Southeast Asia : Past and Present

"Quite frankly, there is no textbook on the market today that compares in depth, acumen, currency, and readability" --Arnold P. Kaminsky, California State University, Long Beach "The seventh edition of D.R. SarDesai's Southeast Asia ... is an ambitious and updated study that gives the reader a sweeping and informative view of the history of the region... For students of Southeast Asian history, this text offers a solid introduction to the region while providing an ample base from which to leap into more specific issues using the book's considerable bibliography." --Education About Asia Praise for Previous Editions: "SarDesai's Southeast Asia provides what most books on the region's history do not--a concise, comprehensive, and up-to-date study of the major historical developments in Southeast Asia from ancient times to 2008. It is also different in that it traces the history of all eleven Southeast Asian nations, conveys the region's complexity and diversity, and includes chronological charts. With its contents succinctly divided into four main parts, to cover Cultural Heritage, Colonial Interlude, Nationalist Response, and Fruits of Freedom, the book is especially useful for survey courses on Southeast Asian history." --Pamela Sodhy, Georgetown University "SarDesai provides the most comprehensive and complete, yet organized and accessible, single volume history for students of Southeast Asia. Tackling both Southeast Asia's fascinating diversity and its deep cultural and material coherence, the author skillfully places the various national narratives into a clear regional analysis. This excellent work covers the region from the pre-historic origins of complex society and early state formation to the current threat of international terrorism and other challenges of the early 21st century. SarDesai excels in balancing his focus between Southeast Asia's indigenous historical development and the waves of foreign cultural, economic, colonial, military, and ideological interventions that have shaped the region over the centuries." --Michael G. Vann, California State University, Sacramento