the best novel in the series.I'mlooking forward to reading more.I won't make any other comment than that- I have to read more of it before I can say yea or nay to it.

An interesting concept.
With the presidential election right around the corner, Kaiji Kawaguchi's political manga makes it's timely arrival.The plot revolves around a young Japanese reporter and the Asian-American presidential candidate thatit is his job to cover.While the art was very good, and the idea behindit was intriguing, I'm afraid I wasn't terribly immpressed withKawaguchi-san's work.Perhaps it is a doubt as to whether a Nihon-jin canreally understand the American political system,perhaps it is just thathe hits too close to home.The story has potential, I'll say that much.Iwon't give up on it yet. ... Read more

Product Description
Channeling Blackness examines the television industry as it has shaped the inclusion and portrayal of black Americans historically and in the present day. It features readings by some of the preeminent scholars in the study of media and race, includingSut Jhally, Molefi Asante, John Fiske, and Herman Gray. While exploring cultural matters, economic considerations, and representations of blackness, the book focuses on the key question: what is the ideological work being produced? ... Read more

Product Description
Chinese Peruvians, also known as tusán, are people of Overseas Chinese ancestry born in Peru, or who have made Peru their adopted homeland. Most Chinese Peruvians are multilingual. In addition to Spanish or Quechua, many of them speak one or more Chinese dialects that may include Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. Since the first Chinese immigrants came from Macau, some of them also speak Portuguese. In Peru, Asian Peruvians are estimated at 3% of the population, but one source places the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population. ... Read more