Category: Books
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Weekly Wanderings: May 4, 2025
April 30 marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces. I have a special little reading round-up here at the top on reflections and analysis published to commemorate the anniversary. Thanks for joining me this week. Vietnam, 50 Years After the Fall of Saigon Minh-Thu Pham, “50 Years After Saigon:…
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Weekly Wanderings: April 27, 2025
I only have a few stories to share in today’s post, but there’s a hefty collection of links to check out in last Tuesday’s edition if you haven’t seen that yet. This light coverage is partially due to my disinclination to read anything with a headline containing the words “tariffs” or “trade war” last week.…
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Weekly Wanderings: April 6, 2025
Today marks the launch of National Library Week. It’s probably not a surprise that I love libraries: how else could I ever afford to support my reading habit? Each time I’ve moved to a new place, getting a new library card is one of the first things I do to get settled. Even when I’m…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 23, 2025
Good morning from Chicago, where I’m at least 50% less frazzled and 150% more rested than I was when I last sat down to write a post intro. My brother and I have spent several days walking around the city, taking tours, and eating one good meal after another. Our hotel is in Little Italy,…
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(Mid-)Weekly Wanderings: March 19, 2025
I should have known that there was no way I’d get a Sunday post done just as the AAS Annual Conference was wrapping up, but I persisted in that belief nonetheless. And then it was going to be for Monday … then Tuesday … and now, here I am, writing this on a train to…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 2, 2025
March! Where did you come from?!? Thanks for joining me this week. New Goodreads Review Recommendations China Stories Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis, and Zachary Cohen, “US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say” Choe Sang-Hun and Muktita Suhartono, “On Chinese Tuna Boats, North Koreans Trawl for Cash…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 23, 2025
Thanks for joining me this week. New Goodreads Reviews Recommendations China Stories Eliot Chen, “DOGE’s Latest Target is Seen as a Gift to the CCP” Michelle Kuo, “Found in Translation” Grace Marion, “In Taiwan, a Growing Cohort of ‘Preppers’ Readies Itself for an Uncertain Future” Dalia Parete, “Feminists Without Borders” — interview with Jinyan Zeng,…
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Weekly Wanderings: January 20, 2025
A raw wind swept down Baton Rouge’s North 4th Street, threatening to wrench the baseball cap off my head as I waited with 3,500 other people for the Louisiana Marathon to get underway. Wearing ankle-length leggings, a tank top, and a long-sleeved t-shirt, I wished I had brought gloves and a knit hat with me…
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Bookshelf: The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
Longtime China journalist John Pomfret regards the relationship between the United States and China as a grand, sweeping epic marked by many highs and lows. “If there is a pattern to this baffling complexity,” Pomfret writes in his 2016 history,* The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present, “it…
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Bookshelf: After the Last Border
Books published in 2020 often didn’t get the attention they deserved. Kept at home by Covid-19 restrictions, authors weren’t able to tour and promote their new books in person; instead, they tried their best to reach readers through Zoom, podcasts, and social media. Unfortunately, a lot of wonderful and important titles fell through the cracks.…
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 