Geoffrey C. Gunn is professor of International Relations in the Faculty of Economics at Nagasaki University. He has served as a "consultant sociologist" to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, as well as advising the UN-backed East Timor "Truth Commission."

This is a much-needed introduction to East Timor (or, locally, Timor-Leste) for students and researchers. Gunn, a faculty member in economics at the University of Nagasaki and former consultant to the United Nations in East Timor, has done a good job of collecting and distilling the history of the small nation, which achieved independence in 2002. A large bibliography of both English and Portuguese books and articles will serve researchers well. The chronology and historical essay that are standard parts of the publisher's numerous Historical Dictionaries series introduce the country to those unfamiliar with East Timor. East Timor is at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. It occupies the eastern end of the Island of Timor, which is the Malay word for "east." (Leste is the Portuguese word for "east," so whatever name of the country is used, it means East East.) In addition to the eastern end, a small enclave on the northern side of the island, named Oecusse, bounded by the sea and surrounded by Indonesia, is also part of the country. Indonesia still refuses to allow a land connection between the two parts of East Timor. In addition to Portuguese, Tetum, an Austronesian language, is the other national language. All of this is explained in the volume, as is other biographical, historical, and geographical information. If all readers know about East Timor are the names of two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, then this book will bring them up to speed. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.