The engagingly-written chapters in this volume deal with paradigms of the pre-modern Southeast Asian state, the crime of le se majesty in Thai history, Marxist historical writing, the gendering of the Thai past, and cultural nationalism in the twentieth century.

Modern Southeast Asian urban life follows cultural lines set out by the region's early Indic cities. In this indigenous urban tradition the city rules society through a division of power and elaboration of urban-centered status distinctions. Where earlier studies sought Western patterns in Southeast Asian cities, this is the first study to interpret the region's cities wholly within their own historical cultural continuities.

The Austronesian-speaking population of the world are estimated to number more than 270 million people, living in a broad swathe around half the globe, from Madagascar to Easter Island and from Taiwan to New Zealand. The seventeen papers in this volume provide a general survey of these diverse populations focusing on their common origins and historical transformations. The papers examine current ideas on the linguistics, prehistory, anthropology and recorded history of the Austronesians.

This comprehensive history provides a fresh interpretation of Southeast Asia from 100 to 1500, when major social and economic developments foundational to modern societies took place on the mainland (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and the island world (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). Incorporating the latest archeological evidence and international scholarship, Kenneth R. Hall enlarges upon prior histories of early Southeast Asia that did not venture beyond 1400, extending the study of the region to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511. Written for a wide audience of non-specialists, the book will be essential reading for all those interested in Asian and world history.

The theme of this volume, state formation and mercantile evolution in Indonesia, has been the subject of historiographical debate for quite some time. In recent decades the focus of this debate has shifted from the external challenge posed by westerners towards the indigenous response to that challenge and towards local and regional situations, adding to the knowledge of state and state formation. Nine case studies on state formation in the Indonesian archipelago illustrate this approach. They deal with widely differing states, in different periods and regions, ranging from the twelfth-century Javanese state of Kadiri to the twentieth-century Netherlands Indies colonial state, and from Riau and West Borneo to Buton and the Seram Sea. Most of the studies concern states that came under the influence of the Dutch East Indies Company or its successor, the Dutch colonial state. The contributors to this volume are from Indonesia—Muhammad Gade Ismail, R.Z. Leirissa, Edi Sedyawati and Suhartono—and from the Netherlands—F. van Baardewijk, V.J.H. Houben, L.W. Nagtegaal, J.W. Schoorl and R. Vos. Based on in-depth bibliographical and archival research, these studies shed new light on historical situations and processes, thus contributing significantly to the knowledge of Indonesia's past and its historiography.

Rev. ed. of: Indonesia edited by Frederica M. Bunge, 4th ed. 1983.