Central Asia and South East Asia Surveys

Barfield, Thomas Jefferson. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1989.
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Barfield sees pastoral nomadic confederations as being dependent on China for luxury items, as opposed to subsistence commodities. Luxury items were used to pay off local and regional chieftains and thereby keep the confederations together. Barfield’s is essentially a political argument.
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Di Cosmo, Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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Di Cosmo looks at Sino-barbarian interrelations from c. 900 to 100 BCE and covers the first emergence of pastoral nomadic peoples on China’s northern frontiers. He uses more recently discovered archaeological evidence as well as traditional historical materials. He views the Chinese more often than not as the aggressors against, and provokers of, pastoral nomads.
Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. Translated by Naomi Walford. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1970.
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Grousset’s masterwork is an old and still useful workhorse for all of Central Asian history, from the Scythians and Huns through Mongolian history into the 18th century.
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Jagchid, Sechin, and Van Jay Symons. Peace, War, and Trade along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese Interaction through Two Millennia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
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This book contends that China usually provoked war because it refused to trade peaceably with the pastoral nomads, who were dependent on Chinese textiles, foods, and metals products for their very survival. If the Chinese would trade at border markets for these items, peace prevailed; if not, the nomads attacked. Jagchid’s argument, the “trade-or-raid” thesis, is essentially an economic one.
Olcott, Martha Brill. The Kazakhs. 2d ed. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1995. The second edition of the book details the events surrounding Kazakhstan’s independence and retains original chapters surveying the major events in the history of Kazakhs. Points to challenges in the Kazakh historiography since the fall of the USSR and Kazakhstan’s relations with Russia.
Anderson, John. Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia’s Island of Democracy? Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, 1999. A concise and easy-to-read introduction to Kyrgyzstan, including its pre-Soviet and Soviet history and early political and economic developments after independence.
Bergne, Paul. The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2007. A valuable read for those interested in the history of Persian-speaking peoples and those who want to learn about the formation of national identities despite the adversities and inhospitable geopolitical environment. Contains old maps of central Asia and a wealth of data on institutions and political figures.
Peyrouse, Sébastien. Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2011. The most up-to-date survey of the history and early-21st-century politics, social relations, economic politics, and foreign policy of Turkmenistan. The section on the post-Soviet technologies of power is particularly useful for understanding authoritarian resilience in Turkmenistan.
Melvin, Neil J. Uzbekistan: Transition to Authoritarianism on the Silk Road. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, 2000. A very general introduction to Uzbekistan, intended for those who have had little exposure to the country. Provides a chronology of some key events and brief overviews of Uzbekistan’s history, culture, politics, economics, society, and foreign relations during the first decade since its independence.
Dillon, Michael. China’s Muslim Hui Community: Migration, Settlement and Sects. London: Routledge Curzon, 1999. Reconstruction of the history of the Muslim community known today as the Hui, from the earliest days of Islam in China to the present. Section 1 focuses on patterns of Muslim settlement in China.
Thum, Rian. The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. Demonstrates how Uyghurs constructed a unique local history over the past 250 years, shaped by manuscripts, pilgrimage, and the veneration of Islamic saints.
Beckwith, Christopher I. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. The standard history of the Tibetan Empire (c. 7–9th centuries CE) in, among other things, its Central Asian contexts. Highlights the religious, economic, and linguistic exchanges that helped give form and content not only to the powerful Yarlung dynasty, but also to the widely influential forms of Buddhism that took shape on the Tibetan
Bellér-Hann, Ildikó. Community Matters in Xinjiang, 1880–1949: Towards a Historical Anthropology of the Uyghur. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic, 2008. A pioneering historical anthropology of the Uyghur of Xinjiang, spanning the era from the late 19th century to 1949. Chapter 6 on religion includes sections on Islamic education. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004166752.i-477
Millward, James A. Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. London: Hurst, 2007. The first full survey history of the region today called Xinjiang and incorporated into the territory of northwestern China. Includes material on educational reform in Xinjiang, inspired by the Muslim reformist Jadid movement in Central Asia.
Lipman, Jonathan. Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. History of the Muslims of northwestern China, situated at the intersection of the Mongolian-Manchu, Tibetan, Turkic, and Chinese cultural spheres. Uses primary and secondary sources in several languages.
Clarke, Michael E. Xinjiang and China’s Rise in Central Asia—A History. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. Primarily about post-1949 Xinjiang, but chapter 2 (pp. 16–41) provides a helpful survey to pre-1949 events.
Clarke, Michael E. Xinjiang and China’s Rise in Central Asia—A History. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. Primarily about post-1949 Xinjiang, but chapter 2 (pp. 16–41) provides a helpful survey to pre-1949 events.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. The compilation of historical events by this anthropology professor at Case Western Reserve University constitutes an important academic reference work on this matter. In his work, the author uses a variety of Chinese and Tibetan sources together with British Foreign Office records and those at the US National Archives.
Wei, Jing. One Hundred Questions about Tibet. Beijing: Beijing Review, 1989. A broad generic work covering the most controversial points concerning the issue of Tibet, ranging from this territory’s historical status to the current human rights situation. With regard to the 17 Point Agreement, this official report by the Chinese government even quotes the Dalai Lama as having given his consent to the agreement to Mao in person in 1951.
Barfield, Thomas. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010. Barfield is considered the leading US anthropologist studying Afghanistan.
Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. This is the first book to read on Afghanistan. It is the baseline document for understanding Afghanistan’s geography, people, and history. There have been three subsequent editions published.
Caroe, Olaf. The Pathans: 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957. London: Macmillan, 1958. An authoritative look at the Pashtun peoples who inhabit Afghanistan and Pakista
Elverskog, Johan. Our Great Qing: The Mongols, Buddhism, and the State in Late Imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006. An excellent analysis of the intellectual and political history of Mongolia that sheds light on a socioreligious revolution in Mongolia from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. It addresses the changes brought by the Qing dynasty’s promotion of Gelugpa Buddhism in Mongolia, which influenced Mongol historical narratives, monastic education, and rituals.
Jerryson, Michael K. Mongolian Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of the Sangha. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007. A historical look at the demise of Buddhism in Mongolia during the Communist period. It includes an introduction to the history of Buddhism in Mongolia and interviews with Mongolian Buddhists who lived through the period of the suppression of Buddhist practices.
Jagchid, Sechin, and Paul Hyer. Mongolia’s Culture and Society. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1979. This is a fine single-volume introduction to Mongolia in general. Its main author, Sechin Jagchid, was a native of Inner Mongolia and wrote extensively all his life on the Inner Mongolia as he knew it. It remains the single most useful and informative general introduction to Mongol culture, past and present.
May, Timothy. Culture and Customs of Mongolia. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2009. This volume includes chapters on history, pastoral nomadism, religion, literature, cuisine, dress, gender, courtship, marriage, festivals, leisure, social customs, lifestyle, and the legacy of Chinggis Khan. As a general introduction to Mongol culture, this work complements, but does not replace, Jagchid and Hyer 1979.
Morgan, David O. The Mongols. 2d ed. Peoples of Europe. Malden, MA, and Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. An accessible and well-written introduction to the Mongol Empire, written by a Persian specialist who in the first edition (originally published in 1986) synthesized the best Western-language scholarship up to the mid-1980s. This second edition of the book includes a bibliographic supplement of works published up to the mid-1990s.
Harris, Ian. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2005. A useful discussion of Buddhism within Cambodian history, though its analysis is stronger on the 20th century.
Ricklefs, Merle Calvin. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993. While there is no recent book on Dutch imperialism in Indonesia, this general account devotes more attention to the period of Dutch rule than any other work.
Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. A History of Malaysia. 2d. ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001. This general account of British imperialism in Malaysia devotes more attention to the period of British rule than any other work. Originally published in 1982.
Lieberman, Victor. Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 1580–1760. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984. This is an exemplary history of the political economy of Burma in the centuries before colonialism. While not about Buddhism per se, it contains an extensive discussion about the roles played by monks and monasteries in the governance of Burma.
Harris, Ian. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2005. A useful discussion of Buddhism within Cambodian history, though its analysis is stronger on the 20th century.
Kapstein, Matthew. The Tibetans. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. An impressive and accessible history of Tibet, with a thorough account of the relationship of Buddhist institutions and political power.
Holt, John. Spirits of the Place: Buddhism and Lao Religious Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009. A consideration of Lao Buddhism over the past several centuries, this book suggests that Lao Buddhism needs to be understood in relation to the local spirit cults with which it is partnered. There is a nice consideration of novices in contemporary Luang Phrabang.
Harris, Ian. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2005. A useful discussion of Buddhism within Cambodian history, though its analysis is stronger on the 20th century.
Powers, John. A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2008. A general introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, it also has extensive discussions of Tibetan religious and political history, as well as a focus on institutional divisions.
Wyatt, David K. Thailand: A Short History. 2d ed. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 2003. The standard introduction in English to the study of Thai history. Although the focus is not specifically on religion, the role of various religious traditions and actors, including Buddhist and Hindu, are addressed.
Assavavirulhakarn, Prapod. The Ascendancy of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 2010. A new look at the rise of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Argues that there was no “conversion” to Theravāda Buddhism in the 12th century but rather that the Theravāda school was well established from the early 1st millennium, but dwelling in coexistence with other religious beliefs and practices, including Brahmanism.
Charnvit, Kasetsiri. The Rise of Ayudhya: A History of Siam in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Oxford University Press, 1976. The foundational study, in English, of the rise of Ayutthayā, predecessor of Bangkok as capitol of Siam. Addresses the important role that Brahmanical ceremonies, inherited from earlier Southeast Asian kingdoms such as Angkor, played alongside Buddhism in the construction of the Ayutthayan state.
Coedès, George. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. Edited by Walter F. Vella. Translated by Susan Brown Cowing. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996. Coedès’s classic study in which he presents his model of the “Indianization” (Fr. hindouisation) of Southeast Asia. Translated from the third edition of the French Les états hindouisés d’Indochine et d’Indonésie, published in 1964 (Paris: Éditions de Boccard).
Coedès, George. The Making of South East Asia. Translated by H. M. Wright. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966. Provides excellent descriptions of history, archaeological remains, and epigraphy. An important work; however, some of the theses have been supplanted by more-recent research.
Peleggi, Maurizio. Lords of Things: The Fashioning of the Siamese Monarchy’s Modern Image. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002. Explores how the Siamese monarchy fashioned an image of itself as modern and modernizing, especially during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. See, in particular, chapter 5, “Refashioning the Theater of Power” (pp. 113–142), which discusses the role that royal ceremonies played in this process. f
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A general introduction to culture, literature, the arts, religion, cuisine, and popular festivals in Thailand. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Suitable for use with undergraduates.
Jacq-Hergoualc’h, Michel. The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road. Translated by Victoria Hobson. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
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Each section begins with a useful overview of the situation in China, South Asia, and the Middle East to account for shifts in trade patterns affecting local polities. The author argues that a transpeninsula land route did not play a significant role in the exchange between India and Hindu/Buddhist ports on the Gulf of Thailand.
Wheatley, Paul. The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before AD 1500. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya Press, 1961.
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An account of the early historical geography of the Malay Peninsula based on original sources in Greek, Latin, Chinese (with original text), Arabic, and Indian sources in translation. This work is the foundation for all later studies of the early Indianized communities of the Thai/Malay Peninsula.
Keyes, Charles. The Golden Peninsula. New York: Macmillan, 1977. Although not produced by a Buddhist studies scholar, this is a masterful study of the ways in which multiple religious traditions in Southeast Asia interact and are influenced by tensions over politics, ethnicity, economics, and gender.
Khoo, James C. M., ed. Art and Archaeology of Fu Nan: Pre-Khmer Kingdom of the Lower Mekong Valley. Bangkok: Orchid, 2003.
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John Miksic provides an overview of what is known about the development of Funan, Miriam Stark reviews findings from recent archaeological work on Angkor Borei, and Vo Si Khai reviews work by Vietnamese archaeologists. Khoo has an essay on the sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist deities associated with Funan.
Vickery, Michael. Champa Revised. Working Paper Series 37. Singapore: Asia Research Institute, 2005.
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The first major critical revision of Cham history published since the work of Maspero.
Maspero, Georges. The Champa Kingdom: The History of an Extinct Vietnamese Culture. Translated by Walter E. J. Tips. Bangkok: White Lotus, 2002.
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An English translation of Royaume de Champa (Paris et Bruxelles: G. van Oest, 1928). This first study of the Cham states was based on inscriptions on Cham stelae, early Chinese sources, and some knowledge of contemporary Cham culture.
Swearer, Donald K. The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia. 2d ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.
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A revised edition of a classic text; particularly useful as an introduction to 20th- and 21st-century Thai Buddhism. Attentive to the place of ritual and temple life in Buddhist practice.
Mannikka, Eleanor. Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1996.
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A unique study of Angkor Wat, the temple built by Suryavarman II (r. 1113–1145/50). Argues that Angkor Wat was designed according to numerical references to lunar, solstice, and directional symbolism, while also representing the cosmic order of the gods and dates significant to the ruler’s reign.
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Roveda, Vittorio. Khmer Mythology. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
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A beautifully illustrated survey of Hindu and Buddhist myths depicted in reliefs on the monuments of Angkor. The introductory essay provides an overview of Angkorian religion.
Mabbett, Ian, and David Chandler. The Khmers. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1995.
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An excellent account of how the royal cults of Shiva and Vishnu rested on and blended with indigenous spirit beliefs and ancestor worship.
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Vickery, Michael. Society, Economics, and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th–8th Centuries. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, 1998.
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A historical-materialist study of pre-Angkorian society and economy based on inscriptions in Old Khmer. Chapter 5, “The Cult Component,” suggests that references to “old and young gods” in inscriptions reflect local Khmer deities, which were gradually Sanskritized.
Harris, Ian Charles. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005.
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Set a new standard for comprehensive studies of Southeast Asian Buddhism. Longitudinal and thematic history of Cambodian Buddhism and introduction to research in the field. For the “almost total liquidation” of the sangha under the Khmer Rouge, see Harris, Buddhism in a Dark Age: Cambodian Monks under Pol Pot (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2013).
Holt, John. The Spirits of the Place: Buddhism and Lao Religious Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009.
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Holt specializes in Sri Lankan Buddhism but has produced an interesting and provocative survey useful to beginners and specialists alike. Important not only for the study of Lao religion but also for its methodological emphasis on the study of local religions as a fundamental ground for Buddhist (and religious) studies more generally.
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McDaniel, Justin. Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008.
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Effective history and ethnography of interpretation based upon analysis of institutions and curricula. Focuses on the use of Pali texts and terms in vernacular Buddhist cultures. Both readable and erudite.
Swearer, Donald. The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia. 2d ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.
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This text presents a very general treatment of early Buddhist kingdoms, Buddhist festivals and rituals (popular traditions), and reform, focusing primarily on northern Thailand.

McDaniel, Justin. The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magic Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
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A study of 19th- and 20th-century Buddhist liturgy, ritual, monasteries, and art in Thailand. There is a particular focus on the life of one of the country’s most famous monks and magicians, Somdet Phutthachan Brahmarangsi To.
Reynolds, Craig J. Seditious Histories: Exploring Thai and Southeast Asian Pasts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006.
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Even though a number of chapters in this book are not on Buddhist subjects per se, Reynolds is the leading scholar of Buddhist intellectual and social history in Thailandwith heavy emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Methodologically it is a good guide to ways of approaching historical sources and major debates in the field.
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Sarassawadee Ongsakul. History of Lan Na. Translated by Chitraporn Tanratanakul. Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2005.
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The most reliable historical study of the region, covering the history of some of the most important Buddhist monasteries and their powerful patrons. It is not simply a history of elite voices, though, and offers a history of local and rural Buddhist agents and institutions.
Gombrich, Richard F. Theravāda Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. 2d ed. London: Routledge, 2006.
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A revised edition of a classic text focused considerably on Sri Lanka. The treatments of early Buddhism and monastic culture are particularly strong.
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Harvey, B. Peter. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History, and Practices. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
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A substantial introduction to diverse aspects of Buddhism with useful attention to ritual, cosmology, and community life in Southeast Asia.
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Lester, Robert C. Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1973.
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Although more than thirty years old, several chapters of this book offer importantly nuanced views on Buddhist practice and social life. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 may be fruitfully read as a complement to other texts mentioned in this section.
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Robinson, Richard H., and Willard L. Johnson, assisted by Sandra A. Wawrytko and Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1996.
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An ambitious high-level historical treatment with a strong bibliography, shaped to some degree by a reformist Theravadin Buddhist perspective. It offers valuable accounts of monastic practice and Buddhist debate over doctrinal and disciplinary matters.
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Hazra, Kanai Lal. History of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia: With Special Reference to India and Ceylon. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2002.
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Drawing on inscriptions and Buddhist narrative records, the author attempts to reconstruct a history of Buddhist movements in the region. Emphasizes post-11th-century transmissions associated with Theravada Buddhism and the Sīhala Saṅgha.
Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2d ed. London: Routledge, 2009.
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Although not concerned with Southeast Asian Buddhism, this volume offers a valuable introduction to intellectual and ritual developments in South Asia that helped shape expressions of Southeast Asian Buddhism.
Aung-Thwin, Michael. Pagan: The Origins of Modern Burma. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985.
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An influential and controversial account of medieval Burmese political economy, royal intervention in monastic institutions, and landholding.
Charney, Michael W. Powerful Learning: Buddhist Literati and the Throne in Burma’s Last Dynasty, 1752–1885. Ann Arbor: Centers for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 2006.
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Investigates the impact of regional monastic politics on royal patronage and Buddhist textual developments.
Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja World Conqueror and World Renouncer. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
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A classic study of the historical and late 20th-century relationship between Buddhist kings and monastics with special reference to Thailand. Productively read in conversation with Keyes 1978.
Edwards, Penny. Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860–1945. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007.
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A study of the development of cultural nationalism in French colonial Cambodia that includes a stimulating treatment of colonial-period changes in Buddhist textuality and the treatment of religious sites and monuments.
Hansen, Anne Ruth. How to Behave: Buddhism and Modernity in Colonial Cambodia, 1860–1930. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007.
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An innovative and thoughtful study of the conjoined Asian and French influences on Buddhist modernism in Cambodia with a detailed treatment of Siamese-Cambodian Buddhist networks.
Malalgoda, Kitsiri. Buddhism in Sinhalese Society, 1750–1900. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
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A classic and rightly influential study of Buddhist lay and monastic institutional and social change, partly in the context of British colonial rule.

Klima, Alan. The Funeral Casino: Meditation, Massacre, and Exchange with the Dead in Thailand. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
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A thought-provoking account of Thai militarism in relation to economic development and Buddhist rituals of remembrance. Stronger ethnographically than as a Buddhist-informed theory of memory and representation.

Kamala Tiyavanich. Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth-Century Thailand. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
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An account of changing monastic life in relation to Thai state Buddhism and modernization derived primarily from monastic biographies and autobiographies.

Taylor, J. L. Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeastern Thailand. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, 1993.
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A thoughtful account of the impact of early 20th-century Buddhist reforms on monasticism and ritual in Lao-speaking northeastern Thailand.
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Thongchai Winichakul. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.
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A deservedly celebrated account of the origins of the Thai nation and nationalism written in the aftermath of the suppressed student uprising of 1971. Interesting in part for its reflections on the violence and agency of mapping.
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Harris, Ian. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.
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A valuable summary and point of departure for the study of 20th-century Cambodian Buddhism with deeper historical context.
Mendelson, E. Michael. Sangha and State in Burma: A Study of Monastic Sectarianism and Leadership. Edited by John P. Ferguson. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1975.
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Although somewhat outdated, this remains a useful source for work on 20th-century Burmese Buddhist politics in part because of references to Burmese sources.
Evans, Grant. The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos since 1975. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998.
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Examines the destruction and partial revival of ritual and memory structures related to earlier Buddhist political formations.
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Stuart-Fox, Martin. Buddhist Kingdom, Marxist State: The Making of Modern Laos. Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus, 1996.
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Contains an interesting chapter on the Lao state’s shifting treatments of Buddhist monks and institutions.
Briggs, Lawrence. The Ancient Khmer Empire. Reprint. Bangkok: White Lotus, 1999.
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The single most comprehensive and detailed document of the temples up to the mid-20th century. It combines the history of the Khmer Empire, the genealogy of the kings, art, and architecture based on surveys and inscriptions with extensive references. An important analysis. Originally published in 1951.
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Chandler, David P. A History of Cambodia. 4th ed. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 2003.
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This updated edition traces Cambodian history from the pre-Angkor period to 1991. Considered a standard reference on the history of Cambodia. Originally published in 1992.
Dagens, Bruno. Angkor: Heart of an Asian Empire. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
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A concise, informative history of the French explorers and early archaeologists working at Angkor; a wealth of illustrations and documentation support the text. Written by a French scholar. Suitable for students. English translation of Angkor: La forêt de pierre (Paris: Gallimard, 1989).
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Giteau, Madeleine. History of Angkor. Translated by Gail Armstrong. Paris: Kailash, 1997.
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A historical account of the Khmer Empire from its founding in the early 9th century to its decline in the 15th century. Written by the former curator of the National Museum of Phnom Penh who lived in Cambodia for more than twenty years.
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Higham, Charles. The Civilization of Angkor. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001.
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Discusses the origins of Angkor from the prehistoric period to the rise and fall of Angkor. The author draws on the latest research and addresses two contentious issues: the impact of “Indianization” on Angkor and the issue of irrigation during the Angkor period. Written by an archaeologist/anthropologist who conducted field work in Cambodia for more than thirty years.
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Vickery, Michael. Society, Economics, and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, the Toyo Bunko, 1998.
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Examines the corpus of pre-Angkor Cambodia epigraphic material to discern information about Cambodian society and economy. A scholarly discussion of the structure and dynamics of Khmer society.
Brocheux, Pierre, and Daniel Hémery. Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858–1954. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
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Well translated and easily the most comprehensive history of the colonial period. Written by two leading veteran scholars.
Aldrich, Robert. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion. London: Macmillan, 1996.
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Genuinely global in its approach, this is an excellent introduction for students new to the French Empire.
Keith, Charles. Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
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Traces the remarkable growth of Catholic observance in colonial Vietnam and the Church’s pivotal role in Vietnamese culture and politics before, during, and after the Indochina War of 1946–1954.
Marr, David G. Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920–1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
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A landmark study of currents in Vietnamese intellectual thought that shows a vibrant civic culture that gave the lie to French and Communist readings of colonial society.
Jennings, Eric T. Vichy in the Tropics. Pétain’s National Revolution in Madagascar, Guadeloupe, and Indochina, 1940–1944. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001.
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Consists of three linked regional case studies that highlight the ideological distinctiveness of Vichy’s colonial ambitions and their damaging effects.
Lieberman, Victor B. Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830. Vol. 1, The Mainland. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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This gargantuan study of early modern Southeast Asian states, societies, and economies, and their precolonial integration into a handful of states that presaged modern Southeast Asia in comparison to similar patterns of development elsewhere in Eurasia, is the latest and most expansive account that provides the context for understanding the historical role of warfare in the region.
Charney, Michael W. Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300–1900. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004b.
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This history of warfare in Southeast Asia between 1300 and 1900 was published a half century after the last region-wide monograph to focus on indigenous warfare: Quaritch Wales 1952. Its treatment of regional patterns, cultures, and technology of warfare provides topically focused chapters.