Asian History Books

New and Published Books

1. Women’s History and Local Community in Postwar Japan

   By Curtis Anderson Gayle

   Series: Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) East Asian Series

   This timely look at a neglected corner of Japanese historiography spotlights the decade following the end of World War II, a time in which Japanese society was undergoing the transformation from imperial state to democratic nation. For certain working and middle-class women involved in...

   Published May 7th 2013 by Routledge
2. The Chinese/Vietnamese Diaspora

   Revisiting the boat people

   Edited by Yuk Wah Chan

   Series: Routledge Contemporary Asia Series

   Over three decades have passed since the first wave of Indochinese refugees left their homelands. These refugees, mainly the Vietnamese, fled from war and strife in search of a better life elsewhere. By investigating the Vietnamese diaspora in Asia, this book sheds new light on the Asian refugee...

   Published April 30th 2013 by Routledge
3. Communist Indochina

   By R. B. Smith

   Edited by Beryl Williams

   Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia

   This book examines the history of communist Indochina, from the foundation of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1929-30 to the end of the 1970s. It explores the impact of the Japanese invasion of Indochina in 1940, and the subsequent relationship between the Japanese occupiers and the Vichy French...

   Published April 24th 2013 by Routledge
4. Designing History in East Asian Textbooks

   Identity Politics and Transnational Aspirations

   Edited by Gotelind Müller

   Series: Routledge Studies in Education and Society in Asia

   This book analyses the efforts throughout East Asia to deploy education for purposes of political socialization, and in particular in order to shape notions of identity. The chapters also examine the trend of ‘common textbook initiatives’, which have recently emerged in East Asia with the aim of...

   Published April 14th 2013 by Routledge
5. Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers

   A Journey to the West

   By Hsiao-ting Lin

   Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia

   The purpose of this book is to examine the strategies and practices of the Han Chinese Nationalists vis-à-vis post-Qing China’s ethnic minorities, as well as to explore the role they played in the formation of contemporary China’s Central Asian frontier territoriality and border security. The...

   Published April 11th 2013 by Routledge
6. Communalism and Globalization in South Asia and its Diaspora

   Edited by Deana Heath, Chandana Mathur

   Series: Intersections: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories

   Taking as its premise the belief that communalism is not a resurgence of tradition but is instead an inherently modern phenomenon, as well as a product of the fundamental agencies and ideas of modernity, and that globalization is neither a unique nor unprecedented process, this book addresses the...

   Published April 11th 2013 by Routledge
7. Women, Religion and Culture in Iran

   By Sarah Ansari, Vanessa Martin

   Series: Royal Asiatic Society Books

   Investigates how women, religion and culture have interacted in the context of 19th and 20th century Iran, covering topics as seemingly diverse as the social and cultural history of Persian cuisine, the work and attitudes of 19th century Christian missionaries, the impact of growing female literacy...

   Published March 21st 2013 by Routledge
8. Gandhi's Spinning Wheel and the Making of India

   By Rebecca Brown

   Series: Routledge Studies in South Asian History

   Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was one of the most significant unifying elements of the nationalist movement in India. Spinning was seen as an economic and political activity that could bring together the diverse population of South Asia, and allow the formerly elite nationalist movement to...

   Published March 3rd 2013 by Routledge
9. Inherited Responsibility and Historical Reconciliation in East Asia

   Edited by Jun-Hyeok Kwak, Melissa Nobles

   Series: Political Theories in East Asian Context

   Contemporary East Asian societies are still struggling with complex legacies of colonialism, war and domination. Years of Japanese imperial occupation followed by the Cold War have entrenched competing historical understandings of responsibility for past crimes in Korea, China, Japan and elsewhere...

   Published February 11th 2013 by Routledge
10. Abandoned Japanese in Postwar Manchuria

    The Lives of War Orphans and Wives in Two Countries

    By Yeeshan Chan

    Series: Japan Anthropology Workshop Series

    This book relates the experiences of the zanryu-hojin - the Japanese civilians, mostly women and children, who were abandoned in Manchuria after the end of the Second World War when Japan’s puppet state in Manchuria ended, and when most Japanese who has been based there returned to Japan. Many...

    Published January 28th 2013 by Routledge