Ooi Keat Gin, Editor: Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor.

Ooi Keat Gin, Editor: Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Santa Barbara, CA, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2004, ISBN 1-576-7-770-5 (hardcover: alk. paper); 1-57607-771-3 (e-book), xxiv + 1790, maps, appendices, index, 3 vols., US$285, e-book, US$310, both, US$450.

Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor is a remarkable achievement for Professor Ooi Keat Gin, the six members of his Advisory Board, and the 130 Contributors. It is "the authoritative reference work on Southeast Asian history (xxi)," intended for all students of the region. Many will want to add the Encyclopedia to their personal libraries, and all will want to ensure that they have access to it in their institutional libraries.

Containing more than 800 entry-articles, it includes information on the prehistory of what has been described as the least-known region of the world, as well as the history of the area now configured as 11 nation-states: "Myanmar (Burma prior to 1989), Thailand (Siam prior to 1939), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and East Timor (since 2002) (xxii)." The international contributors represent a variety of academic disciplines, principally history, but also anthropology, archaeology, demography, ecology, economics, ethnography, geography, political science, and sociology.

Entry-articles range in length from 300 to 3000 words, shorter entries focusing on concepts, ideology, and terminology, longer ones on historical episodes and developments, persons and places of significance. Each entry contains an explanation of its significance for Southeast Asia, basic information about the topic, and the importance of the subject matter in the overall historical development. Each entry is cross-referenced, and contains a list of further readings.

Following the Foreword and Preface, the Editor presents a lengthy 109-page Introduction. As with every entry-article and all components of this Encyclopedia, the Introduction is readable and extremely useful, both to scholars familiar with the region and to students making their first contact. Using upper-case letters to distinguish persons, places, and events, the Editor provides an invaluable orientation to the entries that follow.

Volume Three contains 28 pages of maps of the region, and of each nation state. This is followed by Country Fact Tables, Topic Finders, and Chronology, the first section focusing on the region of Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), followed by sections on Thailand, Indonesia (including East Malaysia, Negara Brunei Darussalam, and East Timor), Malaysia and Singapore, and the Philippines. There is a lengthy Bibliography of 88 pages, a list of Contributors, and Index.

The contributions of scholars working in Borneo will be of particular interest to readers of the Bulletin. The Contributors and their entries include: G. N. Appell (Kadazan-Dusuns), Mark Cleary (Borneo, Ecological Setting of Southeast Asia, Historical Geography of Insular Southeast Asia, Monsoons, Oil and Petroleum), Michael R. Dove (Swidden Agriculture), A.V.M. Horton (Anglo-Brunei Relations, Sheikh Azahari bin Sheikh Mahmud, Brunei--16th-19th centuries, Brunei National Democratic Party, Brunei National Solidarity Party, Brunei Oil and Gas Industry, Brunei Rebellion, Hassanal Bolkiah--Sultan of Brunei, Kampong Ayer, M. S. H. McArthur, Melayu Islam Beraja, Omar Ali Saifuddin III--Sultan of Brunei, Partai Rakyat Brunei, People's Independence Front), Victor T. King (Bandjarmasin, Brunei Ethnic Minorities, Brunei Malay, Dayaks, East Malaysian Ethnic Minorities, Ethnolinguistic Groups of Southeast Asia, Jungle/Forest Products, Kutai, Rejangs, Sambas and Pontianak Sultanates, Travelers and Sojourners--European), Ooi Keat Gin (British Borneo, British North Borneo Chartered Company, James Brooke and Sarawak, Sir Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, Dutch Borneo, Labuan, Mat Salleh Rebellion, Rentap, Sago, Sarawak and Sabah, Sarawak Museum), Clifford Sather (Adat, Bajau, Bejalai, Iban, Ilanun and Balangingi, Orang Lout, Slavery, Sulu and the Sulu Archipelago, Tausug and the Sulu Sultanate), Nicholas Tarling (Anglo-Dutch Relations in Southeast Asia, British Interests in Southeast Asia, Colonialism, Dutch Interests in Southeast Asia) and Zuraina Majid (Niah Caves).

This is a major contribution to research in Southeast Asia broadly and Borneo more specifically, and a publication that should be widely available to students of the region. (Vinson Sutlive, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, The College of William and Mary)