Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and South East Asia [Paperback]

"'Its clarity of expression will make it hard for even the most determined dreamers to refute... Implacable, cool, convincing and well-armed Spectator 'An astonishing book' Sunday Independent" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"'A first-class study... the product of an original, inquiring mind.' Sunday Times 'The romp around the region's pleasure domes is a blast.' Asian Wall Street Journal 'You badly need to read this book. Joe Studwell...should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business...his tone is ironic without being cruel...his mythbusting is as merciless as it is enlightening...Studwell skewers myths with equal passion and panache.' Financial Times"

The men who control the economies of S.E. Asia are unimaginably rich and powerful. They gamble at golf for US$2 million a hole. This is - for the first time ever - the explosive story of how they make, build and hold on to their fortunes.

40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for the places where they operate? Joe Studwell explosively lifts the lid on a world of staggering secrecy and shows that the little most people know is almost entirely wrong.

Joe Studwell has been a contributing writer to The Economist and was based in Beijing with The Economist Intelligence Unit. He is the founder and editor of The China Economic Quarterly.