Southeast Asian History

School-taught 'Social Studies' is a fairly sanitised affair. We learn about Britain, Lee Kuan Yew, and the paramount importance of free trade. We also learn about food and the origins of Chicken Rice. However, what comes out is just as important as what goes in, because Singapore's history is also a fecal history—of dysentery, nightsoil, quacks and more. In short, it's a story of shit.

Siam was just a much different name for what's now referred to as Thailand. The Siamese are the people who live there, though they're never ever called as such any longer.

The exact starting point of the Vietnam war cannot be set. The United States entered the war gradually, following certain steps which spread over a 15-year timeline, from 1950 to 1965. And even before that, one needs to take into account the interest France held prior in the region. In the second half of the 19th century, the French began to take control of Vietnam. At first, their intervention was meant to be a mere protectorate, but it gradually turned into possession by 1939. Together with Cambodia, Vietnam became known as a French colony belonging to French Indochina.

In this incredible true story, Judy, the heroine of the book narrates her own version of her life. Her amazing life started precariously as a young pup living rough on the streets of Shanghai where any food and comfort was in short supply. She had the great good fortune to be rescued from the streets by a young Chinese girl called Lee Ming and a few days later a chance meeting with some British sailors visiting her dog pound changed her life for ever.

The Ghost and the Ball of Candle Wax: The Boyhood of Dr. Jose P. Rizal is a historical anecdote of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in Barrio de la Paz while studying under the tutelage of Maestro Justiniano Cruz in Binan, Laguna, Philippines. His family was a devotee of the Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Bien Viaje in the old Mission de la Paz. Unlike the empirical researches of Dr. Gregorio Zaide and Leon Ma. Guerrero, Dr. Napoli Fiatro St. Croix has used the data he garnered during his childhood years in Barrio de la Paz from the rag-tag stories of Lelang Toyang, the storyteller of the ages.