Tim Harper – författare

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2021AN ECONOMIST AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'Compelling and highly original ... The Asia that we see today is the product of the 'underground' which Harper describes with skill and empathy in this monumental work' Rana Mitter, Literary ReviewThe story of the hidden struggle waged by secret networks around the world to destroy European imperialismThe end of Europe's empires has so often been seen as a story of high politics and warfare. In Tim Harper's remarkable new book the narrative is very different: it shows how empires were fundamentally undermined from below. Using the new technology of cheap printing presses, global travel and the widespread use of French and English, young radicals from across Asia were able to communicate in ways simply not available before. These clandestine networks stretched to the heart of the imperial metropolises: to London, to Paris, to the Americas, but also increasingly to Moscow.They created a secret global network which was for decades engaged in bitter fighting with imperial police forces. They gathered in the great hubs of Asia - Calcutta, Singapore, Batavia, Hanoi, Tokyo, Shanghai, Canton and Hong Kong - and plotted with ceaseless ingenuity, both through persuasion and terrorism, the end of the colonial regimes. Many were caught and killed or imprisoned, but others would go on to rule their newly independent countries.Drawing on an amazing array of new sources, Underground Asia turns upside-down our understanding of twentieth-century empire. The reader enters an extraordinary world of stowaways, false identities, secret codes, cheap firearms, assassinations and conspiracies, as young Asians made their own plans for their future.'Magnificent - it reads like a thriller and was difficult to put down' Peter Frankopan, History Today

This extraordinary book is a vivid, highly original account of the creation of a new Asia after the Second World War - an unstoppable wave of nationalism that swept the British Empire aside. It tells the definitive story of how India, Pakistan, Burma and Malaysia came into existence and how British interference in Vietnam and Indonesia fatally shaped those countries' futures.

The vast crescent of British-ruled territories from India down to Singapore appeared in the early stages of the Second World War a massive asset in the war with Germany, providing huge quantities of soldiers and raw materials and key part of an impregnable global network denied to the Nazis. Within a few weeks in 1941-2 a Japanese invasion had destroyed all this, almost effortlessly taking the 'impregnable fortress' of Singapore with its 80,000 strong garrison, and sweeping through South and Southeast Asia to the frontier of India itself. This revolutionary, absolutely gripping book brings to life the entire experience of South and Southeast Asia in this extraordinary period, telling the story from an Indian, Burmese, Chinese or Malay perspective as much as from that of the British or Japanese. Effectively it is the story of the birth of modern South and Southeast Asia and the hopes and fears of the dozens of 'forgotten armies' marching through the jungle battlefields, so many dying for causes swept away by the reality that emerged in 1945. Even as the British successfully fought back in the bloodiest battles in South and Southeast Asia's history, there was no going back to colonial rule.

Health patterns in Southeast Asia have changed profoundly over the past century. In that period, epidemic and chronic diseases, environmental transformations, and international health institutions have created new connections within the region and the increased interdependence of Southeast Asia with China and India. In this volume leading scholars provide a new approach to the history of health in Southeast Asia. Framed by a series of synoptic pieces on the "Landscapes of Health" in Southeast Asia in 1914, 1950, and 2014 the essays interweave local, national, and regional perspectives. They range from studies of long-term processes such as changing epidemics, mortality and aging, and environmental history to detailed accounts of particular episodes: the global cholera epidemic and the hajj, the influenza epidemic of 1918, WWII, and natural disasters. The writers also examine state policy on healthcare and the influence of organizations, from NGOs such as the China Medical Board and the Rockefeller Foundation to grassroots organizations in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

There has always been considerable debate about the best solutions to deal with disruptive behaviour in schools. On the one hand is the strategy of segregating disruptive pupils while on the other is a commitment to keeping such pupils in the ordinary school. This book advocates the latter philosophy and examines the best ways of coping with the problem. These concern both teacher skills and school organisational flexibility. In addition, the authors propose the provision of a support team whereby local authorities can help schools, teachers and children with problems of disruption without setting up ‘sin-bins’. Change is thus shown to be possible at three levels – teachers, headteachers and local authorities. Detailed illustrative case material is presented throughout the book.

There has always been considerable debate about the best solutions to deal with disruptive behaviour in schools. On the one hand is the strategy of segregating disruptive pupils while on the other is a commitment to keeping such pupils in the ordinary school. This book advocates the latter philosophy and examines the best ways of coping with the problem. These concern both teacher skills and school organisational flexibility. In addition, the authors propose the provision of a support team whereby local authorities can help schools, teachers and children with problems of disruption without setting up ‘sin-bins’. Change is thus shown to be possible at three levels – teachers, headteachers and local authorities. Detailed illustrative case material is presented throughout the book.