The War of the Running Dogs: The Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960

by Noel Barber

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• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• ISBN: 0006330541
• ISBN13: 9780006330547
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Fontana
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Domino that Didn't Fall

The twelve-year British-led war against Chinese Communist insurgents in Malaya resulted in total defeat for the rebels and the installation of a relatively stable and independent (if racially discriminatory) Malaysian government in Kuala Lumpur. This book, which is a historical narrative of the war from the British perspective, is still on the United States Marine Commandant's recommended reading list for the valuable lessons the British strategy has to teach. Inevitably, comparisons and contrasts arise between victory in Malaya and defeat in Vietnam; a principal difference (which Barber doesn't fully draw out) is that the Chinese-speaking population (from whom the rebels drew their support) was heavily counterbalanced by the Malay population (which was and remains antagonistic towards the Chinese). Nevertheless, the British methods in this war were in many respects much more sophisticated than the American strategy in Indochina, and the Malaysian Emergency still repays study. This remains by far the best book on the topic.

Excellent Southeast Asia historical novel

Exciting fictional coverage of the "Malaya Emergency" with detail of communist insurgency, British colonialism, plantations, jungle hideaways, language, culture, etc., told from a British point of view. America might have been more successful with Vietnam, had they learned from this British experience.