Dr. Bill has put together this reading list for those interested in learning more about the nations and regions Bill and Lynn will visit on their World Cruise. This list, which includes some novels in addition to the historic works, is a relatively short selection from the great body of literature that is available.
1. The Holland America Line
Dalkmann, H.A., and A. J. Schoonderbeek. 125 Years of Holland America Line. The Pentland Press, 1998. [ISBN-10: 1858215900] This gives an overview of the fascinating history of this old company, its importance to the Netherlands and the shipping world, with a spotlight on some of its lesser-known activities such as its inland river fleet and shore investments.
Miller, William H. Going Dutch: The Holland-America Line Story. Carmania Press Ltd., 1998. [ISBN-10: 0951865684] The history of the 125-year-old Holland America Line and its fleet of vessels.
2. Hawaii
Carroll, Rick, editor. Travelers' Tales Hawai'i True Stories. Travelers’ Tales Guides, 1999. [ISBN-10: 188521135X] A revised anthology of terrific writing on the nature and culture of Hawaii by Paul Theroux, John McPhee, Maxine Hong Kingston and others.
Coffman, Tom. Nation Within: The Story of America's Annexation of the Nation of Hawai'i. Epicenter, 1998. [ISBN-10: 1892122006] This is the best recent single-volume history of the annexation.
Kuykendall, Ralph. The Hawaiian Kingdom. 3 volumes. 1938; reprint, University of Hawaii Press, 1996. [ISBN-10: 087022431X,] This remains the indispensable work of traditional Hawaiian historiography.
Liliu'okalani. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen. 1898; reprint, Tuttle Publishing, 1991. [ISBN-10: 0804810664] This autobiography of Hawaii’s last Queen is a wonderful read, in a class by itself. It is also available on line at
Michener, James A. Hawaii. 1959; reprint, Fawcett, 1986. [ISBN-10: 0449213358] There's no denying that Michener's books are a great deal of fun, and his research is prodigious. This is no exception -- it's a romantic overview of the islands' history, people and culture from prehistoric times to statehood in 1959.
Russ Jr., William Adam. The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-1894). 1959; reprint, Susquehanna University Press, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0945636431] The author details the events of the turn-of-the-century revolution that abrogated the monarchy and ended the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. Russ focuses on the days of the revolution and the reaction to the news in the United States.
Russ Jr., William Adam. The Hawaiian Republic, 1894-1898, and Its Struggle to Win Annexation. 1961; reprint, Susquehanna University Press, 1992. [ISBN: 094563644X] Russ follows the story of the revolution that ended the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. The book chronicles how the government leaders established a stable nation and maintained a semblance of democracy to convince the United States that Hawaii was worthy of joining the Union. These two Russ volumes remain the standard academic history of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the annexation of the islands by the United States.
3. The South Pacific Islands (Vanuatu, New Caledonia)
Campbell, I.C. Worlds Apart: A History of the Pacific Islands. 1989; reprint, New Zealand, Canterbury University Press, 2003. [ISBN 0-908812-99-x] This is a revision of Campbell’s History of the Pacific Islands.
Field, Bob, editor. Arrival of the Europeans: Journal extracts of the first Europeans to visit Vanuatu: Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1606, to Vassily Golovnin, 1809. Dubbo, New South Wales: by the editor, 2003.
Fraser, Helen. Your Flag’s Blocking Our Sun: An Australian Journalist’s account of life in New Caledonia during its Struggle for Independence. Australia, ABC Books, 1990. [ISBN: 0733300359] An interesting account of the New Caledonian independence movement in the late 1980s.
Gavman, Tufala. Reminisces From the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides. Edited by Brian J. Bresnihan and Keith Woodward. Fiji, University of the South Pacific, Institute of Pacific Studies, 2002. [ISBN 9820203422 002] Stories of thirty-eight men and women who played a part in the formative years of what was to become the Republic of Vanuatu.
Horwitz, Tony. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook has Gone Before. Picador, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0312422601] Exploring the Pacific in the footsteps of the famed British explorer.
MacClancy, Jeremy. To Kill a Bird with Two Stones: a short history of Vanuatu. Port Vila, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, 1980. Can only be ordered from the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.
Michener, James A. Tales of the South Pacific. 1946; reprint, Fawcett, 1984. [ISBN-10: 0449206521] This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories about World War II was based on observations and anecdotes Michener collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands, now known as Vanuatu.
Scarr, Derek. Fragments of Empire: a History of the Western Pacific High Commission, 1877 - 1914. Canberra. Australian National University Press, 1967. An interesting study of European imperialism in the part of the world furthest from Europe.
4. Australia
Blairney, Geoffrey. Triumph of the Nomads. Overlook TP, 1982. [ISBN-10: 0879510846] Fascinating account suggests Aboriginal people were masters and not victims of their environment; one of the best books on this subject.
Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country. Broadway, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0767903862] Bryson treks through sunbaked deserts and up endless coastlines, crisscrossing the “under-discovered” Down Under in search of all things interesting.
Carter, Paul. The Road to Botany Bay. Knopf, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0394570359] Carter seeks the origins of Australian civilization in the journals, letters home, unfinished maps and other narratives by its explorers, soldiers and emigrants, including tall tales and accounts of escapes by convicts who helped settle the vast territory. Fascinating and original analysis of “discovery” as cultural imperialism and the metaphysics of exploration.
Chatwin, Bruce. The Songlines. Penguin, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0140094296] This fictional account of an exploration into Aboriginal nomadism turns out to be one of the clearest accounts of this complex subject.
Davis, J., editor. Paperbark: A Collection of Black Australian Writings. University of Queensland Press, 1990. [ISBN-10: 0702221805] This is an accessible introduction to Aboriginal writing, from legends to modern poetry and prose.
Dixon, Miriam. The Real Matilda. Penguin Books Australia Ltd., 1994. [ISBN-10: 0140238751] This work is a scholarly analysis of women’s invisible role in Australia's history.
Horne, Donald. The Lucky Country: Australia in the Sixties. Penguin Books, 1964. Although over forty years old, this seminal analysis of Australian society is still popular.
Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding. Vintage Books, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0394753666] Minutely detailed epic of the origins of transportation and the brutal beginnings of white Australia.
Jacobsen, Howard. In the Land of Oz. 1987; reprint, Penguin, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0140109668] Jacobsen focuses his cutting but ultimately tiresome wit on Australian society.
Molony, John. The Penguin History of Australia. 1987; reprint, Penguin, 1988. [ISBN 0140097392] This history is an accessible and interesting account.
Smith, Babette. A Cargo of Women. Reprint, Allen & Unwin, 2008. [ISBN 1741755514] Smith painstakingly traces the consequent lives of one ship’s “cargo of women” transported to Sydney; eye-opening and sad.
5. Indonesia
Baum, Vicki. A Tale of Bali. 1937; reprint, Periplus, 2000. [ISBN-10: 9625935029] This is a fictionalized account of the ritual suicide, cum massacre, which occurred in South Bali 1906. Baum was an Academy Award winning screenwriter.
Bertrand, Jacques. Nationalism and ethnic conflict in Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, 2004. [ISBN-10: 0521524415] This exploration of the links between an increasingly politicized Muslim community, the state and emerging conceptions of nationhood is particularly timely.
Blackburn, Susan. Women and the State in modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, 2004. [ISBN-10: 0521842255] Indonesian women have been organising themselves for about a century in a country that is renowned for its diversity, its recent change from authoritarian to democratic rule, and its selection of a woman president. What have women wanted the state to do for them, and, conversely, what interest has the Indonesian state had in women? This book focuses on areas of greatest public controversy, such as polygamy, motherhood and violence.
Conrad, Joseph. Almayer’s Folly: a Story of an Eastern River. 1915; reprint, Modern Library, 2002. [ISBN-10: 0375760148] Joseph Conrad’s first novel is a tale of personal tragedy as well as a broader meditation on the evils of colonialism, set in the lush jungle of Borneo in the late 1800s. It can also be downloaded at
Djelantik, Dr. Anak Agung Made. The Birthmark: Memoirs of a Balinese Prince. Periplus Editions, Singapore, 1997. [ISBN: 9625931651] This is the autobiographical account of the life of the son of the last Raja of Karangasem whose memories span early life in the palace and a career spent working in international health before returning home to Bali in the late 1970s.
Ham, Ong Hok. The thugs, the curtain thief, and the sugar lord: power, politics, and culture in colonial Java. Jakarta: Metafor Pub., 2003. [No ISBN filed.]
Laffan, Michael Francis. Islamic nationhood and colonial Indonesia: the umma below the winds. Routledge Curzon, 2002. [ISBN-10: 0415297575] This book argues that Indonesian nationalism rested on Islamic ecumenism heightened by colonial rule and the pilgrimage.
Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth. Sumatran sultanate and colonial state: Jambi and the rise of Dutch imperialism, 1830-1907. Translated from the Dutch by Beverly Jackson. Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University, 2003. [ISBN 0877277362] Dutch imperialism in the Jambi State in Sumatra at the start of the twentieth century.
Reid, Anthony. An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and other histories of Sumatra. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2005. [ISBN: 9971-69-298-8] This book is the fruit of 40 years' study of Sumatran history, from the 16th century to the present. While seeking patterns of coherence in this vast island, it focuses on Aceh, which has both the most illustrious past and the most troubled present of any Sumatran region.
Shavit, David. Bali and the tourist industry: a history, 1906-1942. McFarland & Co., 2003. [ISBN-10: 078641572X] The island of Bali’s sensational image was created by the tourists, artists, and scholars who visited the tiny nation between the two world wars. A Dutch colony from 1908, Bali was a source of revenue for the Dutch government, which began to develop its image as the ultimate vacation spot.
Soetan Hasoendoetan, M.J. Sitti Djaoerah: a novel of colonial Indonesia. Translated and with an introduction by Susan Rodgers. 1927; reprint, University of Wisconsin--Madison, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1997. [ISBN 1-881261-21-2] Written from an indigenous perspective at the end of an empire on the island of Sumatra, this novel offers many insights into a vanished world.
Taylor, Jean Gelman. Indonesia: peoples and histories. Yale University Press, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0300097093]
Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa: the day the world exploded, August 27, 1883. Harper-Collins, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0066212855] Winchester describes the eruption through the eyes of its survivors. The death toll reached nearly 40,000; ships were thrown miles inshore; endless rains of hot ash engulfed those towns not drowned by 100 foot waves; and vast rafts of pumice clogged the hot sea. The explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption's shock wave traveled around the world seven times.
6. China
Barme, Geremie R. The Forbidden City. Harvard University Press, 2008. [ISBN-10: 0674027795] The Forbidden City at the heart of Beijing formed the hub of the Celestial Empire for five centuries. Barmé peels away veneers of power, secrecy, inscrutability, and passions to provide a new and original history of the culture, politics, and architecture of the Forbidden City.
Bergreen, Laurence. Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. Knopf, 2007. [ISBN-10: 140004345X] In this engrossing biography, Bergreen, while allowing that mere facts were never enough for Marco, finds him a roughly accurate and perceptive witness (aside from the romantic embellishments and outright fabrications concocted with his collaborator Rustichello of Pisa) who painted an influential and unusually sympathetic portrait of the much-feared Mongols.
Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. 1932; reprint, Pocket, 1994. [ISBN-10: 0671510126] A classic novel offers a graphic view of China during the reign of the last Emperor, and tells the story of an honest farmer and his wife as they struggle with the sweeping changes of the twentieth century. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, the book remains relevant and very readable today.
Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. Anchor, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0385425473] This is a modern classic, introducing China's turbulent modern history and social customs; the story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century.
Fairbank, John King. China: A New History. Belknap Press; Enlarged edition, 1998. [ISBN-10: 0674116739] Updated by Merle Goldman, this is an easy-to-read introductory history that covers from pre-history to the modern day.
Hessler, Peter. Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China. Harper Perennial, 2007. [ISBN-10: 0060826592] An interesting account of ordinary life in China in the 21st century and the growing links to western culture.
Ingham, Michael. Hong Kong: A Cultural and Literary History. Signal Books, 2007. [ISBN-10: 1904955258] Beneath the surface of Hong Kong’s clichéd self-image as a gateway to the Orient and a shoppers’ paradise, Michael Ingham reveals a city rich in history, myth, and cultural diversity.
Kynge, James. China Shakes The World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006. [ISBN-10: 0297852450] Kynge, the longtime correspondent of the Financial Times in China, provides an entertaining and insightful account of the challenges facing Chinese society at the start of the 21st century.
Lindsay, Oliver, with John R. Harris. The Battle for Hong Kong, 1941-1945: Hostage to Fortune. Spellmount Publishers, 2005. [ISBN-10: 1862273154] This is the authoritative account of how the British, Canadian, Indian and Chinese defenders surrendered Hong Kong to the Japanese after 18 days of intense fighting, on Christmas Day, 1941.
Man, John. The Terracotta Army: China’s First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation. Da Capo Press, 2008. [ISBN-10: 0306817446] This book is more than a detailed survey of the Terracotta Army in Xian; Man also brings to life the First Emperor of China, his rule and his legacy. It is also interesting to see how more than 2,000 years ago, an ideological battle raged between the Legalists, who believed “Might is right”, and the Confucianists, who advocated benevolent rule, similar to the more recent tussle between hardliners and reformers in the Communist Party.
Merson, John. The Genius that was China. Overlook Press, 1990. [ISBN-10: 0879513977] If medieval China had gunpowder, paper, a huge army, the compass and other technological wonders, then why didn't the Industrial Revolution occur there instead of Western Europe? Why did the Chinese remain technically backward for centuries and fall prey to the West's political dominance? This is a subtle account of East-West cultural and technical exchanges through the centuries, and an inquiry into why the full potential of a scientific discovery often is not realized in its country of origin.
Salisbury, Harrison. The New Emperors. Harper Perennial, 1993. [ISBN-10: 0380720256] This is a highly readable account of China's modern history from 1949 to June 1989.
Scarpari, Maurizio. Ancient China. 2002; reprint, Barnes and Noble Publishing, 2006. [ISBN-10: 8880954474] Ancient China, the cradle of a great civilization whose influence spread throughout South-East Asia and whose splendor and complexity were recounted by a tradition thousands of years old, surprised archaeologists last century when immense treasures came to light intact, confirming historical accounts and encouraging further research which is sure to bear fruit.
Seagrave, Sterling. Empress Dowager: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China. Vintage, 1993. [ISBN-10: 0679733698] Seagrave provides a revised biography of the much maligned Empress Dowager Cixi; this work is very controversial in the eyes of conservative historians in both Communist China and the west.
Seagrave, Sterling. The Soong Dynasty. Harper Perennial, 1986. [ISBN-10: 0060913185] There were three Song sisters, and Chinese say that one married for money (Ai Ling married Taiwan's Chancellor of the Exchequer); one married for power (Mei Ling married Chiang Kaishek, the leader of the Guomindang party and Taiwan); and the one married for love (Qing Ling married Sun Yatsen, the founder of modern China, 31 years her senior). How these Wellesley & Wesleyan Chinese-American graduates came to prominence is wonderfully told.
Theroux, Paul. Kowloon Tong. Houghton Mifflin, 1997. [ISBN-10: 0395860296] In this novel of personal lives swept up in the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, two Hong Kong Britons decline to face their future, because they have none.
Tsang, Steve Yui-sang. A Modern History of Hong Kong: 1841-1997. B. Tauris & Co Ltd., 2003. [ISBN-10: 1860641849] This history of Hong Kong, from its occupation by the British in 1841 to its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, includes the foundation of modern Hong Kong; its developments as an imperial outpost, its transformation into the “pearl” of the British Empire and of the Orient and the events leading to the end of British rule. The book addresses the changing relations between the local Chinese and the expatriate communities in 156 years of British rule, and the emergence of a local identity.
Turnbull, Stephen. The Great Wall of China 221 BC-1644 AD. Illustrations by Steve Noon. Osprey Publishing, 2007. [ISBN-10: 1846030048] This extensive examination of both ancient and modern sources, color maps, artwork and photographs, explains why the wall is one of the great wonders of the world.
Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge University Press, 1992. [ISBN-10: 052142707X] The Great Wall is a powerful symbol of China's national tradition and historical continuity, but Waldron demonstrates that the notion of a Great Wall is a historical myth developed over the past few centuries. Carefully examining the history of wall building in China, particularly during the Ming dynasty (1369-1644), he suggests that domestic political conflict, not cultural or ecological factors, determined why and when defensive walls were built.
Welsh, Frank. A History of Hong Kong. Second edition. HarperCollins, 1997. [ISBN-10: 000638871X]
Yu-Lan, Fung. Short History of Chinese Philosophy. Free Press, 1997. [ISBN-10: 0684836343] This is a brilliant work which communicates complex thoughts in simple language; this revised edition provides a thorough but readable introduction to a fascinating topic.
7. Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand)
Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. A History of Malaysia. Second edition. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0333945034] This new history of Malaysia traces events in the Malay world from early times to the twentieth century and shows how they have contributed to the formation of modern Malaysia.
Baker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit. A History of Thailand. Cambridge University Press, 2005. [ISBN-10: 0521016479] This is the first attempt to present a modern historiography of Thailand in English.
Berlinski, Mischa. Fieldwork. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. [ISBN-10: 0374299161] This novel set in northern Thailand is a fascinating and very readable story of anthropologists, missionaries, a reporter, and murder.
Brown, Edwin A. Indiscreet Memories, 1901 Singapore Through the Eyes of a Colonial Englishman. Monsoon Books, 2007. [ISBN-10: 9810586914] Brown observes day-to-day life as well as extraordinary events in excellent detail in this eyewitness account of Singapore at the start of the twentieth century.
Chong, Denise. The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War. Penguin, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0140280219] When Nick Ut photographed 9-year-old Kim Phuc running down a road, her body aflame with napalm, he turned a terrified girl into a living symbol of the Vietnam War's horror.
Clavell, James. King Rat. Dell, 1986. [ISBN-10: 0440145465] The first in Clavell's acclaimed Asia series, this book describes the life of a POW in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II.
Elliott, Duong Va Mai. The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family. Oxford University Press, 2000. [ISBN-10: 0195137876] Most books about Vietnam focus on the French who colonized it or the Americans who sought to “save” it. This combination of memoir and family history shows the Vietnamese as they saw themselves as the central players in their own history.
Greene, Graham. The Quiet American. 1955; reprint, Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 1991. [ISBN-10: 0140185003] This famous, insightful classic novel pre-dates the American war, and is interesting for the role played by the Cao Dai sect.
Hanh, Thich Nhat. Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966. Riverhead, 1999. [ISBN-10: 157322796X] Hanh was a protesting, peace-activist Vietnamese Buddhist monk, a friend of Thomas Merton and Martin Luther King Jr.
Hayslip, Le Ly. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places. Plume, 1993. [ISBN-10: 0452271681] Hayslip was born a Vietnamese peasant in 1949; little more than 20 years later she left for the United States with an American husband. Her early years were spent as a Viet Cong courier and lookout; a black marketeer; an unwed mother; a bar girl; a hospital aide; and (once) a prostitute. She was tortured by the South Vietnamese army, raped by Viet Cong, and harassed by Americans.
Ichiro, Kakizaki. Laying the tracks: the Thai economy and its railways 1885-1935. Kyoto University Press, 2005. [ISBN: 1920901027] This detailed study, originally published in Japanese, traces and discusses the economic side of railway development in Thailand where it always bore significant political importance.
Kepner, Susan F. Married to the demon king. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004. [ISBN-10: 974957558X] This volume is ingeniously built around six short stories called “Tales of the Demon Folk” by one of Thailand’s leading fiction writers. With striking creativity, Sri Daoruang has placed the familiar characters of the Ramakian, the Thai epic based on the Indian Ramayana, within the Bangkok of today; by re-envisioning their relationships and adventures, she portrays husband and wife relations in Thai society, cloaked in the comforting garments of myth and humor.
Kheng, Cheah Boon. Malaysia: the making of a nation. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002. [ISBN13: 9789812301543] Focusing on Malaysia’s four post-independence prime ministers as nation-builders, this study observes that each one of them was transformed from being the head of the Malay party to that of the leader of a multi-ethnic nation, in the process reinventing themselves as “inclusive” Malaysian nationalists.
Khue, Le Minh. The Stars, The Earth, The River: Short Stories (Voices from Vietnam). Curbstone Press, 1997. [ISBN-10: 1880684470] This collection of 14 stories--each a harrowing sketch of the Vietnam War and its aftermath-- offers American readers a glimpse of familiar territory, but from an unfamiliar perspective.
Kovic, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July. Akashic Books, 2005. [ISBN-10: 1888451785] This book details the author's life story from a patriotic soldier in Vietnam, to his severe battlefield injury, to his role as the country's most outspoken anti-Vietnam War advocate, spreading his message from his wheelchair.
Maugham, W. Somerset. Collected Short Stories, Volume 4. Penguin Classics, 1993. [ISBN-10: 0140185925] Maugham can evoke turn-of-the-century colonial Asia like no other.
Moore, Wendy Khadijah. Malaysia: a pictorial history 1400-2004. Singapore: Archipelago Press and the New Straits Times Press, 2004. [ISBN-10: 9814068772] This book documents the history of Malaysia from the beginning of the Melakan Sultanate approximately 600 years ago to the emergence of Malaysia as a modern nation during the last two centuries.
Ninh, Bao. The Sorrow of War. Riverhead Trade, 1996. [ISBN-10: 1573225436] The author, who fought for North Vietnam, offers American readers a startlingly different perspective of the war.
Reece, Bob. The White Rajahs of Sarawak: a Borneo dynasty. Singapore: Archipelago Press, 2004. [ISBN-10: 981415511X] A popular rather than scholarly book, this is a very readable history of three generations of the British Brooke family, who became the rulers of Sarawak.
Santoli, Al. To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath in the Words of Americans and Southeast Asians. Vietnam War Era Classics Series. Indiana University Press, 1999. [ISBN-10: 0253213045] Santoli spent three years recording the oral histories collected here. His 48 eloquent subjects include officials, diplomats and soldiers from both sides; their testimony is indispensable, readable, and informative.
Sheehan, Neil. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. Vintage, 1989. [ISBN-10: 0679724141] This passionate account of the Vietnam War centers on Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, whose story illuminates America's failures and disillusionment in Southeast Asia; offering a definitive expose on why America lost the war, the book won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1989.
Smith, Colin. Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II. Penguin, 2006. [ISBN-10: 0141010363] This is a carefully interwoven history of a tragic battle from the perspectives of many participants.
Soong, Kua Kia. The Malaysian civil rights movement. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: SIRD, 2005. [ISBN 10: 9832535522] This is the first published account of the Malaysian civil rights movement (now Suaram) which emerged spontaneously in the 1980s.
Suwannathat-Pian, Kobkua. Kings, country and constitutions: Thailand’s political development, 1932-2000. Routledge Curzon, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0700714731] This work provides a detailed analysis of Thailand’s political development since 1932, when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, until the present. It explains why the constitution has been subject to frequent change, and why there have been so many outbursts of violent, political unrest. It explores the role of the military, and, most importantly, discusses the role of the monarchy as crucial in holding Thailand together through changes of regime.
Tuck, Lily. Siam or The Woman who Shot a Man: a Novel. 1999; reprint, Plume, 2000. [ISBN-10: 0452282063] In this novel of Bangkok in the late 1960s, Tuck evokes the lush locale and mysterious culture of Thailand with precise details and sensory images and effectively contrasts the crisp, arrogant attitude of the American colony with the polite if evasive conduct of the Thai population, creating a fitting backdrop for a haunting story about the end of innocence
Turner, Karen Gottschang. Even the Women Must Fight: Memories of War from North Vietnam. Wiley, 1999. [ISBN-10: 0471327239] This is about the contributions of Vietnamese women to the independence struggle of their nation and the terrible price they paid for their courage and patriotism.
Unger, Ann Helen. Pagodas, Gods and Spirits of Vietnam. Thames & Hudson, 1997. [ISBN-10: 0500018030] This book reveals through text and illustrations the extraordinarily varied and prolific religions of Vietnam, and demonstrates how, despite decades of government discouragement of all religion, the deeply anchored faiths of the Vietnamese people have continued to flourish.
White, Nicholas J. British business in post-colonial Malaysia, 1957-70: ‘neo-colonialism’ or ‘disengagement?’ Routledge Curzon, 2004. [ISBN-10: 0415323207] This book explores the limits of the idea of neo-colonialism, the idea that in the period immediately after independence Malaya/ Malaysia enjoyed only a pseudo-independence, largely because of the entrenched and dominant position of British business interests allied to indigenous elites. The author argues that, although British business did have a strong position in Malaysia in this period, Malaysian politicians and administrators were able to utilize British business for their own ends.
Wyatt, David K. Thailand: a short history. Yale University Press, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0300035829] This highly acclaimed book is the standard history of Thailand.
8. India
Anonymous. The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred Eight Hymns. Penguin Classics, 1982. [ISBN-10: 0140444025] This is the classic “first book” of Indian literature; take note of how the religion changes overtime as you move through the 10 “books” of the text.
Ashvaghosha. Life of the Buddha. New York University Press, 2008. [ISBN-10: 0814762166] Ashvaghosha was a Sanskrit poet of the highest rank and it shows here.
Bumiller, Elisabeth. May You Be The Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India. Ballantine Books, 1991. [ISBN-10: 0449906140] A well written portrayal of Indian women from Indira Gandhi to movie stars and prostitutes, offering an insightful portrait of the country as seen through the eyes of its women.
Chandra, Bipin. India’s struggle for independence. Penguin Books, 1989. [ISBN-10: 0140107819] This is the first major study to examine each of the strands of the epic struggle individually and collectively and to present them in a new and coherent narrative.
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India. 1924; reprint, Harvest Books, 1965. [ISBN-10: 0156711427] A classic book of the British Raj in India in the early twentieth century which explores both the personal struggles of individuals and the gulf between ruler and ruled.
Keay, John. India: A History. Grove Press, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0802137970] Sweeping from the ancient brick cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, built in the Indus Valley around 2000 B.C., to modern India's urban middle class armed with computers and cell phones, this erudite, panoramic history captures the flow of Indian civilization.
Khilnani, Sunil. The Idea of India. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. [ISBN-10: 0374525919] Khilnani confronts the complexities, paradoxes and challenges of the nation in this elegant book.
Mehta, Gita. A River Sutra. Vintage, 1994. [ISBN-10: 0679752471] A collection of stories about life and love in India, written in the traditional style of Indian storytelling.
Miller, Barbara Stoler. The Bhagavad-Gita : Krishna's Counsel in Time of War. Bantam Classics, 1986. [ISBN-10: 0553213652] The Bhagavad-Gita has been an essential text of Hindu culture in India since the time of its composition in the first century A.D.; this is a great translation for both scholarship and poetry.
Morris, Jan. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress. 1973; reprint, Faber and Faber, 2003. [ISBN-10: 0571194664] A wonderful portrait of British colonial rule in India, Central Asia, Africa and elsewhere, prior to 1897, weaving together historical accounts, character studies, and much imagination.
Olivelle, Patrick, translator. Upanisads. Oxford University Press, 1998. [ISBN-10: 0192835769] Quite different from the Rig Veda, the Upanisads set the ground-work for classical Hindu philosophy.
Satow, M.G., and R. Desmond. Railways of the Raj. New York University Press, 1980. [ISBN-10: 081477816X] Concise description of development of railways until the early 20th century, with many period illustrations.
Taylor, Stephen. Storm and conquest: the battle for the Indian Ocean, 1809. Faber and Faber, 2007. [ISBN-10: 0571224652] A meticulously researched and fascinating account of a devastating year in the history of the East India Company, telling of sailing ships, shipwrecks, scandal, politics, war, monsoon mayhem, mutiny both at sea and in the army, and more.
Various. Poems from the Sanskrit. Penguin Classics, 1977. [ISBN-10: 0140441980] A wonderful short collection of poems which reveal a great deal of ancient Indian personna and folk wisdom.
Westwood, J.N. Railways of India. David & Charles, 1975. [ISBN 0-7153-6295-X] A concise and comprehensive history of railways in India.
9. The Persian Gulf States (Oman, United Arab Emirates)
Al-Fahim, Mohammed. From Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi. I.B. Tauris & Co, 1998. [ISBN-10: 1860642330] This book is a controversial account of the struggles that accompanied Abu Dhabi’s development into modern nationhood. History is unfolded to reveal the political intrigues, manipulation, exploitation deception and infighting that preceded today’s federation.
Allen, Calvin H. Oman. Creation of the Modern Middle East series. Chelsea House, 2002. [ISBN: 0791065081] This is a brief history of Oman that focuses on the people and the events that played pivotal roles in the creation of the nation, illustrated with photographs from the Royal Geographical Society archives.
Allen, Calvin H., Jr., and W. Lynn Rigsbee. Oman Under Qaboos: From Coup to Constitution, 1970-1996. Frank Cass & Co, 2000. [ISBN: 0714650013] This is an examination of the political, economic and social develoment of the Sultanate of Oman from the accession of Sultan Qaboos b Sa'id Al-Sa'id in a palace coup in 1970 to the promulgation of the basic law in November 1996. It argues that the Al-Sa'id have been forced to share power with important commercial, tribal and religious elites.
Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, and Steven Wright. Reform in the Middle East Oil Monarchies. Ithaca Press, 2007. [ISBN-10: 0863723233] The oil rich monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula are frequently dismissed as having no democratic systems compared to most other regions of the world. Through articles by eminent academics and government officials, this book addresses this issue and examines the progress and challenges for future change in this vitally strategic area of the world.
Hawley, Donald. Oman. London: Stacey International, 2005. [ISBN-10: 1900988844] In this famous book, revised to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Sultan Qaboos’s rule, the present is described in the context of the past.
Heard-Bey, Frauke. From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates. Longman Group, 1982. [ISBN-10: 0582780322] This definitive history book of the UAE provides a methodical, well-indexed and comprehensive insight into the historical, social and tribal background, way of life, structure of society and customs.
Heines, Matthew D. My Year in Oman: An American Experience in Arabia During the War on Terror. Victoria, Canada: Trafford Publishing, 2006. [ISBN-10: 1412063418] This is about one American’s experience in Arabia during the War on Terror.
Kechichian, Joseph A., editor. A Century in Thirty Years : Shaykh Zayed and the United Arab Emirates. Middle East Policy Council, 2000. [ISBN: 0943182085]
Kubursi, Atif A. Oil, Industrialization and Development in the Arab Gulf States. 1984. [ISBN 0-7099-1566-7] The Arab states face the prospect that their economic development will not last longer than the life of their hydrocarbon reserves. This book examines what options the Arab states have for countering this threat, and looks in detail at what opportunities exist for the Gulf states to accumulate sufficient productive capital in non-oil sectors of their economies.
Maalouf, Amin. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. Schocken Books; reprint 1989. [ISBN 0805208984] Arabic views of the Crusades differ greatly from European views. The author has combed the works of contemporary Arab chronicles of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants. He offers insights into the historical forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.
10. Seychelles
Scarr, Deryck. Seychelles Since 1770: History of a Slave and Post-Slavery Society. Africa World Press, 2000. [ISBN-10: 0865437378] This is a scholarly history of the Seychelles. Scarr analyzes French and British colonial rule, slavery, independence and modern political turmoil through the mid-1990s.
St. Ange, Alain. Seychelles, What Next? 1991. [ISBN:-978-0-646-10680-9]
St. Ange, Alain. Seychelles, in Search of Democracy. 2005. [ISBN:-978-0-646-47784-8.
St. Ange, Alain. Seychelles, the Cry of a People. 2007. [ISBN:-978-99931-3-001-7] These three books are political histories written by a member of the Seychelles parliament.
11. Kenya
Adamson, Joy. Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds. 1960; reprint, Pantheon, 2000. ISBN-10: 0375714383] This story of a lion cub in Kenya who is returned to the wild is an exploration of humans and animals and the seemingly uncrossable gap between civilisation and the wild. Long targeted to preteen readers, Born Free is in fact a sophisticated work of environmental consciousness-raising.
Anderson, David. Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire. Norton, 2005. [ISBN-10: 0393059863] Anderson's authoritative history of the last days of the British Empire in Kenya focuses on the colonial judicial system, which sent over 1,000 native Kenyans to the gallows between 1952 and 1959, during the state of emergency triggered by the Mau Mau insurrection. At the heart of the tale, along with blustering colonial ineptitude, is white settler ignorance of how its land grabs wreaked havoc on the Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest ethnic group and a people viciously targeted by the British, who were intent on rooting out Mau Mau activism at all costs.
Azevedo, Mario. Kenya: The Land, the People, and The Nation. Carolina Academic Press, 1993. [ISBN-10: 0890895252]
Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa. 1937; reprint, Modern Library, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0679600213] This memoir by Isak Dinesen, a nom de plume used by the Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, recounts events of the years when she made her home in Kenya, then British East Africa. The book offers a vivid snapshot of African colonial life in the last decades of the British Empire.
Ehret, Christopher. The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. University Press of Virginia, 2002. [ISBN-10: 0813920841] Ehret provides a complete overview of African history; he examines African inventions and civilizations from 16,000 BCE to 1800 CE, from the northern tip of Tunisia to the Cape of Good Hope in the south.
Elkins, Caroline. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya. Henry Holt, 2005. [ISBN-10: 0805080015] Elkins relates the little-known story of the mass internment and murder of thousands of Kenyans at the hands of the British in the last years of imperial rule. Beginning with a trenchant account of British colonial enterprise in Kenya, Elkins charts white supremacy’s impact on Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, and the radicalization of a Kikuyu faction sworn by tribal oath to extremism known as Mau Mau. She exposes the hypocrisy of Britain’s supposed colonial “civilizing mission” and its subsequent coverups.
Huxley, Elsbeth. The Flame Trees of Thika. 1959; reprint, Penguin Classics, 2000. [ISBN-10: 0141183780] With an extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Huxley recalls her childhood on the small Kenyan coffee plantaqtion at a time when Europeans waged their fortunes on a land that was as harsh as it was beautiful.
Horton, Mark, and John Middleton. The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society. Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. [ISBN-10: 063118919X] This wide-ranging volume integrates documentary sources and contemporary archaeological evidence to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of Swahili history, anthropology, language and culture.
Kenyatta, Jomo. Facing Mount Kenya. 1938; reprint, Vintage, 1962. [ISBN-10: 0394702107] This classic is an anthropological book about the Kikuyu people of central Kenya, written by a native Kikuyu who would become the future president of independent Kenya.
Patterson, John Henry. The Man-eaters of Tsavo and other East African Adventures. 1907; reprint, Filiquarian, 2007. [ISBN-10: 1599869071] This book, interesting despite language that modern readers will certainly find uncomfortably racist, was written by an engineer engaged in the construction of the Uganda Railway (Mombasa to Nairobi), about lions who had eaten construction workers building a bridge over the Tsavo River in 1898. This book has been adapted to film three times: a British film of the 1950s, a 1952 3-D film titled Bwana Devil, and a 1996 color version called The Ghost and the Darkness, where Val Kilmer played the engineer. The text of this book can also be accessed at Project Gutenberg,
12. Madagascar
Brown, Mervyn. A History of Madagascar. Markus Wiener Publishers, 2002. [ISBN-10: 1558762922] Madagascar was uninhabited until about two thousand years ago. How it came to be inhabited by sea-faring peoples from present day Indonesia is just one of the many fascinating aspects of this book, which is a wide-ranging, narrative history by the former British ambassador to Madagascar, covering the full history of the island from the origins of the Malagasy people though the 1990s.
Durrell, Gerald. The Aye-Aye and I. Touchstone, 1994. [ISBN-10: 0671884395] This engaging and extremely amusing story of a serious scientific effort to retrieve, and help save, the rare aye-aye of Madagascar, an unusual mammal bearing a certain resemblance to E.T.
Quammen, David. The Song of the Dodo. Pimlico, 1997. [ISBN-10: 0712673334] Quammen explains complex evolutionary phenomena with humor, wit and understanding, as he tells the story of the Dodo bird and other animals nearing extinction in Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Galapagos and Komodo.
13. Mamoudzou, Mayotte (formerly part of Comoros Islands)
Bulpin, T.V. Islands in a forgotten sea. Cape Town: Books of Africa, 1969. [No ISBN recorded.] This is a history of the Comoros Islands.
Newitt, Malyn. The Comoros Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean. Westview Press, 1984. [ISBN: 0-86531-292-3] This is a social history of the Comoros Islands and its struggle against a dependent relationship with France.
Toussaint, Auguste. History of the Indian Ocean. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. [No ISBN reported.] Detailed history of the exploration and settlement of the Indian Ocean with the emphasis on the influence of Asian and European contact which ultimately lead to conflict.
14. South Africa
Hugon, Ann. Exploration of Africa, From Cairo to the Cape. Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1993. [ISBN-10: 0500300275] This jewel of a book chronicles 19th-century exploration of Africa with hundreds of contemporary paintings and prints, brief chapters on the expeditions and a very useful chronology.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Back Bay Books, 1995. [ISBN-10: 0316548189] In an unpretentious tale of an extraordinary life, Mandela recounts the circumstances of his imprisonment and ultimately his successful drive to end Apartheid.
Pakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. Harper, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0380720019] A vividly written, illustrated chronicle elucidating the events, personalities and consequences of the Boer War.
Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876-1912. Avon Books, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0380719991] Pakenham tells of the systematic rape of Africa by Europe in the late nineteenth century. In scarcely half a generation during the late 1800s, six European powers sliced up Africa like a cake. They acquired 30 new colonies and 110 million subjects. Although African rulers resisted, many battles were one-sided massacres. In 1904 the Hereros, a tribe in Southwestern Africa (Namibia), revolted against German rule; their punishment was genocide.
Paton, Alan. Cry, The Beloved Country. The classic story of a native pastor in a time when South Africa was separated by racial inequality.
Reitz, Deneys. Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War. CruGuru, 2008. [ISBN-10: 192026515] Deneys Reitz was 17 when the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899. Reitz describes that he had no hatred of the British people, but “as a South African, one had to fight for one's country.” Reitz had learned to ride, shoot and swim almost as soon as he could walk, and the skills and endurance he had acquired during those years were to be made full use of during the war.
Sparks, Allister. Tomorrow is Another Country. Zebra Press, 1995. [ISBN-10: 1875015116] A comprehensive account of the extraordinary developments that led to the new multiracial democracy in South Africa by that country's foremost journalist, essential to an understanding of the South Africa today.
Thompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. Yale University Press, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0300087764] A succinct history of South Africa, especially strong on early Africans and European colonization.
Waldmeir, Patti. Anatomy of a Miracle, the End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. [ISBN-10: 0393039978] A vividly written account of the extraordinary transition of power from de Klerk to Mandela from an insider's point of view.
15. Namibia
Bley, H. Namibia under German Rule. Hamburg: LIT Verlag, 1998. [ISBN-10: 3894732253] This is the first paperback edition of the book which originally appeared under the title South-West Africa under German rule.
Bravenboer, Brenda, and Walter Rusch. The First 100 Years of State Railways in Namibia. Windhoek: TransNamib Museum, 1997. [ISBN 10: 0869764012] This book tells of the construction and use of the railways of Namibia from colonial times until today; it is an interesting account that tells a story similar to the railways of most all former colonies in Africa.
Dierks, K. Chronology of Namibian History - From Pre-Historical Times to Independent Namibia. Windhoek: Scientific Society, 2002. [ISSN: 02582473]
Dierks, K. Namibia’s Railway System: Future Link to Africa – with Special Reference to the Trans-Kalahari Railway. Windhoek: Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, 1993. This book-- more in the nature of a government report-- can be found at
Dierks, K. Namibia’s Walvis Bay Issue: Origin and Rise of a Colonial Dispute. Windhoek: Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, 1991. This government report follows the reintegration of the “Walvis Bay enclave” into Namibia; it can be found at <>
Green, Lawrence G. Lords of The Last Frontier. Timmons, 1952. [No ISBN reported.] Accounts of early travels in Namibia and Angola; hard to find but worth the effort.
Martin, Henno. The Sheltering Desert. A.D. Donker, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0868521507] Threatened with internment for the duration of World War II, two young German geologists, Henno Martin and Hermann Korn, lived a Robinson Crusoe existence in the Namib Desert for two and a half years. Martin recalls the vastness of the landscape, the clear skies, nature’s silence in the joy or suffering of her creatures, and a stillness in which he took refuge from the wrongs of civilization.
Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876-1912. Avon Books, 1992. [ISBN-10: 0380719991] Pakenham tells of the systematic rape of Africa by Europe in the late nineteenth century. In scarcely half a generation during the late 1800s, six European powers sliced up Africa like a cake. They acquired 30 new colonies and 110 million subjects. Although African rulers resisted, many battles were one-sided massacres. In 1904 the Hereros, a tribe in Southwestern Africa (Namibia), revolted against German rule; their punishment was genocide. [Second mention of this book.]
Thornberry, C. A Nation Born: The Inside Story of Namibia’s Independence. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan Publishers, 2004. [ISBN: 9991605215] Few nations can have trod a longer or more difficult path to independence than Namibia. Arid, strikingly beautiful but under-populated (with a population of only about one and a half million people today) it did not become a formal colony until the mid-1890s, when the German Reich somewhat reluctantly intervened to look after the interests of its nationals doing business there. It was the only colony to which serious numbers of Germans emigrated, with consequences still visible today.
16. South Atlantic (St. Helena, Ascension)
Brooke, T.H. A History of the Island of St. Helena from its Discovery by the Portuguese to the Year 1806. London: Black, Parry, and Kinsbury, 1808. [No ISBN reported.] This book may be read on line at:
Ritsema, Alex. A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. 2006. [ISBN: 978-1-4116-9832-1] In 1725 a Dutch ship’s officer, Leendert Hasenbosch, was set ashore on Ascension as a punishment for sodomy. He tried to survive on turtles and birds but found very little water on the barren island. He wrote a diary, but probably died after a half year. In January 1726 British mariners found his tent, diary and other things and brought the diary to England. In 1728 a first English version of the diary of the Dutch castaway was published, and other versions followed. This new book reveals the identity of this forgotten man.
Willms, Johannes. Napoleon & St Helena: On the Island of Exile. Haus Publishing: 2008. [ISBN-10: 1905791542] Willms concentrates on Napoleon’s last years on this remote island. The former emperor complained mightily as to his fate, but eventually settled down to a life of constant surveillance, grinding tedium and thoroughly bad food. Willms traces the aftermath of the emperor's death and the birth of the Napoleonic legend, as well as continuing the story of St. Helena to the present.
Young, Norwood. Napoleon in Exile: St. Helena (1815-1821). London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1915. [No ISBN reported.] This work is available on line at Internet Archive website, at
17. French Guiana (Devil’s Island)
Belbenoit, René. Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead. 1938; reprint: Berkley, 1975. [ISBN 0-425-02950-6] A veteran of the First World War, Belbenoit stole some pearls and was tried and sentenced to 8 years in 1920, and was sent to Devil's Island. Belbenoit attempted two escapes but was recaptured and forced to serve years of solitary confinement. In 1938 he wrote this book; its initial reception in France was overwhelming; the book went through 14 printings in less than two months.
Charriere, Henri. Papillon. 1968; reprint, Harper Perennial, 2001. [ISBN-10: 0060934794] The classic true story of a wrongly-convicted Frenchman’s attempts to escape captivity; the book is better than the motion picture.
Miles, Alexander. Devil's Island: Colony of the Damned. Ten Speed Press, 1988. [ISBN-10: 0898152755] Although not a serious work of scholorship, and with no notes or index, this book nonetheless is written in an exciting way; it should be of real interest to the non-scholarly reader.
18. Caribbean Islands (Trinidad, Barbados, St. Barts)
Beckles, Hilary McD. Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved Black Women in Barbados. [ISBN: 0813515114 X]
Besson, Gerard. Folklore & Legends of Trinidad and Tobago. Paria Publishing Company Ltd., 2007. [ISBN-10: 9768054476] The folklore of Trinidad and Tobago has pan-Caribbean appeal; this illustrated book has been celebrated as a milestone publication in Trinidad and Tobago.
Carmichael, Gertrude. The History of the West Indian Islands of Trinidad and Tobago 1498-1900. London: Alvin Redman, 1961.
Griffith, Ezra E.H. I’m Your Father, Boy: A Family Memoir of Barbados. Hats Off Press, 2004.
Liverpool, Hollis “Chalkdust.” Rituals of Power & Rebellion: The Carnival Tradition in Trinidad and Tobago 1763-1962. This is a very detailed, well-researched book which really reflects the cultural landscape of Trinidad. It talks about the shifts in carnival traditions and practices while relating it to the times and political, social and economic situations of the times.
Williams, Eric. History of the People of Trinidad & Tobago. A&B Publishers Group, 1993. [ISBN-10: 1881316653] This is an impressive scholarly work. It assesses the political background and the historical struggles of once colonized and subjugated populations.
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