Favorite Reads of 2025

Although we are rather late to the game, we wanted to briefly write about our favorite books of 2025. Although we did not read as much fiction as we would've liked, we did rekindle our love of of mysteries. We also read some intriguing histories about different parts of the world. Hopefully in 2026 we will catch up on science fiction novels and other genres.

1. The Decagon House by Yukito Ayatsuji. As part of our renewed interest in whodunits and mystery novels, The Decagon House was the perfect combination of an ingenious (and macabre!) whodunit involving a mystery club at a Japanese university. The book reads like an homage to all the classic British and American detective fiction of yesteryears while still being fresh.

2. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada was another favorite read of 2025. This mystery contains a great combination of occult themes involving astrology and alchemy while our sleuth, an astrologist, solves a crime committed several years ago. We were less fond of the other work of Soji Shimada translated recently, but this one is a classic.

3. Basil II and the Governance of Empire by Catherine Holmes was one of our favorite historical studies of 2025. Since we are always interested in that apogee that precedes the inevitable decline or fall, Basil II's reign in Byzantium was of great importance for the medieval Roman Empire. However, our sources for this seminal reign are disappointingly few compared to other periods in the annals of the Byzantium. Holmes does a great job analyzing Basil II's reign nonetheless.

4. Anacaona’s Gift: Cotton and the woven arts of the 11th to 17th century Caribbean by Joanna Ostapkowicz was another great read of the year. We have been interested in this topic for a few years now, ever since reading a study by Sued-Badillo on indigenous women in the Antilles that referenced a study by a Puerto Rican graduate student on textiles. Unfortunately, it looks like that earlier study was never published or completed, so Ostapkowicz's work is filling a large gap in the study of Taino material culture. 

5. Angkor and the Khmer Civilization by Michael Coe. The most recent edition of this lovely book is richly illustrated and provides an excellent overview to the history of Angkorian Cambodia. This part of Southeast Asia has quickly become one of the most interesting to us.

6. Les racines du sous-développement en Haïti by Benoit Joachim is one of those classic texts in the study of Haiti we skimmed in the past, but only read in toto in 2025. It raises a number of interesting questions whilst seeking to elucidate the roots of Haiti's underdevelopment. Sadly, some of the questions raised by the author have not been pursued or explored further. But the growth in the interest of the imposed debt and Haiti's ongoing current crises have made Joachim's study very relevant.

The Khmers

Royal parade reliefs

The Khmers by Ian Mabbett and David Chandler is mostly an overview of over 2000 years of Cambodian history, the vast majority of the text covering the period before the fall of Angkor. Mabbett, writing an introductory overview, appears to cite secondary sources and translations of primary source materials (Chinese, Sanskrit, Old Khmer) whilst drawing on insights by archaeologists and scholars of Khmer art architecture to bring this ancient civilization to life. As it was published in the 1990s, some of the more recent advances in the field are not present here, yet Mabbett and Chandler wrote a fine introduction to the complex history of the Khmer. 

Many questions still remain about the period of "Indianization" in this part of mainland Southeast Asia, but Mabbett correctly emphasizes that the rise of urbanization, trade and some degree of social stratification already occurred before Indianization. This was followed by the shadowy polities of Funan and Zhenla, who are best known from problematic external sources (mainly Chinese). If, however, scholars are correct that these were not centralized kingdoms but perhaps temporarily dominant polities in southern Cambodia, then we must wait until the late 8th century and early 9th century to see a sense of Khmer unity. Even so, Khmer provincial elites continued to assert their independence and the unity of the Khmer realm during the Angkorian period was not guaranteed. Indeed, Rajendravarman was said to be essential in the process of centralizing the state in the mid-10th century. 

Unfortunately, the enigmatic fall of Angkor and what transpired in the Cambodian kingdom afterward is poorly served by our sources. Few rulers after Jayavarman VII left behind inscriptions, and the kings shifted away from grandiose Hindu and Hindu/Buddhist temples to lesss ostentatious displays of merit and piety. While Mabbett and others believe the spread of Theravada Buddhism shaped this process, much remains unknown about the decline of the Angkorian state. Conflict with Siam is attested as early as the late 13th century. The decline of irrigation systems and the complex waterworks of Angkor could have also contributed to the eventual abandonment of the site as a royal capital in the 15th century. Perhaps to better understand this period of change will require a new look at Siamese and Cambodian royal chronicles as well as an examination of the pull of trade and economic shifts to the coasts from inland centers. One also wonders if the kings and old temples endowed with thousands of servants or servile populations and lands may have also lost much of their power with the gradual shift to Theravada Buddhism, leading to a shift from wealth based on agricultural exploitation for elites to a more commercial orientation. It may be interesting to look here for clues as to the Chinese, Malay, Cham, or other traders active in the late Angkorian period and afterwards for clues.

The remainder of the text is essentially two short chapters offering a condensed version of Chandler's coverage of Cambodia after Angkor in his general history of the nation. Readers are recommended to consult that larger, more detailed work for Cambodia from c.1500 to the 1990s.

Cambodian History Timeline

The following is very much a work in progress on the history of Cambodia and the Khmer. The dates are largely based on the works of Roe, Lowman, Coedes, Chandler, and Liam C. Kelley. We hope to update this and further explore the fascinating history of this corner of mainland Southeast Asia at a future date.

245-250: Arrival of first Chinese envoys in Funan

357: Funan reported in Chinese sources to have offered to send tame elephants to China

514: Death of King Jayavarman

517: Envoy to China from Rudravarman

519: Envoy from Funan to China in 519

530: Envoy from Rudravarman to China in 530

535: Envoy from Rudravarman to China in 535

539: Envoy sent to China from Rudravarman

612: First (known) inscription in Khmer at Angkor Borei

616/17: Chinese reports of Chenla, former vassal of Funan now dominant

638: 4 embassies from the northwest of Khmer territory came to China

667: Inscription near Ba Phnom: shows 4 generations of an official family serving 5 kings (Rudravarman, Bhavavarman, Citrasena-Mahendravarman, Isanavarman, and Jayavarman I)

671-695: Chinese monk I-ching/Yi-tsing traveled in Southeast Asia

706: Split between Water Zhenla and Land Zhenla said to have taken place

770: First inscription of Jayavarman II

802: Beginning of Angkor period with Jayavarman II

817: Cham inscription in Sanskrit mentions their victory against Cambodia

851: The merchant Sulayman said to have traveled to Southeast Asia, heard tale of "Java" (Maharaja of Zabaj) defeating a Khmer king

877: Reign of Indravarman of Cambodia attested 

889-c. 910: Reign of Yasovarman I

928-941: Reign of Jayavarman IV

944-968: Reign of Rajendravarman. Centralization of Khmer realm may have developed during his reign

950: Rajendravarman raids Champa, taking a gold statue from the temple at Po Nagar

1002-1050: Reign of Suryavarman I

1011: Loyalty oats to Suryavarman I inscribed on stone

1025: Inscription from reign of Suryavarman near Lopburi

1050-1066: Reign of Udāyadityavarman II, who built the Baphuon

c.1052: Sdok Kak Thom Inscription 

1056: Cham raid of Sambhupura

1066-1080: Reign of Harshavarman III

1113-1150: Reign of Suryavarman II, builder of Angkor Wat

1115: Arrival of a tribute mission from Lopburi to China

1120: Tribute mission from Zhenla to China

1166/7: Reign of usurper from Lopburi at Angkor, Tribhuvanādityavarman

1171: A mandarin from Fukien landed on the coast of Champa, and said to have shared military expertise to help Chams defeat Angkor 

1177: Fall of Angkor to Cham forces, led by Jaya Indravarman IV

1182: Reign of Jayavarman VII began

1190: Jayavarman VII's invasion of Vijaya

1243- 1295: reign of Jayavarman VIII

1282/3: Chinese records of a mission from Xian (Siam)

1296: Śrī Śrīndravarman became king of Cambodia

1296-7: Zhao Daguan visited Angkor 

1351: Foundation of Ayutthaya

1369: Angkor temporarily abandoned (Mabbett)

1431: Letter cited by Liam Kelley indicating Siamese overthrow of the ruler of Sanfoqi (Cambodia?)

c.1570-1594: Reign of Sattha, who was well-disposed to Europeans. Was interested in an alliance with the Spanish and Portuguese

1570s: Cambodian king may have temporarily transferred the court to Angkor

1583: Thai attack on Longvaek

c.1585-1586: Spanish priest Antonio de Magdalena visited Angkor

1587: Thai unsuccessfully besieged Longvaek

1594: Thai sacking of Cambodian capital, Longvaek 

1594-1597: Reign of s Ram Jerng Prei

1603-1618: Reign of Paramaraja IV 

1618-1627: Reign of Jai Jettha II

1623: Vietnamese ask for a customs post at Prei Nokor (Saigon)

1642-1659: Reign of Ramadhipati I, who converted to Islam and was overthrown in 1659.

1672-1673: Reign of Padumaraja II

1680s: by this time, the future Saigon was seized by the Vietnamese from the Khmer

1747: Rebellion led by a daughter of Ang Im

1772: Phnom Penh destroyed by Thai/Siamese army

1775-1779: Reign of Ang Non III

1820: Revolt against Vietnamese led by a monk, Kai

1836: Revolt of Kom Svay against Vietnam

1860-1904: Reign of Norodom

1936: Appearance of a Khmer language newspaper called Angkor Wat

Angkorian "Nation"

Whilst reading Lowman's The Descendants of Kambu: The Political Imagination of Angkorian Cambodia, we see how difficult reconstructing the past of Cambodia is. Relying mainly on inscriptions since other local writings have not survived, Lowman argues for Angkorian Cambodia as a "nation" with a sense of boundedness, territory of nativity, and based on a myth of common descent through Kambu (the origin of the name Cambodia). Evidence of this can be found in the myth of Kambu, the defining of others like the Cham as ethnic/political others, and the degree to which inscriptional evidence attests to way provincial elites recorded their history as propertyholders via genealogy and royal elephant hunts of Jayavarman III. There is a lot more going on here, with additional evidence from the way in which the sense of Khmerness as a "nation" was also how Buddhists in Cambodia sought royal patronage before the reign of Jayavarman VII. Overall, the evidence does suggest something perhaps unique for Cambodia in this period of Southeast Asian history. A sense of ethnic community with a bounded territory of nativity was at least promoted by the royalty at Angkor and provincial elites posted to different parts of the sprawling territory. This was quite distinct from the mandala or cosmological model sometimes haphazardly applied to premodern Southeast Asian states. However, one would like to see more evidence of this through additional inscriptions (more than 3, or 5) so that one can sense that the myth of independence from "Java" or stories of land claims tied to elephant hunts really were more widespread. Perhaps like the case of the peasantry or enslaved people, this is impossible to truly uncover without the discovery of more inscriptions or new types of sources for this period. Sadly, post-Angkorian Cambodia defined its sense of "nation" differently, so Lowman advises against assuming too much continuity. 

A History of Cambodia

Due to our growing interest in Angkor, we felt it was necessary to read a "national" history to understand the larger trajectory of the Khmer people before, during, and after Angkor. David Chandler's A History of Cambodia is still the standard reference in English, so we began there. And Chandler, to his credit, does an excellent job synthesizing various sources on prehistoric, ancient, Angkorean, post-Angkor, colonial, and post-colonial Cambodia. It's a daunting task, particularly since much of the source material has severe limitations or it has not survived at all. Chandler endeavored to do  justice to this bewildering task of covering more than 2000 years of history well. In terms of Angkor and its decline, he is cautious and seems to agree with Vickery's interpretation of the problematic royal chronicles that cover the 15th and 16th centuries. Nonetheless, Angkor was still visited and used by monks and the Cambodian royal family. To what extent there really are so many parallels between different periods in Cambodian history is another question we cannot resolve. Chandler, for his part, sees them frequently in terms of Cambodia's destiny as a weaker power in the sphere of influence of Siam and Vietnam in the 1600s-1800s, as well as periods under colonial French Indochina or the Vietnam War that engulfed the region. After reading this history, which is largely critical of the state of affairs in Cambodia's political class (repression, arbitrary rule, incompetence, genocide/crimes against humanity, especially in the DK years under Pol Pot), one wonders to what extent the characterization of relations between the Cambodian state and its population was like this before the capital shifted south to Phnom Penh. Was Angkor really a centralized state which supported intensive agriculture, irrigation projects, and infrastructure while Cambodia afterwards was more commercial-oriented and the state unwilling or unable to fund similar projects of the Angkor period?

Angkor & the Khmer Civilization

The latest (2024) edition of Angkor & The Khmer Civilization by Michael D. Coe and Damien Evans is a beautifully illustrated overview of thousands of years of Cambodian history. While what the authors term the "Classic" period, or the medieval empire that lasted from c.802 to 1327, occupies the most attention from the authors (in part due to the well-earned fame of Angkor and the greater attention paid to that period by archaeologists and historians), prehistoric and the Early Kingdoms epochs receive scholarly attention, too. With the new advances in LiDAR and other archaeological techniques, we know more than ever about ancient Cambodia, thereby opening the door to new questions and considerations about its past. For instance, the authors draw from recent work by archaeologists to support Groslier's "hydraulic city" model for Angkor, although they prefer an estimate of at most 750,000 for the Angkor metropolis. They also push back strongly against the idea of Classic Angkor as a mandala state or decentralized polity. The imprint of the royal administration down to the village level, inscriptions attesting to the presence of government officials appointed by the king, and regular censuses for corvee and taxation purposes suggest this was a strong government, even in the Post-Classical phase when territorial contraction and pressure from the Thai and Vietnamese weakened Cambodia. Overall, this is an excellent introduction that, of course, cannot do full justice to thousands of years of history given the archaeological gaps and the loss of countless manuscripts in Classical and Post-Classical times. Indeed, by adopting an approach to Cambodia over a longue durée allows one a reasonable perspective on the development of Cambodian civilization over time.  Naturally, numerous questions remain, some of which may be answered in the future with the aid of new techniques and models for understanding the art, temples, monuments, and public works projects of ancient Cambodia. Perhaps further analysis of reliefs from temples at Angkor and more analysis of inscriptions in Khmer and Sanskrit could have been utilized here for more insights on land tenure, the temples, and labor, but only such much can be done with the limited sources available. 

The Civilization of Angkor

Out of a desire to learn more about Angkor, we recently read Charles Higham's The Civilization of Angkor. Eager to read an overview of this ancient Khmer civilization less outdated than that of Georges Coedes, who heavily relied on inscriptions and was somewhat dismissive of "pre-Indianized" peoples in the region, Higham's short account establishes the deeper roots of the civilization that produced Angkor. Indeed, the degree of long-distance trade and social inequality already in place, detected through archaeology, indicates that "Indianization" was a local adoption and adaptation of Indic religious and cultural practices. What was more surprising to learn was the strong evidence against older interpretations of Angkor's authority being rooted in royal control of irrigation networks. Indeed, Higham suggests the various dynasties of this Khmer civilization were perhaps more akin to the type of "galatic polity" described by Tambiah. In other words, central authority was weak in the provinces and conflict within the court or the center common. Nonetheless, it looks like Coedes and past scholars were correct about the role of the Shiva cult, institution of devaraja, and temple complexes and merit-making as core components of state authority and ideology. Indeed, this is perhaps another parallel with the type of state "networks" described by Kenneth Hall for precolonial Southeast Asian states. We only wish more was known of Funan, the Chenla polities, and the nature of slavery and bonded labor.

A Record of Cambodia

Although the extant text appears to be perhaps 1/3 of the original work, Zhao Daguan's A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People is a priceless source. Translated into English by Peter Harris, the short account's readable description of Cambodia in the late 13th century brings this vastly different time and place to life. Despite Zhao Daguan's own cultural biases and possible omissions and corruption to the text, an overview of Khmer society, religion, agriculture, landscape, flora, fauna, and the royal court is at least partially described. Keeping the aforementioned shortcomings of the text in mind, one can carefully use Zhao Daguan, with insights from local inscriptions, archaeology, and art history, to reconstruct a complex civilization. 

Zhao Daguan, for instance, highlights the role of slavery as a pervasive institution in society. Slaves, often taken from highland "savage" populations, were so despised that sleeping with them was considered a reprehensible act, though occasionally done by resident Chinese. Agriculture was undoubtedly the basis for the realm's wealth and stability, and local trade was dominated by women. According to Zhao Daguan, women were easy to find, food plentiful, and clothing requirements light, so many Chinese sailors sought to stay in Cambodia. The growing Chinese presence in the kingdom also led to a decline in respect for Chinese merchants as they became more common. Chinese customs such as using paper in lavatories were strange to the local Khmer, just as Zhao Daguan saw local women as lascivious. The far-ranging trade networks of the Khmer extended to, perhaps, India in the west (and likely beyond) to Chinese ceramic ware, manufactured goods, silks,and other products. Recent wars or battles with Siam had devastated part of the kingdom. Nonetheless, people from Siam were also residing in Cambodia, associated with silk and textile production. 

Zhao Daguan also noted with approval how even the "barbarian" people of Cambodia knew how to venerate an absolute ruler (Indravarman III). The various temples and monumental architecture of the capital seems to have impressed him, too. Art, architecture, religion, and the numerous relatives of the king were tied to royal administration and legitimacy. Numerous officials of the state were relatives of the king or people who provided their daughters as concubines to him. The old legend of a snake spirit cohabiting with the king and allusions to Buddhist and Siva/Hindu rituals clearly establish a close relationship with the temples, monks, and priests. While Zhao Daguan did not understand the Hindu-derived pandits and Siva worship, his allusions to them suggest strongly localized cults which were patronized by the royal court.