21 Jan Reid’s Riches

It was a total pleasure to have Tony Reid and his wife Helen in the bookshop yesterday, thanks to Tan Boon Kean and Chee Heng Leng. Tony Reid has fair claim to be the doyen of Southeast Asian historians; he not only exudes warmth and charm but he is still producing work of the highest order. His History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads (Wiley-Blackwell) will be published and on the shelves in May. In the meantime, there’s a chance to catch up with just a fraction of his output – from the great synthetic histories in Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680 (Yale), to the thematic Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia (CUP), and the very fine studies of Indonesian history and politics, including: Verandah of Violence (NUS Press) and Indonesia Rising (ISEAS). A true giant.