Ancient civilizations-2

Southeast Asia since c. 1750

David Joel Steinberg et al., In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History, rev. ed. (1987), is a sophisticated treatment, but its focus shifts from era to era. John Bastin and Harry J. Benda, A History of Modern Southeast Asia: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization (1968), although dated, is still worthy of careful attention. Syed Hussein Alatas, The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos, and Javanese From the 16th to the 20th Century and Its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism (1977), is a convincing attack by a Southeast Asian intellectual on colonialism and colonial scholarship in the region. D.J.M. Tate, The Making of Modern South-East Asia, 2 vol. (1971–79), treats the middle portion of the colonial age in detail. David K. Wyatt and Alexander Woodside (eds.), Moral Order and the Question of Change (1982), explores social and intellectual history. Fred R. von der Mehden, South-East Asia, 1930–1970: The Legacy of Colonialism and Nationalism (1974), although dated, is a well-illustrated, useful introduction to the postwar region. Ronald D. Palmer and Thomas J. Reckford, Building ASEAN (1987), offers a basic introduction to the organization’s first 20 years. Each essay in Alfred W. McCoy (ed.), Southeast Asia Under Japanese Occupation (1974), has its own locale and slant, although it cannot substitute for a general history of the occupation. Jan Pluvier, South-East Asia from Colonialism to Independence (1974), is the most thorough treatment of the period 1942–c. 1965. Clark D. Neher, Southeast Asia in the New International Era (1991), has a political-science emphasis. William H. Frederick