Victor Lieberman

Brilliant synthesis of Eurasian history the emphasizes synergies between regional developments without ignoring the factors that make each region unique. The detail is overwhelming but acts like the lemmas of a mathematical proof, all in support of the central thesis. The conclusion that local historians cannot ignore global patterns opens up a whole new range of considerations for historiography.

This book gets points for its ambition and its attempt to de-marginalize Southeast Asian history by bringing it back into discussion with larger historical trends. Lieberman places Southeast Asia withing the Eurasian context without falling into the traps of Euro-centric colonial historiography. However, the book is also repetitive and about four times as long as it needs to be. The 84 page introduction is worth reading, and essentially presents the entire argument of the book. The rest of show more it re...more This book gets points for its ambition and its attempt to de-marginalize Southeast Asian history by bringing it back into discussion with larger historical trends. Lieberman places Southeast Asia withing the Eurasian context without falling into the traps of Euro-centric colonial historiography. However, the book is also repetitive and about four times as long as it needs to be. The 84 page introduction is worth reading, and essentially presents the entire argument of the book. The rest of it re-makes the same argument in slightly more detail. The conclusion makes the argument again. show less