"Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are home to five hundred million people, yet their economies are dominated by only forty or fifty families whose interests range from banking to real estate, shipping to sugar, gambling to lumber. A complex mythology surrounds these billionaires - one that informs views on Asian business, culture, and economics." "In Asian Godfathers, Joe Studwell finds that the facts are even more remarkable than the myths. Studwell has spent fifteen years as a reporter in the region, and he marshals his sources to paint intimate and revealing portraits of the men who control it. While examining the hidden lives of these enigmatic men, Studwell also provides readers with an understanding of the broader historic, economic, and political influences that have shaped Southeast Asia for the last 150 years."--Jacket.