But Southeast Asia really encompasses much more than can be defined in simple terms. One needs years of study to fully understand the area. The understanding in the past was that Southeast Asia was a scant footnote to the more important geographic area of Asia. The countries of southeast Asia were looked at as shadow images of China and India. But it is being seen constantly in the modern world, that Southeast Asia is a unique and important entity of its own.

Southeast Asia has shown that varying groups of people can define themselves in relation to their social environment. Southeast Asia exhibits intense cultural fragmentation, reflected by complex ethnic, linguistic and religious geographies. This
extraordinary ethnic and religious diversity of Southeast Asia has much to teach about the creation of common identities in lands where no one group predominates.

It is difficult to separate the study of Asia from the study of the area called Southeast Asia and so, to form a true understanding of what links them and what separates them, both areas must be looked into.

'Infinity and the South China Sea (Fourteen Stories)'. 'The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam (Adventura Books)'. 'Red Azalea'. 'This Earth of Mankind (Buru Quartet)'.

'In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History'. 'The Geography of Thought : How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why'. 'Leaving Deep Water : Asian American Women at the Crossroads of Two Cultures'. 'The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New Directions Book)'.

'Tilting the Continent : Southeast Asian American Writing'. 'Asian Mind Game'. 'The Indianized States of Southeast Asia'.

'A Land on Fire: The Environmental Consequences of the Southeast Asian Boom'.'Over the Moat : Love Among the Ruins of Imperial Vietnam'.'Asian Art'.

'The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew'.'Noli Me Tangere (Shaps Library of Translations)'.'Not Out Of Hate : A Novel of Burma (Ohio RIS Southeast Asia Series)'.

'Historical Atlas of South-East Asia (Handbook of Oriental Studies. South-East Asia)'. 'Daughters of Asia: Inspirational Stories of Southeast Asian Women Leaders'.'Southeast Asia: A Concise History'.
'Letters Of A Javanese Princess'.