51. A History of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei by Constance Mary Turnbull (1989, 316 page paperback, Read August 30 - September 12)

This is an adequate overview, that is about as much praise as I can give it. The information is there, but nothing extra. Turnball never even tries to bring this to life and at times the book reads like a list of facts. I guess I could also compliment the author on her brevity.

But Malaysia has a fascinating history as a trading crossroads and mixing of cultures as the Malaka Straights were a key part in maritime trade. The mixing of cultures through trade includes hundreds of years of Arabs, different groups from the the India subcontinent and Ceylon, Chinese, the Indonesian archipelago, the whole southeast Asian peninsula of modern day Burma, Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam, and Europeans. The control passed from Orang Asli to Malay (and Thai) to Portuguese to Dutch to British to Japanese to eventually the mix of cultures that make up Malaysia - mainly Orang Assail, Malays, Chinese & Indians - who don't really mix and who each have their own variations of cultures and wealth and languages and ideologies and embracement of British culture, and which also don't always mix. There has been a lot going on there for a long time, quite a wildly complex pot. I imagine there are better books out there that actually capture some of this.

2014
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