Peebles (history, U. of Missouri, Kansas City) presents the history of Sri Lanka in this volume that is part of a series aimed at students and general readers. Along the way, he integrates geography, economics, culture, colonialism, and Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism into the discussion, and describes the country's independence from Britain, ethnic conflicts, quality of life, the recent civil war and quest for peace, and the 2004 tsunami. Brief biographies...