Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia

Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017)

‘The gun is never far removed from the political arena in Southeast Asia,’ writes Michael Vatikiotis in his part memoir and part political study of the dynamics of modern Southeast Asia, a frontline of two of the most important global conflicts: the struggle between a declining West and a rising China, and that between religious tolerance and extremism.

This is a first-hand account of what it’s like to sit at the table with deadly Thai Muslim insurgents, mediate between warring clans in the Southern Philippines and console the victims of political violence in Indonesia – all in an effort to negotiate peace, and understand the reasons behind endemic violence.

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