Asian Godfathers

Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are home to five hundred million people, yet their economies are dominated by only fifty families whose interests range from banking to real estate, shipping to sugar, gambling to lumber. In Asian Godfathers, veteran journalist Joe Studwell marshals his unrivaled sources to paint intimate and revealing portraits of these moguls, while also examining the broader historic, economic, and political influences that have shaped the region over the past 150 years. The result is a riveting and illuminating book that lifts the curtain on a world of staggering secrecy and hypocrisy and reveals-for the first time-who the leaders of one of the planet's most important and tumultuous markets really are, why they got to the top, and how they keep themselves there.