A History of Thailand

Description

Since it was first published in 2005, A History of Thailand has been hailed as an authoritative, lively and readable account of Thailand's political, economic, social and cultural history. From the early settlements in the Chao Phraya basin to today, Baker and Phongpaichit trace how a world of mandarin nobles and unfree peasants was transformed by colonialism, the expansion of the rice frontier and the immigration of traders and labourers from southern China. This book examines how the monarchy managed the foundation of a new nation-state at the end of the nineteenth century, and how urban nationalists, ambitious generals, communist rebels and business politicians competed to take control through the twentieth century. It tracks Thailand's economic changes, globalisation and the evolution of mass society, and draws on popular culture to dramatize social trends. This edition contains a new chapter on Thailand's turbulent politics since 2006 and incorporates new sources and research throughout.

Chris Baker taught Asian history at Cambridge University, and has lived in Thailand for over 40 years. He is now an independent writer, researcher and translator. Pasuk Phongpaichit is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

'What does the medieval refrain do in Latin song?, asks Mary Channen Caldwell at the opening of her engaging new study. A very great deal, as it turns out. Throughout Divine Refrains, she argues for refrains as carrying multivalent musical and cultural meanings, beautifully demonstrating their often overlapping devotional, temporal, structural, and performative implications.' Rachel May Golden, University of Tennessee