The book Turning Points and Transitions, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of ISEAS, is like a literary time machine. It takes us back through contemporary expert commentary and analysis to the major forces and events that shaped the political and economic evolution of the Southeast Asia region. A new generation of scholars has replaced typewriters with computers, but many of the roots of the issues and conflicts that ISEAS will be dealing with in the future are to be found in the past that is so ably documented in this volume.