River Books – serie

Riparian areas - transitional zones between the aquatic environments of streams, rivers, and lakes and the terrestrial environments on and alongside their banks - are special places. They provide almost two hundred thousand miles of connections through which the waters of Texas flow. Keeping the water flowing, in as natural a way as possible, is key to the careful and wise management of the state's water resources.Texas Riparian Areas evolved from a report commissioned by the Texas Water Development Board as Texas faced the reality of over-allocated water resources and long-term if not permanent drought conditions. Its purpose was to summarize the characteristics of riparian areas and to develop a common vocabulary for discussing, studying, and managing them.

When a team of five explorers embarked on a 1,200-mile journey down the Rio Grande, the river that marks the southern boundary of Texas and the US-Mexico border, their goal was to experience and capture on film the rugged landscapes of this vast frontier before the controversial construction of a border wall changed this part of the river forever.The crew—Texas filmmaker Ben Masters, Brazilian immigrant Filipe DeAndrade, Texas conservationist Jay Kleberg, wildlife biologist Heather Mackey, and Guatemalan-American river guide Austin Alvarado—began the trip in El Paso, pedaling mountain bikes through the city's dry river bed. Their path took them on horseback through the Big Bend, down the Wild and Scenic stretch of the river in canoes, and back to bikes from Laredo to Brownsville. They paddled the last ten miles through a forest of river cane to the Gulf of Mexico.As they made their way to the Gulf, they met and talked with the people who know and live on the river—border patrol, wildlife biologists, ranchers, politicians, farmers, social workers, locals, and travelers. They climbed the wall (in twenty seconds). They encountered rare black bears, bighorn sheep, and birds of all kinds. And they sought to understand the complexities of immigration, the efficacy of a wall, and the impact of its construction on water access, wildlife, and the culture of the borderlands.The River and the Wall is both a wild adventure on a spectacular river and a sobering commentary on the realities of walling it off.

In the 1950s and 1960s, movie theatres across Thailand were important architectural statements and centres of social and cultural life. At a time when few houses had electricity, the local movie theatre was where people came together, irrespective of class or occupation. In today's era of shopping-mall multiplexes and movies streamed on personal devices, the popularity of the standalone cinema has become a thing of legend; few remember the once-familiar scenes of overflowing crowds spilling out onto the streets or frantic ticket buyers thrusting fists full of cash through small ticket windows. In 2008, Philip Jablon (who now resides in Philadelphia, PA), then studying for a Master's degree in Thailand, began recording the demise of the country's standalone cinemas. In bringing together his poignant photographs and the ephemera of a vanished culture, such as highly collectable hand-painted Thai movie posters, this book records an irreplaceable slice of social, cultural and movie history. It is introduced by Kong Rithdee, writer, documentary film-maker, and long-time movie critic for the Bangkok Post newspaper.

Dr. Clement Williams was a British army surgeon, political agent, and businessman who gained unparalleled access to the court of King Mindon, the great ruler of Mandalay, between 1861 and his premature death in 1873.William’s official diaries, his legal disputes, his commercial contracts, his travel book, and (most of all) his extraordinarily rare photographs offer a unique portrait of an ancient civilisation on the cusp of industrial, technological, and political change. Drawing on primary sources and academic works, The Informal Imperialist has already been recognised as a significant contribution to Burmese studies within and beyond Myanmar. And, by weaving Williams’s story into a clear and compelling narrative, it reveals a vanished world to both scholars and general readers alike.

Bangkok arrests the visitor with a bewildering juxtaposition of old and new, high-tech and impromptu, sacred and profane. While modernising apace and a myriad outside influences, the Thai capital draws equal vigour from its historical communities, cultural diversity and contemporary urban tribes. Author of Very Thai and Time Out Bangkok, Philip Cornwel-Smith takes an alternative look at the subcultures of his adopted town in this practical thematic handbook. With the aid of maps, listings and references, the visitor can engage with Bangkok's contradictory character according to their mood or interest.Explore the city's contrasting environments, architectural fabric, ethnic patchwork and intertwined beliefs. Encounter distinct social scenes, where the hip or hi-so, local or bohemian and see how traditional roots infuse the current Thai flowering in arts and entertainments, fashion and food lifestyle and spas. Photography by Philip Cornwel-Smith and others enhances this insiders' guide to a city like no other.

Myanmar (Burma) exists in a timewarp and since recent political changes is becoming one of the most visited countries in the world. The country is eighty-seven per cent buddhist, studded with monastries, pagodas, dirt-track roads, oxcarts and elegant villages much as they were when the West intruded little more than 100 years ago. The country is still farmed by water buffalo, and its rituals remain true to their old-Asia form. Although tourism has increased significantly in the past 12 months there are many regions still off-limits. This book, in the form of a photo essay, captures an insider's view of a fragile and mystical aspect of Burmese culture. The curtain is drawn to reveal the backstage of the Burmese theatre; a world populated by animist spirit media (nakadaws), monsters from the Ramayana Buddhist texts, princesses (minthami) and princes (mintha). We go behind the scenes to see the preparations of these performers as they travel around the towns and countryside between temporary bamboo stages constructed for all-night festivals. With contributing essays from Professor Ward Keeler and U Ohn Maung, this book is both a visual and informative testament to Burmese performing arts.

"Pure and beautiful, she glows like the moon behind clouds."The time is the 12th Century, the place Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation. In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, whom neighbours liken to the heroine of a Hindu epic. Hiding a dangerous secret, she is content with quiet obscurity, but one rainy season afternoon is called to a life of prominence in the royal court. There her faith and loyalties are tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II. Struggling to keep her devotion is her husband Nol, palace confidante and master of the silk parasols that were symbols of the monarch's rank.This lovingly crafted first novel by former Washington Post correspondent John Burgess revives the rites and rhythms of the ancient culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle.In telling her tale, Sray takes the reader to a hilltop monastery, a concubine pavilion and across the seas to the throne room of imperial China. She witnesses the construction of the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery - why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east.

A tsarevich, Nicholas visited Bangkok in 1891 as part of his Eastern Tour, celebrating the opening of the eastern branch of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Lavishly entertained by the Thai monarch, the two become close and an enduring friendship ensued.The king's son, Prince Chakrabongse, was invited to study in St Petersburg at the Tsar's court, and his 8-year stay was paid for by Nicholas. He was treated as a member of the family and had a unique insight into Tsarist Russia. His letters home to his father, the king, are insightful, full of observations and news about the Russian court. The king was equally candid in his replies, making for a revealing read for anyone with an interest in this period of history.

Philippe Fatin is a traveller, photographer and collector who has established a world-class collection of tribal textiles from southern China.These exquisitely colourful, hand-woven textiles are highly prized by collectors and here for the first time is the most extensive collection of garments collected from tribes across southern China including the Bazhai, Zhouxi, Xijiang and Gedong amongst others. The distinctive styles, colours and motifs from each are looked at in turn and the remarkable photographs allow the reader to appreciate the intricacy of each piece and the tradition prized by each tribe.Profusely illustrated with over 320 colour illustrations the book not only studies the designs themselves but shows the ceremonies the textiles are made for, the traditional weaving methods employed as well other ornamentations such as headpieces and fastenings as well dying techniques and working methods.

Researched from a diverse and extensive source materials (including directories, documents in city archives, newspapers, fieldnotes, postcards, etc.) Unseen Siam. Early Photography 1860-1910 reveals the careers of 15 lesser-unknown early photographers who worked in Siam, many of whom became court photographers to the then ruling King of Siam. Their work was not only restricted to their photographic cartes-de-visite, as is usually the case, but also large sized images from attributable albums and portfolios. Each reproduced photograph is fully catalogued and in many cases discloses the name of the photographer of some, otherwise well-known images for the first time.Text in Thai.

Ancient Angkor is an invaluable companion guide, with comprehensive plans, useful hotel and travel information.

Narrated by the eldest daughter of Sao Shwe Thaike, the Prince of Yawnghwe, The Moon Princess recounts both the story of her early life and at the same time provides a fascinating memoir of her father who, in 1948, became first President of the Union of Burma after the country gained its independence. She describes growing up in the Shan States and records the changes that occurred during the periods of British colonial rule, war and Japanese occupation, the return of the British administration, the troubled years after Burma's independence and finally, the military takeover in 1962. It is a personal account of a family caught up in political turmoil which led to the loss of a brother and a father, the first during the coup and the latter, in military custody. Studying at Cambridge, Sanda, met her English husband, Peter Simms and later they lived in Rangoon against a background of political upheaval until the end of democratic rule forced them to leave their home and their country, never to return. The Moon Princess is an important record of a tumultuous period in the history of a troubled country. It includes appendices of important political documents relating to the Shan states and tables of the ruling princes and family trees.

Full history of Cambodian Dance, detailing the plight of dancers during Cambodia's history as well as the role of the French in introducing the dances to the west.

Wat Si Chum is unique among Sukhothai temples. Inside, lining the ceiling of a dark and narrow staircase leading to the open roof, are 86 inscribed stone reliefs depicting jatakas, the former lives of Gotama Buddha. Their unique character and arrangement have puzzled generations of scholars. In this original volume, a team of experts presents the latest evidence and new solutions. This book offers the first-ever English translation of the inscriptions, photographs of the reliefs supplemented by 19th century jataka paintings from Wat Khrua Wan, Bangkok, essays on all aspects of the temple, as well as a discussion of the significance of jatakas in international Buddhist literature, art and ideology.