Bøger af Abdiel Leroy

China's Educational BackwaterAnother teaching gig at another Chinese university. This time with "some of the laziest, dumbest students who ever wasted oxygen in a classroom," and under unprecedented conditions of surveillance."Sometimes I grind to a halt, stunned by the sheer stupidity of my students, by their inability even to answer the simplest question, though expressed in every variant known to man, and broken into the most elementary forms of language, or to recall what I had shared with them but two days ago."With a journalist's eye and lively wit, Abdiel describes his struggle to maintain academic discipline at Geely University, a private institution near Beijing, where indoctrination reigns and wealth subsidizes failure in a "fraudulent exchange of papers - banknotes from students' parents, meaningless certificates in return."Meanwhile, "It is impossible to be indifferent to the ugliness" of campus surroundings. "It steals over the heart like an infernal shadow, eclipsing all hope."Chidings From Changping is the third of five memoirs in Abdiel's Dueling the Dragon series and testifies to the deep corruption and incompetence beneath China's superpower façade. As always, he'll have you laughing between the tears!"An adventure, a memoir, and certainly one of the more entertaining books about China before us today."San Francisco Review of Books"These stories from China are addictive!""LeRoy's ability to write so cogently about such AWFUL things and simultaneously give readers a chuckle, is magnificent.""Wields a wicked and eloquent pen.""Should be awarded an honorary degree in Anthropology.""Informative and eye opening.""Reveals the the dark side of the country.""The author knows the Chinese better than the Chinese.""Subverts dominant concepts of China."Reader reviews

Beguiled in China!"The girls here are dazzling," the author marvels as he begins work as an English teacher in China's Sichuan Province. The food is delicious, the cameraderie joyous, and the enthusiasm of his students infectious.But how long will the honeymoon period last?Until the pollution becomes unbearable? Or the faculty falsely accuses him? Or his postgraduate students cheat in their exam?!With a journalist's eye and lively wit, Abdiel describes the delights and despairs of living and working in China and how he copes with unprecedented challenges in an alien and often toxic environment.But will his campus romances compensate?Dispatches From Chengdu is the opening installment of Abdiel's five Dueling the Dragon memoirs and a witness to the deep corruption and incompetence behind China's superpower façade. As always, he'll have you laughing between the tears!"An adventure, a memoir, and certainly one of the more entertaining books about China before us today."San Francisco Review of Books"These stories from China are addictive!""LeRoy's ability to write so cogently about such AWFUL things and simultaneously give readers a chuckle, is magnificent.""Wields a wicked and eloquent pen.""Should be awarded an honorary degree in Anthropology.""Informative and eye opening.""Reveals the the dark side of the country.""The author knows the Chinese better than the Chinese.""Subverts dominant concepts of China."Reader reviews

China's Oppressions of the PoorWhat does Communism mean in a country that drives poor farmers off their land and restaurant owners into bankruptcy? That takes students out of the classroom and sells them into slavery while their teachers pocket the proceeds?Abdiel LeRoy is witness to all this as he takes on his second teaching assignment in the western province of Sichuan. Nor is he immune to the oppression himself, as a university recruiter hatches schemes of entrapment against him.Yet there is light amid the darkness in this memoir as he makes friends with one of Sichuan's famed artists, enjoys the attentions of a student named Emma, and joins locals for a swim in the fast-flowing Dadu River.Laments From Leshan is the second of five memoirs in Abdiel's Dueling the Dragon series and testifies to the deep corruption and incompetence beneath China's superpower façade. As always, he'll have you laughing between the tears!"An adventure, a memoir, and certainly one of the more entertaining books about China before us today."San Francisco Review of Books"These stories from China are addictive!""LeRoy's ability to write so cogently about such AWFUL things and simultaneously give readers a chuckle, is magnificent.""Wields a wicked and eloquent pen.""Should be awarded an honorary degree in Anthropology.""Informative and eye opening.""Reveals the the dark side of the country.""The author knows the Chinese better than the Chinese.""Subverts dominant concepts of China."Reader reviews

"A brave new presence in the politics of the globe.">How Obama Made Trump (and Biden) Possible! Confused? You should be! Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2009 before going on to kill record numbers in drone strikes and oversee unprecedented levels of deportation and whistleblower prosecution. What to make of it? What to make of him?! Abdiel LeRoy takes us through the inferno of U.S. politics, while exposing the follies and fraud of empire. That he does so in poetry, prose, and short stories sings of unprecedented literary achievement, his moods ranging from light-hearted satire and bawdy wordplay to searing irony and melancholic lament. Yet the reader is entertained throughout. In this second (of three) Verses Versus Empire books, we witness environmental devastation, from BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to nuclear disaster at Fukushima to the Dakota Access Pipeline. We see the poisonous effects of U.S. imperialism with the rise of ISIS. And we lament injustice, from the persecution of whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden to unaccountable police officers slaughtering black and brown victims. LeRoy demonstrates how Obama swept the path for Trump's accession, all amid ongoing attack on Constitutional protections, contempt for international law, and a perpetual war footing sustained by official falsehood. These verses establish LeRoy as a poetic voice for our age, as if the early prophets spoke through Shakespeare and echoed to humanity today! "If you wanted to extend the critical view of American political history into the present beyond Gore Vidal's 'Biography of the United States of America, ' these books would be the ticket... A joy to read and an invitation to keep your eyes open as to what is really going on.">"So well done. A remarkable command of the language and great sensitivity. And doing all this in an entirely new way, wading into (almost) unexplored literary territory.">"Abdiel LeRoy's poetry and prose offer intellectual nourishment for critical thinkers and seekers of truth... I highly recommend this book and its companion editions to anyone who seeks to escape from the 'Matrix'.">"LeRoy's words dance."Amy's Bookshelf Reviews, Top-10 Books of 2019