CHINA comes under scrutiny in two new works from Westview Press. To See Ourselves by Zhongdang Pan, Steven Chaffee, Godwin Chu and Yanan Ju ($490) surveys 2,000 people from around Shanghai and 2,500 Americans to compare cultural values and to examine what remains of 'traditional thinking' in both countries. In China's New Political Economy: The Giant Awakes Susumu Yabuki (translated by Stephen Harner $240) tackles the population problem, inflation and the post-Deng era along with the growth of power in the regions, and foreign trade.
For a heavyweight paperback read, Margaret Thatcher's The Downing Street Years (HarperCollins $120) provides 913 pages (including chronology, cabinet lists and index) of the Iron Lady's views on everything from her election to Prime Minister to the the Brighton bombing and her eventual ousting as leader. A few pages are devoted to Hong Kong and the negotiations with China and there are smiling Maggie photographs galore.
Those unfazed by the recent glut of Royal books and employees' revelations, can now devour Diana: Once Upon A Time by Mary Clarke (Sidgwick & Jackson $255), a what-the-nanny-saw account of the Princess of Wales' adolescent years and the effect of her parents' divorce. Several pages of pictures of the young Diana are included.
American Carol O'Connell and British ex-merchant banker Linda Davies are two new thriller writers who secured large advances for their first works which are now out in paperback. O'Connell's Mallory's Oracle (Arrow $60) revolves around a street kid turned computer cop who has to deal with both a killer and New York. Davies' Nest of Vipers (Orion $60) tackles an international conspiracy in the financial world.
Stop the Insanity says Susan Powter (Orion $72) to those who are miserable and starving themselves in an attempt to lose weight. Switch to her regime, she says, and drop that old weighty, worn-out you by learning what and when to eat and how to move and breathe effectively. Powter, a 'personality' in the United States, keeps it short and punchy.
Wong Kang-ying and Martha Dahlen's Chinese Herbal Medicine (Wokman Press $75) provides an illustrated guide to the modern practice of the ancient system. It looks at diagnosis and treatment, the herbs involved and gives recipes for enlivening soups and teas.