Description: This innovative work explores the extraordinary personal and political lives of ten leaders who profoundly changed twentieth-century Asian history. The histories, cultures, and politics of China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia are interpreted through the lives of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Mohandas Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem, Norodom Sihanouk, Pol Pot, Sukarno, and Suharto. Some recast their countries by force of arms, others by the power of their ideology. One was hailed as a saint, another was universally condemned as a moral monster. Some of these leaders were born into poverty, others into privilege. Some were democrats, some autocrats, some communists. But however great their differences, each can claim to be an authentic nationalist. Using a biographical approach, this book will stimulate students to think about the relationship between political leadership and nationalism.

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