Southeast Asia: A Very Short Introduction

The eleven countries of Southeast Asia are diverse in every way, from the ethnicities and religions of their residents to their political systems and levels of prosperity. These nations—Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, and East Timor—are each unique, yet shared traditions mean that each country is also typically Southeast Asian. Southeast Asia: A Very Short Introduction traces the region’s history from the earliest “mandala” kingdoms to the colonial era and the present day. Synthesizing the ideas of leading scholars, it provides an analysis of contemporary Southeast Asia that accommodates its bewildering ethnic, religious, and political complexities while exposing the underlying patterns that make it a unified world region.