Overview

The world was watching when footage of the ""tank man"" -- the lone Chinese citizen blocking the passage of a column of tanks during the brutal 1989 crackdown on protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square -- first appeared in the media. The furtive video is now regarded as an iconic depiction of a government's violence against its own people. Throughout the twentieth century, states across East Asia committed many relatively undocumented atrocities, with victims numbering in the millions. The contributors to this insightful volume analyze many of the most notorious cases, including the Japanese army's Okinawan killings in 1945, Indonesia's anticommunist purge in 1965--1968, Thailand's Red Drum incinerations in 1972--1975, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge massacre in 1975--1978, Korea's Kwangju crackdown in 1980, the Philippines' Mendiola incident in 1987, Myanmar's suppression of the democratic movement in 1988, and China's Tiananmen incident. With in-depth investigation of events that have long been misunderstood or kept hidden from public scrutiny, State Violence in East Asia provides critical insights into the political and cultural dynamics of state-sanctioned violence and discusses ways to prevent it in the future.

Full Product Details

9780813136790

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p> A timely work, presenting various international perspectives and demonstrating up-to-date scholarly accomplishment that challenges experts, policy-makers, and educators to move into the 'dark-side' of the political history of Asian countries. This remarkable volume of original essays draws on extensive multi-national archival research, especially newly released documents. -- Xiaobing Li, author of A History of the Modern Chinese Army --

A timely work, presenting various international perspectives and demonstrating up-to-date scholarly accomplishment that challenges experts, policy-makers, and educators to move into the 'dark-side' of the political history of Asian countries. This remarkable volume of original essays draws on extensive multi-national archival research, especially newly released documents. -- Xiaobing Li, author of A History of the Modern Chinese Army

Whether read for specific cases or in its entirety, State Violence in Asia is a significant contribution to scholarship on post-World War II Asia generally, and Cold War Asia specifically. -- John E. Van Sant, coeditor of The Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan Relations A timely work, presenting various international perspectives and demonstrating up-to-date scholarly accomplishment that challenges experts, policy-makers, and educators to move into the 'dark-side' of the political history of Asian countries. This remarkable volume of original essays draws on extensive multi-national archival research, especially newly released documents. -- Xiaobing Li, author of A History of the Modern Chinese Army

Author Information

N. Ganesan is professor of southeast Asian politics at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and the coeditor of International Relations in Southeast Asia: Between Bilateralism and Multilateralism. He lives in Hiroshima, Japan. Sung Chull Kim is professor of northeast Asian studies at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and coeditor of Regional Cooperation and Its Enemies in Northeast Asia: The Impact of Domestic Forces.He lives in Hiroshima, Japan.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available