Book Reviews

Indebted Supporters, Hard Balancers and Partial Hedgers

Indebted Supporters, Hard Balancers and Partial Hedgers

Under Beijing’s Shadow: Southeast Asia’s China Challenge, By Murray Hiebert (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, 608 pp)

Tracing the origins of global trade

Tracing the origins of global trade

The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. By Valerie Hansen (Scribner, 2020, 313 pages)

Escape to freedom, but back to misery

Escape to freedom, but back to misery

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against The Islamic State reviewed by Tahreem Khalied (Penguin Random House, 2018,...

The beginning of America’s Middle East wars

The beginning of America’s Middle East wars

Beirut 1958: How America's Wars in the Middle East Began Bruce Riedel (Brookings Institution Press, 2019, 128 pp)

A history maker for all his flaws

A history maker for all his flaws

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by Chandran Nair (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018, 288 pp)

Living more with less?

Living more with less?

by Chandran Nair (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018, 288 pp)

Cold War in the Islamic World

Cold War in the Islamic World

Saudi Arabia and Iran have an entangled history. But both countries’ choice of allies and controversial international and domestic...

The appalling cost of Western hubris

The appalling cost of Western hubris

New book vividly presents the tragedy of the Vietnam War across multiple dimensions, combining social, political, military and diplomatic...

Striving to build a better world

Striving to build a better world

Incorrigible Optimist: A Political Memoir By Gareth Evans (Melbourne University Press, 2017, 277 pp) Reviewed by Nayan Chanda

The connections are what count

The connections are what count

India, China and the World: A Connected History Reviewed by Nayan Chanda

Indonesia’s quiet success explained

Indonesia’s quiet success explained

Resurgent Indonesia: From Crisis to Confidence By Vasuki Shastry (Straits Times Press, 2018, 194 pp) Reviewed by Salil Tripathi

A wound that still festers in Singapore

A wound that still festers in Singapore

1987: Singapore’s Marxist Conspiracy 30 Years On Reviewed by Salil Tripathi Edited by Chng Suan Tze, Low Yit Leng and Teo Soh Lung...

‘America first’ (with global military dominance)

‘America first’ (with global military dominance)

The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force By Eliot A Cohen Reviewed by Keoni Marzuki (Basic Books,...

Asia rising, Asia falling?

Asia rising, Asia falling?

The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region By Michael R Auslin (Yale University...