What’s new
“The Editor” by Jennifer Lindsay
In 1819, Singapore came under the control of the English East India Company, under murky circumstances involving its rivalrous local officials acting without authority from London, exploiting divisions amongst the existing royal family, and ignoring claims that the island fell within the Dutch sphere of influence. Whichever version of history one believes, it is clear…
“Exquisite Things and Strange Wonders” by Amir Khusraw Dihlavi
Classical Persian literature offers very few autobiographies. We tend to admire the works of great poets in that tradition, in…
“Guts, Glory and Empire” by Selma Carvalho
Long hidden in private papers is the account of the revolver shots that rang out in Stone Town on an…
“Brokering a Race War: Japanese Americans in the Pacific War and the Occupation of Japan” by Eiichiro Azuma
Historians writing of Japanese Americans (also known as Nisei) in the Second World War have produced more books on their…
“Just Being” by Romila Thapar
The first book I ever read about India was Romila Thapar’s 1965 History of India, published by Penguin. That little…
“First Bite: Breakfast Stories from Urban India” by Priyadarshini Chatterjee
Breakfast, the first meal of the day, in India carries two competing traditions. On one hand, ritual references to food offered to the gods each morning suggest the meal has always held a place of its own. On the other hand, for the labouring classes, breakfast was rarely more than the previous night’s leftovers, hurriedly…
“The Seekers of Deer Creek” by Thao Thai
Inter-War Paris was a mecca for artists from around the world, including East Asia and, in particular, the then French colony of Indochina. Thao Thai’s new novel, The Seekers of Deer Creek, centers around a fictional Vietnamese painter and a portrait he created decades ago. The story is part mystery, part family drama, but it’s…
“Eyes of the Sky” by Syaman Rapongan
At just 45 square kilometers, Orchid (Lanyu) Island might be tiny but it is a completely different world from nearby…
“Exit 8” by Genki Kawamura
“Do not overlook any anomalies… If you find an anomaly, turn back immediately… If you do not find any anomalies,…
“The Resurrected” by Joost Hiltermann
Joost Hiltermann’s new novel is a powerful exploration of the 1988 Anfal genocide, launched against the Iraqi Kurds by Saddam…
“The Young Die Old” by Nguyễn Bình Phương
The Young Die Old is Nguyễn Bình Phương second novel and was published in 1994 to great acclaim in his…
“Madame Chrysanthème” by Pierre Loti
French literature has had an outsized influence on Italian opera. Rigoletto, Manon Lescaut, La traviata, Tosca, L’elisir d’amore, La bohème and even Turandot all have French antecedents. Less well appreciated is that Giacomo Puccini’s iconic Madama Butterfly is ultimately, if indirectly, derived from a now obscure French novel. Pierre Loti’s 1887 Madame Chrysanthème—-just released in…
“From Lab to Life: How AI Works in China” by Collin Hogue-Spears
From Lab to Life: How AI Works in China argues that China built the world’s first governed AI ecosystem, a market in which regulation, commercial capability, and distribution developed together. Since August 2023, China has required consumer-facing generative AI services to clear government filing before…
“Unraveling Threads” by Brenda Lin
A memoir-in-essays that, in its exploration of language, family ties, and Taiwanese history, distills how the handmade holds memory, inheritance, and the work of care-taking. “Tactile memory feels like it…
“Xiong Yanghe: Family, Military Career and Taijiquan Legacy” by Michael A DeMarco
Born in Jiangsu Province in 1889, Xiong Yanghe grew up on his family’s estate. His early decades were marked by warfare among various factions within China and devastating encroachments by…
“The Woven Image” by Yong Cho
East Asia’s Yuan Empire (1271–1368), led by the nomadic Mongol people and Qubilai Khan (1215–1294), was marked by cross-cultural exchange and significant developments in trade, technology, and infrastructure. The Mongol…
“Chitra Demands to Go Home” by Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay
A poignant debut novel that explores mother-son relationships, cross-cultural conversations, and the tribulations of getting older. Chitra Demands to Go Home tells the story of Chitra, a 75-year-old Bengali woman who…
“Songs in a Time Confinement” by Rashmy
Rashmy writes poetry in a Tamil unique to the East Coast of Sri Lanka, embedded in its ecologies and heavily influenced by its folklore, centuries of trade, and echoes of…
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