A New History of Southeast Asia

by M.C. Ricklefs, Bruce Lockhart, Albert Lau

A new, comprehensive, one volume history of Southeast Asia that spans prehistory to the present. Ricklefs brings together colleagues at the National University of Singapore whose expertise covers the entire region, encompassing political, social, economic, religious and cultural history.

Opening with an account of the ethnic groups and initial cultural and social structures of Southeast Asia, the book moves through the early 'classical' states, the arrival of new global religions and the impact of non-indigenous actors. The history of early modern states and their colonial successors is followed by analysis of World War II across the region, Offering a definitive account of decolonisation and early post-colonial nation-building, the text then transports us to modern-day Southeast Asia, exploring its place in a world recovering from the financial crisis.

The distinguished author team provide an authoritative and accessible narrative, drawing upon the latest research and offering detailed guidance on further reading. A landmark contribution to the field, this is an essential text for scholars, students and anyone interested in Southeast Asia.

Genres: History, Asia, Nonfiction

544 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 2010

About the author

Merle Calvin Ricklefs

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been assigning this book as the main textbook for my classes on the History of Southeast Asia. Since we cover more or less events since 1800, I use mostly the second half. I assign a few of the first chapters as background/foundational reading. It is a decent text to use - clearly written and fairly concise, splitting things up by country or region within each chapter for the most part.
My primary issues with this book are as follows: there is basically no mention of women or gender and like so many histories of Asia in general it is very much focused on political history. This is very much a "history from the top" and almost zero social or cultural history or acknowledgement of gender. However at least it doesn't antiquate, exoticize or "other-ize" Southeast Asia as so many books do. Alongside this text, students in my class read first-hand accounts and articles about social and gender history to round things out. Should the authors or publishers decide to update this text, there would be some easy ways to do that.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and balanced look at the complex history of this corner of the world. The authors manage to avoid inundating the reader with inordinate lists of dates and figures and seek instead to go beyond the facile labels like “Islamization” to describe the nuanced interplay between the indigenous and foreign elements in its history. I was also particularly pleased to find an honest discussion about the doubts that still remain regarding the arrival and migrations of the myriad ethnic groups prevalent in the region. In this way the authors manage to acknowledge the complicated interplay between ethnicity and religious affiliation, especially after the arrival of Christian missionaries. Similarly, I was overjoyed to find the authors avoid giving inordinate attention to the more famous, though not necessarily more important, aspects of Southeast Asian history like the Vietnam War. By avoiding getting sucked into the minutia of these aspects the authors manage to maintain a balanced look at the overarching historical picture and avoid giving the impression that these nations were defined by these events any more than by the innumerable other interactions among themselves. Quite honestly, this was a great introduction for anyone who is interested in getting a basic understanding of the historical context in which these nations are developing.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the political and religious history of the region. There is less space devoted to society and culture and the status of women. The early chapters are little hard to follow but the modern history is well organized and described for those who are new to the history of the region. There are certain key developments that seem to be summarized very quickly, especially the Vietnam War. The further reading section is exceptionally detailed and useful as it is organized by time period, country and theme. A good introduction to Southeast Asian history.

[Ajay · Rating 4 out of 5]

An academic/textbook history of Southeast Asia which spans the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history of the region. Opening with ethnic groups and cultural/social structures, early classical states, the arrival of global religions and foreign influence, the history of early modern states and their colonial successors, World War II across the region, decolonization and post-colonial nation-building, modern SE Asia exploring it's place in the 21st century. This isn't the most approachable read, but it's filled with rich detail and offers guidance for further reading.

In particular the book did a great job to explore the interplay of ethnicity and religion across a region with tremendous diversity and tensions. I wasn't the most satisfied with it's coverage of events like the rivalries between colonial powers (English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Americans), specific wars (WW2, Vietnam War), or other topics (Indonesia Mass Killings, Golden Triange Drug Trade, Special Economic Zones and Freeports).

[Milafatur R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ini masuk dalam list buku favorit. Ada banyak hal yg tidak begitu publik tp dapat ditemukan di sini. Muncul paham baru yg lebih konseptual. Bagi orang-orang yg memiliki kelebihan dapat menjelajah dengan cara membaca, buku ini sangat menarik untuk menyelam di dalamnya.

[Siti Nurmaida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

[Safar Nurhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

someone who know about southeast asia, this book recommended for you. not complete, but little capture southeast asia, from early culture area until southeast asia today.

[Muhammad Farhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book very good