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Wanderlust is the true story of Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), one of the most remarkable female travellers who ever lived - a housewife who decided to follow her dreams despite the strong disapproval of society. At a time when it was considered utterly impossible, Pfeiffer set off alone to travel the world. Along the way, she survived storms at sea, parched deserts, plague, malaria, drowning, earthquakes, robbers, murderers, head hunters and cannibals. She became the first woman to circle the globe alone - and then the first to do so twice. As a result of her incredible exploits and her best-selling travel books, Pfeiffer became one of the most famous women in the world in the nineteenth century. Hers is a tale that culminates in spies, intrigue, a botched revolution and a remarkable career cut tragically short by one voyage too many.

For most people in Singapore, having a job is just a fact of life. But that simple fact encompasses a wide range of experiences. Have you ever really considered what workers do on a daily basis and how they feel about their jobs?Have you ever walked past an ice cream uncle and wondered why he does that particular job and how he got it? Ever wondered what your barista is thinking of you as she takes your morning coffee order? Have you ever considered the tension that comes with being a gay volunteer police officer and being tasked with enforcing the law in a country where sex between consenting adult men is still a criminal act? What exactly does a funeral director do? And did you even know that jobs such as academic ghostwriter, temple flower seller and Thai disco girl agent exist?Hard at Work gives us access into the interior lives and experiences of more than fifty Singapore workers. It forms a snapshot of Singapore's working population that will fascinate contemporary and future readers.

Jacob Gotfried Haafner (1754-1809) was a writer of great talent, and an early dissenting voice from within the colonial enterprise. Haafner was orphaned in the Dutch East Indies, and lived in South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Mauritius for more than 20 years. On his return to Europe he transformed himself into one of the most popular Dutch writers of the early 19th century, for his travel writing in the Romantic mode. Books like his popular Travels in a Palanquin were translated into the major European languages, and his essays on the havoc wrought by missionaries worldwide stirred up great controversy, particularly in his home country of the Netherlands. He was a fierce critic of English machinations in India: "Had I to write the history of the English and their deeds in Asia", Haafner once said, "it would be the spitting image of hell". But there was a scholarly side to him to complement the pamphleteer and travel writer, working to promote European understanding of Indian literature, myth and religion, including through his translation of the Ramayana into Dutch.With the help of generous excerpts from Haafner's own writings, including material newly translated into English, van der Velde tells an affecting story of a young man who made a world for himself along the Coromandel Coast, in Ceylon and Calcutta, but who returned to Europe to live the last years of his life in Amsterdam, suffering an acute nostalgia for Asia: "No, in Europe and especially in its northern climes, no one enjoys their life..." This will be compelling reading for anyone interested in European response to the cultures of Asia.

Marjorie Doggett's Singapore, an evocative interplay of photos and texts, forms a tribute to a pioneer woman photographer, Marjorie Doggett. From 1954-57, camera in hand, she roamed Singapore's colonial precincts, its port and river, the characteristic ethnic areas and elsewhere. Mind and eye aligned, and aware of the increasing pace of development, Doggett captured for posterity the cityscape in images and with historical texts.Her work appeared in Characters of Light, the first photo book to fully portray Singapore's urban setting and architecture. Published in 1957, and reissued in 1985, the book was a pioneer: in its depiction of Singapore's city and as the first local photographic book by a woman. This work draws on those two publications, both long out of print. In this book, Marjorie Doggett's photos are enriched by Edward Stokes' historical and personal texts.Born in England, Doggett was a self-taught photographer. She had arrived in Singapore in early 1947 with her future husband. In 1962 they became citizens of Singapore, their lifetime home. The photos and narrative in Marjorie Doggett's Singapore offer an entirely new presentation. Half of the book's images are hitherto unpublished. The texts and photos portray Singapore the place, through the prism of Doggett's life, inspiration and methods. Marjorie Doggett had clear views concerning the preservation of buildings, and in later years her seminal book contributed significantly to the preservation of Singapore's historic architecture.

Widely regarded as the first Singapore novel, If We Dream Too Long explores the dilemmas and challenges faced by its hero, Kwang Meng, as he navigates the difficult transitional period between youthful aspirations and the external demands of society and family. Shy and sensitive, he feels detached from mainstream life and is unable to identify with the values that animate his friends. Kwang Meng takes refuge in dreams of exotic faraway places, and imagines merging himself with the sea, which he loves. Yet amidst this uncertainty, the reader feels that all is not lost, that the young dreamer will eventually find his way. Kwang Meng's experiences reflect the author's fascination with the question of self amidst the dreariness and aimlessness of an increasingly urbanized and materialistic Asian society. This book also provides a fascinating portrait of Singapore as it was in the 1960s, a landscape and society that have undergone many changes but remain faintly visible in modern Singapore.Since its first publication in 1972, If We Dream Too Long has moved and delighted generations of readers. This much-loved novel has been used as a text in university literature courses in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and has been translated into Tagalog and Russian. This new edition has an updated introduction by Koh Tai Ann.

How did contemporary art move from its avant-garde and experimental origins to the realm of the spectacular, becoming "global" and installing the mobile independent curator as the foremost figure of the artworld? In this provocative book, noted art historian John Clark tells this story from an Asian perspective, showing how the rise of biennials, triennials and other such formats in Asia since the 1990s were an important vehicle for this transition. He analyses biennials in Australia, China, Japan and Singapore to understand how state imperatives interact with forces of globalization and the ambitions of biennial curators to present regional developments and define global trends. He shows us how such efforts are often embedded in surprisingly restricted networks of artists and curators, who while imagining themselves as embodying resistance to the forces of globalisation are often themselves materialising those forces. As the neoliberal order shifts, and the excitement of the "global" in contemporary art recedes, Clark's historical reading of key developments in the 20th century history of art in Asia is an invaluable resource.

An investigation into the complex forces that shape Balinese identity.Over the past one hundred years, the Balinese have been challenged by colonial occupation, political turbulence, and, most recently, tourism. In response, they have come to rely on the idea of “Kebalian,” or Balinese-ness. Kebalian is likened to a tree whose roots are religion (agama), the trunk is tradition (adat), and the fruits, Balinese culture (budaya). To understand how this sense of Balinese-ness came to be, Michel Picard examines the dialogues that the Balinese have engaged in both among themselves and with outsiders by conducting over a hundred interviews with Balinese opinion leaders, officials, and religious reformers. A key throughline in the construction of Kebalian is what Picard identifies as a twofold process of “religionization” and “Hinduization.” This process began with the first years of the incorporation of Bali into the Dutch East Indies and became more urgent with Indonesia’s independence. Kebalian today encompasses the tension between those Balinese eager to defend their customary ritual practices and advocates of Hinduism who deny that such local traditions qualify as agama. Kebalian presents a fascinating picture of religious change, identities in motion, and culture. Scholars of religion, cultural change, and Southeast Asian area studies will find this to be a fascinating and important book.

New discoveries and new investigative techniques since the first edition of this book was published in 2014, have opened up dramatic new insights into Southeast Asia's past. We now know that when the first modern humans reached this region at least 60.000 years ago, they encountered not two, but four different human species and interbred with at least one of them. New generation analyses of ancient DNA mean we can trace precisely the expansion southwards of the first rice farmers from the lowlands of the Yangtze River. Looking at early cultural expression, we can admire the world's oldest narrative art, where bird-headed humans hunt buffaloes. The swift rise of social elites coincided with the first evidence for trade in exotic bronzes, soon to be followed by local mining and casting, The opening of a Maritime Silk Road and resilient adaptation to climate change sowed the seeds of the first civilizations. From Myanmar to Cambodia, lasers have penetrated the jungle to map ancient, long abandoned cities.This new synthesis of nearly two million years of human endeavour is an essential introduction for all those interested in this fascinating region.

Burma's ongoing travails have been framed by the contest between Aung San Suu Kyi and successive military juntas. Win Htein has been closely involved in many of its skirmishes. Involved in the formation of the National League for Democracy in 1988, he became a key NLD figure, member of parliament and one of "The Lady's" closest confidantes. His detailed insider's account of the NLD's twists and turns over decades of military repression and a few brief years of democratic resurgence is unmatched.In many ways, Win Htein's life has been intertwined with his country's recent history. Born during the Japanese invasion of British Burma in 1941, he grew up in the tumultuous years of Burma's independence. A military cadet when General Ne Win seized power in 1962, he later took part in the fight against communist and ethnic insurgents. He reveals several unknown stories from his time inside the military, this ending in 1977 when, in the aftermath of a failed military coup, he began a new career in business. In 1988, he became involved in the pro-democracy movement and joined the personal staff of its rising star, Aung San Suu Kyi. His arrest, torture and imprisonment the following year after suppression of the movement and house arrest of The Lady began decades of detention, release and political struggle. Following the 2021 coup, once again he is behind bars.Offering a very personal story of these years, Win Htein's memoir is a unique, politically important and fascinating account of recent Burmese history.