Hundreds of books and journal articles are now open access for a limited period, thanks to a recent agreement with Project Muse and several U.S. publishers.
There’s a lot to view and/or download, but here are some of the books on Southeast Asia—we’re excluding journal articles since they’re just too numerous—that caught our eye.
The list focuses on Southeast Asia as a region, rather than on individual countries therein. Some of these, however, do feature country-specific chapters.
You may download the PDFs, but kindly observe Project Muse’s terms and conditions.
History and Society
- History without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000–1800
- Reading Southeast Asia
- History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives
- Southeast Asia over Three Generations: Essays Presented to Benedict R. O’G . Anderson
- Colonial Legacies: Economic and Social Development in East and Southeast Asia
- The Japanese in Colonial Southeast Asia
History and Political Economy
- Money, Markets and Trade in Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to AD 1400
- Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era: Trade, Power, and Belief
- Taking Southeast Asia to Market: Commodities, Nature, and People in the Neoliberal Age
- Chinese Circulations: Capital, Commodities, and Networks in Southeast Asia
Politics
- Gangsters, Democracy and the State in Southeast Asia
- Participation without Democracy: Containing Conflict in Southeast Asia
- The Golden Triangle: Inside Southeast Asia’s Drug Trade
- Conceptions of State and Kingship in Southeast Asia
- Transnational Islam in South and Southeast Asia: Movements, Networks, and Conflict Dynamics
Geopolitics
- Arc of Containment: Britain, the United States, and Anticommunism in Southeast Asia
- Maritime Security in Southeast Asia
- The Path to Vietnam: Origins of the American Commitment to Southeast Asia
- Soviet Strategies in Southeast Asia: An Exploration of Eastern Policy under Lenin and Stalin
- Hard Interests, Soft Illusions: Southeast Asia and American Power
Culture, Religion and Society
- Cultures at War: The Cold War and Cultural Expression in Southeast Asia
- Containing Contagion: The Politics of Disease Outbreaks in Southeast Asia
- Asian Crossings: Travel Writing on China, Japan, and Southeast Asia
- Studies in Southeast Asian Art: Essays in Honor of Stanley J. O’Connor
- Spirited Politics: Religion and Public Life in Contemporary Southeast Asia
Majority of the books can be accessed for free until June 2020, though some may expire by the end of May.
“In response to the challenges created by the global public health crisis of COVID-19, Project MUSE is pleased to support its participating publishers in making scholarly content temporarily available for free on our platform,” according to Project Muse's online announcement.
Project Muse is maintained by Johns Hopkins University Press and the Sheridan Libraries. Learn more about it and view other open-access publications on East Asia, China, Japan, South Asia, and the Middle East.
Please considering joining the UP Asian Center's mailing list to receive announcements regarding free lectures, conferences, and academic programs.
The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia.
