Pacific Destiny

This is an insightful, comprehensive, vivid, engaging survey of the Orient. Elegant's 30 years' experience as a journalist in Asia gives him a depth of understanding that few commentators in the West can rival. He argues persuasively that Asian societies have been shaped by authoritarian Confucian ethics, ethics that in turn fuel the competitive drive of these societies. He shows that the Japanese and the Chinese think of trade and commerce as zero-sum games, not as mutually beneficial exchanges. Trade is war; therefore a flabby, decadent West, particularly the U.S., must mobilize to fight against aggressive Asian economic competition. His tough commercial stance notwithstanding, Elegant writes with sympathy about Asians and their cultures in a top-notch appraisal of the most economically dynamic region of the world. ( Apr.)