Formerly CIP. Uk

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine derived contents note: Contents -- Preface ix -- Introduction 1 -- 1. A Dhammaraja from America -- 2. From Pure Blood to Dynastic Failure -- 3. 1932: Revolution and Exile -- 4. Restoration to Regicide -- 5. Revenge of the Monarchists, 1946¿49 -- 6. Romance in Lausanne: Bhumibol Prepares to Reign -- 7. The Cold War, 1952¿57 -- 8. Field Marshal Sarit: The Palace Finds Its Strongman -- 9. Bhumibol in the 1960s: A Dhammaraja¿s Brilliance Unfolds -- 10. Going to War -- 11. Reborn Democrat? -- 12. Royal Vigilantism and Massacre, 1974¿76 -- 13. What Went Wrong: Cosmic Panic, Business Failure, Midcareer Crisis -- 14. Who¿s the Enemy? -- 15. In the King¿s Image: The Perfect General Prem -- 16. Family Headaches -- 17. Another Coup for the Throne -- 18. May 1992: October 1976 Redux -- 19. Sanctifying Royalty and Stonewalling Democracy in the 1990s -- 20. Another Family Annus Horribilis -- 21. The Economic Crash and Bhumibol¿s New Theory -- 22. Going into Seclusion: Can the Monarchy Survive Bhumibol? -- Notes 000 -- Index 000.

"Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and is now 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 achievement in art, in sports and jazz, and he credits the king's lifelong dedication to rural development and 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."--BOOK JACKET.

Trade Yale University Press.