A History of Thailand

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by Christopher Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published May 2005, 320 pages, cloth

ISBN 0521816157

This lively, accessible book is the first new history of Thailand in English for two decades. Drawing on new Thai-language research, it ranges widely over political, economic, social, and cultural themes. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit reveal how a world of mandarin nobles and unfree labour evolved into a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from Southern China. They trace how a Buddhist cosmography adapted to new ideas of time and space, and a traditional polity was transformed into a new nation-state under a strengthened monarchy. The authors cover the contests between urban nationalists, ambitious generals, communist rebels, business politicians, and social movements to control the nation-state and redefine its purpose. They describe the dramatic changes wrought by a booming economy, globalization, and the evolution of mass society.

Contents

1. Before Bangkok; 2. The old order in transition, 1760s to 1860s; 3. Reforms, 1850s to 1910s; 4. Peasants, merchants, and officials, 1870s to 1930s; 5. Nationalisms, 1910s to 1940s; 6. The American era and development, 1940s to 1960s; 7. Ideologies, 1940s to 1970s; 8. Globalization and mass society, 1970s onwards; 9. Politics, 1970s onwards; Tailpiece: the strong state and the well-being of the people