The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej: Amazon.co.uk: PM Handley: Books

Frequently Bought Together

+

The Revolutionary King: The True-life Sequel to "The King and I": The True-life Sequel to "The King and I"

+

Price For All Three: �39.39

Show availability and delivery details

This item: The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej by PM Handley
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
The Revolutionary King: The True-life Sequel to "The King and I": The True-life Sequel to "The King and I" by William Stevenson
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
A History of Thailand by Chris Baker
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Revolutionary King: The True-life Sequel to "The King and I": The True-life Sequel to "The King and I"

by William Stevenson

3.3 out of 5 stars (22) �5.99

A History of Thailand

by Chris Baker

5.0 out of 5 stars (1) �14.41

Kingdom of Make-Believe: A Novel of Thailand

by Dean Barrett

4.5 out of 5 stars (13) �5.24

Thailand's Political History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 to Recent Times

by B. J. Terwiel

3.5 out of 5 stars (2) �16.95

Little Angels: Real Life Stories of Thai Novice Monks

by Phra Peter Pannapadipo

5.0 out of 5 stars (3) �5.16

› Explore similar items

Product Description

Chris Baker, Asia Sentinel, September 13 2006

'The first serious biography of [the king]...key to understanding
the extraordinary events of the past year.'

Grant Evans, Far Eastern Economic Review, September 13 2006

'...succeeds in engrossing the reader with the complex personality
of the Thai king and his long and eventful life.'

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

thailand

monarchy

history

bhumibol

thaksin shinawatra

thai politics

thai history

paul m handley

paul handley

militrary

jotman

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the world's longest serving head of state - a politcal book - not the best written, 16 May 2009

By	Klaus van Amelrode "kmcva" - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Bhumibol Adulyadej - known as Rama IX. in the western world - reigns since 9 June 1946. He is the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-serving monarch in Thai history.

This book is banned in Thailand as it seems to be a case for l�se majest�, the law which allow anyone insulting him or questioning his roles in politics to be jailed for 3 to 15 years. Even tough in his 2005 birthday speech, Bhumibol said he would not take l�se majest� seriously, charges are still often pressed.

The book deals with the political aspects of his reign. Although King Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch, it makes it clear that the king intervened several times decisively in Thai politics. Not that is a real surprise if one follows a bit world politics. But this seems to be incontradiction of the official line of a king above politics. But Thailand is not a constitutional monarchy in the western sense. Therefore the book was banned as its "contents which could affect national security and the good morality of the people."

I am not at all for preventing publications of books. Freedom of expression and freedom of publications is essential.

Besides this point is that a good book:
The ups and downs of Thai politics are interesting, but far too detailed and in style make often extremely tedious reading. To be honest I jumped a few pages. The book gives the reader an introduction into the Royal House and Family, but much is missing. It would have been great if there would have been a simplified family tree and an explanation of Thai titles. There are no photos at all. The RF and the relationship in particular of King and Queen is not really fully explored. The Queen features as a political force too, but that is not even fully described and explained. . The last chapter on the RF and the furture of the dynatsy are better and clearly pointed out why none of the King's children is really meeting the expectations.
The mystery of the King Ananda's death remains excatly that.The author just puts a few questionmarks to it, which is not at all new. The king remained the constant in politcs and taking into account the deep divisions in Thai politics seems to be a stabilizing factor. This aspect is however less observed and explored by the author. Of course it deals with certain myths about the King and the RF and takes the rational point of view to it. Point very well taken, but don't we do that with our western monarchs as well? Do we accept a certain myth about them? I suppose we do. So what is needed is perspective here and that is missing.

All in all, it is a book helping discussion, but not the last word on this king. In style I found it trying. So I suppose this is a book one must not have read.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

22 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Perspective to a Thai, 21 Sep 2006

By	Saraburian (Bangkok) - See all my reviews

As someone who spent my childhood in upcountry Thailand, went to state schools there and later in Bangkok and had an advance degree from a US University, I thought i would share with my countrymen how we perceive the King. My conversations with friends, colleagues, and most of the comments here by Thai readers/reviewers say I was totally wrong.

The book hits the nail in its head when it says that most thai my generation (I was born in the turbulent year 1976, when the right-wing government crushed student protestors and the King declared the event "the saddest day in Thai history") have always seen the King in the best of lights - and it was not something that wasn't well-planned by someone. In retrospect, I agree with the author about how the palace has orchestrated all their efforts on setting the royals in the best of lights, i.e. making all the royal projects look far more important and successful than their real worths by downplaying efforts by governments, presenting the royals in the way of super-human, in every aspect possible. When I was a young adult, I did not have a second thought about what the media was protraying the king and the royal family, i accepted it as truths and I don't have any reason to believe that most of my countrymen would see things otherwise - everything was so grand, so well orchestrated and thus so believeable.

One notable point that I think Handley sums up the sentiment of many Thai very nicely is when he briefly discussed another biography on King Bhumibol "The Revolutionary King" (which I also read several years back) that it was probably for the consumption of a small group of educated Thais who tend to be more ready to accept what's written in English than those written in Thai (for several reasons, for one, they believe the author can escape the lesse majeste by saying negative things about the King in English) My view about the King has always been similar to the one protrayed in "The Revolutionary King", which puts the King as a very capable person though with some minor flaws - which make it easier to swallow than "The Perfect One" image that the Palace media has always been projecting. Deep down, I believe, many Thais think of the King as human, yet a very respectable one (though many choose to live with the fairy tale that he is a true semi-god), so when we hear negative minor points about him, we think it could all be possible and make him even more humane yet more likable. This could be the original purpose of the "Revolutionary King" - reinforcing the King's image to the elite Thai lot. The book was written by the person who wrote "The Man called Intreprid" which was translated by the King himself.

Overall, Handley convincingly argue his case that things could be looked at in a very different perspective. He backs up his arguements with well-researched evidence many anecdotes the average Thai would have heard of. For me I haven't heard of just about half (probably more for even younger people), the others are totally new to me.

I highly recommend this book to any Thai who want to understand the country and the monarchy better, in a more objective way. This book doesn't make me love the country and the King less. It makes me understand the King better, in a more realistic way.

I also recommend an academic piece by McCargo "Network Monarchy" if you find this book interesting.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

13 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read and thought-provoking, 10 Oct 2006

By	tally26 (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews

Without a doubt, this book is banned in Thailand. I just got back from England and found out that my mother is totally pissed just because Handley is American and he writes a book about the king. She kept saying that he does not know anything. I am certain my mother is not the only one who has the same sort of super-positive thinking about the King.

I am a new generation--the generation in which the king has been re-portrated as a semi-god since the bloodshed events in the 1970's. However, interestingly, as Handley has tried to illustrate in his well-written book, the fact that in Thailand the king 'can do no wrong' is a ubiquitous thought (and it was surely brought about by the notion of the king as a sacred non-political icon)among the Thai populace, the King and the Palace have chosen to inject the simple yet strong notion of the King as a 'scholar', 'musician', 'initiative' so on and so forth. This is how the King could simply survive a number of political crisis in the past. Thailand in the 21th century in terms of its national stregnth, has been therefore taken for granted to survive, almost entirely, 'by' the King.

As a journalist, Handley cannot write as biographers do and, indeed, there are much less references than it should have. The book, nonetheless, is highly recommended as a thought-provoking tool and for those who live in Thailand and want to escape from the everyday-repeated message in the Palace News. I agree with Khun Saraburian that the book does not make me love the King less. I do not care if the past and the events have flawed him in any ways. As the centre of all the Thais' heart, he is worth admiring and prasing.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 7 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth persisting with
An interesting perspective on the Thai monarchy. Large parts of the text are clearly padding and somewhat heavy going while the 'interesting bits' are generally inadequately... Read more

Published 17 months ago by A. J. Thompson

1.0 out of 5 stars Political Game for sure
Waste my money, You can try to buy it and read it but i as i read through this author really didn't know anything at all about thailand. Read more

Published on 24 Aug 2007 by Review

3.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking but too many hearsays
It is an interesting read, but definitely not an academic text. Good for casual light-reading. The book provides useful analysis of many behind-the-scene actions, but I am... Read more

Published on 7 Feb 2007 by JAT

5.0 out of 5 stars A uncensored version of thai history
This book flip the coin and show thai history in a different light that the official history.

Very interesting and shows the king in another light then the adoration... Read more

Published on 21 Sep 2006 by Gui

› See all 7 customer reviews...

Listmania!

The books I read in 2008: A list by R. Britain "richardbrit"

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Books > Biography > Historical > 1901 Onwards
Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > East & South East Asia
Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > East & South East Asia

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.

	87% buy the item featured on this page: The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej 3.3 out of 5 stars (7) �18.99
	7% buy The Revolutionary King: The True-life Sequel to "The King and I": The True-life Sequel to "The King and I" 3.3 out of 5 stars (22) �5.99
	4% buy A History of Thailand 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) �14.41
	2% buy Paradise Lust: An Erotic Travelogue 4.2 out of 5 stars (4) �4.99

The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej (Hardcover)

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product details

Product Description

Chris Baker, Asia Sentinel, September 13 2006

Grant Evans, Far Eastern Economic Review, September 13 2006

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

Customer Discussions

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Listmania!

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Your Recent History