Arts of Southeast Asia  •  Fiona Kerlogue ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES A handsome guide to the art, architecture, textiles and crafts of Southeast Asia, featuring 183 illustrations, 102 in color. Organized thematically, this concise book includes chapters on Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous art. A volume in the World of Art series. (SEA45, $16.95)
Back To Mandalay  •  Gerry Abbott BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2004 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES Abbott's memoir of a two-year stint as an English teacher at Mandalay University in the late 1980s. (BMA57, $23.00)
Birds of Southeast Asia  •  Craig Robson FIELD GUIDE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES A compact field guide to the birds of Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in the outstanding series of Princeton Field Guides. The book features 140 color plates covering 1,270 species, concise text and range maps. This is the field edition of Robson's masterful Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia. (SEA49, $35.00)
Buddhism and Society, A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes  •  Melford E. Spiro RELIGION •  1982 •  PAPER  • 560 PAGES This scholarly book, based on field work in the 1960s, is a surprisingly good introduction to the practice -- and impact -- of Buddhism in Burma. Spiro stars out with a clear and useful introduction to Theravada Buddhism. (BMA34, $35.50)
The Buddhist Handbook  •  John Snelling RELIGION •  1992 •  PAPER  • 345 PAGES Subtitled, "The Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice and History, " this even-handed book is a concise primer covering the history, philosophical foundation and practice of Buddhism. It gives a basic overview of the teachings and practice of Buddhism, including a who's who of contemporary teachers and list of useful addresses around the world. (ASA08, $16.95)
The Burma Road, The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II  •  Donovan Webster HISTORY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES The tale of the building of the 700-mile supply route to China under impossible circumstances over difficult terrain during WWII. It's a heroic tale of daring pilots and workers, both local and American, many of them black soldiers, dramatized in the movie The Bridge over the River Kwai. The book, by a former editor at Outside magazine, is part history and part adventure. Donovan draws on archival materials, military history, interview and travel in recreating the harrowing events surrounding the building of the Burma Road and the connecting Ledo Road from 1942-1945. General Joseph (Vinegar Joe) W. Stilwell gets a starring role. (BMA41, $14.95)
Burmese Looking Glass  •  Edith Mirante BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1994 •  PAPER  • 333 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE Subtitled "A Human Rights Adventure and a Jungle Revolution" this is the moving story of resistance in the highlands by a dedicated writer with the soul of a poet and the passion of a revolutionary. Deported to Thailand in 1988, Mirante was the first westerner to march with the rebels. (BMA05, $12.00)
Burmese Supernaturalism  •  Melford E. Spiro RELIGION •  1996 •  PAPER  • 300 PAGES Spiro, a scholar of Buddhism and the author of Buddhism and Society, A Great Tradition and its Burmese Vicissitudes examines the folk religions of Burma and their relationship to Buddhism, as well as the origins of religion in general in this overview of ancient (and ongoing) Burmese religious tradiitons. (BMA48, $29.95)
Classical Dance and Theatre in South-East Asia  •  Jukka O. Miettinen CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1993 •  HARD COVER  • 228 PAGES An illustrated introduction to disappearing traditions in dance, theater, and puppet theater in Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Java, and Bali. (SEA54, $85.00)
Collected Short Stories, Volume 4  •  W. Somerset Maugham LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 464 PAGES Maugham can evoke turn-of-the-century colonial Asia like no other. This collection of stories features many set in Malaysia and other southeast Asian locales, including the well-known tale "The Letter." (SEA01, $17.00)
Down the Rat Hole, Adventures Underground on the Burma Frontier  •  Edith Mirante BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2005 •  PAPER  • 200 PAGES Further tales by the American activist in Burma. (BMA50, $21.95)
Flame Tree, A Novel of Modern Burma  •  Keith Dahlberg LITERATURE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES The dramatic wartime tale of George Daniels, an unassuming teacher in Burma who finds himself in the midst of a war between the Burmese dictatorship and the rebel forces of the hill armies. George's status as an innocent observer is threatened when his wife is held hostage. (BMA45, $15.95)
Flavors of Burma, Cuisine and Culture from the Land of Golden Pagodas  •  Ssusan Chan FOOD •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 130 PAGES A guide to the culture and traditions of Burma, and especially its food, featuring 76 recipes. In addition to an good sampling of dishes and meals, Chan includes an overview of food and markets, ingredients, customs, language, and festivals. (BMA37, $22.50)
Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945  •  Christopher Bayly  •  Timothy Harper HISTORY •  2005 •  HARD COVER  • 608 PAGES A gripping history of Britain's WWII campaigns in India, Burma and Malaysia by two Cambridge University historians. The authors draw on multiple perspectives, including that of the Japanese, in this authoritative history of famous and horrifying battles. With 34 black-and-white photographs and seven maps. (ASA45, $29.95)
A Fortune-Teller Told Me, Earthbound Travels in the Far East  •  Tizanio Terzani TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 371 PAGES Grounded for a year, the peripatetic journalist (Italian-born, writing in German, and based in India) sets off by any other means to complete his rounds through Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Japan and other far-flung destinations. The result is this warm, anecdotal account of the character of the region. It's got to be the book most recommended to us on contemporary Asia. (SEA35, $14.95)
A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia  •  Craig Robson FIELD GUIDE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 504 PAGES A comprehensive guide and handbook to the 1,250 species of birds found in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia -- the first in a decade. It features 104 color plates, good descriptive text, range maps and introductory chapters on habitats, conservation and bird watching in the region. (SEA22, $85.00)
Himalayan Enchantment, An Anthology  •  Frank Kingdon-Ward EXPLORATION •  1990 •  HARD COVER  • 288 PAGES An anthology of writings by the great Himalayan explorer and plant-collector Frank Kingdon-Ward, who undertook 25 expeditions to the region from 1909 to 1953. The selections balance his interest in plants with his interest in geography, birds, beasts, insects and its variegated inhabitants, not only Tibetan and Chinese, but also the hill tribes -- Abors, Darus, Dulengs, Kachins, Lisus, Lutzus, Marus, Mishimis, Nungs and others -- in whose life he took such an affectionate interest. (HML03, $19.95)
In Farthest Burma  •  Frank Kingdon-Ward EXPLORATION •  2005 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES In this classic account, subtitled The Record of an Arduous Journey of Exploration and Research Through the Unknown Frontier Territory of Burma and Tibet, famed climber, scholar, botanist and all-around explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward chronicles his travels along the eastern Irrawaddy River in Burma. (BMA46, $26.95)
In Search of Southeast Asia: a Modern History  •  David P. Chandler  •  David J. Steinberg HISTORY •  1988 •  PAPER  • 590 PAGES Written by seven historians of Asia, this scholarly overview of the social, economic and political history of Southeast Asia is an excellent introduction to the region. A popular text for courses on modern Southeast Asian history, the organizing theme of the book is the region's cultural adaptation to change. Parts 2, 4 & 5 are organized by country. (SEA18, $30.00)
Inroads into Burma, A Travellers' Anthology  •  Gerry Abbott ANTHOLOGY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 346 PAGES A selection of writings on Burma, from the classic and religious to the travel narrative to the modern, covering almost four centuries of Burmese history. Included are writings on the cities of Pegu, Mandalay and Pagan, Burma's three wars, Buddhism, traditional crafts, natural history and the country's royal heritage. (BMA12, $25.95)
Insight Guide Southeast Asia  •  Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK •  2003 •  PAPER  • 302 PAGES • COMING IN A profusely illustrated overview of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Phillippines, featuring concise essays by well regarded authors on history, politics and culture, as well as hundreds of photos and maps and some limited practical information. (SEA51, $22.95)
The Lady: Aung San Suu Kyi  •  Barbara Victor BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 296 PAGES A biography of the Nobel Prize-winning dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. Victor had to overcome tremendous odds in writing this book (her trip to Myanmar was strictly controlled by the military junta, and she never did get to interview Aung San Suu Kyi), but she nonetheless has constructed a balanced and compelling account of Ms. Kyi -- and the Burmese junta. With a new afterword covering events since the book was first published in 1998. (BMA14, $15.00)
The Land of the Great Image  •  Maurice Collis HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER The tale of the 17th-century Portuguese Friar Manrique and his adventures in the kingdom of Arakan along the Bay of Bengal (now Rakhine State in western Burma). Originally published in 1943, Collis was a British administrator in Rakhine in the 1920s. The title of the book refers to the colossal Buddha for which the region is known. (BMA38, $19.95)
Lands of Charm and Cruelty, Travels in Southeast Asia  •  Stan Sesser TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1994 •  PAPER  • 306 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE Originally published as separate long articles in the "New Yorker," this wonderfully written book is a report on the region by a talented foreign corespondent and traveler. In it he ranges from Singapore to Laos and Cambodia, Burma and Sarawak. It brings to life the people and places of these nations, a heartwrenching portrait of the politics and tremendous potential of what Seser clearly believes are some of the most fascinating places on Earth. It's essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of Southeast Asia. (SEA04, $19.00)
Letters from Burma  •  Aun San Suu Kyi  •  Heinn Htet HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 209 PAGES A collection of weekly newspaper articles on Burmese culture, daily life, and politics written by Burma's Nobel Prize-winning human rights leader shortly after her release from (BMA49, $16.00)
Life in the Valley of Death, The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed  •  Alan Rabinowitz NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 296 PAGES Conservationist and adventurer Rabinowitz sets out to establish the world's largest tiger preserve in Burma's remote and rugged Hukaung Valley, running afoul of warlords, corrupt officials and his own mortality along the way. (BMA54, $25.95)
The Making of Modern Burma  •  Thant Myint-U HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 291 PAGES A well researched and balanced account of political and economic development in 19th and 20th-century Burma with a particular focus on the legacy of British colonial rule. The author, a grandson of the former UN Secretary General U Thant, argues persuasively that Burma's failure as a democratic nation can be attributed to the haphazard drawing of national boundaries and political vacuum left by the British. (BMA21, $32.99)
Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from Myanmar, India and Bangladesh  •  David Fraser  •  Barbara Fraser ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2005 •  HARD COVER An abundantly illustrated study of the textiles of the Chin peoples of southern and eastern Asia. With more than 600 color illustrations. (ASA46, $60.00)
The Naga of Burma: Festivals, Customs and Way of Life  •  Jamie Saul  •  Dominique Viallard CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2005 •  PAPER  • 212 PAGES The Naga are an ethnic minority with a population of almost four million, found in Burma and parts of China and India. In this handsomely photographed anthropological study, Jamie Saul presents a well-informed overview of the Naga people, their social structures, religious traditions, art and architectural styles. With photographs by Dominique Viallard, who worked as a doctor and photographer in Burma for the last five years of Saul's study. (BMA47, $36.00)
The Naked Tourist, In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall  •  Lawrence Osborne TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES • NEW "It came upon me suddenly," Osborne reports, "like a mental disorder unknown to psychiatry: the desire to stop everything in normal life, to uproot, leave." And so he does, taking off on a six-month journey from Dubai to India, Bangkok, Bali and Papua New Guinea on the "Asian Highway." Osborne is not just interested in travel, but also in the reasons why we travel, layering his own entertaining adventures with ruminations on Shangri-La, The Grand Tour, the exotic and primitive. (SEA50, $14.00)
The Politics of Heroin, CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade  •  Alfred McCoy HISTORY •  1991 •  PAPER  • 634 PAGES An expanded version of McCoy's groundbreaking "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia." This second edition includes the relationship between drug merchants, and intelligence and law enforcement agencies from Southeast Asia, to Central America and Afghanistan. The author is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. (LAO09, $32.95)
It's Easier Than You Think, The Buddhist Way to Happiness  •  Sylvia Boorstein RELIGION •  1997 •  PAPER  • 145 PAGES Boorstein -- a practitioner of Buddhist meditation, psychotherapist and Jewish grandmother to boot -- here relates the basic tenets of Buddhism in her warmly engaging, anecdotal style. It's a good introduction to Buddhist teachings by a self-deprecating master. (GEN264, $13.00)
Red Dust, A Path Through China  •  Ma Jian  •  Flora Drew TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 324 PAGES An astounding, thoughtful memoir of an urban poet, painter and writer on the road to Tibet in the mid-1980s. At low ebb personally, and censured by his propaganda work unit, 30-year-old Ma Jian abandons his disintegrating life in Beijing for a remarkable three-year trek south and west to Guizhou province, Burma and Tibet. This first-rate account offers a vibrant portrait of Deng's People's Republic of China, and an extremely useful testimonial to the plight of Chinese artists therein. With kudos by Barbara Crossette, Jonathan Spence and others, this first book by Jian, who now lives in London, is drawing a lot of attention. (CHN150, $15.00)
The River's Tale, A Year on the Mekong  •  Edward Gargan TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES A personal, probing chronicle of a 3,000-mile journey on the river from its source in China through Tibet, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia to the Mekong delta in Vietnam. Gargan, a veteran correspondent and bureau chief for the New York Times, spent a year traveling the river. (SEA33, $14.95)
Soul of the Tiger, Searching for Nature's Answers in Southeast Asia  •  Jeffrey A. McNeely  •  Paul Spencer Sochaczewski NATURAL HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 432 PAGES A wide-ranging meditation on the role of animals and nature in the complex human societies of Southeast Asia, originally published in 1988. The authors wax philosophical -- and sometimes blackly humorous -- about conservation issues throughout the region. They argue for effective community-based conservation building on traditional relationships between people and the environment (SEA02, $18.95)
South Southeast  •  Steve McCurry ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 160 PAGES A remarkable portfolio of images taken in and around Afghanistan, Burma, India, Pakistan and other sites in South and Southeast Asia over a career in photojournalism spanning twenty years. The photographs, saturated with color, life and light, are beautiful. You can preview some of his striking photographs online at http://www.stevemccurry.com. (ASA34, $59.95)
Shwedagon, Golden Pagoda of Myanmar  •  Elizabeth Moore  •  U Win Pe  •  Hansjorg Mayer ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 192 PAGES With 200 illustrations and text by art historian Elizabeth Moore and Burmese scholar U Win Pe, this enlightening book discusses the history and evolution of the golden shrine. (BMA17, $40.00)
Southeast Asia in the New International Era  •  Clark Neher HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES A good general history of the entire region and its place in the world. Written by a seasoned scholar, the book is now in its third edition. (SEA17, $38.00)
Southeast Asia Map  •  Nelles MAP A clear, double-sided map of all of southeast Asia from Burma, Vietnam and Thailand to Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia at a scale of 1:4,500,000. (SEA12, $10.95)
Southeast Asia, A Concise History  •  Mary Somers Heidhues HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A lively, illustrated history of Southeast Asia, covering the politics, economics, society and culture of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. With 131 black-and-white illustrations and 11 maps. (SEA26, $19.95)
Southeast Asia, From Prehistory to History  •  Peter Bellwood  •  Ian Glover HISTORY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES Geared for students, this popular textbook outlines the cultural history of the region from Neolithic and early metal periods to the major Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms. (SEA53, $190.00)
A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia  •  J.M. Barwise  •  Nicholas J. White HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES A compact history of the region, including the Khmer and other ancient kingdoms that produced Borobudor, Angkor and other architectural marvels. The authors include the history of diverse nations from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia, to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. (SEA36, $14.95)
Twilight over Burma, My Life as a Shan Princess  •  Inge Sargent  •  Bertil Lintner BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1994 •  PAPER  • 216 PAGES A memoir (though told in the third person) of Inge Sargent, an Austrian who in 1953 married Sao Kya Seng, the princely leader of Shan, an ethnic enclave in the hill country of northeastern Burma. She immersed herself in Burmese culture, and lived together with her husband and daughters at the palace in Hsipaw until he was executed in a military coup in 1962. A fascinating story. (BMA11, $14.95)
Visions from the Golden Land: Burma and the Art of Lacquer  •  T. Richard Blurton  •  Ralph Isaacs ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2000 •  PAPER An illustrated survey of the art and history of lacquer in Burma from the collection of the British Museum. (BMA32, $45.00)
A Woman's Asia  •  Marybeth Bond ANTHOLOGY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 310 PAGES These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. Featuring selections from Jan Morris, Pamela Logan and Alison Wright. (ASA49, $17.95)
A World Overturned, A Burmese Childhood 1933-1947  •  Maureen Baird-Murray BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1998 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES Shuttling between her mother's Burmese village, an English convent -- and then witnessing the Japanese occupation of her homeland as a nine-year-old, Maureen Baird-Murray had an eventful childhood. She captures the disorientation and drama of those years in this fine memoir. (BMA30, $13.95)