Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist North Vietnam, the tranquil Buddhist Kingdom of Laos--the original Shangri-La--became the center of a major Cold War crisis in the early sixties, when Mervyn Brown served there as deputy to the British Ambassador. He has written a fascinating and highly readable account of his often hazardous experiences, which included the battle of Vientiane passing through his garden and a grueling month as prisoner of left-wing Pathet Lao guerrillas in remote mountainous jungle inhabited by Stone Age aboriginal people. His story is set against a detailed account of the developing political and military crisis. It reveals the tensions that developed in the US between the newly elected President Kennedy, his Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and their advisors in the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon while a regional policy was formulated in the face of the perceived communist threat.
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About the Author
Mervyn Brown joined the Foreign Service in 1949. Following posts as Ambassador and High Commissioner in a number of African countries, he was knighted in 1981.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elegant and delicate, without shying away from reality.,
By A Customer
This review is from: War in Shangri-La: A Memoir of Civil War in Laos (Hardcover)
There is not one ounce of anger or aggressivity in this book, set in the middle of a civil war. As if the increasing conflict were mere clouds that will be pushed by the wind. Never does the author complain excessively, nor does he fail to point at difficulties, in small and big matters. One can wonder if he is not Lao himself, detached from our material world but still fully conscious he lives in it, without any anger nor apathy. Measuring the impact one has on the others. This book is as interesting for the rendition of Laos in an extremely important time in its history, as it is interesting for a little lesson in life.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
When I joined the Foreign Office in 1949 I had a picture in my mind of tall, craggy-faced, grey-moustached ambassadors with names like Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugesson negotiating treaties in the chancelleries of Europe when they were not attending glittering receptions in high-ceilinged ballrooms surrounded by glamorous women. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Pathet Lao, Souvanna Phouma, Kong Lae, Viet Minh, Luang Prabang, Boun Oum, Foreign Office, North Vietnamese, Khang Khay, South Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Xieng Khouang, Prince Souphanouvong, Geneva Agreement, Donald Hopson, State Department, Winthrop Brown, Ban Tok, Sam Neua, Soviet Union, Land Rover, General Phoumi, Lao Issara, New York, United States New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
When I joined the Foreign Office in 1949 I had a picture in my mind of tall, craggy-faced, grey-moustached ambassadors with names like Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugesson negotiating treaties in the chancelleries of Europe when they were not attending glittering receptions in high-ceilinged ballrooms surrounded by glamorous women. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Pathet Lao, Souvanna Phouma, Kong Lae, Viet Minh, Luang Prabang, Boun Oum, Foreign Office, North Vietnamese, Khang Khay, South Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Xieng Khouang, Prince Souphanouvong, Geneva Agreement, Donald Hopson, State Department, Winthrop Brown, Ban Tok, Sam Neua, Soviet Union, Land Rover, General Phoumi, Lao Issara, New York, United States New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 7
books:
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- Many Splendoured Thing by Suyin Han on page 6, and page 179
- The Middle East Since 1900 (Modern times sourcebooks) by K.A. Rice on page 90
- Aldabra alone by Tony Beamish on page 35
- Buenos Aires (Cities of the Imagination) by Jason Wilson on page 223
- A History of Laos by Martin Stuart-Fox in Front Matter
See all 7 books this book cites
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