Colonies in Ruins is a collection of intriguing short-stories about foreign colonies of the Asia-Pacific region-British Malaya, French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and the US Philippine Islands. For a very long time, these colonies had generated fabulous wealth from mining and agriculture for their colonial masters, but colonial life came to an end on December 8, 1941 as they were each attacked by Japanese forces soon after the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was devastated. Following three years of harsh Japanese occupation, the clear focus of local people was to gain independence from foreign powers that tried to reclaim their former colonies. Hard-won battles and negotiations finally led to the emergence of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines as new republics in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Read about the men and women who helped make it all happen.