Just out Rollo Romig’sI Am on the Hit List(Penguin India) – very happy to be asked to blurb it –
“Rollo Romig expertly crafts this tale of an awful murder and its ramifications while bringing alive the dark underbelly of India’s Silicon City, Bangalore. You may never have heard of Gauri Lankesh but her assassination has serious ramifications for everyone everywhere who fears escalating political violence.”—Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking
When Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken journalist in the South Indian city of Bangalore, was assassinated in September 2017 outside her home, it wasn’t just a loss to her close-knit community of writers and activists—the shock reverberated nationwide, making headlines and sparking mass protests. Why was she targeted, and who was behind it? Following the case to its stunning, unsettling conclusion, Rollo Romig uncovers a world of political extremists, fearless writers, organized crime, and shadowy religious groups. I Am on the Hit List is an epic narrative that moves between a historic booksellers’ district and brand-new high rises funded by IT wealth, to a secretive ashram in Goa and the kitchens of an international vegetarian restaurant chain, boldly interrogating whether we can break the cycle of polarization and bloodshed inspiring political murder across the globe.
My latest column in Macao’sPonto Finalnewspaper’s literary supplement Paragrafo – on Daniel Carney’s 1984 novel Macau. This version is in Portuguese – an English translation coming soon….
Do listen to my BBC World Service doc Erasing Hong Kong (on Apple Podcasts & BBC). We visit London’s Victoria and Albert Museum to see their items from the Umbrella Protests as part of their rapid response collections – as it’s radio, here they are – an umbrella and Lufsig….
Peter Harmsen’s Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 (Casemate) follows on from his Storm Clouds Over Asia trilogy as Japan appears unbeatable…
In early 1942, the Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating their US, British and Dutch foes throughout the Asia Pacific. In a matter of just months, the soldiers and sailors of the Rising Sun conquered an area even bigger than Hitler’s empire at its largest extent. They seemed invincible. Hawaiians and Australians were fearing a future under Hirohito. For half of mankind, fate was hanging in the balance.
Fast forward to the end of 1943, and the tables had been turned entirely. A reinvigorated American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the Japanese were fighting a defensive battle along a frontline that crossed thousands of miles of land and ocean. Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 by acclaimed author Peter Harmsen details the astonishing transformation that took place in that period, setting the Allies on a path to final victory against Japan.
The middle installment in the trilogy, Japan Runs Wild, 1942–1943 picks up the story where its predecessor volume Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941 left off. The common theme of the series is a comprehensive view of World War Two in the Asia Pacific, giving due emphasis to the central Japanese-American struggle, but also encompassing the other nations that were engulfed in the vast showdown: British, Australians, Soviets, Filipinos, Indians and Koreans. Above all, the central importance of China is highlighted in a way that no previous general history of the war against Japan has achieved.
My new documentary for the BBC World Service is online now. “Erasing Hong Kong”, exploring how Hong Kong’s history is being rapidly revised and erased as the National Security Law bites hard & the memory wars intensify….click here to listen
An interesting and rare album of photographs of the ruin of the Shanghai National Labor University (Laodong daxue), dated February 1932. The univesity, established in 1927 in the Kiangwan district of Shanghai, was heavily damaged by Japanese artillery in the 1932 Shanghai War – the university never reopened.
A lovely carpet from the Tientsin (Tianjin) factory of Walter Nichols that was in business from the 1920s to WW2 and sold to discerning shoppers in both China and America….
Recently in my China Revisited series (Blacksmith Books) I published an excerpt from Harry A Franck’s Roving Through Southern China from the 1920s. Slightly lately, in 1927, he wrote this small book for those facing their first trips overseas which has a few references to China….
