For undergraduate anthropology courses in the Peoples and Cultures of Asia and undergraduate courses in the History of Asia at two and four - year schools.

This textbook is the only single textbook available at this time to highlight the importance of this region of the world. Each chapter in the textbook is written by anthropologists who have done ethnographic research in each country discussed. Chapters include material on the geography, prehistory, languages, demography, history, and discussions of the contemporary economy, family, gender, ethnic, political, and religious developments in these various countries.