Blood and Silk

A fascinating and many-layered portrait of Southeast Asia, brimming with colourful characters, insights and anecdotes, Blood and Silk is a rich palimpsest as can only be written by a longstanding student and scholar of the region like Michael Vatikiotis -- Thant Myint-U, author of <i>THE RIVER OF LOST FOOTSTEPS</i> [An] ambitious and timely book * THE ECONOMIST * Vatikiotis's arguments are fluent and convincing, and his writing is suffused with a deep knowledge of and affection for Southeast Asia and its peoples. -- Richard Cockett * LITERARY REVIEW * Blood and Silk is not a dry socio-political analysis. Vatikiotis has an eye for quirky detail, whether it be the Thai crown prince's pet poodle commissioned as an air force officer and dressed in uniform, or the self-important Muslim separatist from southern Thailand who prayed with Osama bin Laden in Khartoum but found the terrorist mastermind uninspiring and unimpressive. In the end, though, the outlook is menacing. Indonesia risks the kind of ethnic and religious sectarian strife we see in the Middle East today . Malaysians are dismayed by the slow disintegration of the multiracial compact . In Thailand, there is little prospect of the military willingly giving up power . The Philippines remains a prisoner of oligarchy . Even Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar has disappointed her liberal supporters. We can hope that Vatikiotis is wrong, but I fear he is not. -- VICTOR MALLET * FINANCIAL TIMES * Books on the rise of Asia tend to concentrate on China and India. Vatikiotis fills a gap by providing a lively and learned guide to the politics, personalities and conflicts that are shaping a dynamic group of countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma -- Gideon Rachman * FINANCIAL TIMES </i> Summer Reads<i> *