Because of their importance, the themes of the Cold War and decolonization have captured the interest of scholars for years. As the end of World War II approached in August 1945, a different war began with the decolonization of former colonies; in this respect, Southeast Asia was the location for some of the hottest Cold War front activities. The period covered in Connecting Histories, 1945 to 1962, was crucial for many former colonies in Southeast Asia, for they were busy dealing with transformations not only to become new sovereign states, but, most importantly, to deal with the social self-transformations bolstered by feelings of national pride. Thus, in order to understand the nature of the present-day politics of the countries in this region, it is impossible to ignore this period.
The immense literature on the Cold War and decolonization has grown over the years as scholars and analysts alike have...
