John Gullick in his important new A History of Selangor (1766-1939) builds on his previous research and writing, with particular emphasis on how the immigrant community developed agriculture in Selangor and made it their home, and takes the story up to 1939.

First published in 1982, this text is widely regarded as a leading general history of the country. This new and revised edition brings the story of this fascinating country up to date, incorporating the latest scholarship on every period of Malaysian history, including recent research into pre-modern times. This text thus provides a historical framework that helps explain the roots of the issues dominating Malaysian life today, and the difficulties of creating a multicultural state where resources are equitably shared and the rights of all citizens are acknowledged. This book is a key text for courses on Southeast Asian history and politics. Covering a range of disciplinary subjects in the humanities and social sciences, it is also useful for anyone interested in the assessment of young, modernizing nations. New to this Edition: - A new chapter provides insights into Malaysian history of the last 15 years, including the growing influence of the internet and social media in the political sphere - Greater attention is paid to the strengthening of civil society movements that have arisen in light of perceived government failures - Fresh analysis of Islam's historical role in the Malay world and how it links with the growing Islamization of Malaysia today

In this rich and rewarding memoir, T.K. Taylor describes his experiences in schools from Kuala Lumpur to Johore Bahru. Full of vivid anecdote and sharply observed historical detail, his writing takes us from his first days spent adapting the Western curriculum to local schools' needs to his time as Chief Education Officer for Selangor state, showing the role of education in the transition to independence. Taylor's career began in 1946, when he was appointed as Senior Master in English at King Edward VII High School in Taiping, a city of over 50,000 in the North near the Thai border. He rose through the ranks, becoming Head Master at English High Schools in Klang, the port for Kuala Lumpur and Johore, before he took over as Chief Education Officer for Selangor. Taylor outlines the development of education and the adaptation of English-medium teaching to students from different ethnic backgrounds, and describes the role of non-English schools, particularly Malay, Chinese and Indian. His account is rich with descriptions and insight into the politics, social conditions and cultural life of Malaya at the time, gained from his experiences living in different towns, working with people from a wide range of backgrounds and inspecting schools in remote areas. As a New Zealander, Taylor also brings a rare Commonwealth perspective to his time in the Colonial Service. "Sunset of Empire in Malaya" brings new insight into the workings of the Colonial Service in a period of enormous change as its officers helped to rebuild the country in the aftermath of World War II and Japanese occupation, Communist struggles and the dawn of independence.

Having experienced a large-scale reorganization of social order over the past decade, people of the Malay world have struggled to position themselves. They have been classified - and have classified themselves - with categories as bangsa (nation/ethnic group) and umma (Islamic network). In connection with these key concepts, this study explores a variety of dimensions of these and other 'people-grouping' classifications, which also include Malayu, Jawi, and Paranakan. The book examines how these categories played a significant part in the colonial and post-colonial periods in areas ranging from Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It demonstrates the extent to which shifting social conditions interact with the contours of group identity. This is a collaborative work by scholars based in the US, Japan, Malaysia, and Australia. *** "Understanding the genealogy of people-grouping concepts provides valuable insight into the mechanics of power relations and how the agency of cultural identification constructs the continuity and the contentious in the political world". Pacific Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 4, December 2012.

For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Britain was the dominant world power, its strength based in large part on its command of an Empire that, in the years immediately after World War I, encompassed almost one-quarter of the earth’s land surface and one-fifth of its population. Writers boasted that the sun never set on British possessions, which provided raw materials that, processed in British factories, could be re-exported as manufactured products to expanding colonial markets. The commercial and political might was not based on any grand strategic plan of territorial acquisition, however. The Empire grew piecemeal, shaped by the diplomatic, economic, and military circumstances of the times, and its speedy dismemberment in the mid-twentieth century was, similarly, a reaction to the realities of geopolitics in post-World War II conditions. Today the Empire has gone but it has left a legacy that remains of great significance in the modern world. The Historical Dictionary of the British Empire covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Britain.