America’s amnesia
Thomas A. Bass
Why the US can’t make an honest film about the war it lost
Category: Issue 8
Formosakill
Calvin Godfrey
When Formosa couldn’t build its steel plant in Taiwan, it turned to Vietnam.
Cause and karma
Amy Doffegnies
Before he was arrested, Ko Swe Win was already a target.
The past isn’t past
Sebastian Strangio
Why America should forgive Cambodia’s war debt.
Poetry
Moe Way, Maung Shin Saw, Maung Sein Win
The latest in verse from around the Mekong region
Deep south
Abby Seiff
Amid the sectarian violence, life in Thailand’s troubled south resembles life everywhere else.
Too much democracy
T.F. Rhoden
Something is missing at the heart of Thai democracy.
Coma-tose
Nguyen Quan
New poetry from Nguyen Quan
On the move
Martin Stuart-Fox
Rapid urbanisation has transformed Laos from a backwater to a regional hub.
Exile wounds
Michael Freeman
Ocean Vuong’s poetry describes a world of memory, desire and violence.
Life as a shopping mall
Pim Wangtechawat
How Bangkok’s middle class live out their fears and fantasies in shopping malls.
Fallen idol
Andrew Selth
Since she assumed power, Aung San Suu Kyi has suffered a spectacular fall from grace.
Midday’s children
Rupert Winchester
Two new books labour under the shadow of Salman Rushdie’s masterpiece.
Eulogy for the street
Liam Moore
Poetry by Liam Moore
In parentheses
Philip Cornwel-Smith
The enfant terrible of Thai literature breaks rules and conventions to get to the truth
Back to Mandalay
Joseph Woods
How a poem laden with colonial clichés gained such a hold on the Western imagination.
The singing dissident
Nguyen Qui Duc
How the former pop singer turned into a protest artist.
Thread songs
Gill Green
How a French traveller stumbled upon the Miao and their textile culture
Vietnam’s book market
Pham Trang Nhung
Why Vietnam’s young writers are going online
Watching the watcher
Julia Wallace
Cambodians are turning to social media to keep an eye on their political masters.
Pablo and Josie
James Jennings
When Pablo Nerduda landed in Burma.