The men who control the economies of S.E. Asia are unimaginably rich and powerful. They gamble at golf for US$2 million a hole. This is - for the first time ever - the explosive story of how they make, build and hold on to their fortunes.

40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for the places where they operate? Joe Studwell explosively lifts the lid on a world of staggering secrecy and shows that the little most people know is almost entirely wrong.

"A first-class study ... the product of an original, inquiring mind." - Sunday Times

"The romp around the region's pleasure domes is a blast." - Asian Wall Street Journal

"You badly need to read this book. Joe Studwell...should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business...his tone is ironic without being cruel...his mythbusting is as merciless as it is enlightening...Studwell skewers myths with equal passion and panache." - Financial Times