Other facts remain though, such as the way globalization is binding the world ever tighter. For this reason, their ignorance is inexcusable. This insightful book is accessible to a wide audience. It is a fine primer for the region, but contains enough depth to satisfy those already wonkish about Asia. By mixing excellent travel writing and personality sketches into their analysis, the authors provide the spoonful of sugar needed to make the medicine go down.
Thunder is so fair and unflinching that some part of it is bound to irritate every reader.
Inward Thunder begins with 15th- century Chinese Admiral Zheng He who commanded an armada of 28,000 sailors on 300 ships. Zheng He scoured the oceans and traveled as far as Africa. Many great powers overreach and so begin their decline, but in China s case, the powers that be stopped reaching at all, and the country grew weak because of it. The United States remains remarkably provincial at a time when the world is so globalized, and that is a disequilibrium that will be difficult to sustain. While there are ample charts and graphs, Thunder contains a human touch.