South East Asia
A selection of books on Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines, Burma and Laos
Sylvia: Queen of the Headhunters
Philip Eade
Sylvia Brooke was the consort of His Highness Sir Vyner Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, the last in a bizarre dynasty of English despots who ruled their jungle kingdom on Borneo until 1946. The White Rajahs were long held up as model rulers, but the spectacularly eccentric behaviour of Ranee Sylvia - self-styled Queen of the Headhunters - changed everything. This is the compelling story of her part in their downfall.
Phoenix 2007
ISBN 9780753823811
£8.99
Singapore Burning
Colin Smith
Churchill's description of the fall of Singapore in 1942, which led to over 100,000 British, Australian and Indian troops being captured by the Japanese, was no exaggeration. With new material from British, Australian, Indian and Japanese sources, Colin Smith has woven together the full and terrifying story of Singapore's fall and its aftermath. Alongside cowardice and incompetence he uncovers acts of true heroism, alongside treachery heart-rending loyalty. And he finds compassion as well as brutality from the bravest and most capricious enemy Britain has ever faced.
Penguin 2006
(First published by Viking in 2005)
ISBN 9780141010366
pbk £9.99
River of Time
Jon Swain
John Swain left Britain as a teenager. After a brief stint with the French Foreign Legion he became a journalist in Paris, but soon ended up in Vietnam and Cambodia. In five years as a young war reporter Swain lived moments of intensity and passion such as he had never known. He learnt something of life and death in Cambodia and Vietnam that he could never have perceived in Europe. He saw Indo-China in all its intoxicating beauty and saw, too, the violence and corruption of war, and was sickened by it.
Vintage 1998
ISBN 9780749320201
Pbk £8.99
