Cold War Asia - (Interconnections: The Global Twentieth Century) by Hajimu Masuda

About the Book

"Conventional narratives of the Cold War revolve around high-level diplomats and state leaders in Washington, Beijing, and Moscow, but this anthology challenges those narratives by revealing how ordinary people across Asia experienced the era. Heavily rooted in oral history, this study takes readers to the villages of rural Java; the jungles of northern Thailand; the indigenous tribal communities of Kerala, India; and many other places in this vast region. The essays in this collection demonstrate how the world took shape far away from the voluminously analyzed epicenters of the Soviet Union, the United States, and China. Masuda organizes each chapter around the theme of 'many Cold Wars,' or, more precisely, many local and social wars that were imagined as part of the global Cold War. These histories raise fundamental questions about standard Cold War narratives, encouraging readers to rethink why the Cold War still matters. Contributors are Mary Grace Concepcion, Simon Creak, Cui Feng, David Engerman, Prasit Leepreecha, Luong Thi Hong, Muhammad Kunhi Mahin Udma, Masuda Hajimu, Alan McPherson, Imam Muhtarom, Sim Chi Yin, Kisho Tsuchiva, Odd Arne Westad, Matthew Woolgar, Kinuko Maehara Yamazato, Bin Yang, and Taomo Zhou"

Book Synopsis

Conventional narratives of the Cold War revolve around high-level diplomats and state leaders in Washington, Beijing, and Moscow, but this anthology instead reveals how ordinary people across Asia experienced the era. Heavily rooted in oral history, this study takes readers to the villages of rural Java; the jungles of northern Thailand; the indigenous tribal communities of Kerala, India; and many other places in this vast region.

Masuda Hajimu organizes each chapter around the theme of "many Cold Wars," or, more precisely, the many local and social wars that were imagined as part of the global Cold War. These histories raise fundamental questions about standard Cold War narratives, encouraging readers to rethink why the Cold War still matters.

Contributors are Mary Grace Concepcion, Simon Creak, Cui Feng, David C. Engerman, Prasit Leepreecha, Luong Thi Hong, Muhammad Kunhi Mahin Udma, Masuda Hajimu, Alan McPherson, Imam Muhtarom, Sim Chi Yin, Kisho Tsuchiva, Odd Arne Westad, Matthew Woolgar, Kinuko Maehara Yamazato, Bin Yang, and Taomo Zhou.

Review Quotes

"Cold War Asia. . . .[i]nvites us to take advantage of historical distance to find not just new sources but new perspectives on a dominant element of the twentieth-century world--one whose legacies we are still reckoning with some three decades later."--David C. Engerman, author of The Price of Aid: The Economic Cold War in India

"The contributors to this volume argue that it does not make sense to simply look at the Cold War as imported into Asia or understand it from the top down. Instead, this book makes an excellent starting point for alternative explorations."--Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World History

"This volume. . . deserves a hearty ¡felicidades! Each of the chapters features never-before-used sources--especially oral histories-- historiographical innovation, and analytical sophistication."--Alan McPherson, author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy

About the Author

Masuda Hajimu is associate professor of history at the National University of Singapore.