No comments about True Government by Choice Men?: Inspection, Education, and State Formation in Canada West (The State and Economic Life Series, No. 17).

No comments about O'Callaghan: The Making and Unmaking of a Rebel (Carleton Library).

No comments about Jimmy Simpson: Legend of the Rockies.

1 comments about The Ranch On The Cariboo.

1. This book accurately and skillfully details Alan's early years as he grew up on a ranch in the Cariboo area of BC in Western Canada. It is by turns, touching, enlightening and funny.
   
   The author is easy to read, yet the subject isn't tossed off lightly. He grabs your interest and then proceeds to share a snapshot of a fascinating life.
   
   This kind of life doesn't really exist any more. If you've ever wondered what growing up cowboy was like, or what life in a log house without electricity in the back woods of BC would be like, this is a book you will devour.

5 comments about The Last Governor.

1. This book is one of the best books about the history and political development of HK. It not only gives a brief but interesting historical outline at the beginning of the book, it also traces the development of HK politics. What the governors before Chris Patten did and what have been changed since the arrival of Patten. It also outlines lots of power struggles between the governor and the ministers in Britain and how Patten dealt with them. For sure the relations between the governor and the Prime Minister John Major is a key factor contributing to the "success" of the governor. Of course one would have no doubt about that the close relationship between the governor and the writer, Jonathan Dimbleby, who followed Patten to come to HK and spent several years with him, which does enable him to access some crucial but secret matters that are not easily accessed by other journalists. Being a HK citizen, reading the book enables me not just to know the past better but it also enriches me about the situations of HK at that time. Reading it is just like passing through the history once again, with all those political arguments between China and both Patten and Britain reappearing in real life. Another interesting thing about the book is that it also touches lots of the everyday lives of the ordinary people living in HK, how did they feel about the political arguments and what did they plan to do after the handover of China. This makes the book more lively. This book is definitely a book that students of history/Political Science/HK Studies should read.



2. After reading the online review of Theroux's Kowloon Tong (a fictional account of the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong), I am surprised to find that only one customer have contributed a review to Dimbleby's marvelous work on the historical events. Dimbleby provided an excellent and comprehensive account of the political events that led to the signing of the 1984 Sino-British agreement, the arrival of Chris Patten, the introduction of legislative reform, and the eventual derailment of the democratic movement by the Communist Chinese Government. Dimbleby also tell the stories of several Hong Kong citizens and their views of the Handover. Being a native of Hong Kong who have spent my last 12 years in the States, Dimbleby's book brought me up-to-date on the big political stride taken by and the obstacles awaiting the people of Hong Kong.



3. I loved this book. I thought it was a great narrative on Chris Patten and his governorship and the hardships he endured. The book spares almost no detail, but I would have liked to see more of the Democrat's point of view. This book is absolutely necessary for people who wish to know in-depth about his governorship.



4. Jonathan Dimbleby's The Last Governor is a tour de force that gives the reader an insider's perspective into the tenure of Hong Kong's last colonial leader, Chris Patten. Dimbleby treats the reader to a narrative account of the trials and tribulations that Patten faced as he attempted to enact democratic reforms in Great Britain's last colonial jewel. Although one would undoubtedly expect the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to be vociferously opposed to any belated attempt by the British colonial authorities to bequeath a semblance of democracy on Hong Kong, Dimbleby makes the case that Patten's biggest enemies often came from within his own government. Dimbleby's revelations that selected British cabinet and Foreign Office officials shamelessly sought to downgrade the importance of Hong Kong and sacrifice Patten's proposed reforms on the alter of commercial relations with the PRC, resulted in Dimbleby being investigated by the Foreign Office for possible receipt of secret intelligence materials. Dimbleby was cleared of these allegations, but the vast array of insider information that Dimbleby amassed for this book strengthens the strident arguments that Dimbleby advances. Only a handful of participants in The Last Governor emerge with their reputations unscathed. Hong Kong's local and international business elite is portrayed as willing supplicants in the PRC's efforts to scale back personal and political liberties after Hong Kong's reversion to PRC sovereignty, a position easily enforced by PRC threats to their commercial interests. Martin Lee and Emily Lau, two of Hong Kong's leading democracy advocates, are portrayed as actually weakening Patten's push for democratic reforms through their uncompromising approach. The various representatives of the PRC are painted as unbending ideologues with little appreciation of Hong Kong's way of life. Dimbleby is most critical of the British officials, past and present, who acted to either inadvertently or deliberately sabotage Patten's governorship. Most prominent on this list is Sir Percy Cradock, Great Britain's lead negotiator in the 1984 Joint Declaration and former Ambassador to the PRC. Cradock comes off as a modern-day Neville Chamberlain, willing to cut a bad deal with an unsavory power for the sake of diplomatic expediency. Cradock compounded this error by working both privately and publically to weaken Patten's political position and policies. Dimbleby also argues that the Cradock mentality had infected the entire Foreign Office and selected members of John Major's cabinet, who worked to undercut Patten and sell-out Hong Kong in favor of better commercial relations with the PRC. The greatest strength of The Last Governor is also its greatest weakness. While such open access to Patten gives this book the necessary dramatic propulsion, it also strikes the reader as serving as Patten's mouthpiece. While Dimbleby does downgrade Patten for underestimating the challenges he was to face as Governor, Dimbleby's portrayal of Patten as the lonely David fighting against the multi-headed Goliath seems to diminish the numerous allies Patten needed to help him accomplish the limited reforms he was able to enact. Dimbleby could have also delved deeper into the political rationale behind the PRC's bargaining position and policies regarding Hong Kong. The Last Governor is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in Hong Kong, Chinese, or British affairs and to readers interested in how bureaucratic politics affects international diplomacy. Dimbleby's prose is brisk and should easily captivate and entrance the reader. Keep in mind that this is not an academic tome, so Dimbleby's point of view is repeatedly expressed without reservation or apology.



5. I loved this book. He seemed genuine and really care the fate of the Hong Kong Chinese.

   Regardless of the so-called hidden agenda behind the rush to the democracy before the handover, the truth was back then none of the patten's predecessors had the political reforms in agenda. They were all diplomats and they only really concerned to kowtowing Beijing. Patten was a politican and he tried to work and fight for the benefits on behalf of HIS constituents i.e. people of Hong Kong. He got unfairly smeared by Beijing in return just because the truth hurts.

   The bottom line was Chris Patten did leave a legacy way better than Tung che-hwa, the chief executive of Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region-not the disease) could ever dream of. What an irony it was when the white Anglo-Saxon master who make Hong Kong prosperous and better than the mainland Chinese themselves.

   When the Union Jack lowered the last time on June 30, 1997, it symbolized not only the beginning of the fall of Hong Kong, but also spell the death of Hong Kong. Hong Kong-the beacon and the crown jewel of what a Chinese society ought to be back then ceased to exist.

No comments about The Railway King of Canada: Sir William Mackenzie, 1849-1923.

No comments about The Scots of Montreal: A Pictorial Album.

No comments about Saskatchewan Heroes and Rogues.

No comments about Canadian Who's Who 2003 (Canadian Who's Who).

No comments about This Island in Time: Remarkable Tales from Montreal's Past.