This work provides the basis for a reconceptualization of key features in Southeast Asia's history. It examines evolutionary patterns of Europe's and Japan's Southeast Asian empires from the late 19th century through World War II, and offer insights into the events of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Marc Frey, Ronald W. Pruessen, Tan Tai Wong,

1: Dimensions of Decolonization; 2: The Impact of World War II on Decolonization; 3: The Economic Impact of Decolonization in Southeast Asia; 4: Monarchy and Decolonization in Indochina; 5: France and the Associated States of Indochina, 1945-1955; 6: The Indonesian Revolution and the Fall of the Dutch Empire; 7: Theories and Approaches to British Decolonization in Southeast Asia; 8: British Attitudes and Policies on Nationalism and Regionalism; 9: The Grand Design; 10: Making Malaya Safe for Decolonization; 11: Nationalism in the Decolonization of Singapore; 12: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Trusteeship, and U.S. Exceptionalism; 13: The United States and Southeast Asia in an Era of Decolonization, 1945-1965; 14: John Foster Dulles and Decolonization in Southeast Asia; 15: Between SEATO and ASEAN; 16: Parable of Seeds; 17: Afterword The Limits of Decolonization