Thailand: A Short History

The book is structured chronologically. It begins with the origins of Tai history, the Tai village and müang, Nan-chao, and mainland Southeast Asia in the ninth and tenth centuries. It then examines the Tai in relation to the classical empires, including Dvaravati, Angkor, Pagan, the Shan world, Lan Na, Sukhothai, and the broader Tai world around 1200. The following chapters cover the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, including the Ahom, Shan, Mongol, Lan Na, Sukhothai, Ayudhya, and surrounding regional powers. The later sections analyze the Ayudhya empire, Burmese conflict, the Thonburi and early Bangkok periods, and the reigns of Rama I, Rama II, and Rama III. The book then moves into the reform era under Mongkut and Chulalongkorn, the rise of elite nationalism, the end of absolute monarchy, the constitutional and military periods, Phibun’s nationalism, Sarit’s rule, the impact of the Vietnam War, revolution and reaction, and Thailand’s uncertain political development after 1976.