After Empire: Histories of Asia

"Everyone has a past" - the saying is as clichéd as it is true - but who gets to tell their story of what happened? Whose experiences rise beyond what we think of as ‘memory’ and become ‘history”? The histories that we inherit tell their own stories of power and inequality, of some narratives remembered as true while others are forgotten. The books in this selection approach the histories of our region from different perspectives, reflecting on the force that have shaped the societies we know. Their authors - journalists, explorers, novelists, and others - urge us to see familiar places and events in a different light.

Curated by:

Theophilus Kwek