I have no intention of writing too much about this excellent book. GR friend Ian has written an outstanding review that I commend to anyone that has yI have no intention of writing too much about this excellent book. GR friend Ian has written an outstanding review that I commend to anyone that has yet to read it.
As fascinating as that was, Harpers is superior in my opinion.
One comment I will make from a discussion from this audiobook is that the common fly that occasionally gets past the screens of my abode is now ruthlessly hunted down.
Recommended to those with an interest in the subject....more
Krating Daeng, was a militant group, set up to terrorise protesting students and hunt down suspected communists in the early 70’s. It translates as ReKrating Daeng, was a militant group, set up to terrorise protesting students and hunt down suspected communists in the early 70’s. It translates as Red Guar / Red Bull. A Sino Thai pharmacist called Chaleo Toovidhya created a pick me up fizzy drink and successfully advertised this drink throughout Thailand during that time and called the drink Krating Daeng after that military group. An Austrian on vacation in Thailand in the 80s took the worldwide rights out for the name, and the rest is history. The author of this very good brief history writes rather pointedly that most consumers of this energy drink would be “unaware of the connection between the beverage and the brutal organisation…” from where the name sprang.
The thing that struck me about this brief history was that when the absolute monarch fell in 1936 and Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, there came a strange failure in the ideals of how democracy works. For a nation that has promoted itself as a peaceful destination for tourists, cheap and smiley with great places of both historical and religious significance to visit, to read of the violence of the political class is disturbing to say the least. Untold coups and corruption seems the order of the day between and with both populists and royalists. The red shirts v the yellow shirts was the recent attire for those nailing their political colours to the cross. Cross? Being a Buddhist nation, perhaps I had better say Wat. And did those colour coded fights become violent at times.
A few other things struck me as very interesting.
The influence of Chinese immigration into Thailand over the many centuries, with the Thai people not particularly homogenous, with most having some Sino blood in them. Other groups to live in Thailand are the Laotians and the Malay, with various subgroups. Occasionally anti-Chinese sentiment was used as propaganda.
Thailand’s role in WW2 being on the side of Japan. Based on this book, there was a bit of a balancing act as to keeping the country out of the bloodshed, with only the British really holding it against the Thais.
The US influence during the Vietnam War was huge. Thailand sent volunteer troops to fight alongside the US, though after initial admiration by the US this dissipated as regulars failed to be as committed. The poverty-stricken regulars were there for the incentives, be that the pay or the western consumer goods. In some cases, the Thai troops held onto their TV rather than fight.
There are no end notes in this Brief History. The author makes it clear in the introduction that he was only going to include a Further Reading section and Bibliography, as the book is aimed the general public. In this reader's opinion, he has done a good job and I recommend this to anyone that requires a brief history of this fascinating county.
P.S. I spent 2 days in Bangkok in an attempt to reduce jet lag after a flight from the UK to my home in Brisbane. It worked. I wandered the streets in those 2 days along with seeing some of the sights such as the Grand Palace and taking the trip around the canals. The street food was wonderful. As to the organised chaos that is Bangkok’s traffic, all I can say is that Brisbane is a village in comparison....more
A topical subject considering the pandemic and that I have long covid. I listened to the author tell his own research via audio, and I have no problemA topical subject considering the pandemic and that I have long covid. I listened to the author tell his own research via audio, and I have no problems with his tone of voice or the pace he spoke at.
First, the criticism of the book would be the use of Pop culture to use as analogies. I am never that keen on this as it tends to date the books that use it as a device and there are also those that have no idea who Monty Python, as an example, might be.
That one complaint aside, I have learnt a lot. I was reminded of Guns Germs and Steel in that that book along with this one will have me reading my history from a slightly different angle into the future. The Black Death did cause the change from Feudalism to capitalism, and just about everything I have read on that subject passes over this a little too quickly. It is like listening to complaints from my fellow Australians about inflation at the moment. One major cause was the Pandemic, but that hardly gets a mention. It should. The point the author made was that as pandemics go this one was handled very well and that the death rate by historical standards was low. Governments used measures to protect their population, and that included financial as well.
The chapter on Cholera in London and elsewhere in the British Isles was fascinating. Even when the researchers in the field said that the issue was a public one in that the water was not clean enough, some of the more conservative types refused to accept that public money should be spent on health outcomes that were good for society. For all Australia’s faults in our health care system, I have yet to hear anyone from any of the political factions say anything other than good health outcomes for the populace at large are good for the economy. Why some in other countries argue this point confuses me somewhat. The proof is London’s clean water in the excellent health and economic outcomes that were provided. The wiki is worth a read if one is not going to read this book.
It had hard not be impressed that these ten rogues with their stealing a bunch of Huon pine (the ship that never was) were able to sail this wood fromIt had hard not be impressed that these ten rogues with their stealing a bunch of Huon pine (the ship that never was) were able to sail this wood from Van Diemen’s Land to Chile on what was an approximate journey of about 10,800 kilometres in some of the wildest seas that are imaginable.
It is also hard not be impressed that author Peter Grose has able to fill a 220-page book with as much information about this based on such limited information available, with “fill” being the operative word. Much of what he has filled the book with concerning convict history in Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Sarah Island this reviewer has read in much more depth. With a very bright and attractive cover and a breezy easy to read style, this would nonetheless be a very good read for the casual reader who has made a visit to Sarah Island and has a passing interest in this “……unlikely story”, to quote the subtitle.
The vast majority of the information available to us today is from the unreliable writings of convict Jimmy Porter. He gave two contradictory accounts of his actions, one written in Hobart in 1837 and the other at Norfolk Island in 1842. His versions of events were media sensations of their times. He and four other of his roguish colleague’s trial for piracy in 1837 were to become a legal sensation as well. What was a hanging offence became, after much discussion and debate in legal and media circles, just another sentence of transportation for life. Why? How can they be guilty of piracy when that is a crime of the high seas and the bunch of Huon pine was nothing but that! It may have looked like a brig, but show us the papers that it is one your honour. It is the King's own wood that has been stolen and from a harbour, not the high seas! This was a defence well-made by the defendants. The judge thought they had a point too, so let’s just send them to Norfolk Island, far better than cause célèbre hangings.
The main protagonist Jimmy Porter led a life. From the records attainable, he came from a well-to-do family but was always in trouble for minor misdemeanours. He went to sea as a young lad and ended up in Valparaiso in Chile and married locally and had children. Still young, the lure of the sea called, and off he went. He ended up back in England, but minor misdemeanours got one a sentence of transportation back then, and he ended up being transported to Australia. With his various brushes with the colonial authorities over time, he ended up on the infamous Sarah Island. From there he and nine others stole the wood that was shaped like a brig that was eventually to be called the Frederick once commissioned and with that sailed it away. They landed in Valdivia in Chile and six of the rogues disappeared to never be heard of again, Jimmy and three others idiotically stayed put and were given up by the local governor to a passing British military vessel. Back to Australia for Jimmy, once he was sentenced for absconding. After his famous voyage and incarceration on Norfolk Island, he ended up in Newcastle and all trace of him vanishes.
Author Peter Grose has surmised a lot of Jimmy’s life based on what he could research of his criminal records and the two contradictory writings he left. The information as to the trial is readily available in the historical records. The Fredrick’s voyage is known on Chile with a story called Los evadidos de Tasmania along with a “brief account” called James Porter, el bandido enamorado by Fernando Lizama-Murphy. Porters procurement of the Frederick was used by Marcus Clarke in his superb convict novel For the Term of His Natural Event as an inspiration for the character John Rex. Porter is also the reason for the longest running play in Australia, The Ship That Never Was, held nightly at Strahan the village in Macquarie Harbour where Sarah Island is situated. I must get there on my next visit to Tasmania.
This is not my style of delivery generally. I prefer my history delivered a bit more academic, but it would be churlish of me to be too critical. It is a fine yarn told for the curious and those that may be less enamoured by history, and recommended accordingly....more
“On 23 March 1948, Robert Close was sat on a wooden bench in the Victorian Criminal Court and listened to his novel being read aloud. Copies had been “On 23 March 1948, Robert Close was sat on a wooden bench in the Victorian Criminal Court and listened to his novel being read aloud. Copies had been distributed to the Jury and the Crown Prosecutor, Leo Little KC, stood in the middle of the room and read Love Me Sailor to the court from beginning to end. Close and his publisher Ted Harris of Georgian House, had been charged with a criminal offense: ‘that they did, on or about the 16th of February 1945 publish said book, being one containing obscene matter’. "
When reading this chapter, called Literature in Handcuffs, I was struck by the dates. At this point the world had witnessed the deaths of maybe 60 million a short few years previously, a genuinely obscene waste of lives, so what do we have here in Australia at this time? A high profile criminal case based on a book being supposedly obscene. Now with a title like that one would think it was maybe about homosexuality that being one of the obsessions of the censors at the time in their never ending attempt to keep the country white and orthodox? The answer is no. It was a book about an English lady who ends up on a merchant ship and is such an attractive lady that the very fabric of the ship's all male crew is sent into a spiral of sexual psychosis that affects the mental wellbeing of the crew and the lady.
“The prosecutions’ main objection to Love Me Sailor was, as Close anticipated, its sailors language – most intensely the word ‘rutting’ as too obvious a substitute for the fucking”
In 1948 the Australian public was shielded from the F word but had no issue with racist language in its literature, I’ve read this myself, nor vile political policy such as the White Australia Policy nor its treatment of the indigenous population that was treated under law as flora and fauna and had its children stolen en masse. Close served 10 days in jail and departed Australia on release, not to return for 25 years.
Author Nicole Moore has done some very good and deep research into banned books in Australia. Moore has presented a history of what is a complicated beast of customs control through to state and federal laws and regulations that was only really overcome with the advent of progressive change via conservative minister for Customs Don Chipp in the 1960’s and with the change to a Labor government in the early 70’s who stopped Customs from having any input at all on the banning of books. This still did not stop some states banning books, Queensland a stand out with American Psycho not for the eyes of the likes of me until recent times, but nationally there was definitely a more relaxed attitude as to what adults could read.
There is an excellent bibliography and the endnotes are extensive. I have found this a very easy to read history and spent my time searching out little known titles that were on the end of the censors ban that today would hardly make a stir. As to the more famous banned books the list is rather startling at times. A Brave New World through to Keep the Aspidistra Flying are among many. The quantity of works discussing sex education, birth control for example, was enormous. The title comes from Moore’s research in the national archives where she found about 12,000 titles all wrapped up and stored in 793 boxes. I would imagine some of these just might be worth a little to collectors of rarities.
Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in censorship....more
Interesting, but I suspect that I needed something a bit more contemporary and maybe more along the lines of A Brief History as this was a starting poInteresting, but I suspect that I needed something a bit more contemporary and maybe more along the lines of A Brief History as this was a starting point for me. I also think the author was far too detailed and dense in presentation of things that seemed minor to me. After reading a few reviews on GR it seems that India has its history wars as well....more
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