Title: As Muddy As the Whangpu
Product review: Alas, despite the enticing title and initially engaging, gossipy style, this book bogs down in repetitive trivial details while failing to explore fasciniting topics to which it alludes (such as the international drug trade in the early 20th century and its links to Shanghai and to international arms trading after WWI). Little effort is made to identify individuals as they reappear in subsequent chapters or to present a coherent historical narrative. This is one of the very few books I have ever simply chosen to put down rather than finish.
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