The history of Southeast Asia -- especially mainland Southeast Asia -- has been written as a history of kings and states. The modern states of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam thread their way back into the past, and the emergence of these states, the importance of their capitals, and the power of their dynasties have been the dominant themes of the history of the region.
This collection of essays challenges this perspective. Taken together, they question how powerful the great centers and their rulers really were. The authors shift the focus to smaller...
The history of Southeast Asia -- especially mainland Southeast Asia -- has been written as a history of kings and states. The modern states of Burm...
Pen and Sail combines intellectual history and economic history. Nidhi argues that the emergence of a market economy in the early Bangkok era (1782?1855) was the driving force behind a major change in mentality and worldview seen in poetry, early prose works, biographies of the Buddha, scripts for chanting the Jataka tales, language primers, manuals of behavior, and revisions of the royal chronicles.
Pen and Sail combines intellectual history and economic history. Nidhi argues that the emergence of a market economy in the early Bangkok er...
