Maximillian Mørch


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Asian Review of Books •

Book Review - “Enchanted Modernities: Ancestral Vitalizations in the Upper Mekong” by Micah F Morton

Akha Ghanr, is a, for Akha communities a “highly pragmatic system of customary law encompassing an entire way of life”, or it could be better described as “Ancestral ways”, acknowledging the role and leadership of their ancestors, something that is central to Akha identity and culture. How it has changed over time is the subject of Micah F Morton’s new book, Enchanted Modernities which explores the evolving role of Akha Ghanr within Akha societies across China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietn...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review - “In Praise of Floods” by James C Scott

In Praise of Floods is the final book by James C Scott, a renowned anthropologist and political scientist, published posthumously after he died in 2024. Much of Scott’s earlier work has focused on agrarian politics and acts of political resistance, this is a rather different book, focusing instead on the life history of a river, the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy). Scott makes a strong argument as to why an anthropologist would look at rivers. Rivers are alive, he argues, “they are born; they change; th...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “A Dream of Annapurna” by Igor Zavilinsky

Originally written in Russian by Ukrainian novelist, Igor Zavilinsky’s new book, A Dream of Annapurna spans Nepal, Italy and the US. The book has an equally broad time frame, ranging from the 1950s  to 2015. The crux of the book focuses on two young Italian boys, who following a chance encounter with the French mountaineer Maurice Herzog who made the world’s first ascent of Annapurna in 1950, develop a joint dream to climb and hike in the Nepali Himalaya. Yet life got in their way and t...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Other Everests: one mountain, many worlds”

Released in late 2024, 100 years after the most infamous mountaineering event in history, Other Everests: one mountain, many worlds is not a retelling of the Mallory expedition, but rather an attempt to widen the framing of Everest beyond western mountaineering exploits. Everest has often been seen through the eyes of western explorers and been limited to tales of heroic exploration. This book is a direct attempt to change that and bring “together new perspectives on the historical and cultural...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “InterAsian Intimacies across Race, Religion, and Colonialism” by Chie Ikeya

Chie Ikeya’s InterAsian intimacies across race, religion and colonialism focuses on inter-Asian marriage in colonial Burma. Ikeya argues that over time these marriages  became “the subject of political agitation, legislative activism and collective violence”. Colonial Burma was an attractive destination for migrants, traders, professionals from all over Asia and the Middle East. The economy was booming and Rangoon was one of the world’s popular destinations for immigrants. Most of this migration...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review - “The Golden Land Ablaze” by Bertil Lintner

In Myanmar today, resistance against the 2021 coup and the military regime, has spread across the entire country, and fighting has engulfed the state, displacing millions and leaving the country in a state of turmoil. To explain how we got to this point, and what is the future for both the resistance movement and the Myanmar military, veteran journalist Bertil Lintner provides in The Golden Land Ablaze a detailed background of Myanmar’s political development since Independence in 1948. Over six...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Island” by Sujit Saraf

Sujit Saraf has set his new novel in the Andaman islands, located in the Indian Ocean, far from the Indian mainland, geographically but also culturally. Island’s protagonist, Nirmal Chandra Mattoo is a middle-aged man, working in a shop in the capital, Port Blair,  selling counterfeit tribal artwork to tourists.  A Kashmiri originally from Delhi, Mattoo arrived on the Andamans decades ago, as a young and promising anthropologist. Working for the Anthropological Survey of India as an eager 22-yea...
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “India’s Near East: A New History” by Avinash Paliwal

India’s western frontier with Pakistan may generate more headlines but India’s eastern border flanking both Myanmar and Bangladesh is arguably more complex. Both neighbors have long been unstable and have both at points in their history found their territory being used by rebels waging war against New Delhi. It is not just neighboring countries that pose a challenge: internal borders too are at play. The Indian government for decades has had a complex, often tumultuous relationship with its nort...
Asian Review of Books •

“On the Shadow Tracks: A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar” by Clare Hammond

Railways are major public infrastructural projects; one would therefore think it should therefore be easy to find out which rail lines exist and at what times trains are running. Not in Myanmar. Aside from the well-known main lines, Clare Hammond a myriad of smaller branch lines in remote parts of the country, with little information as to when the trains will run or if the lines are even operational. Many of these train tracks are not part of a public service, rather they were built for use by
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Leech and other stories” by Ranjan Adiga

Ranjan Adiga’s debut collection Leech and other stories comprises 10 short stories based around the experiences of Nepalis adapting to new worlds, lands and experiences. The majority relate to migration, both internal, with migrants from rural Nepal traveling to try make it in the capital, or abroad, in search of their dream life in America. It is unsurprising that a nation shaped should produce a writer who tackles the subject with such nuance and tenderness. The individuals from all walks of
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Never Never Land” by Namita Gokhale

“Sometimes we have to retreat to return.” So says Iti, who is living in Gurgaon but is far from happy. A freelance editor, struggling to make it as an author, her life is a mess. Feeling lost and unsuccessful, particularly compared to her more successful classmates, who are rich and married while she lives alone consumed by a “pointless bitter anger, this bile that inhabits me.” As Iti spends each day looking at the WhatsApp chats of her former classmates, showing off their trappings of success,
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Maharajas, Emperors, Viceroys, Borders: Nepal’s relations North and South” by Sam Cowan

Sir Sam Cowan worked with Gurkha soldiers for many years in Nepal but also in Malaya, Singapore and Borneo, eventually becoming Colonel Commandment of the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Chairman of the Gurkha Welfare Trust. In this capacity he interacted with several of Nepal’s key players, including King Birendra and King Gyanendra. After retirement from the army, Cowan started researching and writing articles on Nepali history. This new book brings together a selection of his more popular and impo
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “The Crossroads: Kashmir-India’s bridge to Xinjiang” by Kulbhushan Warikoo

Kashmir has always been the point of connection between South Asia, Central Asia and Xinjiang. Winding their way through the mighty Himalaya, Pamir and Karakoram Mountain ranges, traders, travelers and officials created a series of close historic economic, cultural and political ties that have bound the region together. Prof Kulbhushan Warikoo’s new book The Crossroads: Kashmir-India’s bridge to Xinjiang is a new history of Kashmir, focusing on its role in linking the Indian-subcontinent to Xin
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Mountains of Dawn: A Portrait of Arunachal Pradesh” by Mamang Dai

This large photobook offers a detailed visual portrayal of the ecology, history, and cultural diversity of the largest of India’s seven North Eastern states. Mountains of Dawn: A Portrait of Arunachal Pradesh was originally published in 2009; this updated 2023 edition includes over 100 photos. The visual portrayal of the land, “a belt of green shadowed in perpetual rain and midst”, is complemented by a well-written narrative, adding context and further information in support of the visuals on of
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Nepal: From Monarchy to Republic” by Lok Raj Baral

Nepal’s tumultuous political history is the focus of Lok Raj Baral’s latest book, Nepal: From Monarchy to Republic, which charts the country’s journey from its political unification in 1769 to its present status as a federal democratic republic. The veteran author and political scientist charts the seismic shifts that have fundamentally changed Nepal’s politics, society and structure as a state. The book kicks off with an explanation of King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s military conquests in the 18th
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Maymyo Days: Forgotten Lives of a Burma Hill Station” by Stephen Simmons

Pwin-u-Lwin is a town in upper Burma, situated in the hills east of Mandalay, known for its cool climate. Yet for many, Pwin-u-Lwin is better known as Maymyo. Renamed in 1896 after the head of the 5th Bengal infantry, Colonel James May, Maymyo was the most famous hill station in colonial Burma. The British occupied Maymyo in 1895 and a military garrison was erected there in 1897. It soon became a popular holiday destination for those living in Burma. In 1900, following the construction of a trai
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000” by Arupjyoti Saikia

Assam, which shares borders with Bhutan, Bangladesh and used to border Myanmar and China, is the largest state in India’s volatile Northeast region. Many of the Indian states that now border Assam; Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, were all carved out of Assam’s territory post-Independence following fierce political battles for representation and autonomy. Therefore a study of Assam is vital not just for understanding events in one of India’s most geopolitical important regions
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Smoke and Ashes” by Amitav Ghosh

In 2008, Amitav Ghosh released A Sea of Poppies, the first in a trilogy of historical fiction set in India and China in the 1830s amid the outbreak of the First Opium War. The Ibis trilogy details the growth of opium in India, the role of British agents in shipping it to Canton (modern-day Guangzhou) and the massive international impact of the opium trade. Now, eight years after the final book in the trilogy was released, Ghosh has released Smoke and Ashes, a non-fiction compendium to the series
Asian Review of Books •

Book Review “Anarchy or Chaos: MPT Acharya and the Indian Struggle for Freedom” by Ole Birk Laursen

In Anarchy or Chaos, Ole Birk Laursen sets out to bring the life and intellectual contributions of MPT Acharya, a relatively unknown yet vitally important Indian revolutionary, to a wider audience. This biography delves into Acharya’s involvement in nationalism, anticolonialism, revolution, and anarchism, drawing extensively from memoirs, letters, newspapers, and intelligence reports. The result is a remarkable and comprehensive portrayal of a man, for whom much of his life was spent at the cent
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