Customer Reviews

Taiwan: Nation State Or Province? Third Edition (Nations of the Modern World. Asia)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the book's organization resembles a textbook too much, the information is invaluable. Given that there is a mountain of books available on China it is extremely helpful to read something about the first Chinese democracy. While I enjoyed the book as a whole I was particularly interested in the story of Taiwan's evolution from dictatorship to democracy. This is especially cool because Taiwan is still strengthening its democracy. No other book examines Taiwan in such depth, which is not as great a compliment as it sounds since only a handful of books really examine modern Taiwan.

Copper presents a solid overview of Taiwan, its history, culture, politics and trajectory. If you are looking for a substantial and factual look at the island, this is a good place to start. The writing has an unfortunate tendency to plod, as Copper seems to often be merely relating facts and not necessarily telling a story. That makes the sections on economics and geography particularly excrutiating. There is also the problem of bias, as Copper seems to nearly be a Kuomintang appologist. Democratization is attributed to Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's dastardliness is dramatically played down, and the "White Terror" is not mentioned in the book at all. Thus, in some ways, the historical account doesn't gel with what many in Taiwan would tell you actually happened over the last 20-30 years. Regardless, this is still one of the most complete pictures of the island that you will find.