The Kings of Ayutthaya

The Kings of Ayutthaya PDF Author: Robert Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786162151347
Category : Ayutthaya (Kingdom)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Part fact, part fiction, part myth, and part legend, this book brings to life the kingdom of Ayutthaya from its roots in the kingdom of Sukhothai to its eventual destruction by the Burmese in 1767. It is the turbulent story of both the kings and their kingdom, from its birth to its downfall. Robert Smith retells this history by reimagining and dramatizing the exploits of Ayutthaya's rulers, building his account around a framework of documentary evidence and hints in the historical record. Intrigues and deception wind through the tale as do ingenuity, honor, and the will to greatness that made Ayutthaya a major regional power for centuries. This account of the development of a nation--and the stories behind it--shows how the old kingdom of Ayutthaya was a crucial precursor to the foundation of modern-day Thailand.

The Kings of Ayutthaya

The Kings of Ayutthaya PDF Author: Robert Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786162151347
Category : Ayutthaya (Kingdom)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Part fact, part fiction, part myth, and part legend, this book brings to life the kingdom of Ayutthaya from its roots in the kingdom of Sukhothai to its eventual destruction by the Burmese in 1767. It is the turbulent story of both the kings and their kingdom, from its birth to its downfall. Robert Smith retells this history by reimagining and dramatizing the exploits of Ayutthaya's rulers, building his account around a framework of documentary evidence and hints in the historical record. Intrigues and deception wind through the tale as do ingenuity, honor, and the will to greatness that made Ayutthaya a major regional power for centuries. This account of the development of a nation--and the stories behind it--shows how the old kingdom of Ayutthaya was a crucial precursor to the foundation of modern-day Thailand.

A History of Ayutthaya

A History of Ayutthaya PDF Author: Chris Baker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107190762
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
The first full history of a great commercial and political center that rose in Asia over almost five centuries.

Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya

Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya PDF Author: Bhawan Ruangsilp
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004156003
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
This book deals with the early modern Dutch-Thai interactions as told by the merchants of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who concurrently tried to find a balance between their 'partnership' with and 'sense of differences' from the Thai elite.

Van Vliet's Siam

Van Vliet's Siam PDF Author: Jeremias van Vliet
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The most detailed, fascinating, and lively account of old Siam was written by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet between 1636 and 1640. This volume includes all four of his writings in English translation: the earliest surviving chronicle of Siam's history; a wide-ranging description of the kingdom's geography, economy, society, politics, and religion; a blow-by-blow account of a bloody power struggle over the crown; and the Dutchman's diary during a crisis -- the Picnic Incident -- published here for the first time. The editors add new details on Van Vliet's life, the Dutch community, the city of Ayutthaya, and the court of King Prasat Thong, which set this ordinary merchant's extraordinary literary work into its context of time and place.Chris Baker is co-author of Thailand: Economy and Politics and A History of Thailand. Dhiravat na Pombejra teaches history at Chulalongkorn University. Alfons van der Kraan teaches in the School of Economics, University of New England, Australia. David K. Wyatt is John Stambaugh Professor Emeritus of History at Cornell University.

Thailand's Theory of Monarchy

Thailand's Theory of Monarchy PDF Author: Patrick Jory
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438460902
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
2016 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Since the 2006 coup d'état, Thailand has been riven by two opposing political visions: one which aspires to a modern democracy and the rule of law, and another which holds to the traditional conception of a kingdom ruled by an exemplary Buddhist monarch. Thailand has one of the world's largest populations of observant Buddhists and one of its last politically active monarchies. This book examines the Theravada Buddhist foundations of Thailand's longstanding institution of monarchy. Patrick Jory states that the storehouse of monarchical ideology is to be found in the popular literary genre known as the Jātakas, tales of the Buddha's past lives. The best-known of these, the Vessantara Jātaka, disseminated an ideal of an infinitely generous prince as a bodhisatta or future Buddha—an ideal which remains influential in Thailand today. Using primary and secondary source materials largely unknown in Western scholarship, Jory traces the history of the Vessantara Jātaka and its political-cultural importance from the ancient to the modern period. Although pressures from European colonial powers and Buddhist reformers led eventually to a revised political conception of the monarchy, the older Buddhist ideal of kingship has yet endured.

The Rise and Fall of the Toungoo Empire

The Rise and Fall of the Toungoo Empire PDF Author: Robert Smith
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781981123643
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Toungoo Empire became the dominant power in mainland South-East Asia during the sixteenth century. The story of its rise, from the kingdom of Toungoo in the mountains of Central Burma, carved out by King Mingyi Nyo, to its fall under King Nanda Bayin, is one unparalleled in history. Four kings; King Mingyi Nyo, King Tabinshwehti, King Bayinnaung, and King Nanda Bayin reigned over a land empire whose size, at its peak, rivaled that of China to its north. The novel is a creative re-telling of Burmese history, and draws from both the Burmese and Ayutthayan Chronicles as well as eyewitnesses and historical accounts, to tell a story of religion, ambition, and greed that should be more widely known. It is the story of the "gunpowder kings," who arose following the arrival of the Portuguese with western weaponry, it is the story of kingdoms rising and falling, it is the story of deaths in the millions, and it is the story of personal feuds and vendettas. Written in a narrative non-fiction format similar to my earlier novel, "The Kings of Ayutthaya," the book explores a time in history when great changes were taking place, and examines the lives and motivations of the kings, not only of the Toungoo Empire, but of the kingdoms impacted by its rapid growth. More information is available at www.thekingsofayutthaya.com click on "The Rise and Fall of the Toungoo Empire."

The King Never Smiles

The King Never Smiles PDF Author: Paul M. Handley
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300130597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and is now the world's longest-serving monarch. This book tells the unexpected story of his life and 60-year rule: how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha; and how a king widely seen as beneficent and apolitical could in fact be so deeply political, autocratic, and even brutal. Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king's youth and personal development, ascent to the throne, skilful political maneuverings, and attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Blasting apart the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian and virtuous, Handley convincingly portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business and the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely-modified feudal dynasty. When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne after the still-unsolved shooting of his brother, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power and prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, crushing critics while attaining high status among his people. The book details this process and depicts Thailand's unique constitutional monarch in the full light of the facts.

The Chronicle of Our Wars with the Burmese

The Chronicle of Our Wars with the Burmese PDF Author: Prince Damrongrāchānuphāp (son of Mongkut, King of Siam)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Burma
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description


A Kingdom in Crisis

A Kingdom in Crisis PDF Author: Andrew MacGregor Marshall
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1783607807
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
'Perhaps the best introduction yet to the roots of Thailand's present political impasse. A brilliant book.' Simon Long, The Economist Struggling to emerge from a despotic past, and convulsed by an intractable conflict that will determine its future, Thailand stands at a defining moment in its history. Scores have been killed on the streets of Bangkok. Freedom of speech is routinely denied. Democracy appears increasingly distant. And many Thais fear that the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej is expected to unleash even greater instability. Yet in spite of the impact of the crisis, and the extraordinary importance of the royal succession, they have never been comprehensively analysed – until now. Breaking Thailand's draconian lèse majesté law, Andrew MacGregor Marshall is one of the only journalists covering contemporary Thailand to tell the whole story. Marshall provides a comprehensive explanation that for the first time makes sense of the crisis, revealing the unacknowledged succession conflict that has become entangled with the struggle for democracy in Thailand.

Pen and Sail

Pen and Sail PDF Author: Nithi ʻĪeosīwong
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Nidhi Eoseewong is the most innovative, famed, and controversial Thai historian of his generation. This book founded his reputation and is the first of his major works to appear in English. On its publication in Thai, he was immediately hailed as "a major historian, the most capable of the present era." Pen and Sail combines intellectual history and economic history. Nidhi argues that the emergence of a market economy in the early Bangkok era (1782-1855) was the driving force behind a major change in mentality and worldview seen in poetry, early prose works, biographies of the Buddha, scripts for chanting the Jataka tales, language primers, manuals of behavior, and revisions of the royal chronicles. Nidhi Eoseewong's outstanding career as a historian and leading public intellectual was recognized by award of the prestigious Fukuoka Asia Prize in 2000.