Southeast Asia: Past and Present

by D.R. SarDesai

Book Overview

Southeast Asia: Past and Present offers a balanced and readable account of the region from ancient to modern times, covering traditional history as well as current events. D. R. SarDesai achieves a delicate balance exploring the importance of the period of European colonial rule in Southeast Asia without overemphasis as he introduces students to the regions and peoples of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor, Laos,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813348374
• ISBN13: 9780813348377
• Release Date: December 2012
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Valuable Resource for Learning about SE Asian History

I have read books about China and India but had very little knowledge about the numerous other countries in SE Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. This book focuses on the history, colonial period, freedom struggles and current events of the countries of: The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. A History of SE Asia was written by D.R. Sardesai, a Professor of Asian studies at UCLA. This book is easy to read and full of eye opening facts, figures and historical information. Southeast Asia History: Past and Present is extensively researched. I found it fascinating to learn about all of these countries and walked away with a lot more knowledge of this region. One note is that a book like this which is about different countries can be presented in two ways - one way would be where a couple of chapters are devoted to one country then that country is finished, and the next few chapters are devoted to another country and so on. The second way is to organize the book by time periods. This book is organized by time periods. So there is the historical era of all countries, then colonial era, etc. So I caught myself for example really getting into Vietnam's history and then suddenly the book will start discussing Cambodia in the same time period. Then in the next chapter Vietnam will be brought up again, but in another era. At the end of this book is a 25 page timeline for China, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. The timeline has leaders, wars, and other historical information. Following that is an extensive bibliography. I greatly enjoyed the book and found it to be a valuable and informative read on these countries.

An Excellent Introduction to Southeast Asia

D.R. SarDesai's work is a great introduction to the history of Southeast Asia. He manages to weave history of a region laden with ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity into a relatively seamless whole.His approach deliniates the history of the region into three phases: precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial. This becomes a common theme in the book, especially when the implications of the effects of Europeans and Americans in the region are considered.Some people may be turned off by SarDesai's perspective, which is profoundly and explicitly critical of American foreign policy. However, while I disagreed with many of his arguments, I found SarDesai's approach quite refreshing.On the whole, this introduction to Southeast Asia is indespensible to anyone with no prior knowlege of the region.