As a writer of fiction he styles himself Tony Reid. He is the son of John S. Reid, a New Zealand diplomat who held postings in Indonesia, Japan and Canada in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Contest for North Sumatra: Atjeh, the Netherlands and Britain, 1858–1898. Kuala Lumpur, OUP/UMP, 1969.[2] Reissued by University of Malaya Press, 1974; New edition University of Malaya Press, 2017.[3] Indonesian translation as Asal Mula Konflik Aceh, Jakarta, Yayasan Obor, 2007.[4]
The Indonesian National Revolution, 1945–1950. Hawthorn, Vic. Longmans Australia, 1974. Reprinted by Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1986. Indonesian translation as Revolusi Nasional Indonesia. Jakarta, Sinar Harapan, 1996.
The Blood of the People: Revolution and the End of Traditional Rule in Northern Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur, OUP, 1979. Indonesian translation as Perjuangan Rakyat: Revolusi dan Hancurnya Kerajaan di Sumatra. Jakarta, Sinar Harapan, 1986.
Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. Vol.I: The Lands below the Winds. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1988.
- Indonesian translation as Asia Tenggara dalam Kurun Niaga (Jakarta, Yayasan Obor, 1992).
- Southeast Asia edition Trasvin Publications [Silkworm Books], Chiang Mai, 1995, reprinted 1999.
- Japanese translation Hosei University Press, 1997.
- Thai translation Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, 2004
- Chinese translation by The Commercial Press, 2010.
Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. Vol.II: Expansion and Crisis. New Haven, Yale University Press (1993).
- Indonesian translation as Dari Ekspansi hingga Krisis: Jaringan Perdagangan Global Asia Tenggara, 1450–1680, (1999).
- Japanese translation as Daikokai Jidai no Tonan Ajia II (Tokyo, Hosei University Press,, 2001).
- Thai translation 2004; Chinese translation 2010
Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1999, 298pp. Indonesian translation (2004).
An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and other histories of Sumatra. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2004; 439pp.- reprinted 2005. Indonesian translation 2011.
Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
To Nation by Revolution: Indonesia in the Twentieth Century. Singapore: NUS Press, 2011. Indonesian translation, 2018.
A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads. Chichester, UK: Wiley/Blackwell, 2015. Chinese and Japanese translations, 2021.
as editor, Slavery, Bondage and Dependency in Southeast Asia. St Lucia: Queensland University Press and New York, St Martin's Press, 1983.
as editor, Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2001.
as editor with Daniel Chirot, Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1997.
Reid has also written a novel, Mataram, about 17th century Java depicting the experiences of Tom Hodges, a fictional English East India Company officer, who sets off from Banten in 1608 with his Javanese paramour to reach the mysterious inland kingdom of Mataram:
^Reid, Anthony (1969), The contest for North Sumatra : Atjeh, the Netherlands and Britain, 1858-1898, O.U.P, ISBN978-0-19-638091-9
^Reid, Anthony; Penerbit Universiti Malaya, (publisher.) (2017), The contest for North Sumatra : Aceh, the Netherlands and Britain, 1858-1898 (2 ed.), University of Malaya Press, ISBN978-983-100-884-3
^Reid, Anthony; Maris, Masri (2007), Asal mula konflik Aceh : dari perebutan Pantai Timur Sumatera hingga akhir Kerajaan Aceh abad ke 19 (2 ed.), Jakarta Yayasan Obor Indonesia, ISBN978-979-461-534-8
