Reviews for Agricultural Implements and Machines in the Collection of the National Museum of History and...

The average rating for Agricultural Implements and Machines in the Collection of the National Museum of History and... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-12-28 00:00:00 Vicki Reichlein As the title partially suggests, the book provides an examination of Malaysia's economic development from colonization, through independence, and to the mid 1980s. Specifically highlighting the struggle between the political, economic an foreign fractions. Malaysia's population provides an interesting composition where the political and economic institutions are dominated by different ethnic groups. Where the political dimension is dominated by the Malays, who constituted roughly ~50% of the population, the economic on the other hand was dominated by the Chinese immigrants who have become roughly 35% of the population by the 1960s. Beginning with an examination of different theories on economic development and the ethnic factor, the author then analysis the colonial impact on the Malays, their self image and position within the economic and political dimension in Malaysia. Here the author analyses the rise of immigrants from China and India and their economic growth and its effect on the Malays. The next section examines the period of 1957-1969, where Malaysia gained independence and experimented with free market economics. The rest of the book picks off from the 1969 racial riots to the late 1980s. This section is devided into three further chapters that are dedicated to the the growth of Malaysian state politics and the Malays rising economic importance, Chinese business and the struggle during this period, and finally the role of foreign investment, specifically multinational as a replacement to declining Chinese business investments. Overall the author argues that through the quest of elevating the Malay's economic position within Malaysia, the Bumiputra's (Sons of the Soil, or Malays) have somewhat compromised overall economic growth in favor of political popularity. While the book is rich with examples and provides an excellent rundown of events to the late 1980s, within later chapters the author tends to delve into unnecessary detail and as a result making this a rather uncomfortable read at many points throughout the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-02-10 00:00:00 Karen Edgar I definitely never thought i'd want to read a book about Chinese military strategy written in 5th century BC .... yet here we are. This one turned out to be so interesting.