Southeast Asia category: 1948 books

The Limits of Alignment is an engaging and accessible study that explores how small states and middle powers of Southeast Asia ensure their security in a world where they are overshadowed by greater powers. John D. Ciorciari challenges a central concept in international relations theory—that states...

The book probes and examines traditional sources of royal power and control, as well as indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. It is focused on the north-western Malaysian Sultanate of Kedah which is acknowledged as the oldest unbroken independent kingship line in the ‘Malay and...

India’s core goals for Southeast Asia are in basic harmony with those of the United States, including regional stability, peaceful settlement of territorial disputes, and containment of radicalism Still, America should not expect India to enter any sort of alliance, nor join any coalition to balance...

Since January 2004, a violent separatist insurgency has raged in southern Thailand, resulting in more than three thousand deaths. Though largely unnoticed outside Southeast Asia, the rebellion in Pattani and neighboring provinces and the Thai government's harsh crackdown have resulted in a full-scale...

This authoritative book provides a comprehensive political history of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ten members of which are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Leading scholar Donald E. Weatherbee follows...

Theravada Traditions offers a unique comparative approach to understanding Buddhism: it examines popular rituals of central importance in the predominantly Theravada Buddhist cultures of Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Instead of focusing on how religious ideas have impacted the...

Grounded in ethnographic and archival research on the Indonesian island of Bali, More Than Words challenges conventional understandings of textuality and writing as they pertain to the religious traditions of Southeast Asia. Through a nuanced study of Balinese script as employed in rites of healing,...

Three men, in an attempt to shatter the run-of-the-mill experiences of travel, embark on a quest for an adventure of a kind that made them crazy with delight. “Three Men in SeA” is a delectable record of an enjoyable journey that reveals the joie de vivre of the three comrades on an...

Vietnamese people tend to be gentle yet show strong independence. Also, rather than saving face, they focus on practical interests and prioritize reality to the past. Let's explore the representative symbols and culture of Vietnam, the country that values practicality and reality.

In 1948, Burma was a promising young democracy with a bustling free market economy and a standard of living that surpassed nearly all of its other Asian neighbours. Fifty years later, Burma is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a military dictatorship in Rangoon and 50,000 armed rebels...

What is the reason behind elephants being considered as sacred and mystical creatures in Thailand? It is because the virtues required by almost every religion can be found in the characteristics of elephants. Thailand is a true Buddhist country with millions of Buddhist temples and monks respected...

This Singapore travel pictorial captures the art, culture, and people of the Pacific's leading city. Located in the heart of Asia, the island republic of Singapore is a dynamic place full of surprises and contrasts. East meets west, with both contradiction and harmony as this city state strives...

Early European visitors placed Ayutthaya alongside China and India as the great powers of Asia. Yet in 1767 the city was destroyed and its history has been neglected. This book is the first study of Ayutthaya from its emergence in the thirteenth century until its fall. It offers a wide-ranging view...

In Indonesia, the phrase "kira-kira" can be easily heard, meaning "about, approximately and roughly." Composed of 13,000 islands, Indonesia has a variety of ethnicities and religions, with unique customs for each island. This social and natural environment can only be united when...