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rlmil715's review against another edition
1.0
Did not finish (stopped page 170) due to some content that I felt was unnecessary. The book has some interesting comments on the cultures of these major East Asian countries, but overall it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting more in-depth history, but it is more travel writing.
libraryfangirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
3.75
This is written as an outsider travelogue and definitely suffers from western POV, naivety and othering. That said, sometimes an outsider POV can be very useful. It feels like a good starting point for someone like me who has never studied East Asian history before.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
raaahella's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Good to learn about the past. But there is some horrific things described from the past. I did jot know as much about Confort women and that is messed up.
deashabooya's review against another edition
3.0
Going through key areas from each country and discussing their significance in history actually helped make this book more interesting; it felt like going on a tour. Some descriptions come off racist while I can also tell Booth prefers Japan above the rest, making this entire thing feel biased. It would have been nice to read this from local authors but then would there be anyone from all countries willing to write it together? Anyway, it’s always fun to learn about history and I still enjoyed this despite a few raised eyebrows.