Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

[key visa thailand]

Some of the many Sports Bio's

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Dave got 6 Man U books you can have mate, will get my staff to drop them off, For Man U fans there is plenty of good reading,

[Daveo]

Yes sure mate ,much appreciated, and if West Ham beat them in the FA Cup replay I will pop in and say Hi, being a Hammer as I am, LOL

[key visa thailand]

Yes sure mate ,much appreciated, and if West Ham beat them in the FA Cup replay I will pop in and say Hi, being a Hammer as I am, LOL

Looks like you wont be popping in then mate   I will bring them myself after the replay and you can put the kettle on, and yes we was lucky Dave RVP pulled us out of the shit again, see ya soon mate.

[Daveo]

Looks like you wont be popping in then mate   I will bring them myself after the replay and you can put the kettle on, and yes we was lucky Dave RVP pulled us out of the shit again, see ya soon mate.

Yes maybe, I believe RVP is out injured next week, hope so anyway.

All the best Dave

[key visa thailand]

Yes maybe, I believe RVP is out injured next week, hope so anyway.

All the best Dave

Probably got a bad back with carrying us all season

[Daveo]

came in today

Everywhere you look, for heaven's sake, there are ladies. Never mind for heaven's sake, this is heaven. It is the Garden of Eden, where you are allowed to eat all the apples you want. The air itself is sexy. Never mind meanderings on hill tribes and Buddhist temple architecture, or burble about meditation and mantras, and dire warnings about 'prostitutes' and 'the sex industry'. Because that is why you have come here. You are a man with ample leisure time and money in your pocket, and you are here for the ladies. Because they do it.

 

Welcome to Thailand, where hundreds of thousands of male tourists are lured every year by thoughts of luscious silk-skinned maidens whose smiles promise ecstasy. And despite the exotic sights, gorgeous beaches and mouth-watering food, for many the magic of the east means sex. In the raucous seaside resorts like Patang and Pattaya, armies of sultry young temptresses ensare the hearts and bankrolls of besotted foreigners.

Totally frank, Kit McCann charts his own uninhibited rake's progress through the moonscape of lust and its pitfalls. A vast comedy of corruption, deceit, drugs, murder, despair, suicide, and above all, greed. He should know, he saw it all.

[key visa thailand]

Good luck tonite Dave, youll need it 555, let me know when you want me to drop the Man U books off

 

Cheers

 

Darren

[Daveo]

Good luck tonite Dave, youll need it 555, let me know when you want me to drop the Man U books off

 

Cheers

 

Darren

HI Mate

An time you have a min, yes Old Trafford always difficult there against 12 men, LOL

[Daveo]

More good books in today

 

 

Release date: November 26, 2012 | Series: A Harry Bosch Novel

In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved.

Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the "black box," the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.

Riveting and relentlessly paced, THE BLACK BOX leads Harry Bosch, "one of the greats of crime fiction" (New York Daily News), into one of his most fraught and perilous cases.

 

 

[key visa thailand]

HI Mate

An time you have a min, yes Old Trafford always difficult there against 12 men, LOL

    Ok mate see ya in a couple of days,

[Daveo]

On the shelf today

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR Bert Trautmann is a football legend. ( published 2011) He is famed as the Manchester City goalkeeper who broke his neck in the 1956 FA Cup final and played on. But his early life was no less extraordinary. He grew up in Nazi Germany, where first he was indoctrinated by the Hitler Youth, before fighting in World War Two in France and on the Eastern Front. In 1945 he was captured and sent to a British POW camp where, for the first time, he understood that there could be a better way of life. He embraced England as his new home and before long became an English football hero. 'Brilliant' Observer 'A remarkable story, well worth reading' The Times 'A gripping story of an unlikely redemption through football' Sunday Times 'This poignant book is a tribute to the depth of both Clay's research and her compassion' Independent.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Daveo

[Daveo]

& More

Release date: June 6, 2011

Don Revie and Brian Clough were born a brisk walk away from each other in Middlesbrough, in 1927 and 1935 respectively. They were brought up in a town ravaged by the Depression and went on to become highly successful professional footballers. Then, as young managers, they both took clubs languishing in the doldrums (Leeds United and Derby County) and molded them into championship winners. Despite the myriad similarities, these two sons of the Tees were as different in character as Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. A bitter rivalry developed between them, which in turn enlivened and then blighted English football in the 1960s and '70s. In "Clough and Revie", exclusive interviews with players, relatives and friends shed fresh light on these two intriguing characters. Part footballing chronicle, part social history, this book is a revelatory exploration of the rivalry between the two men. It brings a fresh perspective on their early years in the North-East, tells how they nearly became teammates and explains why the feud began and what its repercussions were.

[Daveo]

Still more.

Peter Shilton is a legend in football. One of the greatest goalkeepers to play in this country, his 25 clean sheets in one season at Nottingham Forest, and 67 throughout a lengthy international career are landmarks in the modern game. From the 15-year-old who joined Leicester City, to the winner of two European Cups and a League Championship medal, he has played in numerous World Cup campaigns (both successful and unsuccessful), and was the keeper involved with Maradona's 'Hand of God' incident. Even aged 40, Shilton was still playing in the First Division while representing England at Italia '90. This is the full story of one of football's greatest goalkeepers. In addition to detailing the highs and lows of his 31-year career, Shilton is searingly honest about the gambling and related problems which culminated in near bankruptcy, in this most compelling and revealing autobiography.

 

 

In this exclusive extract from his new autobiography, horse owner Michael Owen explains his passion for racing

Here is a memory that conveys my love of the sport - not the betting, but the horses, and the thrill of the racecourse and the morning gallops.

I was in Manton, staying with John Gosden, who trains my horses before Royal Ascot, and I rose early to join him on the Wiltshire Downs. It's the sound of the horses approaching you - the snorting, the beat of the hooves, the birdsong.

At that time of the morning it's generally misty, but you spy a distant dot, which is the face of the lead horse, and your ears start to register the pounding of hooves. I spent the whole morning with my spine tingling. And I thought, I fancy a bit of this for the rest of my life.

 

[Daveo]

In his New York Times bestselling memoir, one of America’s greatest boxing legends faces his single greatest competitor: himself

In Washington, D.C., during the 1970s, a black man could get into the newspapers in one of two ways: crime—or boxing. “Sugar” Ray Leonard chose to fight. After winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, Ray wanted to call it quits and go to college, but his family’s financial needs made him go pro. Boxing history was made. All the while, another, darker Ray—one overwhelmed by depression, rage, drug addiction, sexual abuse, and greed—battled for dominance. In The Big Fight, Ray comes to terms with both these men and shares a brutally honest and remarkably inspiring portrait of the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of a true fighter—inside and outside the ring.

[Daveo]

Tom Cushman, one of boxing's great sportswriters, followed the "Ali generation" of fighters from New York to Las Vegas, Nassau to Zaire, reporting for thePhiladelphia Daily News from 1966–1982 and for the San Diego Tribune, 1982–1992. Muhammad Ali and the Greatest Heavyweight Generation chronicles the behind-the-scenes stories of the great athletes in boxing's biggest-and-best age—their victories and struggles, crimes and passions, heydays and swansongs.

This collection of essays, gleaned from Cushman's personal files as well as his recent research, brings to light the backgrounds of the fighters, in and out of the ring: Liston's tragic death, Foreman's rise from hell to heaven, Holmes's crushing defeat and his great heart, Everett's murder—and everywhere, always, the unforgettable voice and charismatic volume of the astounding Muhammad Ali.

Columnist Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News, writes in the book's Preface:

                             

This [is] history of the rarest sort—the view of a man who not only had lived in the time and recorded the events, but now, a quarter of a century later, who was able to interpret both the athletic imprint left by these dynamic men and the sociological impact of their triumphs and tragedies.

 

Besides the compelling stories of boxing's back stage, Muhammad Ali and the Greatest Heavyweight Generation includes previously unpublished photographs from the personal collections of Cushman and others, as well as classic images from veteran newspaper photographers.

[Daveo]

In recently, reviews nicked from Amazon

 

 

The book is very interesting because it shows how really and sincerely vietcong fought against occupation. They were "pure". No doubt about that. Also amazing how no revenges happened after the victory against the loosers (and after 2 millions killed). So you can feel that all the "good" conditions were there to produce a "good experience", to relize the dream. This didn't happen and after few months it turned to be a failure as many other communist experiences. Terzani relized this and explain this clearly in the latest prefaction to the edition of 2000. Terzani after being indicated as an hero by the communist vietnamese government (this book went also read in that country schools), started writing how the the situation was changing and in the end he was expulsed by that nation!! After he was also arrested by Chinese and rieducated for one month (and expulsed afterward).

Terzani said that he would have written the same things at that time but something different only if he could have seen what was happening with the experience he had lately. What more honest than this? This IS the best journalism you can imagine. Terzani was the only one journalist witness of the Saigon fall not running out of the country together with the americans. He was not afraid, he wanted to see with his eyes and not to follow some press conference of some secret service agent in charge... Bottom line this is the book everybody should read to understand the situation there (and to avoid further mistakes).

 

 

In the heat of battle, in the devastated countryside, among troops and civilians equally hurt by the 
savagery of war, Larry Burrows photographed the conflict in Vietnam from 1962, the earliest days of American involvement, until 1971, when he died in a helicopter shot down on the Vietnam–Laos border. His images, published in Life magazine, brought the war home, scorching the consciousness of the public and inspiring much of the anti-war sentiment that convulsed American society in the 1960s. 

To see these photo essays today, gathered in one volume and augmented by unpublished images from the Burrows archive, is to experience (or to relive), with extraordinary immediacy, both the war itself and the effect and range of Larry Burrows’s gifts—his courage: to shoot “The Air War,” he strapped himself and his camera to the open doorway of a plane . . . his reporter’s instinct: accompanying the mission of the helicopter Yankee Papa 13, he captured the transformation of a young marine crew chief experiencing the death of fellow marines . . . and his compassion: in “Operation Prairie” and “A Degree of Disillusion” he published profoundly affecting images of exhausted, bloodied troops and maimed Vietnamese children, both wounded, physically and psychologically, by the ever-escalating war.

The photographs Larry Burrows took in Vietnam, magnificently reproduced in this volume, are brutal, poignant, and utterly truthful, a stunning example of photojournalism that recorded history and achieved the level of great art. Indeed, in retrospect, says David Halberstam in his moving introduction, “Larry Burrows was as much historian as photographer and artist. Because of his work, generations born long after he died will be able to witness and understand and feel the terrible events he recorded. This book is his last testament.”

 

 

US Special Forces in Vietnam created and trained the Civilian Irregular Defense Group, a large paramilitary organization designed to operate out of fortified camps in remote areas and protect the local population from Viet Cong incursions, whilst conducting border surveillance, raids and combat patrols in the local area. Their fortified camps were often overrun by the Viet Cong and, having no spare manpower, the US Special Forces created dedicated reaction units which could act in a responsive and flexible manner - Mobile Strike (MIKE) Forces.

This book examines the MIKE units, which were formed from the CIDG, the parachute and airmobile training they were given, and the operations that they undertook, from relieving friendly camps to large-scale independent offensive operations. Written by Gordon L. Rottman, a former US Special Forces soldier in Vietnam, this title provides the first organizational history of the MIKE forces in this conflict.

 

 

While most historians of the Vietnam War focus on the origins of U.S. involvement and the Americanization of the conflict, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen examines the international context in which North Vietnamese leaders pursued the war and American intervention ended. This riveting narrative takes the reader from the marshy swamps of the Mekong Delta to the bomb-saturated Red River Delta, from the corridors of power in Hanoi and Saigon to the Nixon White House, and from the peace negotiations in Paris to high-level meetings in Beijing and Moscow, all to reveal that peace never had a chance in Vietnam.
Hanoi's War renders transparent the internal workings of America's most elusive enemy during the Cold War and shows that the war fought during the peace negotiations was bloodier and much more wide ranging than it had been previously. Using never-before-seen archival materials from the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as materials from other archives around the world, Nguyen explores the politics of war-making and peace-making not only from the North Vietnamese perspective but also from that of South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, China, and the United States, presenting a uniquely international portrait.

 

 

Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Brown lived in the Hue MACV compound and remained in the city during the first seventeen days of the battle. These are his memoirs.

 

 

 

The history of the Second Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) in Vietnam 1970 to 1971 - Now scarce.

In May, 1970, 2RAR relieved 6RAR at Nui Dat. The battalion comprised three rifle companies and support companies, and was joined in Vietnam by W Company and V Company from RNZIR. On 15 May the battalion resumed the ANZAC title and became 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC).

2RAR joined 1ATF in pacification operations in Phuoc Tuy. 1ATF had adopted the “Pacification Program” as its first priority in April, 1969. Pacification involved seeking out and destroying the enemy in its base areas, preventing enemy access to the civilian population and helping to create a secure climate for South Vietnamese social, political and military life to develop. This work was demanding, dangerous and monotonous for the troops. It was the primary task carried out by the battalion during its second tour.

The battalion was relieved by 4RAR in May 1971.

 

 

Ben Cai Lam, a Vietnamese, served as an interpreter with the 101st Airborne Divison 1965-71, then as an infantry officer in the South Vietnamese army, ARVN, until the Communist takeover in '75. After five years in reeducation camps, he escaped and existed "like a wild dog" while seeking ways to flee the country with his family. As a former ARVN officer who had served with the Americans, he was worth a high bounty. Repeatedly double-crossed by escape organizers, he eventually made his way to Malaysia and freedom in an epic 1984 sea voyage. With the help of a retired general who had been his battalion commander in the 101st Airborne, Cai came to "the destination of dreams" and settled in Montana. This is the outline of a breathtaking personal account of combat, family tragedy and extraordinary adventure. In awkward but eloquent English, Cai's narrative is rich in cultural detail and sheds light on the subtle changes in Vietnamese attitudes from 1965 to the present. Taylor ( Born of War ), who provides a running commentary, is a former Airborne officer who knew Cai in Vietnam. His own memories of the war provide an illuminating counterpoint to Cai's story. Photos. 
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2013 by Daveo

[Daveo]

Some of the books in the last couple of days;

This writer was the first really able literary whistleblower to take after the Pol Pot government. What was going on was widely suspected. In a little remembered outcry, Senator George McGovern (remember him?) publicly called for international intervention in 1978 to save Cambodia from barbarism. But most on the left were ambiguous (the stories beggar belief...give the revolutionaries time...they will grow out of their wildness). Cambodia was invisible in the world consciousness at the time - the west wanted nothing but peace and quiet after the Vietnam tumult. Then came Monsiieur Ponchard's book.

In the decades of films and commentary since, this book holds up extremely well. Considering the deadly walls of silence thrown up by the Khmer Rouge regime after 1975 (they even banned telephones as part of their total Maoist re-fit) the author penetrated with considerable accuracy and sure footedness into the operation of this most murderous regime. The factual accuracy with which the power structure is described is surprising. He gets the personnel right, the utopianism of the leading players, and their influences - Maoist in economics, Stalinist in rejecting any possibility of "re-education" in creating the new society. The author's clinical style of writing takes us through the establishment of the terror state, and disentangles the knottiest part of the story - how did the Khmer Rouge make their pitch so successfully to the peasantry even granted the US bombing from 1969? THere were other players and resistance groups. The author excells at showing the KR's usurpation of Sihanouk's authority following his overthrow by Lon Nol, and how his call for the "brothers and sisters" to go into the forest and resist lead the peasantry straight into the arms of Pol Pot, until then a deadly but marginal figure. The author's chilling treatise on how a peasantry who believed in forest spirits were sold on a crusade to re-start history and re-capture their long lost Angkorean glory is one of the most important stories of history. This is a superb telling and a powerful warning.

 

Since January 2004, the three Muslim-dominated provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in the Thai south had been ablaze with political violence. Early incidents such as the bloody storming of the historic Kru-Ze mosque, and the death of 78 Tak Bai protestors at the hands of the army made global headlines. But most of the subsequent events have gone largely unnoticed despite a terrible catalogue of 'daily killings.' The Thaksin Shinawatra government's persistent mishandling of the southern violence was a key factor behind the September 2006 military coup d'etat, the biggest political upheaval in Thailand since the early 1990s.

This collection by Thai and international scholars examines the reasons behind the unrest in south Thailand from a variety of perspectives. The contributors all reject the simplistic mantras of 'terrorism experts,' and call for a more nuanced, subtle and critical readings of events. Their topics include the political meanings of history and monuments, the ambiguous role of the Thaksin government, alternative explanations of the violence, the salience of political Islam, the voices of ordinary people in Pattani, and the misleading paradigms of the insecurity industry. This book will change the way the southern Thailand conflict is understood.

 

 

Here, for the first time since the Yonok Chronicle was written more than a century ago, is a complete history of the northern Thai culture and kingdom of Lan Na. History of Lan Na chronicles the era of the city-states before the rule of Phaya Mangrai, the rise, flourishing, and decline of the Lan Na kingdom, the period of Burmese rule, the submission to Siamese authority, the impact of Western imperialism, and finally Lan Na's integration with the rest of the country. Sarassawadee Ongsakul has constructed a complete chronology of Lan Na's social, economic, and political development. The Thai language publication has already been recognized as an important contribution to the study of Lan Na history and, now in English, it will take its place as an essential work on Thai studies in the international arena.Sarassawadee Ongsakul and Chitraporn Tanratanakul are both associate professors of history at Chiang Mai University.

 

 

In 1948 Burma was a promising young democracy with a bustling free-market economy and a standard of living that surpassed nearly all of its Asian neighbors. Fifty years later, Burma is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a military dictatorship in Rangoon and 50,000 armed rebels from a myriad of ethnic insurgency groups. In this well-documented and detailed account, journalist Bertil Lintner explains the connection between Burma's booming drug production and its insurgency and counter-insurgency, providing an answer to the question of why Burma has been unable to shake off 35 years of military rule and build a modern, democratic society. This revised and updated edition includes a list of acronyms, a chronology of events, a who's who of important figures in Burma's insurgency, an annotated list of rebel armies, and biographical sketches of the Thirty Comrades.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Preface xv
Note on Chinese Spellings xiv
Prologue 1 (4)
Chapter 1 The Singularity of China 5 (28)
The Era of Chinese Preeminence 8 (5)
Confucianism 13 (3)
Concepts of International Relations: 16 (6)
Impartiality or Equality?
Chinese Realpolitik and Sun Tzu's Art of 22 (11)
War
Chapter 2 The Kowtow Question and the Opium 33 (24)
War
The Macartney Mission 35 (10)
The Clash of Two World Orders: The Opium 45 (6)
War
Qiying's Diplomacy: Soothing the 51 (6)
Barbarians
Chapter 3 From Preeminence to Decline 57 (34)
Wei Yuan's Blueprint: "Using Barbarians 60 (4)
Against Barbarians," Learning Their
Techniques
The Erosion of Authority: Domestic 64 (5)
Upheavals and the Challenge of Foreign
Encroachments
Managing Decline 69 (8)
The Challenge of Japan 77 (3)
Korea 80 (6)
The Boxer Uprising and the New Era of 86 (5)
Warring States
Chapter 4 Mao's Continuous Revolution 91 (22)
Mao and the Great Harmony 92 (5)
Mao and International Relations: The 97 (9)
Empty City Stratagem, Chinese Deterrence,
and the Quest for Psychological Advantage
The Continuous Revolution and the Chinese 106(7)
People
Chapter 5 Triangular Diplomacy and the 113(35)
Korean War
Acheson and the Lure of Chinese Titoism 118(4)
Kim Il-sung and the Outbreak of War 122(7)
American Intervention: Resisting 129(4)
Aggression
Chinese Reactions: Another Approach to 133(10)
Deterrence
Sino-American Confrontation 143(5)
Chapter 6 China Confronts Both Superpowers 148(33)
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis 151(7)
Diplomatic Interlude with the United 158(3)
States
Mao, Khrushchev, and the Sino-Soviet Split 161(11)
The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 172(9)
Chapter 7 A Decade of Crises 181(21)
The Great Leap Forward 181(3)
The Himalayan Border Dispute and the 1962 184(8)
Sino-Indian War
The Cultural Revolution 192(5)
Was There a Lost Opportunity? 197(5)
Chapter 8 The Road to Reconciliation 202(34)
The Chinese Strategy 201(10)
The American Strategy 211(4)
First Steps---Clashes at the Ussuri River 215(21)
Chapter 9 Resumption of Relations: First 236(39)
Encounters with Mao and Zhou
Zhou Enlai 241(14)
Nixon in China: The Meeting with Mao 255(7)
The Nixon-Zhou Dialogue 262(5)
The Shanghai Communique 267(4)
The Aftermath 271(4)
Chapter 10 The Quasi-Alliance: 275(19)
Conversations with Mao
The "Horizontal Line": Chinese Approaches 277(15)
to Containment
The Impact of Watergate 292(2)
Chapter 11 The End of the Mao Era 294(27)
The Succession Crisis 294(3)
The Fall of Zhou Enlai 297(6)
Final Meetings with Mao: The Swallows and 303(18)
the Coming of the Storm
Chapter 12 The Indestructible Deng 321(19)
Deng's First Return to Power 322(5)
The Death of Leaders 327(2)
Hua Guofeng
Deng's Ascendance---"Reform and Opening 329(11)
Up"
Chapter 13 "Touching the Tiger's Buttocks": 340(37)
The Third Vietnam War
Vietnam: Confounder of Great Powers 341(7)
Deng's Foreign Policy---Dialogue with 348(8)
America and Normalization
Deng's Journeys 356(4)
Deng's Visit to America and the New 360(7)
Definition of Alliance
The Third Vietnam War 367(10)
Chapter 14 Reagan and the Advent of Normalcy 377(31)
Taiwan Arms Sales and the Third Communique 381(6)
China and the Superpowers---The New 387(9)
Equilibrium
Deng's Reform Program 396(12)
Chapter 15 Tiananmen 408(32)
American Dilemmas 411(17)
The Fang Lizhi Controversy 428(9)
The 12- and 24-Character Statements 437(3)
Chapter 16 What Kind of Reform? Deng's 440(7)
Southern Tour
Chapter 17 A Roller Coaster Ride Toward 447(40)
Another Reconciliation: The Jiang Zemin Era
China and the Disintegrating Soviet Union 456(5)
The Clinton Administration and China 461(10)
Policy
The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis 471(7)
China's Resurgence and Jiang's Reflections 478(9)
Chapter 18 The New Millennium 487(44)
Differences in Perspective 493(4)
How to Define Strategic Opportunity 497(6)
The National Destiny Debate---The 503(5)
Triumphalist View
Dai Bingguo---A Reaffirmation of Peaceful 508(6)
Rise
Epilogue: Does History Repeat Itself? The 514(13)
Crowe Memorandum
Toward a Pacific Community? 527(4)
Notes 531(36)
Index 567

 

 

Prof. Chandler discovered the real face behind Pol Pot (Saloth Sar), the initially enigmatic leader of the Red Khmer in Cambodia. He wrote a hallucinatory and tragic biography.

The background of Pol Pot is common for many Communist Party (CP) members. He was recruited by the local CP when he studied in a foreign country. For Pol Pot, it was in France where the CP was totally controlled by the USSR and her Stalinist doctrine. The USSR recruited foreign members everywhere in order to use them as antennas all over the world.

When Pol Pot took power in Cambodia, he applied the Stalinist doctrine ruthlessly.
The similarities with Stalin are eminently striking: power struggle at the top of the party and liquidation of the old fellows, savage party purges, murderous goulags, indiscriminate collectivization, ethnic cleansing, deportation, show trials, forced confessions under torture, affectionate with little daughter, considering as enemies of the State those Khmer who came from a foreign country, fear of assassination, suspicious, dictatorial (didn't accept the slightest form of criticism).
Under Pol Pot, it went even so far that people who 'knew' an enemy where executed. The result: a genocide. Even children and BABIES were put to death.

David Chandler shows us that Pol Pot was really a dedicated communist, a party man, an organization man, a utopian thinker who believed in his killer's Utopia till the end: "I did everything for my country".
A blatant lie: he did it only for his Khmer country and only for those Khmer who (were forced to) agree(d) with him. In other words, his Utopia was more than nationalism, it was racism. For Pol Pot knew that 'Class and hatred had produced the victory. So hatred had to be maintained'.

This book contains excellent explanations of the background of the Cambodian conflict with Vietnam, and how Cambodia became a chess piece in a world conflict between the US, China and the USSR. Pol Pot's regime was supported by the US, because Cambodia was an enemy of Vietnam, who was an ally of the USSR.
This book stresses also the disastrous role of the feudalist king Norodom Sihanouk and the decisive influence of the US bombings of Cambodia, which turned part of the Khmer peasantry in favour of the Red Khmer.

Pol Pot's regime is a shame for Western intelligentsia, because some of his cronies (Khieu Samphan) studied like Pol Pot at Western universities.

This terrible biography is a reminder of the deadly dangers of utopian doctrines, if they can be implemented by a totally convinced individual who possesses a dictatorial power in a single ountry. As David Chandler states: the genocide would have continued, if Pol Pot had stayed in power.

In His Majesty''s Footsteps: A Personal Memoir (Heaven Lake Press, 2006, 329 pp.) offers an intimate, powerful portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Thai royal family. This is the first personal chronicle in the English language detailing the life and work of the revered Thai monarch during the politically turbulent period of the late1960s and the 1970s. The author, Police General Vasit Dejkunjorn, who served for 12 years as head of royal court security police, writes his first-hand account of how King Bhumibol faced the challenges of the time-relentless communist insurgencies, frequent military coups and protracted political turmoil. The book vividly portrays what goes on inside the Palace as these numerous events unfold. It gives an eyewitness account of the Thai history in the making through the interactions of the three pillars of the Thai nationhood: Nation, Religion and King, and how the king and the royal family touched the hearts of the Thai people by their extraordinary dedication to their subjects. In His Majesty''s Footsteps shows a rare insight into how the Thai king, the world''s longest reigning monarch, has played his role in providing a source of strength and stability to his people and has earned his renown as the most revered king in the modern world.

Anthony Paul, senior writer of the Straits Times (Singapore), wrote a review of "Yaa Baa" on December 23, 2004.

Here is an excerpt of his review:

"A riveting new book - Yaa Baa: Production, Traffic And Consumption Of Methamphetamine In Mainland South-east Asia (Singapore University Press, 2004) - reminds us that much of the world's manufacturing of these drugs (which law-enforcement officials refer to as amphetamine-type stimulants or ATS) occurs in East and South Asia.

The book (which is not as stuffily academic as its title might imply) is a translation/update of a work first published in 2002 by the French scientific institution, Institut de Recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-est Contemporaine. Geographer Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy (www.geopium.org) and sociologist Joel Meissonier conducted the study at the institute's request.

They tell a disturbing tale. At a time when East Asia has begun chalking up some examples of successful suppression of the heroin manufacture and trafficking, a new threat to our youth has appeared.

One Thailand statistic crystallises the menace of what the Thais call yaa baa, their term for ecstasy pills: 'At Bangkok's Thanyarak Hospital, a specialised treatment centre for addiction,' the authors report, 'the proportion of heroin addicts had decreased from 78 to 15 per cent of the total institutional population between 1996 and 2000, whereas that of yaa baa users had risen from 12 to 74 per cent for the same period.'

There is a disturbing continuum about the business: ATS factories are often set up in the same places as heroin laboratories (most notably in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand). Some of the names linked to heroin in the past turn up in today's ATS reports."

 

 

 

 

[Daveo]

 

 

 

Paulo Coelho

 

 

 

Biography

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil^[1] and attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?"^[1] After researching, Coelho concluded that a writer "always wears glasses and never combs his hair" and has a "duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation," amongst other things.^[1] At 16, Coelho's introversion and opposition to following a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.^[2][3] Coelho later remarked that "It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me."^[4] At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and started drugs in the 1960s.^[5][6] Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas. Composing with Raul led to Paulo being associated with magic and occultism, due to the content of some songs.^[7] In 1974, Coelho was arrested for "subversive" activities by the ruling military government, who had taken power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.^[4] Coelho also worked as an actor, journalist, and theatre director before pursuing his writing career.^[7]

In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life.^[5][8] On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage.^[9] In an interview, Coelho stated "[in 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in "The Alchemist", I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer."^[10] Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.

 

[edit]Writing career

In 1982 Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make any significant impact.^[7] In 1986 he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism, although he later tried to take it off the shelves since he considered it “of bad quality."^[7] After making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986, Coelho wrote The Pilgrimage. The following year, Coelho wrote The Alchemist and published it through a small Brazilian publishing house who made an initial print run of 900 copies and decided not to reprint.^[11] He subsequently found a bigger publishing house, and with the publication of his next book Brida, The Alchemist became a Brazilian bestseller.^[11] The Alchemist has gone on to sell more than 65 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books in history, and has been translated into 71 different languages, the 71st being Maltese, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.^[7][12]

"The Alchemist," easily known as his most successful story, is a story about a young shepherd who follows his spiritual journey to the Egyptian pyramids in search of a treasure.

Since the publication of The Alchemist, Coelho has generally written one novel every two years including By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Fifth Mountain, Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, Like the Flowing River, The Valkyries and The Witch of Portobello. This dates back to The Pilgrimage: While trying to overcome his procrastination of launching his writing career, Coelho said, "If I see a white feather today, that is a sign that God is giving me that I have to write a new book." Coelho found a white feather in the window of a shop, and began writing that day.^[9]

In total, Coelho has published 30 books. Three of them – The Pilgrimage,The Valkyries and Aleph – are autobiographical, while the majority of the rest are fictional, although rooted in his life experiences.^[5] Others, like Maktub and The Manual of the Warrior of Light, are collections of essays, newspaper columns, or selected teachings. In total, Coelho has sold more than 150 million books in over 150 countries worldwide, and his works have been translated into 71 languages.^[6][7] He is the all-time bestselling Portuguese language author.

Coelho also writes up to three blog posts a week at his blog

 

We have quite a good selection of Paulo's books in at the moment.

 

[Daveo]

He is the deadliest American sniper ever, called "the devil" by the enemies he hunted and "the legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers . . .

From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. Iraqi insurgents feared him so much they placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow U.S. warriors, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.

 

MUSLIMS OF THAILAND
Michel Gilquin
Translated by Michael Smithies

ISBN 974-9575-85-7
2005.  
Thailand is usually closely associated with Buddhism, but since 1998 the country has been one of the observer members of the Islamic Conference Organization, and senior figures in the present and previous governments have been Muslim. Some 8 percent of the population is Muslim, and in the three southernmost provinces of the country they constitute a majority. Islam is ever more visible in Bangkok, where the demographic increase of Muslims is marked.

Michel Gilquin, a sociologist specializing in the study of Muslim societies and a resident in Morocco, examines the origins of Islam in the kingdom, Muslim integration into the Thai nation, and the effects of globalization and modernity on a mostly traditional and rural community. In particular he considers the weight of history of the old sultanate of Pattani on the present-day Jawi-speaking majority in Narathiwar, Yala, and Pattani, and the circumstances leading to “the troubles” which erupted in 2004 and which, alas, continue.

Without proposing any solutions, the book explains the background to the present impasse, and considers how far integration of the minority has been and can be successful.

Michel Gilquin specialized in the study of Islamic societies and is a researcher at the Center for Social Science and Humanities in Rabat, Morocco. In addition to his book on Thai Muslims (2002), he has also published two books on Malaysia, and regularly visits Thailand. Michael Smithies, resident in Thailand, has translated and edited many volumes from French for Oxford University Press and other publishers. He is also an author in his own right, specializing in late seventeenth-century Siamese history.

[JAI DEE MAK]

Your last book is not one I would like to be found with in my book case when the boys in blue/black,brown. come to look  in my house.

 

JDM

[Daveo]

Its not barred or anything here and is widely available actually 450 in Asia books so I dont have to worry I do not think

[Daveo]

Lonely Planet is the expert on India. Our 13th edition eases you through the spicy diversity of India - from the thrilling bustle of Delhi's bazaars, to the laid-back beaches of Goa, the serene beauty of Himalayan Sikkim, and the majesty of Jaisalmer's ancient fort.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:
2012 pages

Bonus activities chapter detailing camel treks, watersports and yoga
Tasty color feature reveals the best local food
Festive special section on India's most magical celebrations.

 

Asia books price 1200 baht, our price in Brand new condition 500 baht

[badboybilly]

I WONDER if anyone bothers to read ALL this?

[Daveo]

I WONDER if anyone bothers to read ALL this?

Some do Billy, interested readers mostly, I add it all because it informs readers to what we have, only a small example of course as we have so many.

 

for example, 

 

He was not free from human error and frailty, but in twenty years of imprisonment he never betrayed His Lord. Meet Watchman Nee, one of China's greatest preachers whose legacy is a church that stands firm under persecution. A moving biography.

 

Jeffrey Archer, As the crow flies, 1st Edition.

Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as "The Honest Trader." But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations. Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, "As the Crow Flies" brings to life a magnificent tale of one man's rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century.

 

One of Jeffrey Archer's masterpieces, "As The Crow Flies "is the intriguing tale of merchant Charlie Trumper. The grandson of a peddler, Trumper's epic journey out of the poverty of London's East End carries him across three continents and through the triumphs and disasters of the twentieth century.

 

The Stylebook is a one-stop reference book used by journalists at Canada's national news agency as they deliver hundreds of stories a day to newspapers, broadcasters and Internet sites. A bestseller for years, the Stylebook can also be found on the desks of corporate communicators, teachers and students, public relations writers, website producers and magazine writers and editors - in fact, just about anyone looking for practical answers to questions on writing and editing. This 14th edition has been thoroughly updated. It includes: * Easy-to-follow guidelines on capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations and other style and editing issues * A chapter on writing for and about the Internet * Advice on writing with style and colour as well as good taste * Listings and spellings on countries and cities around the world * Up-to-date information on changes to Canada's laws on polls, elections and youth justice * Current advice on how to use access-to-information laws.

 

 

You're going to like this author. She writes in an easy going, light hearted style, which makes for enjoyable reading. And in telling her story, she also tells much of the story of Ronald Reagan with an insight and depth of understanding which only a Reagan family member could possess. Her memoir, then, give us, the reader, a fly-on-the-wall's view of what it was really like to be Ronald Reagan's daughter; what President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, were really like behind closed doors; how many historically important decisions were made in the privacy of the Reagan home; and what Maureen Reagan really thought about some of those who came in contact with her or her father during Reagan's years in public life. Pulling no punches, Maureen tells it like it really was and shines the light of truth on some interesting aspects of Reagan family life and some events about which many have written, but about which few have any real knowledge.

 

But Maureen had an interesting and challenging life and career of her own. She was the daughter of two famous movie stars and a child of divorce who spent most of her youth in boarding schools. Married at twenty, she found herself in a physically abusive relationship which she couldn't talk about and which she was afraid to end for fear that she would be killed. (Chapter 6 is a must read for anyone in such a situation.) Freed of that marriage, she struggled to make her way in the world, working at various times as a singer, an actress, in public relations, as a radio talk show host, and more often than not as a volunteer campaign worker for the Republican Party. But when her father finally entered the political arena to run for governor of California she was prevented from campaigning on his behalf because those running his campaign feared that news of his earlier divorce would hurt his chances. Maureen and her brother Michael were forced to become invisible "non-persons." But even then, Maureen remained politically active behind the scenes by supporting other Republican candidates for office. At the same time, she continued to pursue a career in show business; but as she said, she had three strikes against her - Ronald Reagan's acting career, Jane Wyman's acting career, and Reagan's conservative politics. Maureen did, however, find minor roles and extensive work in TV commercials. Finally, she found her real role in life as an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) activist, consultant on women's affairs, and an expert on international trade. Then, at long last, in 1980, she got her wish. She was allowed to campaign for her father, and she campaigned vigorously, not just then, but for the remainder of his political life. In 1985, she was chosen to chair the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations World Conference for the UN Commission on the Status of Women, became the U.S representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and went on to be appointed co-chairman of the Republican National Committee. All in all, her's was quite a life.

 

I found this book to be very interesting and extremely enlightening, particularly with regard to such things as Maureen's relationship with Nancy Reagan, the rumored Reagan/Ford co-presidency offer, and Donald Regan's role in Iran/Contra and his justifiable firing. But I found the early and late chapters (and Chapter 6) to be especially interesting since for the most part they dealt with the Reagan family and the relationships between the various family members in what has always been rumored to be a dysfunctional family.

 

Bottom line - This is an excellent book which should be of interest to future historians and to anyone interested in America's 40th president, his life, his times, and his place in history.

[badboybilly]

i will be lodging a complaint about it.