Three Tigers, One Mountain

A Journey Through the Bitter History and Current Conflicts of China, Korea, and Japan

By: Michael Booth

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other.

In his latest entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, the enmity is between these three "tiger" nations and what prevents them from making peace. Currently, China's economic power continues to grow, Japan is becoming more militaristic, and Korea struggles to reconcile its Westernized South with the dictatorial Communist North.

Booth, long fascinated with the region, travels by car, ferry, train, and foot, experiencing the people and culture of these nations up close. No matter where he goes, the burden of history and the memory of past atrocities continue to overshadow present relationships. Ultimately, Booth seeks a way forward for these closely intertwined, neighboring nations.

An enlightening, entertaining and sometimes sobering journey through China, Japan, and Korea, Three Tigers, One Mountain is an intimate and in-depth look at some of the world's most powerful and important countries.

©2020 Michael Booth (P)2020 Tantor

Interesting concept, disappointing execution

I liked the narrator, but the story really shifted gears after the first quarter. While putting these relationships in the context of a travel excursion is a novel idea, the implementation devolved into stereotypes and anecdotes, removing much of the historical context that was present at the beginning of the book

Entertaining observations of the Tigers

Very entertaining reading. I’ve personally experienced many of the subtle differences between the people from three countries too. However, his digging deep into the history and particularly the museums was fascinating. Of course, we can’t stereotype any of the cultures, but history does provide a unique perspective.

The only challenge I had was the British pronunciation of some of the Asian words.

Good book some minor inaccuracies

Intresting history done in a way that is pretty unique. The author did make some minor mistakes with regards to the Korean peninsula, but overall I liked it.

Thoughtful and very well written

Would thoroughly recommend. Great writing. Solid narration. Very interesting topic and a fairly unusual multi-partite perspective.

Not what I expected but also not bad

As other reviews have said it reads at times more like a travel book, some people harshly saying the writer just wanted to do a large vacation while getting paid. I don't think that's accurate. I was wanting an in depth book about the history of all the countries, but I didn't dislike the book as it is. It focuses on certain cities and regions from each nation Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan. It is in large part about modern history of the regions. I would say I was most surprised by Taiwan, Japan's nuclear bomb program, and the comfort women. I think if you like one or all of the countries in the book you'll probably generally like the book even though it's not a 'all encompassing history explaining thousands of years of politics'.