What does it mean that McDonald"s has become an integral part of daily life throughout East Asia--so much so, in fact, that many Asians have ceased to consider the American hamburger chain "foreign" at all? The five scholars who contribute essays to Golden Arches East have taken a novel approach to cultural anthropology. Call it hamburger historiography, perhaps, but their analysis of McDonald"s ascendancy in the East has much to say about both the corporation itself and the changing values of Asian societies. Despite widespread criticism of McDonald"s as a symbol of global homogeneity and environmental degradation, not all of these changes have been negative. In Hong Kong and China, for instance, McDonald"s has actually contributed to improving standards of bathroom cleanliness and table manners, according to the authors. And the transformation has cut both ways; McDonalds itself has been forced to adapt to local culture and tastes. In studying how McDonald"s has been assimilated into Asian societies, Watson et al. provide a fascinating portrait of cultural accommodation, compromise, and change.