Crawfurd's mission was of considerable historical significance, being the first major European mission to Thailand since the seventeenth century and the last British mission to Vietnam. For nearly 150 years, his Journal has been an indispensable handbook for those interested in nineteenth-century South-East Asia. Readership: historians of South-east Asia.

Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China (Oxford in Asia Hardback Reprints)

History

Wyatt, David K.

CRAWFURD, JOHN

Asia

Oxford University Press

The politics of reform in Thailand: Education in the reign of King Chulalongkorn, (Yale Southeast Asia studies)

Yale University Press

This highly acclaimed book, the standard history of Thailand for almost twenty years, has now been completely revised by the author. David K. Wyatt has also added new sections examining the social and economic changes that have transformed the country in the past two decades.Praise for the previous edition:?Wyatt knows his subject well enough and has enough enthusiasm for it to make his book . . . entertaining as well as eminently educational.”?David McElveen, Asiaweek?A very readable account. . . .We come away from reading it with a clearer understanding of where Thailand stands in relation to its neighbors, who the Thai people are, how the Thai government evolved into its present form.”?James Stent, Asian Wall Street Journal?Concise, thorough, and readable.”?John Gabree, New York Newsday

Thailand: A Short History

Americas

Yale Univ Pr

This highly acclaimed book, the standard history of Thailand for almost twenty years, has now been completely revised by the author. David K. Wyatt has also added new sections examining the social and economic changes that have transformed the country in the past two decades. Praise for the previous edition: “Wyatt knows his subject well enough and has enough enthusiasm for it to make his book . . . entertaining as well as eminently educational.”―David McElveen, Asiaweek “A very readable account. . . .We come away from reading it with a clearer understanding of where Thailand stands in relation to its neighbors, who the Thai people are, how the Thai government evolved into its present form.”―James Stent, Asian Wall Street Journal “Concise, thorough, and readable.”―John Gabree, New York Newsday

Travel

The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: A New History

The modern states of Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and East Timor were once a tapestry of kingdoms, colonies, and smaller polities linked by sporadic trade and occasional war. Their societies shared many elements but also centered on traditions as diverse as Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, and Christianity. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the United States and several European powers had come to control almost the entire region—only to depart dramatically in the decades following World War II. The emergence of modern Southeast Asia raises many questions, specific and general. Why were the great royal capitals—Hue, Ava, Ayutthaya, Yogyakarta—relegated to obscurity? What led the Vietnamese, at great cost in human suffering, to fight the French, the Americans, and each other for thirty years, and what did the revolutionaries do when they won? How did Southeast Asians live together and how were their lives—and dreams—changed by new forms of authority and new modes of production? What are the region’s economic resources, who controls them and benefits from them, and how have they and their distribution changed over time? 
The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia offers a new and up-to-date perspective on this complex region. Although it does not neglect nation-building (the central theme of its popular and long-lived predecessor, In Search of Southeast Asia), the present work focuses on economic and social history, gender, and ecology. It describes the long-term impact of global forces on the region and traces the spread and interplay of capitalism, nationalism, and socialism. It acknowledges that modernization has produced substantial gains in such areas as life expectancy and education but has also spread dislocation and misery. Technology means helicopter gun ships and government surveillance as well as jet travel and the Internet. As the region’s economies have grown, the environment has become polluted and natural resources have been savagely exploited. 
Organizationally, the book shifts between thematic chapters that describe social, economic, and cultural change, and "country" chapters emphasizing developments within specific areas. Enhanced by scores of illustrations, The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia will establish a new standard for the history of this dynamic and radically transformed region of the world.

Woodside, Alexander

Steinberg, David Joel

CHANDLER, David P.

Taylor, Jean Gelman

Taylor, Robert H.

Owen, Norman G.

Roff, William R.

University of Hawaii Press

Preeminent Southeast Asian scholar David Wyatt brings together in this volume all his major early articles. Written between 1963 and 1988, they cover Thai history from the early history of Siam, the "family politics" of the Ayudhya and Bangkok periods, the so-called "First Reign," the dramatic reign of King Chulalongkorn, and up to the origins of modern Thailand.

Studies in Thai History: Collected Articles

Silkworm Books

This slim volume takes the reader on a fascinating stroll through Thailand’s intellectual history -- the thoughts of the people of Siam, and the products of their thought, through history. It is a series of informal sketches, gleaned over years of historical research and stored away for rumination and reflection by one of the foremost historians of Thailand. Wyatt muses about these pieces of history, revealing some of the creative thinking that has been going on in the minds of ordinary and nameless people as well as great and well-known thinkers in Siam for the past thirteen hundred years. A variety of new thought -- political, religious, and artistic -- has arisen in all sorts of contexts: warfare, trade, administration, and farming, to name a few. Collected here is a valuable historical sampling of these new ideas from the many different regions of what we think of today as Thailand. The author touches upon political and religious thought, but also upon such “artistic” thought as that demonstrated in novels, paintings, and historical writing. It includes both people whom we might think of as conservative and royalist and those who usually are thought of as non-conforming.

Siam in Mind

Buddhist temple murals have been a vital form of religious expression in Thailand for centuries. In this lively, slim volume, historian David Wyatt takes a peek behind the scenes to investigate the wider meanings hidden within the beautiful, elaborately painted images that adorn Thai temples. Wyatt shows how a sensitive reading of these "texts" from the past can reveal fascinating new insights into the psyche and history of Thai communities.

Reading Thai Murals

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

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Books by Wyatt, David K.