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Title: From Taut Thrillers to Dull Diatribes
Review: Clancy used to pen a good yarn, though his characters were always undeniably shallow. Loved his tech focus, the thoroughness of his research, and his ability to weave them together.However, Bear & Dragon continues his trend toward political pontification. I'm more interested in how the US acquires and acts upon intelligence gained in Asia than I am in Clancy's views on abortion and the environment. (I can always tune into Fox TV news for a dose of conservative dogma).Clancy has also fallen down on his research: his descriptions of life in China range from outdated to innaccurate to painfully uninformed. As a former resident of Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, I can say there was plenty of room for better research. And he could definitely spare his readers the racial slurs. It's obvious that Clancy, and all his characters, hate Asians. If he can't overcome that bigotry, he could keep it to himself. It would make for a far better read.
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