Rather than attempt a comprehensive discussion of the political economy of East Asia--defined here as inclusive of China, the Koreas, Japan, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines-- Wan (government and politics, George Mason U.) instead opts to highlight significant issues and developments. Thus, after he surveys the national systems of political economy, he offers individual chapters examining China as the principal shaping force of the traditional East Asian order as compared to the West, the order-creating imperial efforts of the West and Japan, the successful models of the "East Asian miracle," and the economics of the Asian financial crisis. More thematic and less geographically narrow chapters are offered on the political economics of East Asian production, trade, finance, monetary relations, and regionalism. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)