Destination: Thailand

Über das Wochenende habe ich Rowohlt-Chronik (ein tolles Buch, wahnsinnig interessant) und den Liebesroman ausgelesen (naja, zu lange, viel zu kompliziert) ausgelesen und so musste ich mich gestern Morgen wieder mal sehr schnell für neue Lektüre entscheiden. So habe ich zu einem Buch gegriffen, das ich eigentlich näher an den nächsten Thailand-Urlaub 2014 lesen wollte. Ich habe bisher etwa 40 Seiten gelesen, und es ist nicht mein einfachstes Buch.

 

Mein Neues:

Barend Jan TERWIEL
Thailand's Political History

From the 13th century to recent times

Product Description: First appearing in 2005 and quickly selling out, this fully revised edition of 'Thailand's Political History' continues in the same style as the first but with its scope dramatically widened. Starting earlier than the old edition, 'Thailand's Political History' discusses the development and evolution of the Siamese state from the early Sukhothai period through the fall of Ayutthaya to the rise of the Chakri dynasty in the late eighteenth century and its consolidation of power in the nineteenth. Moving into the twentieth century it traces the emergence of the Thai nation state, the large-scale investments in infrastructure and the commitment to economic expansion that have occurred since the 1950s onwards. A new final chapter brings the reader up-to-date and addresses Thailand's current political situation spanning the rise and fall of Thaksin Shinawatra to the devisive and at times violent polarisation of Thai society. It traces the emergence of the red and yellow shirts, the takeover of Suvarnabhumi airport by the PAD and the occupation of the Rachaprasong intersection by the UDD and their eventual violent dispersal by the Thai military. Often at variance with dominant interpretations of nationalistic history, this absorbing account throws fresh and illumininating light on the political events in the past 700 years.