Southeast Asia: A Concise History (ISBN 0500283036)

A short history of Southeast Asia.:
This is a shortened history of the region north of Australia and south of China. This is a pivotal area for America with what happened in Vietnam and the Phillippines. The author provides a standard overview of the history of the countries that are in this area, and what influences they have had from the rest of the world. This region has been influenced from China and India, but also from the Middle East and Europe. This influences still predominate today in these 13 countries. Religion, culture, and politics are the focus in this book. I was a little disappointed that the current strife in Indonesia was not covered in this book. East Timor is now a nation, but the author just passes it in mention. Also, the separatist tendencies in both Indonesia, Burma, and the Phillippines are only mentioned. One does not get a complete picture. This is indeed a concise history and provides a lot of information. For more detail, read elsewhere.

a Southeast Asian history lesson:
This book has an ambitious goal in bringing the reader information ranging from the very earliest to the most recent history of a vast area we know as Southeast Asia. I found it scholarly and interesting.