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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well researched piece of historical detail, July 9, 2002
Louis Leonowens (c1855-1919) is mainly know as the young son of Anna, in the musical 'The King and I'. Most people have probably never given a second thought as to what subsequently became of him. In this book, the author W. S. Bristowe (also an authority on spiders), reveals the truth about the early life of Anna, and then goes on to describe how Louis was to return to Siam (c1882) long after Anna had left, and make a fortune for himself, in the Teak industry. It seems that the fact that Rama V (King Chulalongkorn) was an old aquantance, was not detrimental to his aspirations. Louis was devoted to his two wives, but while unmarried maintained a harem of his own (from her own comments about King Monkut's harem, I don't think his mum would have approved!) and generally lived the life of a swash buckling adventurer. There is a lot of fascinating historical detail. It was during this time that the British sailed up the Irrawaddy river and took Manadaly (1885). This of course made the Siamese nervous. Tensions between the British and the Siamese were heightened when some of the Shan (who through annexation of Burma were British subjects) attacked towns in northern Siam. It fell on the shoulders of Louis and other foreign residents, not only to try to protect local Siamese from the Shan, but later to also try and protect the Shan from the revenge of the Siamese. When we in the West clamour for Asian countries to protect their hardwood forests, we should not forget that it was largely Europeans and Americans who started cutting them down in the first place. If you are interested in the history of Siam / Thailand, this is a fascinating in depth study of the life of one, well connected, adventuring, foreign resident.
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