"This is a love story based on the author's ongoing affair with anexotic land.... [Novak] captures the reader's attention, admiration and sympathy andthen describes straightforwardly the external and internal elements of thinking andpolicy that are detrimental to the country's survival." -- Foreign ServiceJournal

..". personal and well-informed analysis... Anotherfine addition to the 'Essential Asia Series'." --Asiaweek

"This rich meditation on the land and people butespecially the waters of Bangladesh is a masterpiece of journalism." -- TheReader's Review

..". beautiful, even lyrical account..." -- Orbis

"As an introduction to Bangladesh this bookis invaluable... " -- Current History

A positive and hopefulpresentation of Bangladesh by a writer who loves the country while recognizing itsmany faults. It is both a scholar's and an insider's view of Bangladesh, itshistory, geography, politics, and culture.