Customer Reviews

Southeast Asia: An Introductory History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am living in Thailand for the next two years and wanted to learn as much as I could about it. In order to understand Thailand one needs to be familiar with the whole region.

I consider myslef educated as far as history is concerned but am very weak in this region. This book serves as a very good introduction to the entire area. The author covers early times rather quickly and moves through to modern times at a decent pace.

The book left me with a lot more questions than answers. These questions are at least somewhat informed. The author sparked my interests in a lot of different periods for the various countries. The whole point of an introduction is to raise intelligent questions rather than going in depth. The author does this very well.

Speed readers will like the intro and summary for each chapter. The book is highly readable and the author is ready to admit areas where he does not have an expertise.

The 1/2 star minus is for the very brief mention of the 1997 economic crisis and its results. By now he can at least lend his opinion on the newly emerging history of that significant period.

Author also gives a good listing of suggested reading. This was not updated in the most recent addition and he does not give any good sources to further explore the most recent events

This book is a great resource -- easy to read and very useful. Great if you have little background (like me) with Southeast Asia

Despite being a very short sketch of SE Asian history, the book seems padded with endless cautionary asides presumably directed at the professional historical establishment apologizing for venturing any assertions about anything. The book could have been shortened by half without missing a thing. Still worth reading, however, for no other reason than everyone else has read it.

The author seems to have a fear of asserting any strong views at all. He should have inserted a general one page disclaimer at the start of the book, along the lines of the following: many of the opinions I express in this book might be challenged by others with more detailed knowledge of specific areas, but in the hope of making the book more interesting (and a lot shorter!) please understand that I have expressed my personal views throughout, without regard to whether each view can be 100% backed up with non-controvertible evidence.

The book was in great condition. I received it in a reasonable amount of time.