Lands of Charm and Cruelty

Travels in Southeast Asia

By: Stan Sesser

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Paperback | 28 June 1994

At a Glance

Paperback
340 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19 x 140 x 216

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“A beautifully observed book about the successes [and] turmoils . . . of Southeast Asia. . . . Invaluable.”—William Shawcross

Borneo—a magnificent island rain forest where the gentle Penan people, some of the world’s last hunter-gatherers, are waging a campaign of nonviolent resistance against rapacious timber companies; Singapore—a gleaming capitalist Eden where chewing gum is illegal and a political prisoner serves out his sentence in a theme park; Laos—a land still haunted by the periodic detonation of Vietnam War-era bombs along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and where a Buddhist perestroika blossoms after decades of Communist oppression.

These are “the lands of charm and cruelty” that Stan Sesser renders with such immediacy and insight in his reports from Southeast Asia. His book is a rare and illuminating look at one of the most fascinating places in the world—a place of tyranny and repression that is also a place of beautiful people who warmly welcome the visitor, of ancient cultural traditions that still thrive today, and of great religious relics and works of art. The Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia is an enlightening, politically savvy, exotic journey of discovery.

“An absorbing introduction to a region that remains a mystery to most Americans.”—Boston Globe

Industry Reviews

"An absorbing introduction to a region that remains a mystery to most Americans." -- Boston Globe Borneo -- a magnificent island rain forest where the gentle Penan people, some of the world's last hunter-gatherers, are waging a campaign of nonviolent resistance against rapacious timber companies; Singapore -- a gleaming capitalist Eden where chewing gum is illegal and a political prisoner serves out his sentence in a theme park; Laos -- a land still haunted by the periodic detonation of Vietnam War-era bombs along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and where a Buddhist perestroika blossoms after decades of Communist oppression.

These are "the lands of charm and cruelty" that Stan Sesser renders with such immediacy and insight in his reports from Southeast Asia. Whether he is in Cambodia, observing the eerie comeback of the Khmer Rouge, or in Burma, where the military regime rampages on days divisible by nine and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate lives under house arrest, Sesser writes with an unfailing eye for the nuances of place, profound sympathy for the struggles of ordinary people, and unsparing attention to the ways in which history has betrayed them."

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Travel & Holidays Fiction Modern & Contemporary Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy Fiction History Regional & National History Asian History Politics & Government Central Government

Introduction	p. ix
Singapore: The Prisoner in the Theme Park	p. 3
Laos: The Forgotten Country	p. 69
Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge Have Returned	p. 125
Burma: A Rich Country Gone Wrong	p. 177
Borneo: Logging the Rain Forest	p. 239
Acknowledgments	p. 295
Index	p. 297
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Lands of Charm and Cruelty

Travels in Southeast Asia

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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