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

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Yale University Press, 2006/01/01 - 512 ページ

The first independent biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose image as a benign Buddhist god-king masked one of the world’s most politically powerful thrones


"One of the most important books on Thailand to appear in English."—Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books


Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and at the time of his death, in October 2016, was the world’s longest serving monarch. The King Never Smiles, the first independent biography of Thailand's monarch, tells the unexpected story of Bhumibol's life and sixty-year rule—how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha, and how a king widely seen as beneficent and apolitical could in fact be so deeply political and autocratic.


Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king’s youth and personal development, ascent to the throne, skillful political maneuverings, and attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Handley takes full note of Bhumibol's achievements in art, in sports and jazz, and he credits the king's lifelong dedication to rural development and the livelihoods of his poorest subjects. But, looking beyond the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian and virtuous, Handley portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business and the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely modified feudal dynasty.


When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power and prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, silencing critics while winning the hearts and minds of his people. The book details this process and depicts Thailand’s unique constitutional monarch—his life, his thinking, and his ruling philosophy.

 

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目次

Introduction
1
1 A Dhammaraja from America
12
2 From Pure Blood to Dynastic Failure
26
Revolution and Exile
44
4 Restoration to Regicide
64
5 Revenge of the Monarchists194649
80
6 Romance in Lausanne Bhumibol Prepares to Reign
100
7 The Cold War 195257
114
13 What Went Wrong Cosmic Panic Buisness Failure Midcareer Crisis
238
14 Whos the Enemy?
257
15 In the Kings Image
276
16 Family Headaches
299
17 Another Coup for the Throne
328
October 1976 Redux
346
19 Sanctifying Royalty and Stonewalling Democracy in the 1990s
363
20 Another Family Annus Horribilis
394

8 Field Marshal Sarit The Palace Finds Its Strongman
139
9 Bhumibol in the 1960s A Dhammarajos Brilliance Unfolds
156
10 Going to War
180
11 Reborn Democrat?
194
12 Royal Vigilantism and Massacre197476
214
21 The Economic Crash and Bhumibols New Theory
407
22 Going into Seclusion Can the Monarch Survive Bhumibol?
427
Notes
451
Index m
477
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著者について (2006)

Paul M. Handley is a freelance journalist who lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in Asia for more than twenty years, including thirteen in Thailand.

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