asia memoir

Hardcover. Leipzig, F.H. Brockhaus, 1st?, 1912, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardbound, 414 pages. German text. Many black & white photos and color plate illustrations. Fold-out map at rear of book. Stapled binding. Big color illustration front cover with engraved dark blue & gold decoration and gold embossed lettering. Spine gold lettering, has markings. Minor scratches to back cover. Endpapers green illustration. Previous owner's signature preliminary page. Corners a bit bumped.

Hardcover. Annapolis MD, Naval Institute Press, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 226 pages. Fenn's skill as a spy is matched by his talent as a storyteller, and this witty, elegantly written account of his OSS days not only adds to the historical record, it makes for a compelling read. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Soft Skull Press, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 287 pages. It's 1983. Scott Savitt, one of the first American exchange students in Beijing, picks up his guitar and begins strumming Blackbird. He's soon surrounded by Chinese students who know every word to every Beatles song he plays. Scott stays on in Beijing, working as a reporter for Asiaweek Magazine. The city's first nightclubs open; rock 'n' roll promises democracy. Promoted to foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times then United Press International, Scott finds himself drawn into China's political heart.Later, at 25 years old, Scott is the youngest accredited foreign correspondent in China with an intimate knowledge of Beijing's backstreets. But as the seven week occupation of Tiananmen Square ends in bloodshed on June 4, 1989, his greatest asset is his flame-red 500 cc. Honda motorcycle--giving Scott the freedom to witness first-hand what the Chinese government still denies ever took place. After Tiananmen, Scott founds the first independent English language newspaper in China, Beijing Scene. He knows that it's only a matter of time before the authorities move in, and sure enough, in 2000 he's arrested, flung into solitary confinement and, after a month in jail, deported. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland & Co., 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, maroon cloth with gilt lettering. Part 1: A Korean Childhood in Japan, 1930-1944; Part 2: Growing Up in Korea, 1944- 1951. No Dust jacket issued.

Hardcover. NY, Eaton and Means, 1st, 1899, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, decorated cloth, gilt lettering on spine, 262 pages. An Account of the visitation of Bishop Foss and Dr. Goucher to the Indian and Malaysian Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This book gives the reader new information as to the needs of the different fields which are under discussion, grasps more vividly the magnitude of the modern missionary movement, and gathers fresh confidence in the final triumph of the Messiah throughout the heathen world. B&w illustrations. Old ink price on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. London, Hamish Hamilton, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 496 pages. SIGNED BY THEROUX on title page. In 1975 a young and ambitious writer named Paul Theroux made his literary mark by taking the 28,000-mile intercontinental journey via rail from London to Tokyo and back home again. Thirty years later, an older and wiser Theroux decided to retrace his steps. The result is Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a fascinating account of the places you vaguely knew existed, yet definitely should know something about. Get on board Theroux's fast-moving travelogue, which features some of the most astute commentary on our distorted notions of time, space, and each other in the age of jet speed, broadband connections, and cultural extinction. A railway journey through Eastern Europe, India, and Asia. Clean copy

Hardcover. Cleveland, Ohio, Alexander T. Bunts, 1st, 1938, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 219 pages. Limited first edition copy. Minor fading on blue cloth cover. Faded sticker mark on front flyleaf. Otherwise, a very clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. US, Hachette, 1st, 1980-01-01, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 98 pages. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. In French language. Includes white cardboard mailer sleeve

Hardcover. Atlanta, Nexus Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 118 pages. Glossy color illustrated boards, color illustrated end-papers, color and black-and-white illustrations from photographs throughout, accompanying 16 page facsimile journal laid in (no publishing info) with reproductions of polaroids of Burke's. 'Mine Fields' (a sequel to Bill Burke's justly famous I Want To Take Picture), is Burke's scrapbook of his life and his pursuit of the history and daily life of Cambodia. Part adventure story, part personal confession, part travelogue, and always fascinating, Burke's negotiation of the mine fields of divorce and war is a compelling collage of photographs, found objects, stories, and the contrast between glorious ancient temples and the horrors of war and genocide.

Hardcover. NY, Macmillan, 1st, 1945, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, light tan cloth covers with light wear, 436 pages. The author spent 25 years in China as a journalist. Powell's book covers the period between (1917-1945) and discusses the personalities of the day: Chiang Kai Shek, Yuan Shi Kai and Chang Husiliang as well the intrigues of the Soviets and the Japanese. Note: Powell lost both his feet to the Japanese at his stay at the Bridge House. No markings.

Hardcover. NY, Bloomsbury USA, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 509 pages. The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century - a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads lead, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn't been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary. From horse-riding novice to spending months in the saddle, he learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the haunting extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. As he travelled he formed a close bond with his horses and especially his dog Tigon, and encountered essential hospitality - the linchpin of human survival on the steppe - from those he met along the way. Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang in the balance in the post-Soviet world - an era that has brought new-found freedom, but also the perils of corruption and alcoholism, and left a world bereft of both the Communist system upon which it once relied, and the traditional knowledge of the nomadic forefathers.

Softcover. NY, Pantheon Books, 1st, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 297 pages. This compelling social history uses diaries, memoirs, fiction, trial testimony, personal recollections, and eyewitness accounts to weave a fascinating tale of what ordinary Japanese endured throughout their country's era of economic growth. Through vivid, often wrenching accounts of peasants, miners, textile workers, rebels, and prostitutes, Mikiso Hane forces us to see Japan's "modern century" (from the beginnings of contact with the West to World War II) through fresh eyes. In doing so, he mounts a formidable challenge to the success story of Japan's "economic miracle." Starting with the Meiji restoration of 1868, Hane vividly illustrates how modernization actually widened the gulf, economically and socially, between rich and poor, between the mo-bo and mo-ga ("modern boy" and "modern girl") of the cities and their rural counterparts. He interlaces his scholarly narrative with sharply etched individual stories that allow us see Japan from the bottom up. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Newsweek Books, 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 269 pages, b&w photos. The author and photographer won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1972 for his work in southeast Asia and the wider region during the Vietnam War and civil unrest in Calcutta. He was also President Gerald Ford's Official White House Photographer. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, W. W. Norton, 1st, 1991, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 254 pages. Red phono disc of Tuvan throat singing still attached. As a stamp-collecting boy always fascinated by remote places, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was particularly taken by the diamond-shaped stamps from a place called Tannu Tuva deep within Outer Mongolia. He hoped, someday, to travel there. In 1977, Feynman and his sidekick - fellow drummer and geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton - set out to make arrangements to visit Tuva, doing noble and hilarious battle with Soviet red tape, befriending quite a few Tuvans, and discovering the wonders of Tuvan throat-singing. Their Byzantine attempts to reach Tannu Tuva would span a decade, interrupted by Feynman's appointment to the committee investigating the Challenger disaster, and his tragic struggle with the cancer that finally killed him. Tuva or Bust! chronicles the deepening friendship of two zany, brilliant strategists whose love of the absurd will delight and instruct. Clean copy.