Product Description

The only Southeast Asian nation never to have been colonized by a European power, Thailand is a country rich with history. Thailand Condensed provides readers with an overview of key events in the nationÂ’s past as well as the cultural touchstones of its present. From elephants, tuks tuks, and silk to the realities of modern life, Thailand Condensed is loaded with nuggets of information, all presented in one volume for the readerÂ’s ease of reference.

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Customer Reviews (1)

All things Thai
Very good, as the title says, condensed history and culture of Thailand. I especially enjoyed the timeline of Thailand's kings and leaders. While the volume is small, it does cover a lot of territory and is a fine, generalized addition to anyone's library on Thailand. Up to date. Covers short blubs on the tsunami and SARS. ... Read more

Product Description
In A History of Thailand, Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit reveal how a world of mandarin nobles and unfree labour evolved into a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from southern China. They trace how a Buddhist cosmography adapted to new ideas of time and space, and a traditional polity was transformed into a new nation-state under a strengthened monarchy. The authors cover the contests between urban nationalists, ambitious generals, communist rebels, business politicians, and social movements to control the nation-state and redefine its purpose. They describe the dramatic changes wrought by a booming economy, globalization, and the evolution of mass society. Finally, they show how Thailand's path is still being contested by those who believe in change from above and those who fight for democracy and liberal values. Drawing on new Thai-language research, this second edition brings the Thai story up to date and includes a new section on the 2006 coup and the restoration of an elected government in 2008. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

It ain't just the land of smiles
Thailand is admittedly very difficult to understand the political situation there seems out of control and incomprehensible to many in the West. That being said, Baker and Pasuk's A History of Thailand is the best one-volume history of the country I've seen and will do much to explain modern Thai politics.

A History of Thailand is organized chronologically, but each chapter also focuses on a specific theme. For example, the reigns of Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn are under the chapter "Reform" and the chapter places a heavy emphasis on their state-building measures. The authors do a particularly good job of not getting too bogged down in names, dates, and places and instead focusing on the big picture.

The book is also fairly up to date (this is the 3rd revised edition). Of course, events in Bangkok are shifting quickly, but this book does about as a good a job as any of giving you the history you need to understand modern Thailand.

Unfortunately, the book does take a "past is prologue" approach to history before the 20th century. Everything before the end of Chulalongkorn's reign (1910) is covered in 90 pages. I understand the authors' limitations on space, but at times it seems the early years fly by a bit too quickly (Mongkut, we hardly knew ye). For more on pre-20th century Thailand, David Wyatt's Thailand: A Short History might be better.

Overall, I can't think of a better history of Thailand to recommend to somebody who wants to learn more about this troubled country.

Look no further
If you're looking for a readable and historically accurate introduction to Thai history, this is it. Look no further! This is a great improvement over Wyatt's tome, which is more widely read as "the" introductory book, but is really sub-par in its representations of historical realities. These authors (finally!) do a good job, within the constraints of the book's length, of explaining how an array of feudal city-states were eventually consolidated and, basically, colonized by Bangkok powers, resulting eventually in the nation-state of Thailand. A good companion book: "Siam Mapped" by Thongchai Winichakul. Finally someone did it right!

Very sketchy and particularly biased
As another previously stated, the early years prior to the Chakri Dynasty are very poorly covered.The Chakri Dynasty coverage up to the time of RAMA the 6th is not very bad, but somewhat vague and not in-depth enough in relation to the Monarchs` rule.Much credibility was also lost when the great fakir/fraud Anna Leonowen`s 1871 fabrication was written as fact.This left me wondering how deep the research was done, or was much of the material heresay.A pivotal event, the Paknam Incident and its aftermath were very sparsely covered as well.The years of RAMA the 7th and the rise of Pridi and Phibun were done well, but this is where the book VERY steeply begins to degenerate.There is much evidence today of Pridi`s involvement in the 1946 regicide, but this puzzlingly is very sparsely covered.Only later in the RAMA the 9th chapters does the real authors` bias begin to seep in deeper and deeper into the text.The authors (one a very liberal prof at Chula BTW) begin to memorialize waxingly the communist movement in Thailand in the 1930s painting Pridi as almost a saint (early Paris trained communist forefather) while his rival is repeatedly compared to Hitler and Mussolini.Later the arch nemisis of the Thais unapolegetically becomes the Yanks by the 1950s.From chapter 7 on up it is the continually the bloody Yanks who are the root of all Thailand`s modern day problems.They also alude to if the Thais had followed the lead of the CPT Thammasat students then Thailand would be so much better off today...(kind of like those other great SE Asian Marxist economic success stories: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma).Well anyway the communist party members of Thailand are the heroes while the current King is painted as a clueless bumbling, but cheerful puppet to whichever way the winds blew until 1973.At that time he showed backbone according to the authors, but then went back into his flower gardens of Hua Hin.The overall anti-monarchy and anti-Yank bias grew rather tedious after awhile and it was indeed difficult to weed through the last 100 pages of the book.If you indeed want a truer version of Thai history, I would recommend Wyatt`s book.It is much longer and probably a bit more academic, but it is not a student primer on SE Asian socialism advocacy.Both these authors seem very learned and articulate; it is sad that they could not keep their leftist ideology out of a very complex nation`s history that is far more complex than simple "left" or "right" analogies.

an excellent read
Having visited Thailand a couple of times I knew some of the basic history. This book helps fill in the gaps in my knowledge and tells the story of Thailand from the pre-nation days. The focus is mainly on the 20th century and to some extent the mid- to late- 19th. This makes perfect sense as there was no "Thailand" before that time or at least before Bangkok became the capital. There is some time spent dealing with the small kingdoms that were part of what eventually became Siam and later Thailand as well as how the monarchy changed over time. But the book mostly deals with how the nation-state came about and how it evolved.

The style is eminently readable and very well-researched and documented. Obviously a book such as this is aimed at a fairly limited audience. It has been a fine commuting companion for me.

It is fascinating to see how history in Thailand keeps on repeating itself even to this very day.

A Very Nice Overview
This compendium makes for a thoughtful, probing overview of Thailand past and present. For anyone wishing to better understand this diverse Asian nation, this is a good book to start with. A great beach read for the thinking tourist.

Troy Parfitt, author ... Read more

Product Description
This highly acclaimed book, the standard history of Thailand for almost twenty years, has now been completely revised by the author. David K. Wyatt has also added new sections examining the social and economic changes that have transformed the country in the past two decades. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

The Best History of Thailand available...
This author really knows the History of Thailand and it shows... the book is highly readable and moves quickly and with confidence...No useless "filler".

Those complaining about the book seem to want a "guidebook" or a quick read that they could get better from Wikipedia.

All phases of Thai History are covered in sufficient detail to give the reader a real understanding and feel for the place... Of course Thailand is a small country so some discussion of neighbors is necessary.Any "words" that are not known to the reader can be looked up. This is really not a problem... You might need a map to know where places are if you are at ground zero about the lay of the land...but that is doable.

A great and readable introduction to Thai History for those who want a little more than the Lonely Planet version of "historical background."

Very dull reading, not up-to-date
Undoubtedly, the author knew Thailand and its history extremely well! This unfortunately is only necessary but not sufficient to write a readable book.
The author faithfully recounts which king invaded what place when, he tells us the outcome of that battle.....The book does not tell us at all, how the people lived, what their social behaviour was, etc. In other words, the reader does not get a feel for how life was.

The period fron the 80's onward is poorly covered. The fist edition was published in 1980 or so, and the overhaul it got in 2002 by the author was insufficient in my view.

This is not a book, I recommend.

A standard history that's a bit lacking in revision
Wyatt's first edition of this book was, for many years, the standard introduction to Thai history for English speakers. It was written for an academic audience and although Wyatt is more readable than the average academic, it really isn't a good choice for people who want a little history to go with their guidebook. A more readable history is Pongpaichit Pasuk & Chris Baker's "Thailand: Economy and Politics". Wyatt undertook this second edition in part because he felt that his earlier edition gave insufficient attention to Thailand's diversity and the different worldviews of its Lao, Chinese and other minorities. The book is only somewhat successful in this respect, although it's one of the few books to avoid the "happy peasants down on the rice paddy" view of Thailand that mars social histories of the country by Thai and foreign scholars (including Pongpaichit & Baker) and tends to betray the limits of what these academics really know about the country.

This book should appeal to people who want a fairly in-depth introductory history to the country and probably should be read with Pongpaichit & Baker's volume, which does more with Thailand's social and economic history. Wyatt is very weak on the last three decades of Thai history even though he would have had ample opportunity to know and understand it in-depth. He provides inadequate introductions to key figures such as General Prem, Chatchai Choonavan, Chuan Leekpai and Taksin Shinawatra (all major Prime Ministers of the last few decades). He is very coy in discussing prostitution in Thailand and neglects the AIDS epidemic, while giving a distorted view of Thailand's great success in implementing family planning programs (Wyatt completely neglects the role of the government). The maps are poorly laid-out and make it difficult to see some of the points made in the text. Still and all, this is a good introduction to Thai history for someone who wants a fair degree of depth and is willing to look beyond the weak treatment of recent history.

Almost unreadable
For years, I have kept a cherished copy of this book, probably because someone I know and admire wrote a glowing review of it in the Asian press.

Recently, however, despite the fact that I live in Thailand and am fascinated by the region, I realized that I had never read this book!

So I picked it up again, and began to understand why.From the very first pages, the reader is assaulted with terms for peoples (Mon, Wa, etc.) which remain totally unexplained.Of course, someone who has spent his life dealing with the history of Thailand feels that such terms are self-explanatory, but they are NOT.

Add to this particular opacity, what?The plodding style of the author, who is apparently incapable of generating reader interest or suspense no matter how compelling the tale.And then add in the fact that Wyatt took TWENTY YEARS to revise the first edition, and produce a second, slightly better edition, and you are forced to the conclusion that Wyatt finds writing in English to be an extremely difficult job.

And, if you are writing history for anyone but specialists, that very nearly disqualifies you.

Nevertheless, this book is probably the ONLY available general history of Thailand.How sad!

Readable and well-done
It is, of course, impossible to cover every aspect of a nation's history to everyone's satisfaction in a single volume, or in any series of volumes for that matter.My expectation of Wyatt's effort was that it would narrate the origins and development of the Tai and Thailand on a general level.Wyatt did an admirable job of fullfilling my expectations.For those who bother to read prefaces, the author begs forgiveness from other scholars who would balk at the necessary incompleteness such an outline implictly entails.

Wyatt's history focuses predominantly on the rise and fall of various Tai states from the influence of early Nan-Chao to modern Thailand's awkward internal pressures of democracy, authoritarianism, tradition and reform. He deals primarily with top-level political contests -- successions to the throne, conflicts between the Tai, Shan, Mon, Burmese, Khmer, and Lao ethnic civilizations, the pyramidal control structures typical of various Tai empires, and so on.What emerges then is a reliable gestalt of how Tai history unfolded from the earliest days to the present.

I found Wyatt's history to be sufficiently readable and engaging.One problem is the sometimes tedious litany of dynastic struggles and successions.Also regrettably absent is a more involved elucidation of the specific nature of Tai Buddhism beyond its broad political roles in Tai history.

"Thailand: A Short History" is ultimately more a political, material, and especially, a territorial history and somewhat less a cultural one.However, without Wyatt's effort most of us would need to settle for no familiarity with Tai history whatsoever. The author is to be applauded not only for his erudition and high-quality writing, but for enduring the anguish of omission that a short history necessarily demands. ... Read more

Product Description

Thailand is a fascinating country with a very rich culture and history. Today, it is home to over 60 million people, and is a newly industrialized nation with an emerging world economy. Thailand is the world's leading exporter of rice, with roughly half of its arable land dedicated to rice fields. As home to one of the earliest iron and bronze cultures, Thailand can be regarded as a "cradle of civilization."

This book is divided into 11 chapters that follow an introduction that explains the text's scope, organization and methodology. A chronology of historical events, biographical entries on key figures, a bibliography, a glossary of terms, and selected maps provide an enlightening, complete view of Thailand's culture and world significance.

Product Description
Fresh insight into Thailand's history over the 250 years, from the fall of the old capital Ayutthaya in 1767 in the opening scene, to today, with the country's massive economic expansion. ... Read more

Product Description
This revised and updated edition of the widely praised "Democracy and National Identity in Thailand" provides readers with a fascinating discussion of how debates about democracy and national identity in Thailand have evolved from the period of counter-insurgency in the 1960s to the current (post-coup) period. Focusing on state- and civil society-centred democratic projects, Connors uses original Thai language sources to trace how the Thai state developed a democratic ideology that meshed with idealized notions of Thai identity, focusing on the monarchy. The book moves on to explore how non-state actors have mobilized notions of democracy and national identity in their battle against authoritarian rule. It also invites readers to explore democratic ideology as a form of power aimed at creating ideal citizens able to support elite national projects. A 'must' for all courses on Southeast Asia, the book also offers valuable insights for all courses dealing with issues of democratization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not satisfactory
I was not satisfied academically. It is like a PhD thesis with a strange theoretical argument. I was disappointed. ... Read more

Product Description
A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict. Thailand is currently facing separatist violence in its southern ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces. This book presents new issues directly connected to Thailand. ... Read more

Product Description
"Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words" examines modern and pre-modern Buddhist monastic education traditions in Laos and Thailand. Through five centuries of adaptation and reinterpretation of sacred texts and commentaries, Justin McDaniel traces curricular variations in Buddhist oral and written education that reflect a wide array of community goals and values. He depicts Buddhism as a series of overlapping processes, bringing fresh attention to the continuities of Theravada monastic communities that have endured despite regional and linguistic variations. Incorporating both primary and secondary sources from Thailand and Laos, he examines pre-modern inscriptional, codicological, anthropological, art historical, ecclesiastical, royal, and French colonial records. He traces how pedagogical techniques found in pre-modern palm-leaf manuscripts are pervasive in modern education by looking at modern sermons, and even television programmes and websites. ... Read more

Product Description
Since 2005, Thailand has been in crisis, with unprecedented political instability and the worst political violence seen in the country in decades. In the aftermath of a military coup in 2006, Thailand's press freedom ranking plunged, while arrests for lèse-majesté have skyrocketed to levels unknown in the modern world. Truth on Trial in Thailand traces the 110-year trajectory of defamation-based laws in Thailand. The most prominent of these is lèse-majesté, but defamation aspects also appear in laws on sedition and treason, the press and cinema, anti-communism, contempt of court, insulting of religion, as well as libel. This book makes the case that despite the appearance of growing democratization, authoritarian structures and urges still drive politics in Thailand; the long-term effects of defamation law adjudication has skewed the way that Thai society approaches and perceives "truth."

Employing the work of Habermas, Foucault, Agamben, and Schmitt to construct an alternative framework to understand Thai history, Streckfuss contends that Thai history has become "suspended" since 1958, and repeatedly declining to face the truth of history has set the stage for an endless state of crisis.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of South East Asian politics, Asian history, and media and communication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Truth tried and yet untried
David Streckfuss is a direct and honest story-teller, describing in this well-researched academic book a compendium of conundrum, Thailand's criminal defamation 'ethic.' With years of research, study and personal experience at the helm, Streckfuss takes the open-minded reader into what seems an intractable problem - how to come to grips with decades of lies and violence perpetrated by a dangerous and yet fearful elite bent on preserving their dominated status quo at all costs, using the revered Thai monarchy as shield and cause-célèbre.
Dr. Streckfuss is joined in an earlier work by FEDERICO FERRARA, Assistant Professor with the Department of Asian and International Studies at the City University of Hong Kong ([...]), who wrote one of the most frank accounts of Thailand's innate character in his book Thailand Unhinged, by Equinox Publishing.
Streckfuss' book, however, is written as an academic work and by having done so the researcher and avid campaigner for needed social-political change in Thailand has provided an extensive foundation for subsequent researchers, students and others who want to understand what is happening in Thailand and why.
Writes Streckfuss, "The cleavages in Thai society--class, race, ethnic, religious, regional, and political-- so long papered over and held together by incessant calls for unity and a century-old constructions of an ossified national identity, are no longer deniable or manageable. The linchpin is the lèse-majesté law. The law's use does not indicate the strength of the Thai state but rather its utter desperation. Borwornsak exalts not so much the monarchy as the law itself, making the claim that "the lèse-majesté offence" is "a distinctive character of Thai democracy amidst the global democratic movement."

Streckfuss maintains that the traditional instilled unity of the nation that itself forced subsequent social cleavages into existence is no longer manageable or deniable. Yet the Thai elite, through its proxy government, is attempting to prove the opposite through legislation, force majure and incessant propaganda to make it seem as if obeying His Majesty's 2005 plea - "I want to be violated...I want to be criticized" is a crime against national security. As well, His Majesty, during the same speech, specifically referred to the constitutional provisions against violating him and still called for them to be abandoned.
This is the story that Streckfuss helps describe in detail and with extensive personal qualifications for doing so.
... Read more

Book Description
Armchair travelers and globetrotters alike will appreciate these lavishly illustrated, informative volumes which will rekindle old memories and inspire new flights of fancy.

An exploration of this country of unique and rich traditions -- from bustling Bangkok with its splendid temples and palaces to hilltop villages and ancient ruins. ... Read more

Product Description
From the beaches of the south to the mountains of the north, Thailand is a beautiful and diverse land.Thailand: The Golden Kingdom encapsulates Thai history, culture, and art in one compact volume.It gives an endearing portrait of Thailand's multi-ethnic population, the people's beliefs and ways of life and sets it in an historical and cultural context.Over 140 stunning color photographs illustrate the clear, insightful text about all aspects of one of Asia's most fascinating places. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Beautiful book!
I liked that this book not only gave you the beautiful photos, but it also provides you with loads of information on Thailand. Too often I find that these books lack useful or interesting information about the country featured. This book doesn't disappoint in that area. The photographs are beautiful and give you a nice glimpse into this beautiful land. I gave this as a gift but was tempted to order a copy for myself!

Thailand: The Golden Kingdom
This was a gift for a friend that loves Thailand and lived and traveled there extensively.He loved this book.It is a great reminder of all he loved about such a beautiful country.

The Golden Kingdom
This is a great coffee table book! At a reasonable price. It is loadedwith beautiful photography of many different aspects of Thailand.If youlove Thailand you will love this book.If you know nothing of Thailandthis book will make you want to learn more.When your friends see it theywill be ooing and aawing. ... Read more

Product Description
This study addresses the competing histories of Thailand and Patani beginning in the fourteenth century up to the mid-twentieth century. It provides an explanation of the causes of ongoing political conflict between the Malay Muslims in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand and the Thai government, against whichseparatistmovements fought in the 1960s.Even though January 2004 marked the beginning of the current violence that now plagues Thailand's south, most people in and outside the area still believe that the nature of such conflict is internal and could be resolved peacefully. The major contention in the competing histories of Siam and Patani revolves around national policies that resulted in discrimination and destruction of the Muslim's cultural identity and rights. In the early twentieth century under the rule of King Chulalongkorn, which was characterized by centralization and cultural suppression, Patani was reduced to a mere province. Further forced assimilation occurred under the Phibun government in the 1940s at which time Islamic practices and the use of the Yawi language were curbed.The sources of political conflict -including the political status of Patani, ethnic identity, Bangkok politics, and bureaucratic misconduct in the south - have historical roots. Understanding an appreciation of each other's culture and ethno-religious identities could lead to positive political will on both sides for peaceful resolution of the conflict.This is the thirty-fifth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner. ... Read more

Product Description
Lan Na is the name of a conglomerate of Thai city-states that covered roughly the area of modern north Thailand between the 13th and 16th centuries. Mostly under the leadership of the city-state of Chiang Mai, Lan Na's influence reached far into the neighboring regions.Beginning with popular legends, this wide-ranging narrative takes us from prehistoric and proto-historic periods up to the present day. This brief and highly readable volume is a welcome step towards developing a fuller history of northern Thailand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very disappointing
The "book" turns out to be a very small booklet with some brief historical content on Northern Thailand that is written as a rather boring history professor would write it. I can't beleive I was suckered into buying a booklet for 10 dollars. When they say brief...they really mean brief....buyer beware ... Read more

Product Description
A retelling of eighteen traditional Thai folk tales, followed by a brief section on the history, geography, culture, and people of the "Land of Smiles." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

delightful tales
This is a delightful collection of folk tales from Thailand, retold by Marian Toth. Mrs. Toth lived for a number of years in Thailand and collected tales and folklore while raising her children. They are wonderful to read aloud to young children, and later encourage them to read on their own. I love this book, and have enjoyed it with my family for years. ... Read more