A History of Southeast Asia Critical Crossroads [Hardcover]

A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads presents a comprehensive history of Southeast Asia from our earliest knowledge of its civilizations and religious patterns up to the present day.

• Incorporates environmental, social, economic, and gender issues to tell a multi-dimensional story of Southeast Asian history from earliest times to the present
• Argues that while the region remains a highly diverse mix of religions, ethnicities, and political systems, it demands more attention for how it manages such diversity while being receptive to new ideas and technologies
• Demonstrates how Southeast Asia can offer alternatives to state-centric models of history more broadly

• 2016 PROSE Award Honorable Mention for Textbook in the Humanities

List of Tables xi

List of Maps xii

List of Illustrations xiii

Series Editor’s Preface xiv

Preface xvii

Glossary xxii

Abbreviations xxv

1 People in the Humid Tropics 1

Benign Climate, Dangerous Environment 1

Forests, Water, and People 4

Why a Low but Diverse Population? 6

Agriculture and Modern Language Families 10

The Rice Revolution and Population Concentration 13

The Agricultural Basis of State and Society 16

Food and Clothes 18

Women and Men 21

Not China, not India 26

2 Buddha and Shiva Below the Winds 30

Debates about Indic States 30

Bronze, Iron, and Earthenware in the Archaeological Record 32

Thelsy