Born a Foreigner: A Memoir of the American Presence in Asia by Charles T. CrossReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2000), p. 179Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049787 .

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Recent Books

beset with serious problems and Japan mired in economic stagnation. The

necessary financial reforms will take

time, and cultural changes are needed to

control hot money and make investments

more sensitive to profitability. A useful story about the dangers of irrational exuberance.

Born a Foreigner: A Memoir of the

American Presence in Asia, by

charles T. cross. Lanham:

Rowman and Littlefield, 1999,

320 pp. $69.00 (paper, $24.95). Born in Beijing to missionaries, Cross is

personally acquainted with Asian history at a time when most Americans are

confined to headlines and history books.

He was an eyewitness as a teenager to

the brutal Japanese occupation of China,

fought at I wo Jima as a Marine, and then

served throughout East Asia during a

thirty-two-year career in the Foreign Service that included posts as ambassador

to Singapore and consul general in Hong

Kong. Although his narrative sometimes

reads with all the panache of an embassy

cable, Cross approaches his subjects with refreshing candor. Ironically, the most

fascinating part of the author's career

began with his retirement in 1979, which

paved the way for his appointment as

the first director of the American Insti

tute of Taiwan?the nongovernmental

organization that replaced the American

embassy in Taipei. Here Cross gives deserved attention to the challenge of

practicing "unofficial" diplomacy with a

Taiwanese government that sought to

reveal his outfit as "just an embassy by another name." This volume may not

read like Graham Greene, but Cross should qualify as our man in Asia.

WILLIAM J. DOBSON

Africa GAIL M. GERHART

Politicians and Poachers: The Political

Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa, by clark c. gibson. NewYork:

Cambridge University Press, 1999, 245

pp. $59.95 (paper, $24.95). This innovative study applies to wildlife conservation policy in Africa the structural

choice theory of bureaucratic behavior?

the idea that individuals and groups attempt to control public institutions for their

own benefit. Focusing on conservation

policies in Zambia since independence and drawing comparisons with Kenya and

Zimbabwe, Gibson demonstrates some

unexpected outcomes. For example, electoral systems that make parliaments

responsive to constituency demands have

played a decisive role in thwarting con

servation, while personnel in charge of

preserving wildlife have usually found

that their best interests lay in ignoring antipoaching laws. Most Africans, quite

rationally, regard conservation as some

thing that benefits wealthy foreigners,

tourist-industry entrepreneurs, and

central governments rather than the

ordinary person. To politicians from

the national level down to the local chief, control over the permission to hunt is

an important source of patronage and

income that dries up when conservation

takes precedence. The author concludes

that programs for community management of wildlife have marginally improved enforcement in Zimbabwe and Zambia

but have not altered the ordinary African's

belief that hunting is legitimate.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS May/June2000 [179]

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