History of Ayutthaya

Siam in the Early Modern World

Inbunden, Engelska, 2017

1 214 kr

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Beskrivning

Early European visitors placed Ayutthaya alongside China and India as the great powers of Asia. Yet in 1767 the city was destroyed and its history has been neglected. This book is the first study of Ayutthaya from its emergence in the thirteenth century until its fall. It offers a wide-ranging view of social, political, and cultural history with focus on commerce, kingship, Buddhism, and war. By drawing on a wide range of sources including chronicles, accounts by Europeans, Chinese, Persians, and Japanese, law, literature, art, landscape, and language, the book presents early Siam as a 'commercial' society, not the peasant society usually assumed. Baker and Phongpaichit attribute the fall of the city not to internal conflict or dynastic decline but failure to manage the social and political consequences of prosperity. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the history of Southeast Asia and the early modern world.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2017-05-11
Mått:165 x 238 x 21 mm
Vikt:686 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:342
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107190764

Utforska kategorier

Asiens historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Chris Baker is an independent scholar. Together, with Pasuk Phongpaichit, he has written eight books and over thirty articles on Thailand's history, literature, and political economy; has translated key historical sources, pioneering works by Thai historians, and literary classics, including the epic poem The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen (2010) which won the 2013 Becker Translation Prize from the Association for Asian Studies; and has held visiting posts at universities in the USA, Japan, and Australia. Pasuk Phongpaichit is Professor of Economics at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Together, with Chris Baker, she has written eight books and over thirty articles on Thailand's history, literature, and political economy; has translated key historical sources, pioneering works by Thai historians, and literary classics, including the epic poem The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen (2010) which won the 2013 Becker Translation Prize from the Association for Asian Studies; and has held visiting posts at universities in the USA, Japan, and Australia.

Recensioner i media

'Cast out for more than two hundred years as a failure of the aristocratic conceit and overlooked by modern historians, Ayutthaya comes alive again by these two superb scholars and writers. The book is full of original scholarship on the four centuries of dynamic Ayutthaya as a trans-Asian entrepot with enormous land-based resources, an imperial power with complex but fragile political infrastructure, and an open society with rich and creative culture that made Siam distinctive as a country. With thorough research and examination, and exquisite articulation, the book will not be surpassed for years, perhaps decades to come.' Thongchai Winichakul, Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian History, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Innehållsförteckning

List of maps; List of illustrations; Preface: Ayutthaya in history; 1. Before Ayutthaya; 2. Ayutthaya rising; 3. An age of warfare; 4. Peace and commerce; 5. An urban and commercial society; 6. Ayutthaya falling; 7. To Bangkok; Appendix: lists of kings; Glossary; Notes on some major sources; References; Index.