Sterling and Peggy Seagrave continue to amaze your WoWasis review staff. We’re veteran SE Asia travelers, and like many travelers revisiting the region, have more and more questions about the political and cultural factors that drive decisions and events in these countries. In the past couple of years, we’ve been hearing anecdotal stories from associates about a large hoard of gold stockpiled in SE Asia, which drove us to the books written by the Seagraves. Gold Warriors (2005 ISBN 1-85984-542-8) wraps up much of the puzzle, in an exhaustively researched and documented book that includes links to CDs that are publicly available and include support documentation. 

Gold Warriors is a follow-on to two of the Seagraves’ previous books, The Yamato Dynasty and The Marcos Dynasty, which make for informative background reading as well. Their lives were threatened as they researched Gold Warriors, and they took a hiatus from public view, and retreated to a secure environment to finish the book. 

The book tells a story that begins with Japan, facilitated by its Kempei Tai intelligence network, wantonly looting Asian countries of gold and valuables in the years prior and during WWII and hoarding it in secret underground facilities in the Philippines. In many cases, POWs were forced to dig out the caverns, and were intentionally buried alive to keep the secret secret. As the Pacific war came to a close, a number of factions were involved in unearthing it and clandestinely storing it in various places. Among the players were Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Japanese Yakuza, the CIA, the KMT (Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang) and international money traders, including Swiss banks. 

The ultimate story involves the politics of international gold reserves, the U.S. presidency, and the Federal Reserve System. This fascinating book has gone through two iterations, and the Seagraves continue to research their story as new information develops. A number of important threads were uncovered by them and their research team as various clandestine operatives decided to tell their stories as they advanced to old-age. As skeptics, the authors vetted these stories by meticulous cross-checking of known facts, other stories, and rumors. 

The finished product is one of the most fascinating books on international politics as it relates to Asia that we’ve encountered, with a bibliography and endnotes that still leave plenty more for the reader to discover on his or her own. Buy it now at the WoWasis estore.