Before imperialism: Prehistory and the first Indian civilizations; The development of Indian culture, Hinduism and Buddhism; Early South-east Asia, the ships from India; China, the eternal nation; Early Japan and the Tang Dynasty in China; The awakening of Europe and the challenge of Islam; Flood tide in China, the Song, Mongol, and Ming dynasties; China, ebb tide; The three makers of Japan and the Tokugawa Period
The 'white man's burden': The dominators and the dominated; South-east Asia, the European and Chinese incursions and the later history of the mainland peoples; The Malay world, Majapahit and Malacca; Indonesia, the last independent kingdoms and the extension of Dutch rule; India under two masters, the Grand Moguls and the East India Company; Gandhi's India, the struggle for liberty
The modern nations: The Second World War and the end of empire; The South Asian nations, freedom, partition, and tragedy; Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan; China, two revolutions; Modern China, the Communist state; Indonesia, Sukarno and after; Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; Japan, the iron triangle; Thailand, two hats, the struggle for democracy; The Philippines, trouble in paradise; Korea, divided nation; Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; Burma, rule by the gun; Asia, today and tomorrow.
