A History of Southeast Asia

by Arthur Cotterell

A History of Southeast Asia narrates the history of the region from earliest recorded times until today, covering present-day Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor. Concisely written and filled with historical anecdotes of key individuals and events, this authoritative volume is presented in three parts, covering both mainland and maritime Southeast 1 – Early Southeast Asia (the earliest civilisations)Part 2 – Late Southeast Asia (including the colonial period)Part 3 – Modern Southeast Asia (the present-day era, following the Pacific dimension of the Second World)Superbly supported by over 200 illustrations, photographs and maps, this volume provides real insight into one of the world’s most distinctive but complicated regions, at a time when Asian countries are beginning to set the pace in the global economy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Asia

452 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2014

About the author

Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.

Reviews

[Aaron Curmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many history books, this one is rather dry. But, we don't always read history books for a page turning narrative, now do we? No, also like many other history books, this one serves the function of being highly informative, but is not always pleasurable. I will say, though, that the writing style and presentation is a cut above others I have read.

Having lived as an expat in Indonesia for nearly three years now, I wanted a good booster to my knowledge of the history of this fascinating region. Cotterell provides a great boost in terms of content, but like so many history books, the barrage of names and events can begin to blur together at times. However, what is well accomplished is that the author points out many of the larger trends and patterns which have shaped and help to explain Southeast Asia and its unique development.

However, I found that at times he could be rather tangential, as though following a random thought he happened to have that was somehow linked with his previous point. Some of these prove to be interesting, enlightening, and supportive, but others... not so much. I did really enjoy the importance he placed on the religious history of the region and how it shaped nearly every aspect of life in early Southeast Asia.

There was one point which I found rather alarming, though. During his discussion of modern Indonesia, Cotterell makes a vague reference to the fact that general Suharto was somehow neutral during the 1965 coup which overthrew Sukarno. After this vague mention of neutrality, he takes another, albeit vague once again, step implicating the Indonesian communist party in the events. Having read a great deal of modern Indonesian history, I find this troubling as it goes against nearly every historical account (as well as primary source documents which state the contrary) and takes on a perspective and tone which is furthered by, shall we say, parties which have an interest in suppression of historical accuracies for their own purposes. Namely, retention of power through the furthering of an anti-communist agenda. Because of this point and Cotterell's approach, it does make me question a bit if he perhaps brought this perspective to other aspects of colonialism and/or neocolonialism in Southeast Asia.

Overall, the book was very informative and I'm glad I read it. However, do note that, as I mentioned, his perspective on this particular point in history is alarming.

[Arnoud De Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably well written history of South East Asia, but a bit too focused on a series of kings or emperors. We learn little about the economy or the culture of the dynasties and kingdoms in SEA. Perhaps there aren't that many sources. It reads too much as a history course of the mid twenties.

Still I finished the book (which I don't when I don't like a book) because it is well written and rather succinct.

It is a good introduction to SEAsia.

[Chetan Tyagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of Southeast Asia is a very handy, concise history of the Southeast Asian region. This can serve as an extremely useful first level introduction into the region's history which can always be supplemented with further reading.

However, given the book had to cover two thousand years history of a mini continent in one narrative, it does tend to gloss over details on occasions - the islamization of the region is not mentioned even briefly for eg.

Notwithstanding the difficult task at hand, you do tend to feel the editing could have been better since at places readers can feel a little lost in detail.

To keep the expectations realistic from the book, this is essentially a military and political history with minimal attention given to cultural and other softer factors.

In summary, this is a very good first level understanding of the region and is recommended for people who want a overview of the events which have shaped Southeast Asia as we know it today.

[Sly Reference · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is what it says on the tin: it's a history of Southeast Asia. It's a traditional history, with a focus on kings and wars, though it thankfully also spent some time on trade dynamics which is one of my interests. At the same time, it had to spend its time flitting around a huge area with a lot of variations in local conditions, so there wasn't much time for details.

It did spend the majority of its time in the pre-modern era. Once the colonial powers took over the countries in SEA, the narrative seemed to jump into a higher speed. The post-colonial period had a bit more detail, but it still seemed to rush too much to get to the end.

One of the other problems with the writing was that, because the author would try and trace the development of each kingdom for a while, there'd be a certain amount of repetition in the book. I swear the Mongols invaded about 5-6 times because of how the book was structured. It was also a bit hard to know when the narrative went back in time until you started to run into the same names again.

Still, it gave names and dates and was quite readable. It isn't the worst history on SEA out there, but it's not the final word in it, either.

[Kes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good points: readable, I felt that it was a rather colourful look at history.

Neutral points: I'm not a fan of colonial/post-colonial history, but I am more familiar with it, and the summary does feel rather brief / vague. It tells us that something happened, but an average job at why the thing happened.

Favourite quote:

Just as the Javanese distinguished between two eras of time, a golden age of royal prestige and prosperity as opposed to a mad age of anarchy and natural disasters, so in Burma periods of joy alternating with those of misery were viewed as the inevitable condition of humanity.

That's basically Peter Turchin's secular cycle theory.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a good introduction to the region.

Several times, though, I would get lost in the narrative as it would jump from one thought to another or from one timeline to another as if there was a rush to provide context in that very moment. In those instances, instead of providing more clarity to the general event being described, the chronology and connection became even more confusing.

It should also be noted that the telling of this history seems to be taken more from a colonialist or western point of view with little to no input from local perspectives (at least based on the recommended further readings). Definitely should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally I thought the book puts more emphasis on a pre-modern era instead of a more modern (post world war I - present) time. Which can get rather dry and mythical. It also lacks a clear timeline and it can get mixed up and confusing.

Also there are several spelling errors and for a supposedly educational book this does not fare well in my opinion.

[Boris Strandjev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too high-level, incoherent and, at times a bit misleading. I certainly expected this book would help me understand better what happened and is happening in this region. Regretfully, this book did very little in this direction.

[Max Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitive history of the region. Covers a lot of ground perhaps too much for a non-history student. Redeemed by part 3 of 3 which is a great account of the last 4 centuries (the earlier chapters are too lengthy and rooted in the past!).

[BoatsAgainstTheCurrent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the best English-language one-volume overview you can get of Southeast Asian history; unfortunately, the writing is a bit scatterbrained (jumping around decades within a single paragraph) and more editing was needed (lots of typos). Still, I learned a lot

[Patrick Elsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good start if you don't have a huge amount of knowledge about the history of south east asia