Author: Antonia Finnane, Derek McDougall.

The Bandung Conference was one of the great political events of the 1950s. Its glittering array of international stars, including Sukarno, Nehru, and Zhou Enlai, ensured headlines in newspapers around the world. How should it be assessed today?More than half a centory after the first great gathering of heads of independent Asian and African countries, this book presents some new and unusual perspectives on the history of the conference. Focusing on some under-researched individuals, countries and themes-Lebanon's Charles Malik, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, Japanese intellectuals, Burmese socialists, Australian politicians-the authors demonstrate the historical depth and repercussions of the conference. The volume brings fresh insights into an historic gathering that was once dismissed as a matter of `words, words, words', and shows why the `Spirit of Bandung' remains a term full of significance, particularly in Asian countries.