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The Far East Trilogy

Author : Stephen Becker

Publisher : Open Road Media

Page : 765 pages

File Size : 41,25 MB

Release : 2016-10-25

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1504041488

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Book Description

Three thrillers set in WWII-era Asia by a New York Times–bestselling author who writes “like a cross between Joseph Conrad and James Clavell” (Houston Chronicle). “A master of terse, ironic dialogue,” the author of A Covenant with Death presents a trilogy that journeys from the Gobi Desert to Peking to Burma in the chaotic years following the Second World War (Kirkus Reviews). The Chinese Bandit: An American ex-marine must run for his life in the cutthroat atmosphere of postwar China, pursued by both a dangerous criminal and Chiang Kai-shek’s forces. This one “will keep readers turning pages through the night” (Los Angeles Times). The Last Mandarin: An American mercenary chases a Japanese war criminal through the war-torn streets of Peking in this “fascinating . . . exciting” adventure (ThePhiladelphia Inquirer). The Blue-Eyed Shan: The battle between East and West explodes in a remote corner of Burma, as an anthropologist in an isolated mountain village finds himself fighting to save the people he loves from the Chinese Red Army and a fearsome tribe of headhunters. A thriller “as exciting as Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Publishers Weekly). Described as “absolutely ripping adventure” by Time and “sublime entertainment” by John Irving, the Far East Trilogy is an unforgettable saga filled with suspense, epic scope, and rich historical atmosphere.



Asian Armageddon, 1944–45

Author : Peter Harmsen

Publisher : Casemate

Page : 273 pages

File Size : 42,21 MB

Release : 2021-08-16

Category : History

ISBN : 1612006280

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Book Description

A gripping account of the final period of the war in the Asia Pacific during WWII. The last installment of the War in the Far East trilogy, Asian Armageddon 1944-1945, continues and completes the narrative of the first two volumes, describing how a US-led coalition of nations battled Japan into submission through a series of cataclysmic encounters. Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever, was testimony to the paramount importance of controlling the ocean, as was the fact that the US Navy carried out the only successful submarine campaign in history, reducing Japan’s military and merchant navies to shadows of the former selves. Meanwhile, fighting continued in disparate geographic conditions on land, with the chaos of Imphal, the inferno of Manila, and the carnage of Iwo Jima forming some of the milestones on the bloody road to peace, sealed in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. The nuclear blasts at the end of the war made one observer feel as if he was ‘present at the creation.' Indeed, the participants in the events in the Asia Pacific in the mid-1940s were present at the creation of a new and dangerous world. It was a world where the stage was set for the Cold War and for international rivalries that last to this day, and a new constellation of powers emerged, with the outlines, just over the horizon, of a rising China. War in the Far East is a trilogy of books comprising a general history of World War II in the Asia Pacific. Unlike other histories on the conflict it goes into its deep origins, beginning long before Pearl Harbor, and encompasses a far wider group of actors to produce the most complete account yet written on the subject and the first truly international treatment of this epic conflict. Author Peter Harmsen weaves together complex events into a revealing and entertaining narrative, including facets of the war that may be unknown even to avid readers of World War II history, from the mass starvation that cost the lives of millions across China, Indochina, and India to the war in sub-arctic conditions in the Aleutians. Harmsen pieces together the full range of perspectives, reflecting what war was like both at the top and on the ground.



A Gathering Darkness

Author : Haruo Tohmatsu

Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Page : 195 pages

File Size : 43,16 MB

Release : 2004-09-14

Category : History

ISBN : 0742581268

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Book Description

The United States' involvement in World War II began with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But for Japan, the conflict began at a much earlier date. This book focuses on Japan and the events in its military history leading up to and including Pearl Harbor. Unique in its perspective, A Gathering Darkness shows how historical events in the 1920s and 1930s steered the country into war with America and its allies. A Gathering Darkness looks at what happened inside Japan in the 1920s to change its outlook on the West. There was a general repudiation of western values by Japanese society, and Japan turned its back on the outside world and an international order that were making life difficult for the country. The treaties made in Washington in the 1920s left Japan with a local supremacy that no other power, including Britain and the United States, could challenge on the account of their lack of forward bases and their commitments that precluded full deployment of forces in the western Pacific. A Gathering Darkness shows why Japan became increasingly militant in the 1930s. The authors look at Japanese military involvement in Manchuria beginning in September 1931. They cover the beginning of Japan's involvement in China in 1937, a conflict in which Japan would up in a deadlock with the China theater of operations in the period 1939–1941. The book then analyzes the first five months of the Pacific War, including the Pearl Harbor strike and the synchronization of offensive operations across more than four thousand miles of ocean. It also investigates the dilemma Japan faced as it realized in early 1942 that the United States was not going to collapse. A Gathering Darkness is the first volume in SR Books' trilogy on the Pacific War. This book offers a fascinating look at the prelude to the Pacific War and the early stages of the conflict that no one interested in World War II, military history, or Japanese history will want to miss.



The Chinese Bandit

Author : Stephen Becker

Publisher : Open Road Media

Page : 297 pages

File Size : 21,29 MB

Release : 2016-01-12

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1504026942

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Book Description

New York Times–bestselling author Stephen Becker’s “breathlessly exciting” (Cosmopolitan) post-WWII adventure about an ex-marine on the run for his life. That summer they hanged a fat man at the Western gate as a warning and example to all. Kao was a traitor, a thief, a pimp, a black marketeer—and Jake Dodds’s partner. So what if he traded stolen military supplies with the Japanese, Jake wants to know. He never cheated me. But 1947 Peking is a savage, cutthroat city, and the United States Marine Corps sergeant is too busy saving his own skin to put up a fight over Kao’s fate. Jake served his country with honor in World War II, but when he knocks an American brigadier general through a barroom window, no amount of battlefield scars or combat medals will save him from prison. So he sets out across the Gobi Desert with a caravan of Kao’s illicit goods—and plunges into a world of violence and treachery that will take every ounce of his strength and intelligence to survive. Pursued by Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army and a bandit chieftain named Tiger’s Assistant Demon, Jake disappears into the mountains—but the chaos of postwar China is inescapable, and “peace” has never been a part of this two-fisted adventurer’s vocabulary. Gripping and rich with cinematic detail, The Chinese Bandit will please history buffs and thriller fans alike and “keep readers turning pages through the night” (Los Angeles Times). The Chinese Bandit is the 1st book in the Far East Trilogy, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.



Bards from the Far East

Author : Felix Fojas

Publisher :

Page : 217 pages

File Size : 22,40 MB

Release : 2018-01-17

Category :

ISBN : 9781976865015

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Book Description

In ancient times, Japanese samurai were arguably the greatest warriors in modern history. In fact, samurai warriors lived their entire lives rigorously abiding by the Bushido--the Japanese code of chivalry and honor. The Emperor or Shogun wielded centralized powers all over the war-torn country. Directly under the Shogun were the Daimyo, regional and local warlords. Subordinate to the Daimyo were the samurai, a class of highly skilled warriors, which gradually developed in Japan after the Taika reforms of A.D. 641. Feudal Japan rigorously followed Bushido. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to one's master over and above loyalty to one's family. Hence the Shogun oftentimes replaced a weak emperor who merely acted as an imperial figurehead. The Shogun, the likes of Minamoto no Yoritomo, Ashigaka Takauji and Hideyoshi, carried with them the power of life and death over their daimyo and samurai underlings. During peace time many samurai warriors took up the arts by writing and teaching in their leisure hours. Their love of beautiful surroundings was of equal importance to these men who dedicated their lives as full-time soldiers. In the Haiku poems written by the old masters, many of whom lived and died as staunch practitioners of the samurai code. One of the greatest Haiku poets was the renowned samurai, Matsuo Basho (1644-94), who traveled throughout Japan writing and further developing the Haiku style. He died in Osaka, Japan in 1694, but continued to write haiku furiously, up until his death. TODAY, five men and women who dub themselves as Bards from the Far East invite you to promenade in the literary park and bask in the overflowing openness, depth, simplicity and lightness of Haiku poems. Their poems will empower your soul to resonate and appreciate the sad, the beautiful, the tragic and even the lighter side of life... Meet the Bards from the Far East: Carolyn, author ~ Fairy Godmother of Bards and mother to four kids; Danny Gallardo ~ the Bard of the Beautiful Pride of Zambales; Felix Fojas, the Meowing Bard ~ Exorcist Par Excellence and Dean of Poets; Aine Losauro ~ Singer of Overseas Blues, family woman; and last but not least, Sonnet Grandmaster ~ Jose Rizal M. Reyes, The Haiku Shogun.



Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943

Author : Peter Harmsen

Publisher : Casemate

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 11,41 MB

Release : 2024-07-15

Category :

ISBN : 9781636244310

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Book Description

This book details the astonishing transformation that took place from 1942 to 1943, setting the Allies on a path to final victory against Japan.



Pale Ink

Author : Henriette Mertz

Publisher : Library of Alexandria

Page : 232 pages

File Size : 47,59 MB

Release : 2020-09-28

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1465578943

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Endless War

Author : Ralph Peters

Publisher : Stackpole Books

Page : 290 pages

File Size : 10,99 MB

Release : 2011

Category : History

ISBN : 0811708233

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Book Description

Endless War features controversial strategist Ralph Peters at his most provocative and popular, raising perceptive, often shocking questions others fear to ask. In a sweeping collection that ranges from Muslim military triumphs a thousand years ago through the turning of the tide between East and West to the brutal unconventional struggles of today and tomorrow, former Military Intelligence officer Peters extends his successful series of books on strategy and security affairs that have won him diehard fans for his insight, firsthand experience, and frankness. Endless War engages the toughest security issues of our time, including: Does our Afghan war make sense? Can we win? Do we even have a strategy? ; Has flawed military planning left our troops as virtual hostages in combat zones? ; Can Israel survive? What would an Iranian nuclear arsenal mean for the world? ; Is Islam a "religion of peace," or has the war between Islam and Western civilization continued virtually without interruption for almost fourteen centuries? ; Why doesn't the greatest superpower in history win more often? Are we our own worst enemies? ; Have we lost our sense of warfare's reality? Why don't we fight to win? ; Do terrorist prisoners really deserve better treatment than American citizens? ; What's the true price of striking serious history courses from our schools? ; Who does deeper damage to the United States, our violent enemies or arrogant ruling elite? In powerful prose combining clarity with passion, Ralph Peters continues to shape our country's military and strategic thought, while standing up for our troops and American values. No book on strategy or foreign affairs this year will be fiercer or more brutally honest. As ever more dark clouds gather over the world, this is a voice we need!--Publisher description.



Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898-1906

Author : William Gibson

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 41,37 MB

Release : 2023-05

Category : Europeans

ISBN : 9780367702465

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Book Description

"A study of an enigmatic travel writer and his work in colonial Asia during the fin de siècle. In 1898, a man calling himself Alfred Raquez appeared in Indochina claiming to be a writer travelling the world to escape unfathomable sorrows back home in France. He published thousands of pages of highly detailed travel accounts that open a unique window onto the European presence in the Far East. He travelled far into the Zomia of upland Southeast Asia, a peripheral zone populated by people who lived beyond official state power. Raquez explored the nightlife of Shanghai and operated a popular cabaret in Hanoi. An amateur anthropologist, he helped mount expositions of colonial material in Hanoi and Marseille. Raquez met people in the highest circles of Belle Époque Indochina, as well as the kings of Annam, Cambodia, Laos and Siam. And yet, despite the charm and the ebullience and the erudition, through all his travels and rising fame, the man kept a secret that was so mortifying that even his closest companions would not learn of it until after his death in 1907. In truth, Alfred Raquez did not exist. A fascinating read for students and scholars of colonial Southeast Asia, and European colonialism more broadly"--



Britten and the Far East

Author : Mervyn Cooke

Publisher : Boydell & Brewer

Page : 310 pages

File Size : 22,15 MB

Release : 1998

Category : Literary Criticism

ISBN : 9780851158303

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Book Description

Investigation into the influence of Eastern music on Britten's composition. Benjamin Britten's interest in the musical traditions of the Far East had a far-reaching influence on his compositional style; this book is the first to investigate the highly original cross-cultural synthesis he was able to achieve through the use of material borrowed from Balinese, Japanese and Indian music. Britten's visit to Indonesia and Japan in 1955-6 is reconstructed from archival sources, and shown to have had a profound impact on his subsequent work: the techniques of Balinese gamelan music were used in the ballet The Prince of the Pagodas (1957), and then became an essential feature of Britten's compositional style, at their most potent in Death in Venice(1973). The No drama and Gagaku court music of Japan were the inspiration for the trilogy of church parables Britten composed in the 1960s. The precise nature of these influences is discussed; Britten's sporadic borrowings from Indian music are also fully analysed. There is a survey of critical responses to Britten's cross-cultural experiments. Dr MERVYN COOKE lectures in music at the University of Nottingham.



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