In The Geography of Southeast Asia, Rumney discusses an area that has long been of interest to geographers and other academics. As interest in Southeast Asia has grown, particularly over the past forty years, the volume and variety of scholarly publications on the varied geographical aspects of the region have also increased. This collection is an attempt to identify, organize, and present as many of these works as possible. The region as a whole, and each individual country of the area, are covered in individual chapters. Each chapter is further systematically organized by topic, including general works, cultural-social geography, economic geography, historical geography, physical geography, political geography, and urban geography. This book presents a myriad of sources, such as atlases, books, chapters, articles, dissertations, and theses are included, as well as works written in English, French, German, and other languages, providing the reader with a thorough view of Southeast Asian geography.

This book explores the interconnection between geopolitical context and the ways this context frames our knowledge about Asia, highlighting previously neglected cause–effect relations. It also examines how various knowledge institutions promote and shape Asian Studies. The authors seek to explain why Asian Studies and its subfields developed in the way they did, and what the implications of these transformations might be on intellectual and political understandings of Asia. The book not only builds on the current debates on the decolonization and de-imperialization of knowledge about Asia; it also proposes a more multifaceted view rather than just examining the impact of the West on the framing of Asian Studies.

Concentrating on the years 1953-64, this history describes how North Korea became more despotic even as other Communist countries underwent de-Stalinization. The author’s principal new source is the Hungarian diplomatic archives, which contain extensive reporting on Kim Il Sung and North Korea, thoroughly informed by research on the period in the Soviet and Eastern European archives and by recently published scholarship. Much of the story surrounds Kim Il Sung: his Korean nationalism and eagerness for Korean autarky; his efforts to balance the need for foreign aid and his hope for an independent foreign policy; and what seems to be his good sense of timing in doing in internal rivals without attracting Soviet retaliation. Through a series of comparisons not only with the USSR but also with Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, China, and Vietnam, the author highlights unique features of North Korean communism during the period. Szalontai covers ongoing effects of Japanese colonization, the experiences of diverse Korean factions during World War II, and the weakness of the Communist Party in South Korea.