The 100 Greatest Southeast Asian History & Politics Books


Face-towers, Bayon-temple in Angkor, Cambodia
Face-towers, Bayon-temple, Angkor, Cambodia by Manfred Werner (CC BY-SA 3.0)


The 100 Greatest Southeast Asian History & Politics Books list has a focus on politics and imperialism in the region.

1. History of South East Asia

By D. G. E. Hall | Used Price: 90% Off

The standard history of Southeast Asia as a coherent region, by one of the leading scholars in the field. More »

History of South East Asia
Southeast Asia: An Introductory History

2. Southeast Asia: An Introductory History

By Milton Osborne

The first edition of Southeast Asia: An Introductory History was published in 1979 and immediately filled a need for travelers and students interested in a tantalizingly different part of the world. Subsequent editions have continued to document with great perception the enormous changes and dramatic growth experienced in ... More »

3. A History of Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1400-1830

By Barbara Watson Andaya; Leonard Y. Andaya

Written by two experienced teachers with a long history of research, this textbook provides students with a detailed overview of developments in early modern Southeast Asia, when the region became tightly integrated into the world economy because of international demand for its unique forest and sea products. Proceeding ... More »

A History of Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1400-1830
Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c.800-1830

4. Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c.800-1830

By Victor Lieberman | Used Price: 50% Off

In an ambitious effort to overcome the extreme fragmentation of early Southeast Asian historiography, this study connects Southeast Asia to world history. Victor Lieberman argues that over a thousand years, each of mainland Southeast Asia's great lowland corridors experienced a pattern of accelerating integration punctuated by recurrent collapse. ... More »

5. Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1350-1800

By Anh Tuan Hoang; Ooi Keat Gin

This book presents extensive new research findings on and new thinking about Southeast Asia in this interesting, richly diverse, but much understudied period. It examines the wide and well-developed trading networks, explores the different kinds of regimes and the nature of power and security, considers urban growth, international ... More »

Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1350-1800
Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680

6. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680

By Anthony Reid | Used Price: 90% Off

Between the fifteenth and the mid-seventeenth centuries, when the Renaissance and early capitalism were transforming Europe, changes no less dramatic were occurring in Southeast Asia. This diverse tropical region was integrated into a global trade system, while trade-based cities came to dominate its affairs. Its states became more ... More »

7. Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia

By Christopher Bayly; Tim Harper | 60% Off

In September 1945, after the fall of the atomic bomb--and with it, the Japanese empire--Asia was dominated by the British. Governing a vast crescent of land that stretched from India through Burma and down to Singapore, and with troops occupying the French and Dutch colonies in southern Vietnam ... More »

Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia's Cold War: An Interpretive History

8. Southeast Asia's Cold War: An Interpretive History

By Cheng Guan Ang

The historiography of the Cold War has long been dominated by American motivations and concerns, with Southeast Asian perspectives largely confined to the Indochina wars and Indonesia under Sukarno. Southeast Asia's Cold War corrects this situation by examining the international politics of the region from within rather than ... More »

9. America's Strategy in Southeast Asia: From the Cold War to the Terror War

By James A. Tyner | Used Price: 90% Off

Since the end of the Second World War, Southeast Asia has served as a surrogate space to further American imperial interests, which are economic, political, territorial, and moral in scope. America's Strategy in Southeast Asia contends that the construction of Southeast Asia as a geographic entity has been ... More »

America's Strategy in Southeast Asia: From the Cold War to the Terror War
Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia

10. Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia

By Vedi Hadiz | Used Price: 60% Off

This book analyzes the overall effect of American primacy on social and political conflicts in Asia, discussing how the post-Cold War American agenda does not promote democratization in the region, in contradiction to one of the major proclaimed aims of the proponents More »

11. Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia

By Joe Studwell | Used Price: 60% Off

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. At their peak, eight of the world's two dozen ri More »

Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
Delusions of Development: The World Bank and the Post-Washington Consensus in Southeast Asia

12. Delusions of Development: The World Bank and the Post-Washington Consensus in Southeast Asia

By Toby Carroll

Investigates the World Bank's promotion of market-led development in the underdeveloped world and the impact that this promotion has upon citizenship. This book looks at this subject using case studies drawn from Southeast Asia, one of the world's most diverse regions. More »

13. Bounding the Mekong: The Asian Development Bank, China, and Thailand

By Jim Glassman

Transnational economic integration has been described by globalization boosters as a rising tide that will lift all boats, an opportunity for all participants to achieve greater prosperity through a combination of political cooperation and capitalist economic competition. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has championed such rhetoric in promoting ... More »

Bounding the Mekong: The Asian Development Bank, China, and Thailand
High-Speed Empire: Chinese Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia

14. High-Speed Empire: Chinese Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia

By Will Doig | Used Price: 70% Off

The story of the world's most audacious infrastructure project.Less than a decade ago, China did not have a single high-speed train in service. Today, it owns a network of 14,000 miles of high-speed rail, far more than the rest of the world combined. Now, China is pushing ... More »

15. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia

By James Scott | Used Price: 70% Off

James C. Scott places the critical problem of the peasant household-subsistence-at the center of this study.  The fear of food shortages, he argues persuasively, explains many otherwise puzzling technical, social, and moral arrangements in peasant society, such as resistance to innovation, the desire to own land even at ... More »

The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia
A History of Thailand

16. A History of Thailand

By Chris Baker; Pasuk Phongpaichit | 50% Off

A History of Thailand offers a lively and accessible account of Thailand's political, economic, social and cultural history. This book explores how a world of mandarin nobles and unfree peasants was transformed and examines how the monarchy managed the foundation of a new nation-state at the turn of ... More »

17. The Lost Territories: Thailand's History of National Humiliation

By Shane Strate; David P. Chandler; Rita Smith Kipp

It is a cherished belief among Thai people that their country was never colonized. Yet politicians, scholars, and other media fi gures chronically inveigh against Western colonialism and the imperialist theft of Thai territory. Thai historians insist that the country adapted to the Western-dominated world order more successfully ... More »

The Lost Territories: Thailand's History of National Humiliation
Cold War Monks: Buddhism and America's Secret Strategy in Southeast Asia

18. Cold War Monks: Buddhism and America's Secret Strategy in Southeast Asia

By Eugene Ford

The groundbreaking account of U.S. clandestine efforts to use Southeast Asian Buddhism to advance Washington's anticommunist goals during the Cold War How did the U.S. government make use of a "Buddhist policy" in Southeast Asia during the Cold War despite the American principle that the state ... More »

19. A Siamese Tragedy: Development and Disintegration in Modern Thailand

By Walden Bello; Shea Cunningham; Kheng Poh Li

Thailand has come to be known as the Fifth Tiger. With the Asian economic collapse of 1997-1998, this book poses the central question: Is this merely a short term crisis or is there a real prospect of Thailand being pushed back into Third World status? The International Monetary ... More »

A Siamese Tragedy: Development and Disintegration in Modern Thailand
In Plain Sight: Impunity and Human Rights in Thailand

20. In Plain Sight: Impunity and Human Rights in Thailand

By Tyrell Haberkorn

Following a 1932 coup d'état in Thailand that ended absolute monarchy and established a constitution, the Thai state that emerged has suppressed political dissent through detention, torture, forced reeducation, disappearances, assassinations, and massacres. In Plain Sight shows how these abuses, both hidden and occurring in public view, have ... More »

21. Thaksin

By Chris Baker; Pasuk Phongpaichit | 80% Off

In the early 1990s, Thaksin Shinawatra came from nowhere to become a multi-billionaire in just four years.In 2001, he was elected prime minister on a single-minded promise to accelerate Thailand to first-world status through unrestrained capitalist growth. In 2009, over video link from exile in Dubai, he urged ... More »

Thaksin
Good Coup Gone Bad: Thailand's Political Development Since Thaksin's Downfall

22. Good Coup Gone Bad: Thailand's Political Development Since Thaksin's Downfall

By Pavin Chachavalpongpun | 50% Off

What did the 2006 military coup show us? It demonstrated that the crux of the Thai crisis is far more serious and much wider in scope than had previously been thought. The monarchy is surely not a victim in the protracted conflict, but the root cause and continuing ... More »

23. A Kingdom in Crisis: Royal Succession and the Struggle for Democracy in 21st Century Thailand

By Andrew MacGregor Marshall

Struggling to emerge from a despotic past, Thailand stands at a defining moment in its history. While scores of citizens have been killed on the streets of Bangkok and freedom of speech continues to be routinely denied, democracy appears like an increasingly distant idea. And many fear that ... More »

A Kingdom in Crisis: Royal Succession and the Struggle for Democracy in 21st Century Thailand
A History of Modern Burma

24. A History of Modern Burma

By Michael W. Charney | Used Price: 90% Off

Burma has lived under military rule for nearly half a century. The results of its 1990 elections were never recognized by the ruling junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement, was denied her victory. She has been under housearrest ever since. Now an economic ... More »

25. Making Enemies: War and State Building in Burma

By Mary P. Callahan | Used Price: 60% Off

The Burmese army took political power in Burma in 1962 and has ruled the country ever since. The persistence of this government-even in the face of long-term nonviolent opposition led by activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991-has puzzled scholars. In ... More »

Making Enemies: War and State Building in Burma
Living Silence in Burma: Surviving under Military Rule

26. Living Silence in Burma: Surviving under Military Rule

By Christina Fink

This new, thoroughly updated, edition of Christina Fink's acclaimed account gives powerful insights into the life of ordinary Burmese people. Through extensive interviews conducted inside and outside the country she builds a richly textured picture of how people cope with their daily life -- and some innovative forms ... More »

27. Myanmar's Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim Other

By Francis Wade; Linsey McGoey | 60% Off

In 2017, Myanmar's military launched a campaign of violence against the Rohingya minority that UN experts later said amounted to a genocide. More than seven hundred thousand civilians fled to Bangladesh in what became the most concentrated flight of refugees since the Rwanda genocide of 1994. The warning ... More »

Myanmar's Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim Other
Vietnam: A New History

28. Vietnam: A New History

By Christopher Goscha | Used Price: 60% Off

The definitive history of modern Vietnam, lauded as "groundbreaking" (Guardian) and "the best one-volume history of modern Vietnam in English" (Wall Street Journal) and a finalist for the Cundill History PrizeIn Vietnam, Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of ... More »

29. Vietnam

By D.R. SarDesai | Used Price: 80% Off

"An indispensable tool for college students and general readers, the only available text that treats Vietnamese history in its entirety, from its beginning to the twenty-first century, as it places Vietnam within the regional and global context. SarDesai's Vietnam looks at Vietnam as a country and not just ... More »

Vietnam
Descending Dragon, Rising Tiger: A History of Vietnam

30. Descending Dragon, Rising Tiger: A History of Vietnam

By Vu Hong Lien; Peter Sharrock

Outside of its war with the United States, Vietnam's past has often been neglected and understudied. Whether as an aspiring subordinate or a rebel province, Vietnam has been viewed by most historians in relation to its larger neighbor to the north, China. Seeking to reshape these accounts, Descending ... More »

31. A Story of Vietnam

By Truong Buu Lam | Used Price: 80% Off

As a specialist of Southeast Asian History, I am often asked to introduce a book that would relate the history of Vietnam, from its beginnings to the present. As often, I am embarrassed to answer that there is no such book written in English. In effect, although we ... More »

A Story of Vietnam
The Colonial Bastille: A History of Imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862-1940

32. The Colonial Bastille: A History of Imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862-1940

By Peter Zinoman

Peter Zinoman's original and insightful study focuses on the colonial prison system in French Indochina and its role in fostering modern political consciousness among the Vietnamese. Using prison memoirs, newspaper articles, and extensive archival records, Zinoman presents a wealth of significant new information to document how colonial prisons, ... More »

33. Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta

By David Andrew Biggs; William Cronon

Winner of the 2012 George Perkins Marsh Prize for Best Book in Environmental HistoryIn the twentieth century, the Mekong Delta has emerged as one of Vietnam's most important economic regions. Its swamps, marshes, creeks, and canals have played a major role in Vietnam's turbulent past, from the struggles ... More »

Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta
Ties that Bind: Cultural Identity, Class, and Law in Vietnam's Labor Resistance

34. Ties that Bind: Cultural Identity, Class, and Law in Vietnam's Labor Resistance

By Tran Ngoc Angie | Used Price: 70% Off

Ties that Bind explores Vietnamese labor history from the French colonial period to the contemporary era, tracing a vibrant tradition of workers' resistance to oppressive conditions. Through interviews with employees, organizers, journalists, and officials, as well as evidence from government reports and underground protest materials, this book analyzes ... More »

35. Vietnam Wars 1945-1990

By Marilyn Young | Used Price: 90% Off

The first book to give equal weight to the Vietnamese and American sides of the Vietnam war. More »

Vietnam Wars 1945-1990
The Path to Vietnam: Origins of the American Commitment to Southeast Asia

36. The Path to Vietnam: Origins of the American Commitment to Southeast Asia

By Andrew J. Rotter | Used Price: 90% Off

What path led Americans to Vietnam? Why and how did the United States become involved in this conflict? Drawing on materials from published and unpublished sources in America and Great Britain, historian Andrew Rotter uncovers and analyzes the surprisingly complex reasons for America's fateful decision to provide economic ... More »

37. Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam

By Lien-Hang T. Nguyen

While most historians of the Vietnam War focus on the origins of U.S. involvement and the Americanization of the conflict, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen examines the international context in which North Vietnamese leaders pursued the war and American intervention ended. This riveting narrative takes the reader from the marshy ... More »

Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam
Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam

38. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam

By Nick Turse | Used Price: 80% Off

Based on classified documents and first-person interviews, a startling history of the American war on Vietnamese civiliansThe American Empire ProjectWinner of the Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial DistinctionAmericans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War, carried ... More »

39. Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam

By Fred A. Wilcox; Noam Chomsky | 60% Off

Scorched Earth is the first book to chronicle the effects of chemical warfare on the Vietnamese people and their environment, where, even today, more than 3 million people-including 500,000 children-are sick and dying from birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that can be directly traced to Agent Orange/dioxin ... More »

Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam
Invisible Enemies: The American War on Vietnam, 1975-2000

40. Invisible Enemies: The American War on Vietnam, 1975-2000

By Edwin A. Martini | Used Price: 90% Off

Beginning where most histories of the Vietnam War end, Invisible Enemies examines the relationship between the United States and Vietnam following the American pullout in 1975. Drawing on a broad range of sources, from White House documents and congressional hearings to comic books and feature films, Edwin Martini ... More »

41. Vietnam's Strategic Thinking during the Third Indochina War

By Kosal Path

"Why did Vietnam invade and occupy Cambodia in 1978? And why did it eventually change its approach, shifting from military confrontation to economic reform and reconciliation with China in the late 1980s? Drawing on rarely accessed archival documents, Kosal Path explores this major change in Vietnamese leaders' objectives ... More »

Vietnam's Strategic Thinking during the Third Indochina War
Speaking Out in Vietnam: Public Political Criticism in a Communist Party-Ruled Nation

42. Speaking Out in Vietnam: Public Political Criticism in a Communist Party-Ruled Nation

By Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet

Since 1990 public political criticism has evolved into a prominent feature of Vietnam's political landscape. So argues Benedict Kerkvliet in his analysis of Communist Party-ruled Vietnam. Speaking Out in Vietnam assesses the rise and diversity of these public displays of disagreement, showing that it has morphed from family ... More »

43. A Short History of Cambodia: From Empire to Survival

By John Tully | Used Price: 90% Off

In this concise and compelling history, Cambodia's past is described in vivid detail, from the richness of the Angkorean empire through the dark ages of the 18th and early-19th centuries, French colonialism, independence, the Vietnamese conflict, the Pol Pot regime, and its current incarnation as a troubled democracy. With ... More »

A Short History of Cambodia: From Empire to Survival
A History of Cambodia

44. A History of Cambodia

By David P. Chandler | Used Price: 50% Off

In this clear and concise volume, author David Chandler provides a timely overview of Cambodia, a small but increasingly visible Southeast Asian nation. Praised by the Journal of Asian Studies as an ''original contribution, superior to any other existing work'', this acclaimed text has now been completely revised ... More »

45. Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia

By William Shawcross | Used Price: 80% Off

Although there are many books and films dealing with the Vietnam War, Sideshow tells the truth about America's secret and illegal war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973. William Shawcross interviewed hundreds of people of all nationalities, including cabinet ministers, military men, and civil servants, and extensively researched ... More »

Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia
The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79

46. The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79

By Ben Kiernan | Used Price: 70% Off

This edition of Ben Kiernan's definitive account of the Cambodian revolution and genocide includes a new preface that takes the story up to 2008 and the UN-sponsored Khmer Rouge tribunal.  "Deeply detailed, meticulously reported. . . . Important [and] valuable." -Nation  "In this authoritative work, Ben ... More »

47. When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution

By Elizabeth Becker | Used Price: 70% Off

Award-winning journalist Elizabeth Becker started covering Cambodia in 1973 for The Washington Post, when the country was perceived as little more than a footnote to the Vietnam War. Then, with the rise of the Khmer Rouge in 1975 came the closing of the border and a systematic reorganization ... More »

When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution
Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building

48. Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building

By Evan R. Gottesman | Used Price: 80% Off

This fascinating book tells of the events and personalities that shaped Cambodian history during the turbulent period following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and explains how the legacy of this period continues to influence events in Cambodia today."Evan Gottesman's timely new book . . ... More »

49. Hun Sen's Cambodia

By Sebastian Strangio

A fascinating analysis of the recent history of the beautiful but troubled Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia To many in the West, the name Cambodia still conjures up indelible images of destruction and death, the legacy of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and the terror it ... More »

Hun Sen's Cambodia
A Short History of Laos: The Land in Between

50. A Short History of Laos: The Land in Between

By Grant Evans; Milton Osborne | 50% Off

This comprehensive and vivid history of Laos is an ideal introduction for tourists, business travelers, and students. Informative and portable, it chronicles the history of Laos from ancient times, when the dynastic states of the region waxed and waned, to the turmoil of the Vietnam War and independence ... More »

51. A History of Laos

By Martin Stuart-Fox | Used Price: 80% Off

This authoritative and wide-ranging history focuses on the period from the founding of modern Laos as a French colony to its independence, involvement in the war in Vietnam, the formation of the communist republic, and the present authoritarian government. The author shows how the nationalist struggle for independence ... More »

A History of Laos
At War in the Shadow of Vietnam

52. At War in the Shadow of Vietnam

By Timothy Castle | Used Price: 50% Off

The first book to recount the full story of U.S. covert operations in Laos during the Vietnam war. Based on newly declassified materials and interviews with dozens of key American and Lao officials, it examines the structure of the U.S. "secret war" in Laos and the long-term consequences ... More »

53. Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos

By Karen J Coates | Used Price: 80% Off

Karen Coates and Jerry Redfern spent more than seven years traveling in Laos, talking to farmers, scrap-metal hunters, people who make and use tools from UXO, people who hunt for death beneath the earth and render it harmless. With their words and photographs, they reveal the beauty ... More »

Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos
Red Brotherhood at War: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since 1975

54. Red Brotherhood at War: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since 1975

By Grant Evans; Kelvin Rowley

This fully updated edition of Red Brotherhood at War - the most comprehensive account of events since 1975 in Indochina - explains why communist victory did not usher in a period of peace based on proletarian internationalism. While victorious revolutionaries in Vietnam and Laos strengthened their special relationship, ... More »

55. An Illustrated History of the Philippines

By Ray Canoy

Beginning with a definition of who the people of The Philippines are, this fully illustrated history then tracks back to describe the prehistory of the country through to 1500 AD. The next two chapters chart the colonial experiences under Spain (1500-1896), then the first republic and the subsequent ... More »

An Illustrated History of the Philippines
History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos

56. History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos

By Luis H. Francia

From ancient Malay settlements to Spanish colonization, the American occupation and beyond, A History of the Philippines recasts various Philippine narratives with an eye for the layers of colonial and post-colonial history that have created this diverse and fascinating population. A History of the Philippines begins with the ... More »

57. A History of the Philippines

By Renato Constantino

Unlike other conventional histories, the unifying thread of A History of the Philippines is the struggle of the peoples themselves against various forms of oppression, from Spanish conquest and colonization to U.S. imperialism. Constantino provides a penetrating analysis of the productive relations and class structure in the ... More »

A History of the Philippines
State and Society in the Philippines

58. State and Society in the Philippines

By Patricio N. Abinales; Donna J. Amoroso

This clear and nuanced introduction explores the Philippines' ongoing and deeply charged dilemma of state-society relations through a historical treatment of state formation and the corresponding conflicts and collaboration between government leaders and social forces. Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso examine the long history of institutional ... More »

59. The Philippines

By James A. Tyner | Used Price: 80% Off

Nearly five million migrant workers from the Philippines are employed in over 190 countries and territories. They work as doctors and domestic helpers, engineers and entertainers, seamstresses and surveyors. It is through their collective labor that the Philippines has assumed a global presence. For over five centuries ... More »

The Philippines
Pasyon and Revolution: Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910

60. Pasyon and Revolution: Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910

By Reynaldo Clemena Ileto

Winner of the 1986 Masayoshi Ohira Book Prize"Perhaps the single most important monograph to have appeared in modern Philippine history." -David Joel Steinberg, editor of In Search of Southeast AsiaDistributed for Ateneo de Manila University Press More »

61. Agents of Apocalypse

By Ken De Bevoise | Used Price: 80% Off

As waves of epidemic disease swept the Philippines in the late nineteenth century, some colonial physicians began to fear that the indigenous popu More »

Agents of Apocalypse
The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines

62. The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines

By Paul A. Kramer | Used Price: 90% Off

In 1899 the United States, having announced its arrival as a world power during the Spanish-Cuban-American War, inaugurated a brutal war of imperial More »

63. Waltzing with a Dictator

By Raymond Bonner | Used Price: 90% Off

Traces the history of the Marcos regime, examines U.S. policy towards the Philippines, and argues that U.S. support of dictators is counterproductive More »

Waltzing with a Dictator
The Contested State

64. The Contested State

By Amy Blitz

From a scholar's first-hand account of the fall of Marcos comes The Contested State, an inquiry into the international causes and consequences of civil war, the different types of regimes that emerge from such conflict, and the implications for American foreign policy. Tracing the battle for control of ... More »

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era

66. The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era

By James K. Boyce | Used Price: 80% Off

This book analyzes the Philippine economy from the 1960s to the 1980s. During this period, the benefits of economic growth conspicuously failed to "trickle down". Despite rising per capita income, broad sectors of the Filipino population experienced deepening poverty. Professor Boyce traces this outcome to the country's economic ... More »

67. Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State

By Alfred W. McCoy

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the U.S. Army swiftly occupied Manila and then plunged into a decade-long pacification campaign with striking parallels to today's war in Iraq. Armed with cutting-edge technology from America's first information revolution, the U.S. colonial regime created the most modern police and ... More »

Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State
The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines

68. The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines

By Herbert Docena; Marissa de Guzman; Mary Lou Malig; Walden Bello

This book examines how the political system of the Phillippines remains dominated by a competitive elite who oppose any significant attempts to address the country's huge social inequalities. The way out, he argues, is through the wholesale overhaul of the system of governance, leading to a new development ... More »

69. Moral Politics in the Philippines: Inequality, Democracy and the Urban Poor

By Wataru Kusaka

Moral Politics in the Philippines offers an in-depth examination of the political participation and discourse of the urban poor in Manila. After the ousting of Ferdinando Marcos in 1986, society in the Philippines fractured along socioeconomic lines. The educated middle class began to recognize themselves as moral citizens ... More »

Moral Politics in the Philippines: Inequality, Democracy and the Urban Poor
Capital, Coercion, and Crime: Bossism in the Philippines

70. Capital, Coercion, and Crime: Bossism in the Philippines

By John Sidel | Used Price: 50% Off

This book focuses on local bossism, a common political phenomenon where local power brokers achieve monopolistic control over an area's coercive and economic resources. Examples of bossism include Old Corruption in eighteenth-century England, urban political machines in the United States, caciques in Latin America, the Mafia in Southern ... More »

71. A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays on Rodrigo Duterte's Early Presidency

By Nicole Curato

A critical analysis of one of the most media-savvy authoritarian rulers of our time, this collection of essays offers an overview of Duterte's rise to power and actions of his early presidency. With contributions from leading experts on the society and history of the Phillipines, The Duterte Reader is necessary ... More »

A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays on Rodrigo Duterte's Early Presidency
The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy

72. The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy

By Richard Javad Heydarian | 60% Off

This book draws on the extensive literature on populism, democracy, and emerging markets as well as interviews with senior government officials, experts, and journalists in the Philippines and beyond, This book is the first to analyze the significance and implications of the rise of Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte ... More »

73. Asia's New Battlefield: US, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific

By Richard Javad Heydarian; Walden Bello

For most of the decades since World War II, the Philippines has rested comfortably on the United States when it comes to military, security, and foreign policy questions. But the rapid rise of China as a regional economic and military power has complicated the situation dramatically, and the ... More »

Asia's New Battlefield: US, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific
A Short History of Indonesia: The Unlikely Nation?

74. A Short History of Indonesia: The Unlikely Nation?

By Colin Brown | Used Price: 90% Off

This succinct work of history charts the growth of Indonesia, a remarkable nation of more than 6,000 inhabited islands. With lucid originality, the text incorporates more than 2 million years of history with depth and brevity-particularly focusing on Indonesia's development into a microcosm of a multi-ethnic modern world. ... More »

75. A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis

By Tim Hannigan | Used Price: 60% Off

Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of the World's Largest Archipelago Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the Island nation is ... More »

A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis
Indonesia: The Long Oppression

76. Indonesia: The Long Oppression

By Geoff Simons | Used Price: 90% Off

Geoff Simons profiles the appalling human-rights record of modern Indonesia, against a history of the country from colonial times to the present. He highlights the gross acts of repression (torture, killings, etc.) and the unjust legal system and corrupt nepotism that have protected such violations over the years, ... More »

77. Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

By Elizabeth Pisani | Used Price: 90% Off

"A spectacular achievement and one of the very best travel books I have read." -Simon Winchester, Wall Street JournalDeclaring independence in 1945, Indonesia said it would "work out the details of the transfer of power etc. as soon as possible." With over 300 ethnic groups spread across over ... More »

Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation
The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66

78. The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66

By Geoffrey B. Robinson

The Killing Season explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century-the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965-66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention.An expert in ... More »

79. Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968

By Bradley R. Simpson

Offering the first comprehensive history of U.S relations with Indonesia during the 1960s, Economists with Guns explores one of the central dynamics of international politics during the Cold War: the emergence and U.S. embrace of authoritarian regimes pledged to programs of military-led development. Drawing on newly declassified archival ... More »

Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968
Unfinished Nation: Indonesia Before and After Suharto

80. Unfinished Nation: Indonesia Before and After Suharto

By Max Lane | Used Price: 70% Off

Unfinished Nation traces the evolution of Indonesia from its anti-colonial stirrings in the early twentieth century to the lengthy, and eventually victorious, struggle against the dictatorship of President Suharto. In clarifying the often misunderstood political changes that took place in Indonesia at the end of the twentieth century, ... More »

81. Indonesia in the Soeharto Years: Issues, Incidents and Images

By John H. McGlynn; Oscar Motuloh; Suzanne Charle

During much of Soeharto's thirty-two years of reign as president (1967-1998) Indonesia was seen as a successful test-case in third-world development, a wayward pariah turned into a shining example of modern economic planning and democracy. His New Order government won awards from the United Nations for the country's ... More »

Indonesia in the Soeharto Years: Issues, Incidents and Images
Indonesian Politics and Society: A Reader

82. Indonesian Politics and Society: A Reader

By David Bourchier; Vedi Hadiz

Using an exhaustive selection of primary sources, this book presents a rich and textured picture of Indonesian politics and society from 1965 to the dramatic changes which have taken place in recent years. Providing a complete portrait of the Indonesian political landscape, this authoritative reader is an essential ... More »

83. Demokrasi: Indonesia in the 21st Century

By Hamish McDonald | Used Price: 90% Off

An indispensable overview . . . Indonesia, a nation of thousands of islands and almost 250 million people, straddles the junction of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The world's biggest Muslim nation has long been one of Australia's important strategic partners, and the relationship has become closer - ... More »

Demokrasi: Indonesia in the 21st Century
Political Reform in Indonesia After Soeharto

84. Political Reform in Indonesia After Soeharto

By Harold Crouch

Three decades of authoritarian rule in Indonesia came to a sudden end in 1998. The collapse of the Soeharto regime was accompanied by massive economic decline, widespread rioting, communal conflict, and fears that the nation was approaching the brink of disintegration. Although the fall of Soeharto opened the ... More »

85. History in Uniform: Military Ideology and the Construction of Indonesia's Past

By Katharine McGregor | Used Price: 70% Off

"A thoughtful, stimulating piece of scholarship which significantly deepens our knowledge of Indonesia's New Order." -R. E. Elson, University of QueenslandUnder the New Order regime (1967-1998), the Indonesian military sought to monopolize the production of official history and control its contents. The goal was to validate the political ... More »

History in Uniform: Military Ideology and the Construction of Indonesia's Past
Piety and Public Opinion: Understanding Indonesian Islam

86. Piety and Public Opinion: Understanding Indonesian Islam

By Thomas B. Pepinsky; R. William Liddle; Saiful Mujani

Across the Muslim world, religion plays an increasingly prominent role in both the private and public lives of over a billion people. Observers of these changes struggle to understand the consequences of an Islamic resurgence in a democratizing world. Will democratic political participation by an increasingly religious population ... More »

87. Activists in Transition: Progressive Politics in Democratic Indonesia

By Thushara Dibley; Michele Ford

Activists in Transition examines the relationship between social movements and democratization in Indonesia. Collectively, progressive social movements have played a critical role over in ensuring that different groups of citizens can engage directly in-and benefit from-the political process in a way that was not possible under authoritarianism. However, ... More »

Activists in Transition: Progressive Politics in Democratic Indonesia
Modus Vivendi Situation of West Papua

88. Modus Vivendi Situation of West Papua

By Leon Kaulahao Siu; Mehmet Sukru Guzel

West Papua is the western half of New Guinea, the second-largest island in the world, and unlike its neighbor Papua New Guinea, it is still struggling to gain its independence. While Papua New Guinea, a former Australian-administered territory, became independent in 1975, West Papua is under Indonesia's control. ... More »

89. The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal

By John Saltford

Examines the role of the international community in the handover of the Dutch colony of West Papua/Irian Jaya to Indonesia in the 1960s and questions whether the West Papuan people ever genuinely exercised self-determination. More »

The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal
An Act of Free Choice: Decolonisation and the Right to Self-Determination in West Papua

90. An Act of Free Choice: Decolonisation and the Right to Self-Determination in West Papua

By Pieter Drooglever

This important study introduces the history and people of West Papua, tracing the origins of the international conflict surrounding their struggle for self-determination following the Second World War. Based on three decades of exhaustive research and focusing particular attention on the sham referendum of 1969 - which Indonesia ... More »

91. Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor

By Douglas Kammen

One of the most troubling but least studied features of mass political violence is why violence often recurs in the same place over long periods of time.  Douglas Kammen explores this pattern in Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor, studying that region's tragic past, focusing on the ... More »

Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor
East Timor: The Price Of Freedom

92. East Timor: The Price Of Freedom

By John G. Taylor | Used Price: 60% Off

In this updated and much expanded edition of his celebrated book, Indonesia's Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East Timor, John Taylor tells in detail the story of what happened to this island people following President Suharto's downfall in the wake of the Asian economic crisis. The new ... More »

93. The Independence of East Timor: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives - Occupation, Resistance, and International Political Activism

By Clinton Fernandes

Now available in paperback, this book is a history of the struggle for independence by East Timor, after it was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. The occupation, which lasted 24 years, was immediately resisted through guerrilla warfare and clandestine resistance. A continuum of effort - between the armed ... More »

The Independence of East Timor: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives - Occupation, Resistance, and International Political Activism
A Short History of Malaysia: Linking East and West

94. A Short History of Malaysia: Linking East and West

By Virginia Matheson Hooker | 80% Off

The origins of Malaysia's aboriginal peoples, the years of Western domination in the country, and the forceful political stance of its current leader are all outlined in this lively and informative account of Malaysia's history and politics. A concise and accessible look at this constantly changing country, this ... More »

95. What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You

By Farish A. Noor | Used Price: 70% Off

Farish A. Noor might just be Malaysia's hippest intellectual. His gifts are on full display in these expanded versions of public lectures that he delivered at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Kuala Lumpur in 2008 and 2009. Find out how 'racial difference' became such a big deal in ... More »

What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You
Ethnic Relations in Malaysia

96. Ethnic Relations in Malaysia

By Syed Husin Ali

With Malaysia in the throes of sweeping political change, academic turned political activist Dr Syed Husin Ali traces how ethnicity has been manipulated, since Independence, by Malaysian politicians for their own gain to the detriment of the masses. In articles spanning more than three decades, collected for the ... More »

97. Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia

By Gerhard Hoffstaedter | 60% Off

This book explores a central tension in identity politics: how the state, civil society, and people want to create and maintain cultural, religious, and social cohesion while paradoxically their everyday practices often run counter to this. Malaysia is no exception, with a political elite maintaining control and cultural ... More »

Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia
The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia

98. The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia

By Muhammed Abdul Khalid

This book provides an alternative insight to the debate on inequality in Malaysia, by focusing on the distribution of wealth or assets, rather than income. Despite tremendous increase in national income, the wealth gap in Malaysia is alarmingly high and extremely skewed. For instance, the top 0.2 per ... More »

99. Singapore: A Modern History

By Michael D. Barr; Carl A. Trocki

Singapore gained independence in 1965, a city-state in a world of nation-states. Yet its long and complex history reaches much farther back. Blending modernity and tradition, ideologies and ethnicities, a peculiar set of factors make Singapore what it is today. In this thematic study of the island nation, ... More »

Singapore: A Modern History
The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore's Developmental State

100. The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore's Developmental State

By Lily Zubaidah Rahim; Michael D. Barr

This book delves into the limitations of Singapore's authoritarian governance model. In doing so, the relevance of the Singapore governance model for other industrialising economies is systematically examined. Research in this book examines the challenges for an integrated governance model that has proven durable over four to five ... More »