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Title: A naive account of Asian success
Review: I was surprised to find that Reid has lived outside of the U.S. for so many years because in this book he exemplifies the American liberal mindset that characterizes all things Western (or American) as bad and all things Eastern (or foreign) as good. I can see that he has tried to give a balanced account of two cultures, but he sets up a dichotomy and lands on the Eastern side.Of course, there need not be sides, and Reid's point that Confucian values are essentially the same as Judeo-Christian values is well-taken. But his thesis is naive and weakly-argued. He consistently underrates the social advantages of homogeneity, ignores the social price of conformity, and overrates the mechanism of propoganda. To transfer Japanese methods of socal indoctrination to the U. S.(as Reid describes them) would simply not work.On the plus side, Reid offers a fascinating account of Confucianism and a few fun anecdotes.
