Cultures, Chess & Art, Vol. 3: Pacific Islands & Asia

Play hide-and-seek with a Russian nuclear submarine in the fog-shrouded Tartar Straits. Skirt land mines in Cambodia in search of a Khmer carver. Ride in a rusty helicopter shuddering over snowcapped volcanoes and erupting geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Follow the footsteps of Captain Cook, the Bounty's mutineers, Genghis and Kublai Khan, the Dalai Lama, and more. Walk the battle fields of World War II and the Vietnam War. Visit exotic shores and fabled cities.

These and many more of the author's travel adventures await you in "Pacific Islands & Asia."

The diverse peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Australia, the Far East, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Indochinese Peninsula -- with esoteric glimpses into their histories and their lives today -- are portrayed in the 89 ethnic chess sets illustrated and described. The miniature sculptures depict cultures in 22 countries and as many islands in the Pacific, and span more than 17 centuries.

Glory and evil, triumph and tribulation, creativity and corrpution -- every aspect of humankind is displayed through its art in this unprecedented guide to ethnic sets in Asia and the islands of the Pacific.