Cold War Asia: Unlearning Narratives, Making New Histories

by Hajimu Masuda (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469683119
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/05/2025
Series:	InterConnections: The Global Twentieth Century
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“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

“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

"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

Editorial Reviews

“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

“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

"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

From the Publisher