Showing 1-10 of 52 results
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Ghosts, amulets, ringtones, and the rest of Thai Buddhism
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 09/01/2012
» Somdet To is, according to Justin McDaniel "arguably the most famous monk in Thai history." His image, picture, chants, biographies, amulets, and pamphlets are everywhere. Yet you could read everything written on Thai Buddhism in English for scholars or tourists without noticing his existence, let alone his importance. In this superb book, McDaniel not only does justice to Somdet To but suggests a new way of thinking about "Thai Buddhism" and how it is studied.
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The loud (but lost) American
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 30/01/2012
» In print, the name of Jim Thompson is rarely far away from the word "legend". The outline of his life is well known. He arrived in Bangkok at the tail end of the Second World War as part of the proto-CIA. He gained a reputation as a host, bon viveur, aesthete and art collector. He started a glamorous silk business, that still bears his name, and built a house that remains a major tourist attraction. He disappeared off the face of the earth in 1967, providing the mystery which is essential for any good legend.
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At a dangerous juncture
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 12/03/2012
» For all but the most recent bit of human history, India and China have been the two great civilisations of the world. Although they look adjacent on a map, in reality they are separated by a corridor of highly inhospitable territory _ great deserts, huge mountains, fierce rivers. The southern part of this barrier is formed by a knot of hills and great rivers on the upper border of Southeast Asia. Armies struggled across this barrier in the Second World War, but the routes promptly disappeared like tracks in the sand.
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Burning resentments
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 14/05/2012
» This book begins in the debris after the violence of May 19-20, 2010. The remnant protesters are exhausted by the long campaign, demoralised by the violence turned against them, and utterly defiant. Claudio Sopranzetti accompanies one group on a train back home to Udon.
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Force of the farmers
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 03/09/2012
» Once upon a time anthropologists did "village studies". They found a place that became "their village." They counted the houses, traced the kin relations, described farming systems, and analysed the rituals.
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Buddhism, or whatever it is
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 01/10/2012
» The standard authorities tell us that Theravada Buddhism developed in Sri Lanka about 2,000 years ago, filtered into Southeast Asia soon after, and became dominant from the 13th century AD after new infusions of teachings from the Lanka Mahavira school. This story is very generally accepted but has one wrinkle: the term "Buddhism" was not invented until the 19th century and "Theravada Buddhism" not until the 20th.
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Digging Thailand
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 05/11/2012
» In 1998, the British archaeologist Charles Higham and Rachanie Thosarat, formerly of the Fine Arts Department, published Prehistoric Thailand which conveniently summarised the results of the growing number of archaeological projects in the country. Fourteen years on they have decided the work needs updating. There has been a lot more digging, but more importantly there are now better dating techniques, the new science of DNA, and a new vision of early human history.
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The world of worship, wealth and wonders
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 03/12/2012
» This book is about everyday belief and practice in contemporary Thailand. It begins with a telling image. At the top of the spirit altar is always a small figure of the Buddha. On the next level down may be statues of famous monks from the past, such as Somdet To, along with Siamese kings, particularly King Chulalongkorn.
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The unofficial court jester of Modernising Siam
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 07/01/2013
» He claimed that his only aim was "to benefit the royalty, my country, and the Buddhist religion." But many others, especially those in power, thought he was a nut and a "Man of Great Nuisance to Society".
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Daring revision
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 04/02/2013
» The eminent art historian Piriya Krairiksh is a famous iconoclast. He brazenly proposed that the Ramkhamhaeng inscription, the Magna Carta of Thai history, had been faked by King Mongkut (Rama IV).
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