Southeast Asia: An Introductory History

South-east Asian history is a younger member of the historical discipline, but over the last twenty-odd years it has achieved ever higher standards. There is now a substantial body of scholars at work who are both trained in the historical discipline and qualified to face the demands (mostly linguistic) of the area. Students of the subject can find a wide range of excellent monographs, but until now they have had no brief, reliable, and interesting introduction with which to begin. There have been attempts to produce such books before, but none of them can be recommended with much confidence.