A Company of Planters: Confessions of a Colonial Rubber Planter in 1950s Malaya
Through a collection of letters written to his best friend and to his father in England, and from his own personal diary entries, John Dodd's memoir offers a fascinating and amusing glimpse of life as a colonial rubber planter. With true stories and confessions that would make even Somerset Maugham blush, we discover what life was really like for young colonial planters in late-1950s Malaya. Increasing daily rubber output may have been their goal but for the young planters the bigger picture of chasing girls and finding a 'keep' was of much greater importance. But life was more than just a series of stengahs in the clubhouse, dalliances in the Chinese brothels of Penang and charming 'pillow dictionaries' - there were strikes, riots, snakes, plantation fires and deadly ambushes by Communist terrorists to contend with. Set against the backdrop of the Emergency period, the rise of nationalism and Malaya's subsequent Independence, A Company of Planters is a very personal, moving and humorous account of one man's experiences on the frequently isolated rubber plantations of colonial Malaya.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1912049104
ISBN13:9781912049103
Release Date:February 2018
Publisher:Monsoon Books
Length:336 Pages
Weight:0.55 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 5.0" x 7.7"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
interesting personal history
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
This book provides an interesting description of parts of life in 1950s Malaysia. It only tangentially touches on the emergency and independence movement. It is based on letters written during that period, and though the text can be slightly dry at times it avoids getting bogged down on some of the social register type details that can ruin similar works. The author's views are presented as they were at the time without any moralizing from a more modern viewpoint. This may offend some people but I'd call it a fairly accurate snapshot of the time and place.
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