The Opium of the East: In the Footsteps of Orwell, Conrad, Kipling and Other Great Writers Enchanted by Asia

“The East’s Daze” is a kind of travel diary by a Spanish journalist who lived in Southeast Asia for nearly twenty years. Following in the footsteps of famous writers, David Jiménez sets out on his own journey to understand what attracted celebrities to the East. He visits Myanmar, where Orwell served in the colonial police; China, where the well-known journalist Martha Gellhorn made her “journey to hell” with Hemingway; and the Philippines, described by Manu Leguineche as “a country of absurdity.” Revisiting these individuals’ memories becomes the foundation for the author’s reflections on modern Asia—on the changes it has already gone through and the transformations ahead. “The East’s Daze” is a collection of gripping chapters where the past and present intertwine, along with biographical details and reportage essays that make you want to go on a trip.