Peck, James 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born 1944.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, editor, and educator. U.S.-China Book Publication Project, director; New York University, New York, NY, adjunct professor in East Asian studies.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Victor Nee) China's Uninterrupted Revolution: From 1840 to the Present, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 1975.

(Editor) Noam Chomsky, The Chomsky Reader, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 1987.

(With Sirin Phathanothai) The Dragon's Pearl, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

Washington's China: The National Security World, the Cold War, and the Origins of Globalism, University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst, MA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Peck is a writer and editor who is an expert on East Asia. As editor of The Chomsky Reader, Peck presents the writings of Noam Chomsky, a philosopher, political activist, and writer who first gained notoriety for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War and has also written about the Middle East and numerous other political and socioeconomic issues. Peck also collaborated with Sirin Phathanothai to write The Dragon's Pearl. Peck helps his coauthor tell her tale of being sent at the age of eight from her home in Thailand to China along with her brother as a token of goodwill between the two enemy countries. As a result, Phathanothai spent her youth living with China's rulers, include Mao Tse-tung. The book recounts how Phathanothai witnessed the Cultural Revolution and the many changes that China underwent as a result. Mary Ellen Sullivan, writing in Booklist, commented that the "account of these times is fascinating." Peck is also author of the 2006 book, Washington's China: The National Security World, the Cold War, and the Origins of Globalism. The book is a reassessment of American policy toward China at the beginning of the Cold War. California Bookwatch contributor Diane C. Donovan noted that the issues in this book "are especially meaningful today" because of China's growing importance in the world as a global power.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July 1, 1994, Mary Ellen Sullivan, review of The Dragon's Pearl, p. 1920.

California Bookwatch, March, 2007, Diane C. Donovan, review of Washington's China: The National Security World, the Cold War, and the Origins of Globalism.

Far Eastern Economic Review, November 24, 1994, Alison Hardie, review of The Dragon's Pearl, p. 118.

Library Journal, June 15, 1994, Mark Meng, review of The Dragon's Pearl, p. 84.

Nation, May 7, 1988, Brian Morton, review of The Chomsky Reader, p. 646.

Progressive, August, 1988, review of The Chomsky Reader, p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, June 6, 1994, review of The Dragon's Pearl, p. 52.