Thongchai Winichakul, author of Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation:
How is the charisma of the Thai monarchy visible in the highly modern urban edifice? To answer this intriguing question, Ünaldi walks us through a spectacular business district in the heart of Bangkok. The area reveals the monarchy as a capitalist conglomerate disguised by sacred charisma and illustrates how private business actively ‘works towards the monarchy.’ Whether or not we agree with Ünaldi’s provocative arguments, the more we engage with them, the more the façade of majesty crumbles.
Duncan McCargo, author of Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand:
Serhat Ünaldi has written one of the most important books on Bangkok to appear for many years. Weaving together interlocking themes of power, wealth, space, protest, architecture, and consumerism, this brilliantly researched study illustrates how Thailand’s network monarchy has assumed new and more inchoate forms during the twenty-first century.
Kevin Hewison, Murdoch University:
Few well-researched academic books result in the author being banned from a country. Serhat Ünaldi’s account of the Thai monarchy, its allies, investments, and politics is one such book. Because this study is frank, well-written, and revealing, Thailand’s elite will be angered. Scholars of Thailand will be excited about a book that advances our understanding of contemporary Thailand’s politics and the political crisis of the past decade.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, author of A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations:
This manuscript is refreshing. It provokes thought as it probes an otherwise untouchable topic and burrows beneath the secret domain of the Thai monarchy. At the twilight of the Bhumibol era, the arrival of this book is crucial. Ünaldi employs the concept of public spaces in Bangkok to symbolize the growing economic disparity and social inequality behind much of Thailand’s political unrest. Marginalized and frustrated, rural residents embarked on demolishing royal spaces in the capital, laying open a new shift in Thailand’s political landscape. Ünaldi’s book brilliantly investigates this shift. It is an important book on contemporary Thai politics.
Christine E. Gray, cultural anthropologist:
A welcome addition to Thai studies with a solid, convincing thesis, Ünaldi’s multi-layered political economy of architecture in Bangkok offers tremendous insight into the workings of the modern Thai monarchy. Some of the revelations are expected, while others are more shocking. Almost game changing, one might say.
Barend Jan Terwiel, author of Thailand’s Political History: From the 13th Century to Recent Times:
Since May 22, 2014, when General Prayuth staged a bloodless coup, the political debate in Thailand has been stifled. This book succeeds in breaking a two-year long academic silence. Ünaldi analyses the cultural denominations of the charisma surrounding Thai royalty and examines the problems confronting present-day Thailand in a work that combines social theory with architecture, politics with religion, city scape with symbolism, and power with the use of space.
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Pavin Chachavalpongpun, author of A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations:
This manuscript is refreshing. It provokes thought as it probes an otherwise untouchable topic and burrows beneath the secret domain of the Thai monarchy. At the twilight of the Bhumibol era, the arrival of this book is crucial. Ünaldi employs the concept of public spaces in Bangkok to symbolize the growing economic disparity and social inequality behind much of Thailand’s political unrest. Marginalized and frustrated, rural residents embarked on demolishing royal spaces in the capital, laying open a new shift in Thailand’s political landscape. Ünaldi’s book brilliantly investigates this shift. It is an important book on contemporary Thai politics.
