Asia and the Pacific

This two-volume resource focuses on what is perhaps the world's most diverse region. Combining overviews of each nation in the region with general analyses, "Asia and the Pacific" offers a new understanding of the Asian continent as well as the constituent states of Australasia and the Pacific Island nations. The diversity and dynamics of the world are addressed in full, along with its ancient and highly sophisticated cultures, from the economic dominance of Japan to the world's most rapidly industrializing economies now concentrated around the Pacific Rim. Contrasted with this newly emerging affluence is the region's chronic problem of poverty, overpopulation and occasional conflict. The handbook examines the specific characteristics of each country in the region as well as the general features of the four areas that it comprises - Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australasia and the Pacific.