Andrew MacGregor Marshall is a journalist, political risk consultant and corporate investigator, focusing mainly on Southeast Asia. He spent seventeen years as a correspondent for Reuters, covering amongst others conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and political upheaval in Thailand. Marshall resigned from Reuters 2011 after the news agency refused to publish his analysis of leaked U.S. cables illuminating the role played by Thailand's monarchy in the political conflict that has engulfed the kingdom. A fugitive from Thai law as a result of his journalism about the royal family, he now lives in Sydney and works as Head of News for Greenpeace, Australia.

A fascinating, engaged account of a country on the brink of change.

Introduction: Telling the Truth About Thailand

Part I: Royalty Versus Reality

1. 'When the Legends Die, All Collapses' - Thailand's political awakening
2. 'In a Never-Never Land, Never Mind' - Welcome to the Land of Smiles
3. 'Cosmological Bluster' - The Dramatics of Despotism

Part II: Thai-Style Democracy and its Discontents

4. 'Our Country Belongs to the People - Not to the King': Thailand's Unfinished Revolution
5. 'I Really am an Elected King' - The Royalist Revival
6. 'There is Magic, Goodness and Power in His Heart' - The Deification of Rama IX

Part III: The Secrets of Succession

7. 'Endless Struggles for the Throne' - The Causes of Chronic Palace Conflict
8. 'One Neither Walks, Speaks, Drinks, Eats, Nor Cooks Without Some Kind of Ceremony' - The Pleasures and Privations of Being King
9. 'I Cannot Afford to Die' - The Tragedy of King Bhumibol

Part IV: Crisis and Confrontation

10. 'Living in Horrifying Times' - Twilight of the Oligarchy
11. 'Coupmakers' Haunted Dreams' - Escalation and Enlightenment
12. 'Returning Happiness to the People' - Denying Democracy, Sabotaging Succession

Epilogue: 'Flip on the Lights and Flush out the Ghosts' - What the Future Holds