A history of the fabled islands of Southeast Asia from 300 BC, by which time their inhabitants had learned to sail the monsoon winds, to AD 1528, when Islam became dominant in the region.

Lynda Norene Shaffer, Professor of History at Tufts University, teaches and writes about Chinese, Native American, and world history. After completing her undergraduate work at the University of Texas, Austin, she received a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. A founding member of the World History Association, she has served three terms on its National Council. Her publications include Mao and the Workers: The Hunan Labor Movement, 1920–23; Native Americans Before 1492: The Moundbuilding Centers of the Eastern Woodlands; and “Southernization,” Journal of World History 5,1: 1–21.