Tales From The South China Seas: Images Of The British In South-East Asia In The Twentieth Century

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Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn/faded. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.

Tales from the South China Seas is a rich oral history anthology that chronicles the lives of British men and women who lived and worked across South-East Asia during the twilight years of the British Empire in the twentieth century. Edited by Charles Allen in association with Michael Mason, the collection draws on first-hand testimonies gathered for a BBC radio series, presenting vivid personal accounts of traders, colonial administrators, planters, and their families navigating an exotic and rapidly changing world. The narratives capture the atmosphere of a vanished era — monsoon-soaked ports, rubber estates, and the bustling commerce of the South China Seas — with warmth, nostalgia, and remarkable candour. An introduction by Alastair Cunningham-Brown sets the historical stage, grounding the personal reminiscences within the broader sweep of British imperial decline and South-East Asian transformation. Together, the voices assembled here paint an intimate and authoritative portrait of a colonial society that has largely disappeared from living memory.