Career
His doctoral work at Cambridge University examined the contest for power in northern Sumatra, Indonesia in the late 19th century, and he extended this study into a book The Blood of the People on the national and social revolutions in that region 1945-1949. He is most famous for his two volume book "The Age of Commerce", developed during his time at the Australian National University in Canberra. His later work includes a return to Sumatra where he strongly advocated a historical basis for the separate identity of Aceh.
Professor Reid was Professor of Southeast Asia history at University of Malaya (1965–1970) and Australian National University (1970–1999).
He became the founding director of the Southeast Asia Center, University of California, Los Angeles, 1999–2002, and then the founding director of Asia Research Institute (Asia Research Institute) at the National University of Singapore (NUS Grad. Medical School), 2002-2007. He was Professor of Southeast Asian History and Research Leader at NUS Grad. Medical School from 2007-2009.
Currently, Professor Reid is Professor (Emeritus) at the Australian National University. Indonesian translation as Sejarah Modern Awal Asia Tenggara (Jakarta, LP3ES, ).
Singapore: Singapore University Press.
439pp.- reprinted 2005.
