The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej

Early on, Handley declares that current king of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej's restoration of the Thai monarchy is, in fact, ""one of the great untold stories of the 20th century."" The dense history he assembles more than meets the high expectations he sets for himself. Bhumibol, ninth king of the Chakri Dynasty and the first American-born Thai monarch, took power in 1946 during a time when being king was not the most desirable job in the country. Handley offers a substantive history of the monarchy reaching back 500 years, providing the framework for understanding Bhumibol's challenge as king and ""leading theologian"" following the 1932 coup that turned the old kingdom of Siam, an absolute monarchy, into the constitutional monarchy of Thailand. While rendered politically weak by the coup and subsequent power struggles, Bhumibol has quietly salvaged the relevance of the monarchy while maintaining the image of bodhittsava-like figurehead, a tricky and necessary accomplishment for a country balanced between modernity and ancient Buddhist and Hindu tradition. Dynamic in both his professional and personal life, Bhumibol grapples with insurgencies, growing leftist sentiment and an alliance with the U.S. to combat Communism, finding time along the way to dabble in everything from water development projects to jazz composition. This absorbing and well-researched volume should please Asian history buffs and those interested in the topical challenge of leading a traditional society into the modern world.