America’s amnesia
Thomas A. Bass
Why the US can’t make an honest film about the war it lost
Category: Volume 2
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.
Peace matters
Christopher Goscha
How war could have been avoided in Vietnam
Frontier flux
David Eimer
How Aung San Suu Syi has failed to deliver peace to the borderlands of Myanmar.
The humaniser
Tillman Miller
In the wake of Donald Trump, writing about refugees has become a political act.
Khmer ways
Jack Weatherford
Who wrote the only surviving written account of the Khmer Empire?
Monumental
Aedeen Cremin
The brilliant career of archaeologist Pascal Royere
Narrative change
Michael Freeman
Can fiction help us come to terms with the pending problems of climate change?
MaBaTha
Matthew J Walton, Ma Khin Mar Mar Kyi and Aye Thein
A detailed examination of the Buddhist nationalist group that is causing havoc in Myanmar.
Winter 1954
Tran Dan
Tran Dan’s classic war novel, Crossroads and Lampposts, in English for the first time.
Now we’re 50
Ooi Kee Beng
Is ASEAN a miracle? Or just a 50-year-old talkshop?
Intoxicated
Ross West
France extended its power in Vietnam by taking over the production of alcohol.
State rebels
Liam C Kelley
The Chinese outlaws recruited by the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty to fight against the French.
Poetry
Soe Nay Lynn, Amy Doffegnies
“Soe Nay Lynn”, “Vignette” “Pay Pay* at Phoe Htoo Teashop” & “The sky and its two stars”
Milieu
David Payne
Nineteen young Vietnamese writers are showcased in a new collection of short stories.
On the street
Neil Moody
What is more important in street food – the food or the street?
Dressing up stories
Max Crosbie-Jones
A profile of Thai artist Jakkai Siributr
Pinball wizardy
Rupert Winchester
The multigenerational family saga comes of age in Asia
Poetry
Ko Ko Thett, Maw Shein Win, Steve Gilmartin
“after the lie of art” & “i hate programming without free will”
Uncle Ho’s retreat
Michael Tatarski
Where Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist movement.
Death in Yangon
Sean Gleeson
A slow Sunday afternoon in Yangon is shattered by the sound of gunshots.