Air America
by Christopher Robbins
The Explosive True Story of the CIA's Secret Airline Begins like a spy novel and ends by raising the hair on your head ... Here is the incredible inside story of the world's most extraordinary covert operation - Air America, a secret airline run by the CIA, which at its height had the biggest commercial airfleet in the world. Air America flew the missions no one else would touch, from General Claire Chennault's legendary Flying Tigers in WW2 to two brutal decades cruising over the bomb-savaged jungles of Southeast Asia. The pilots dared all and did all - a high-rolling, fast-playing bunch of has-beens and hellraisers whose motto was "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime." Whether it was delivering food and weapons or spooks and opium, Air America was the one airline where you didn't need reservations - just a hell of a lot of courage and a willingness to fly to the bitter end. Now with Additional New Material This updated edition of Air America now includes a new prologue, looking back over the years at the reaction to the book - from pilots, the CIA, the US government, and the general media; plus a new chapter which provides a stinging critique, and the real story behind the making of the widely criticized motion picture of the same name.

USD 11.25 on DCOthai.com

Thailand's Boom and Bust
by Pasuk Phongpaichit & Chris Baker
Covering the transformation of a country over one roller-coaster decade. It is about the economics of boom and bust, and also about the politics, the social changes and the popular culture. An updated and completely overhauled version of the successful 1996 book. With two new chapters on the bursting of the bubble and on politics from Chuan to Chavalit. New sections on the BBC scandal, Assembly of the Poor, constitution, illegal economy, Eighth Plan, NGOs, Labour relations, forest politics, pollution, country music and Thai identity.

USD13.75 on DCOthai.com

Chronology of South-East Asian History 1400-1996
by Duncan Stearn
This pioneer study encompasses the key events that have shaped and are currently shaping the ten nations which make up south-east Asia, (namely Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). Some examples of the type of information to be found in this ground-breaking work: Who was the longest reigning monarch of the 20th. century? See the year 1959. After Warsaw which was the most destroyed city of the Second World War? See the year 1944. In which country was cock-fighting governed by over 100 clauses? See the year 1861. What Malaysian island became the main distribution centre for the opium trade? See the year 1786. Which Philippines governor murdered his wife and her lover yet remained in office? See the year 1622. What country resisted all attempts at conversion to Christianity? See the year 1556.

USD 15.00 on DCOthai.com

Corruption & Democracy in Thailand
by Pasuk Phongpaichit & Sungsidh Piriyarangsan
This book is the result of a major research study on corruption, set in its political context. It covers estimates of the amounts involved; the roles of politicians, businesspeople, bureaucrats and police; the political background and impact; popular attitudes to corruption; and potential counter measures. The publication of the original research prompted a political storm. Both inside and outside Thailand, this work is recognized as a landmark study in an area of critical importance for political and economic development

USD 8.20 on DCOthai.com

Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja - Thailand's Illegal Economy and Public Policy
by Pasuk Phongpaichit, Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, Nualnoi Treerat
Gambling, prostitution, drugs, arms trading, oil smuggling and trafficking in people, these six illegal businesses are large and getting larger. They distort the economy and victimize people. They are increasingly linked together through networks of protection and organized crime. They help to fund Thailand's corrosive money politics and to sustain corruption the police. In this sequel to Corruption and Democracy in Thailand, the authors argue that control of the illegal economy, especially through reform of the police, is vital for the development of a modern economy and functioning democracy.

USD 13.75 on DCOthai.com

Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation
by Thongchai Winichakul
This unusual and intriguing study of nationhood explores the nineteenth century confrontation of ideas that transformed the kingdom of Siam into the modern conception of a nation. Having been a prominent member of the student movement in the 1970's, Thongchai Winichakul was arrested on trumped up charges after the massacre of student demonstrators at Thammasat University in 1975. His case was dropped in the amnesty of 1978. He has since returned to academic life and is currently assistant professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

USD 16.50 on DCOthai.com

Thailand's Crisis
By Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker
This book is not so much about getting into a crisis as getting through one. It reviews what the IMF did, who got hurt, what worked, and what failed in the economic and social management of the crisis. It shows how political change got bound up with economic crisis, resulting in a new constitution, a seismic shift in the political landscape, and greater assertiveness by civil society. It examines how the economic turmoil changed the ways people reacted to political scandal, viewed their own society, and imagined the future. This is a lucid and highly readable account of how Thailand reacted as a society and culture to its worst-ever economic disaster. The final chapters review the changes and lessons from 1997-2000 and speculate on how these changes will frame the future. Pasuk Phongpaichit is a professor of economics at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Chris Baker is a freelance writer. Together they have authored Thailand's Boom and Bust and several other works on modern Thailand.

USD 12.50 on DCOthai.com

Angels and Devils Thai Politics from February 1991 to September 1992
By David Murray with an introduction by Withaya Sucharithanarugse
A Struggle for Democracy Angels and Devils. A detailed account of the events in Thailand from the military coup in 1991 to the elections in 1992, when the democratic forces, or "angels" as they were popularly referred to, won the election and formed the government. The period under review can be seen as an important watershed in Thai political development, with the traditional military/bureaucratic leadership trying to cling to power in an age of increasing internationalism and globalization, and with a growing middle class demanding a more democratic form of government. Although the book very clearly focuses on Thailand, the events described and analyzed are placed within the broader framework of the development of democracy in the international setting, and the relevance of various models of democratic development to the Thai situation.

USD 23.00 on DCOthai.com