A History of Thailand [Paperback]

Chris Baker (Author), Pasuk Phongpaichit (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521016479 | ISBN-13: 978-0521016476 | Publication Date: May 23, 2005

Covering the past three centuries of Thai history, this book reveals how a landscape of sparsely populated forest and jungle was transformed into villages and paddy fields, with a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from southern China. It demonstrates how throughout the twentieth century, Thailand has been drawn into the international system, the American camp in the Cold War, the economic gambit of rising Japan, and more recently, the forces of globalization. The authors also survey the country's transformation accompanying massive social evolution over recent decades. (Control of the nation state is still contested between forces with a patriarchal belief in change from above, and advocates of democracy and liberal values.)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'As the most conceptual study of thailand yet it reaches a new level of sophistication.' BBC History Magazine

'Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit cover this ground with secure jusgement and great insight.' Times Literary Supplement

'In A History of Thailand, Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit, two respected Bangkok-based scholars, offer a lively, highly readable account of modern Thai history, the first such history in English for two decades.' Financial Times

'[This book] is the first attempt in English to write a history of this country in the modern sense of 'history' ... This book is essential reading for anyone seriously interest in Thailand: how it came about; its present strengths and weaknesses; and its potential in the future of a very unstable world.' Journal of the Siam Society

'... an engaging and factually rich introduction to the history of modern Thailand.' South East Asia Research

'This is the first new history of Thailand for two decades, written by a husband and wife team who have already written a number of books on contemporary Thailand. Their challenge was to marshal coherently a deal of complicated and unfamiliar material.' Asian Affairs

Book Description

This book covers the past three centuries of Thai history. Over this period, a landscape of sparsely populated forest and jungle was transformed into villages and paddy fields. An older order of mandarin nobles and unfree labor was replaced by a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from southern China. Through the twentieth century, Thailand has been drawn into the international system, the American camp in the Cold War, the economic ambit of rising Japan, and the forces of globalization.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521016479
• ISBN-13: 978-0521016476
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #937,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > History > Asia > Thailand

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent and balanced look at one of the lesser Tigers, August 8, 2006

By 

David A. Baer (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: A History of Thailand (Paperback)

The authors of this compact Cambridge University Press history of Thailand deliver on their promise. This is a vintage CUP product: balanced, full of measured opinion, error-free in typography and layout, sweeping without shallowness.

There is not a better one-volume entrance to this fascinating but lesser-known South East Asian Country.

Taking the nation-state seriously, the authors show how an ethnically diverse region with formidable Chinese influence and lineage gradually took shape as the somewhat mythical 'Thai people'. Known as Siam until modern times, Thailand was an ally of the US during its Vietnam era with mixed results when the GIs arrived for R&R and even more traumatic adjustments when they took their dollars and left.

Later the hot money of the greater Asian Tigers moved here from Taiwan and Japan, only to migrate to China when cheaper labor became available to foreigners in that country.

The Thai are nothing if not survivors. Nor were they ever fully colonized, a badge of honor in a region that knew perhaps too much of European and Asian pretenders to do just that.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read, February 28, 2007

By 

Pierre Bovington - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A History of Thailand (Paperback)

I knew nothing of this country s history and now I m confident of boring people to death on the subject.
The three factors that make the nation; Buddhism,the Monarchy and rice agriculture, are covered in clear detail.
From the first chapter, the early years unfold through early settlers,land reclaimation and conflict.
Later chapters explain the use of Western advisors brought in to modernise and the final creation of a Nation State only some 100 years ago.
I bought based on other reviews against other books on the subject and have not been disapointed.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A History of Thailand, September 30, 2007

By 

Mitchell Weisburgh (Larchmont, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of Thailand (Paperback)

This book is primarily a history from the current line of kings (roughly 1800) through the present. Thus, if you want to learn how modern Thailand was formed, it is an excellent source. If you are looking for earlier information, it is very sketchy.