Showing 1 - 3 of 3
A personal reflection on Thailand as a nation
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 20/05/2022
» Historian alone is an inadequate description. Charnvit Kasetsiri is a historian-activist. In 1973, he wrote a pioneering history of Ayutthaya as a Cornell University doctorate, published by Oxford University Press. He taught at Thammasat University for five decades and briefly served as rector. He has presented on Thai history at countless international gatherings. He has promoted the work of his students and colleagues so often that his prefaces for their works fill a fat book.
Remembering the history that some want forgotten
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 11/03/2022
» Royalist history paints 1932 as a coup by a self-interested clique which thwarted King Prajadhipok's wish to introduce a constitution and led Thailand to militarism and fascism. In 2017, the plaque commemorating 1932 was ripped out of the Royal Plaza -- symbolising the wish to cancel all memory of the event. Democratic history claims 1932 as a revolution which launched Thailand towards democracy and a modern society in which the majority can participate and benefit. In 2020 the youth activists reinstalled the plaque in cyberspace and called themselves the New People's Party. The event matters, one way or the other, down to today.
The best prime minister Thailand never elected
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 16/11/2018
» Anand Panyarachun's two spells as unelected prime minister in 1991-2 had such a profound effect that they now seem preordained by history. This splendid book shows how the reality was otherwise.