“These books are so rich and engrossing that it is rewarding to read them even when one is stuck at home.”—The TLS

The Passenger makes its first stop in Southeast Asia. A journey to one of the world's major tourist destinations.

In this volume: Pitchaya Sudbanthad: Buddhism, the State, and Superpowers • Emma Larkin: The Country of Spirits • Claudio Sopranzetti: Monarchy Under Attack • and, soft power and the working class, the heart of rural Thailand and the separatism of the southern peninsula, the success of Boy Love, the palm oil scandal, and much more...

Recent Thai history is a thrills-and-spills tale filled with street clashes, palace coups, intrigues, attempted revolution, restoration and democratic elections. It is an impossible democracy where the working classes, progressives, and young urban professionals push for reforms and clash with the conservative nobility and business elite. Thailand is perceived as permissive and tolerant, but it hides a prudish core. And yet, one of its main cultural exports is Boy Love stories, romantic tales featuring male protagonists. These stories are the flagship of a cultural revolution and has brought investment in the entertainment industry and Thai soft power to new levels. Behind this sparkling Thailand—exemplified by its capital Bangkok, the most visited city in the world in 2023—are vast regions like Isaan in the Northeast (a third of the area and population) that remain far from the familiar tourist routes. With their ethnic and linguistic diversity and rural character, regions such as these embody the kaleidoscopic soul of a country often overwhelmed by waves of assimilation and centralization. Despite efforts to impose a single culture, ethnicity, and religion, Thailand's true strength seems to be syncretism, religious and otherwise, as demonstrated by the millions of Chinese immigrants who over the past century have increasingly mingled with the local populations to the point of becoming indistinguishable.