Milton Osborne is an Australian historian, author, and consultant specializing in Southeast Asia.

He attended North Sydney Boys High School, graduated from the University of Sydney and received a PhD from Cornell University. Osborne held academic positions in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore. Osborne's main historical contribution has been to synthesise the history of the region as a whole, rather than concentrate on the histories of the present-day nations.

His Southeast Asia association began in 1959 with an Australian diplomatic posting to Phnom Penh. In 1980 and 1981 Osborne advised the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the Cambodian refugee problem. In 1982 he returned to Australia, working as Head of the Asia Branch of the Office of National Assessments, also serving for a year as Head of Current Intelligence.

Osborne now lives in Sydney and continues to write while consulting on Asian issues.

1 What is Southeast Asia? 1
2 The Classical Background to Modern Southeast Asian History 18
3 Southeast Asia Before the European Impact 40
4 The Outsiders in Traditional Southeast Asia 61
5 The European Advance and Challenge 70
6 Economic Transformation 93
7 The Asian Immigrants in Southeast Asia 112
Southeast Asia Between the Wars 1918-1941 129
11 Other Paths to Independence 203
Indonesia Vietnam Cambodia and Laos 213
Burma Malaya Singapore the Phillipines and the Thai Exception 227
14 The Challenges of Independence in Southeast Asia 246
An Overview of the Present and the Recent Past 267
Discovering Southeast Asia through Art and Literature 286
Suggested Readings 316
Timeline 340
9 The Second World War in Southeast Asia 155
Indonesia Vietnam Malaya and the Phillipines 179
Index 342

"Still one of the best short introductory histories to the region."