The story of British Malaya, from the days of Victorian pioneers to the denouement of independence, is a momentous episode in Britain's colonial past. The British came as fortune-seekers to exploit Asian trade shipped through Penang and Singapore. They found a mature Asian culture in a land of palm-fringed shores and primeval jungle. Like modern Romans, they built townships, defences, communications and hill stations, superimposed their law and established an idiosyncratic political system. They also developed the tin and rubber of the Malay States, encouraging Chinese and Indian immigrants by their open-door policy. The outcome was a vibrant multi-racial society - the most cosmopolitan in the East. Through memoirs, letters and interviews, Margaret Shennan chronicles the halcyon years, the two World Wars, economic depression and diaspora, revealing the attitudes of the diverse quixotic characters of this now quite vanished world.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"An exceptional investigation ! and an engrossing portrait of the Englishman in his topee and pale linen jacket ! standing firm in the midday sun" -- The Sunday Times "In her fine book, Margaret Shennan does belated justice to the brave and industrious men and women who gave their best to Malaya" -- Allan Massie Literary Review "An acute and sometimes poignancy account of the soft, all too vulnerable underbelly of a society tangoing heedlessly towards the abyss of the fall of Singapore: a tragic, classic case of pride before a fall" -- Charles Allen "Margaret Shennan describes in fascinating detail the often bizarre and not infrequently terrible annals of colonial Malaya" -- Martin Booth The Sunday Times
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Editions-Typ
Produkt-Hinweis
Illustrationen
32pp illustrations, 2 maps, glossary, notes, bibliography, index
Maße
Höhe: 35 mm
Breite: 157 mm
Dicke: 234 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7195-6331-7 (9780719563317)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Margaret Shennan was born in Kuching, Borneo (now East Malaysia), was brought up in Province Wellesley and went to school in the Cameron Highlands. She is a prize-winning historian and writer, and one of her first books was her childhood autobiography Missee. She lives in Lancaster.
Part I The building of British Malaya, 1880-1920: the meeting of two worlds; pioneers and progress; private lives, public values; pyrotechnics in Penang; mutiny!. Part II Golden years, 1920-1940: halcyon days; pyramids of power; officials and unofficials; the rubber men; the mem, the missee and the tuan kechil. Part III The long retreat, 1940-1960: the unprepared society; a campaign of cards; an inexcusable betrayal; terrible forfeits; false dawn; the battle for hearts and minds.
