Southeast Asian history and historiography would be greatly handicapped if the writings of Nicholas Tarling were removed from the increasingly expanding literature. The reading list has increased several folds since the early 1950s when Southeast Asian history was beginning to emerge as a serious area of scholarly research and writing. Nonetheless the works of the pioneering batch of scholars have remained relevant more than half a century since their publications. These books and articles have attained #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;classic#xE2;#xAC;" status, never failing to be listed in students#xE2;#xAC;" #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;Required Reading Lists#xE2;#xAC;". Peter Nicholas Tarling (1931-), currently emeritus professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, figured among those whose works possessed a long shelf life. Up to mid-2009, the indefatigable Tarling 'has authored and edited close to 40 books #xE2;#xAC;#xA6; and more than 90 scholarly journal articles', and remained active and prolific. In critically scrutinizing and analyzing British imperial designs on the region, Tarling has contributed significantly to the historiography of Southeast Asia as Great Britain was a major player, if not the dalang(puppeteer) of events and developments on the geopolitical stage. Tarling#xE2;#xAC;"s corpus of works, specifically his papers published in scholarly journals, is an essential guide to the understanding of the politics and history of Southeast Asia.