We here at WoWasis were skeptical at first: would this be just another titillating tome, or would there be real substance here? We were thrilled, because Lujo Bassermann’s The Oldest Profession: A History of Prostitution (1967, ISBN 0-88029-248-2) is scholarly, well-written, and readable. And it’s not a history of prostitution so much as it is […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Politics' Category
Is it time for a website to archive NGO abuses in Cambodia?
The most controversial and commentaried post we’ve ever published at WoWasis is NGO Pedophilia controversy heats up in Cambodia. Everyone has a strong opinion on the subject of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and how they’re dealing with the issue of pedophilia in Cambodia. Several respondents mentioned they had archival documents that pointed to NGOs as having […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Leon Wolff’s ‘Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippines’
There are two very good reasons Leon Wolff won the Parkman Prize for history literature for his landmark book Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippine Islands at the Century’s Turn (1960, ISBN 1-58288-209-6). First of all, it’s a compelling book. And second, there remains a dearth of literature pertaining […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Ying Yang: The Chinese Way of Love’ by Charles Humana
Upon reading Charles Humana and Wang Wu’s The Ying Yang: The Chinese Way of Love (1971, SBN 85523 019 3), it’s pretty apparent that the Chinese have been studying the art of love-making for a long, long time. This fascinating book isn’t merely about sex positions, either. Here at WoWasis, we were transfixed and mortified […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis on Thai nightlife: Texas Lone Star in Bangkok closes for good
Bangkok’s venerable Texas Lone Star Saloon closed its doors this week for good. A Washington Square institution since 1985, the bar actually had its beginnings in the late 1970s, when George Pipas opened the Texxan Bar on Patpong Road. The ‘Lone Star,’ as most people referred to it (it was actually spelled Lone Staar on […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Common Core: Thais and Americans’ by John Paul Fieg
Westerners in Thailand who employ Thais know what a challenge that can be. And conversely, Thais working for Western expats often find relating to their direct reports is sometimes more difficult than the job itself. The beauty of John Paul Fieg’s A Common Core: Thais and Americans (1978, ISBN 0-933-662-80-7) is that it examines core […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘History of the Mongol Conquests’ by J.J. Saunders
In this relatively short (191 pages) but powerful narrative, J.J. Saunders makes an effective argument that the series of Mongolian invasions of Europe and Asia, beginning in the early 1200s, was a major factor in shaping both European culture and Asian religions for centuries to come. The History of the Mongol Conquests (1971, ISBN 0-8122-1766-7) […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Book review: Timothy Hallinan’s ‘Queen of Patpong’
How does one really judge the entertainment value of a book? Timothy Hallinan’s book in the Bangkok Fiction genre, The Queen of Patpong (2010, ISBN 978-0-06-167226-2), caused us here at WoWasis to ask, and here’s why. We finished this 312 page book, the latest update in the ongoing saga of travel writer Poke Rafferty and […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: North Korean Gulag… The Aquariums of Pyongyang
For anyone wishing to know more about what goes on behind the scenes in North Korea, Kang Chol-hwan’s The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag (2000, ISBN 0-465-01102-0) is a must- read. Kang’s expat North Korean family became wealthy in Japan and had a good life. At the urging of his […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thousands flee Surin as new Thai-Cambodian skirmish erupts
Early Friday morning, in the sleepy Thai village of Kopcheung, some 500 residents awakened to the thunderous sounds of rocket fire and machine guns as Cambodian and Thai troops fought nearby. It’s a new skirmish, but the same old story, this time taking place 150 miles west of the disputed territory encirling Wat Preah Vihear. An […]
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