Barmé performs a monumental task. He “peoples” Siam, bringing it to life with a vibrancy and immediacy by parading before us the issues and images that roused the population of early 20th century Bangkok.
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Unlike any other English or Thai language history, Barmé?s study puts you on the ground in the always ... Read morescintillating and often over-stimulating Bangkok, a city characterized by moral and economic extremes as early as the 1910s. His book offers the firsturban social history of Bangkok that also chronicles the formation of Siam?s burgeoning middle class and its ideological stances. The sheer amount of detail Barmé gleaned from Thai-language newspapers, political cartoons, magazines, film booklets, novels, short stories, and other documentation, make his book a cornucopia of the quotidian. Barmé performs a monumental task. He ?peoples? Siam, bringing it to life with a vibrancy and immediacy by parading before us the issues and images that roused thepopulation of early 20th century Bangkok. Tamara Looss
Tamara Loos
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Truly path-breaking. Men still expect to dominate lots of women, while women are expected to be passive and pure. That's why 1920s Bangkok and its gender debates still seem so familiar. Great book.
Chris Baker, Bangkok Post [A] fresh look at the last decades of absolutist rule....Barme's [be sure to get accent in] prose is very accessible, and with its attractive graphics, this paperback version will be a useful addition to courses on modern Southeast Asia.
American Historical Review
Woman, Man, Bangkok is an important contribution to an understanding of the intersections of gender, class, sexuality, and nationlism and analytically situates this intersection within an important phase in Thailand's history.
Journal of Asian Studies
Scot Barme's study of Bangkok is pathbreaking. By focusing on cinema, the press, cartoons, gender, and sexuality a century ago, he produces an original and fascinating picture of social and political change. There is no comparable work on Thailand's social history. No historian will want to ignore his story or his methods. No one will read this book and not have their image of Bangkok and Thailand changed.
Kevin Hewison, City University of Hong Kong Unlike any other English or Thai language history, Barmé’s study puts you on the ground in the always scintillating and often over-stimulating Bangkok, a city characterized by moral and economic extremes as early as the 1910s. His book offers the first urban social history of Bangkok that also chronicles the formation of Siam’s burgeoning middle class and its ideological stances. The sheer amount of detail Barmé gleaned from Thai-language newspapers, political cartoons, magazines, film booklets, novels, short stories, and other documentation, make his book a cornucopia of the quotidian. Barmé performs a monumental task. He “peoples” Siam, bringing it to life with a vibrancy and immediacy by parading before us the issues and images that roused the population of early 20th century Bangkok. Tamara Loos
Tamara Loos
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Show Less