Barbara Watson Andaya
University of Hawaii
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Barbara Watson Andaya
“The great strength of Amazons of the Huk Rebellion derives from Lanzona’s interaction with the women who participated in the Huk movement and from the skill with which she has entwined their voices with chronological narrative and gender theory. This book not only casts new light on a significant period of Philippine history but also raises comparative questions for scholars working on revolution and social action elsewhere.” (from Amazon)
Labeled “Amazons” by the national press, women played a central role in the Huk rebellion, one of the most significant peasant-based revolutions in modern Philippine history. As spies, organizers, nurses, couriers, soldiers, and even military commanders, women worked closely with men to resist first Japanese occupation and later, after WWII, to challenge the new Philippine republic. But in the midst of the uncertainty and violence of rebellion, these women also pursued personal lives, falling in love, becoming pregnant, and raising families, often with their male comrades-in-arms. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred veterans of the movement, Vina A. Lanzona explores the Huk rebellion from the intimate and collective experiences of its female participants, demonstrating how their presence, and the complex questions of gender, family, and sexuality they provoked, ultimately shaped the nature of the revolutionary struggle. Winner, Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize for the best history book written by a resident of Hawaii, sponsored by Brigham Young University–Hawaii
Recommended by Barbara Watson Andaya
“'Scholars of Southeast Asia have waited a long time for a detailed study of the great Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya, but A History of Ayutthaya will exceed all their expectations. The authors have demonstrated a masterly knowledge of the historical sources, and have given us a readable, insightful and scholarly analysis. Setting a new benchmark for studies of premodern Thai history, this outstanding book will enrich our understanding of the dynamics of early modern states in Asia more generally and of the global interactions that characterize the period in which Ayutthaya flourished.'” (from Amazon)
by Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit·You?
by Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit·You?
Early European visitors placed Ayutthaya alongside China and India as the great powers of Asia. Yet in 1767 the city was destroyed and its history has been neglected. This book is the first study of Ayutthaya from its emergence in the thirteenth century until its fall. It offers a wide-ranging view of social, political, and cultural history with focus on commerce, kingship, Buddhism, and war. By drawing on a wide range of sources including chronicles, accounts by Europeans, Chinese, Persians, and Japanese, law, literature, art, landscape, and language, the book presents early Siam as a 'commercial' society, not the peasant society usually assumed. Baker and Phongpaichit attribute the fall of the city not to internal conflict or dynastic decline but failure to manage the social and political consequences of prosperity. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the history of Southeast Asia and the early modern world.