Good books about Thailand
You guys that have been around LOS for a while and can throw an educated opinion, what are your favourite literature pieces about Thailand. I am not talking about guides here, but instructive books that provide some insight. History books, essays on culture/tradition/aspects of Thai life, inspired travelogues by good journalists/writers, novels taking place in the Land of Smiles which provide a realistic view of the country... Eastern and Western authored.
Amazon suggestis (only essays here, though):
Thailand: A Short History by David K. Wyatt
Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nation-State by Charles F. Keyes
Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation by Thongchakul Winichakul
National Identity and Its Defenders: Thailand Today by Craig J. Reynolds
Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth-Century Thailand by Kamala Tiyavanich
Buddhadasa: Theravada Buddhism and Modernist Reform in Thailand by Peter A. Jackson
Me and Mine: Selected Essays of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies) by Phra Thepwisutthimethi
The balancing act: A history of modern Thailand by Joseph J Wright
A History of Thailand by Chris Baker
Patterns and illusions: Thai history and thought
So, what's your pick?
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The rose of all the world is not for me, I want for my part
only the little White Rose of Scotland, which smells sharp and sweet,
and breaks the heart.
-Hugh McDiarmid-
"And the three men I admired most, the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, they took the las train for the coast, the day the music died. And they were singing.."
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