Wimon Wiriyawit; Free Thai
An important eyewitness account of one of the active participants. Group Captain Wimon Wiriyawit is one of the few survivors of a small group of Thais who were in the USA at the beginning of the Pacific War and who volunteered to work for the liberation of Thailand from Japanese occupation. The personal recollections are supported by official documents from US archives, released only recently. This book brings to light the differing agendas of the war allies: the USA, Britain and Nationalist China, as well as different ideas within the Thai political elite.

Fukui, Shizuo; Japanese Naval Vessels at the End of World War II
This is a very simple form of a record of all combatant vessels and the representative minor miscellaneous vessels, inclusive of special attack crafts of the ex-Imperial Japanese Navy at the end of the war. Some army crafts which had more or less combatant value have also been included. The aim of this book has been to keep as clear of technicalities as possible in order that it may be extensively and easily understood by the authorities of the allied navies engaging in the disposition of the ex-Japanese naval vessels.

Chambers, Paul; Knights of the Realm: Thailand's Military and Police Then and Now
Represent the first systematic account of the political history of Thailand’s security sector and the main actors involved. The military and police find their legitimacy through law, a safeguarding of monarchy, or a more ambiguous protection of national security ̶̶ ̶̶ NATION, RELIGION, MONARCHY, PEOPLE. Thailand is a country with over 30 coups and coup attempts since the 1932 revolution which ended the absolute monarchy. As the last direct military putsch occurred as recently as in 2006, security sector involvement in politics is clearly not a thing of the past. Ambiguous laws and spiraling budgets continue to give the security services enormous influence. Ultimately, political machinations by the armed forces and police cannot afford to be ignored if one really wants to understand Thai politics.

Schwarz, Jurgen and Wilfried A. Herrmann & Hannas-Frank Seller; Maritime Strategies in Asia
The first-ever major study on maritime strategies in the Asian region and the technical co-operation possibilities with German maritime industries, provides an up-to date and comprehensive assessment of the maritime strategic concepts and the navy capabilities of the coastal countries of the Asia-Pacific region. From a European perspective Asia, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Far Eastern regions, is of crucial importance for world trade and international stability. But global and regional prosperity and stability are closely related to the indispensable precondition of freedom of navigation for commercial shipping and the unrestricted use of sea-lanes of communication (SLOCs). For many years, the prime maritime concern was militaly, not economic, as the United States and other nations required secure maritime transport through the sea-lanes of the Asian regions in times of military tensions and war. Now the emphasis has shifted to the economic component, but freedom of navigation for commercial shipping will still have to be guaranteed by military or maritime means, and depends to a growing part on modem technical equipment. What are the major concerns? How well are nations in the region and outside it prepared to deal with these challenges? Are their navies equipped to match the new security environment and to defend the national interests? What are the possibilities of international co-operation? An international team of experts deals with these questions in this joint study led by the “Asia Strategic Institute Hong Kong” and the “Institute of International Relations” at the German Federal Armed Forces University in Munich.

Tips, Walter E. J.; Siam's Struggle for Survival
This study tells the story of the French attempts to take over Siam in 1893. The battle between French warships and Siamese guns at Fort Paknam, on the mouth of the Chao Phya River, is told in the words of one of the main actors in the diplomatic struggles that preceded and followed the incident. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns’s daily journal of the political maneuvering between France and Britain, the battles on the Mekong between French and Siamese troops and of the sleepless nights of HM King Chulalongkorn and his princely ministers, reads like a political thriller. The report of Siamese counter-attacks and diplomatic plotting, in which Prince Devawongse was the main actor, sheds light on hitherto unknown but crucial pages in the life of Siam as a modern nation in the making. Siam would preserve its independence and HM King Chulalongkorn would manage to hold on to most of the core territories of the kingdom in the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 3 October 1893 which followed the incident. Here is the story of a Siam dangerously close to losing her freedom.

Tapp, Nicholas; Sovereignty and Rebellion
This study explores how the Hmong have managed to maintain a strong sense of ethnic integrity despite centuries of oppression by more powerful majority populations. The Hmong people have emigrated from China to Southeast Asia, and from there, since the ending of the Vietnam wars, to France, America, and other Western countries. The author examines the current dilemmas of the Hmong in an opium‑growing village in Northern Thailand: whether to continue cultivating opium or not, whether to support the Thai state or engage in armed insurrection, whether to continue with their traditional shamanic curing rituals or adopt new faiths such as Christianity or Buddhism. He shows how these dilemmas are expressed by a wider contradiction between “being Hmong” or “being Chinese”; the second part of the book then moves back through the long history of the Hmong in China, showing how their many messianic rebellions against centralized authority were motivated by a desire for literacy and the possession of a form of writing for their own language. Legends about the geomantic system which the Hmong share with the Chinese for the siting of ancestors’ graves differentiate Hmong from Chinese ethnicity. In the final part of the book, the current situation of Hmong refugees in the West is examined.