An elegantly designed, illustrated history, Americans in Thailand relates the rich stories and significant roles of American businesses and individuals operating and living in Thailand since the first American arrived in 1818. It follows nearly 200 years of relations between the two countries, including controversy and scandal.

"One night in Bangkok" : food and the everyday life of empire -- "Chasing the yum" : food procurement and early Thai Los Angeles -- Too hot to handle? restaurants and Thai American identity -- "More than a place of worship" : food festivals and Thai American suburban culture -- Thailand's "77th province" : culinary tourism in Thai Town

Los Angeles is home to the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. With a relatively recent history of immigration to the United States dating to 1965, reports estimate that 80,000 Thais make their home in Southern California. In spite of its brief history in the United States, the Thai community in Los Angeles has already left its mark on the city. While the proliferation of Thai-owned businesses and shops has converted East Hollywood and some San Fernando Valley neighborhoods to destinations for cultural tourism, the Thai community in Los Angeles County reverberates still from global attention over the 1995 El Monte human trafficking case. The great popularity of Thai cuisine, textiles, and cultural festivals continues to preserve, enrich, and showcase one of Asias most distinctive cultures.

How Not To Get Murdered In Thailand is in it's rawest a shocking expose of Thailand as one of the worlds most deadly tourist destinations. Penned in advance of the much publicized murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in September 2014, the book pairs grisly but altogether overdue research into the countries dark side with fascinating and just as overdue societal insights & observations.

Thais and U.S. citizens have a number of striking cultural similarities. Both prize the freedoms they enjoy, both are quite pragmatic and individualistic, and both disdain pomposity and arrogance. These traits form a kind of common core that helps Thais and U.S. citizens connect in cross-cultural interactions. Nevertheless, there are also fundamental differences that must be bridged if mutually satisfactory relationships are to be established. This book examines the commonalities and explores the differences in depth. For instance, Thais have a very high regard for authority and status and live in an extremely hierarchical society; far different from the more fluid social milieu in the United States, where authority is easily questioned and status is gained by achievement. Thais withhold emotional expression; avoid confrontation; pursue friendships of a more permanent nature than people in the United States; are much less competitive; and have strong face-saving needs. As for individualism, the Thai, like the U.S. citizen, tends to value self-reliance, but Thai individualism exists within an ethos of group harmony in which the kind of aggressive self-assertion that characterizes U.S. individualism would not be accepted. These and other critical issues are explored, and the book closes with a discussion of the implications of these issues for individuals from the two cultures when they are engaged in face-to-face encounters. Of special interest to students of cross-cultural management is the careful analysis of the contrast in the structure and functioning of organizations in the two countries. (Author/JB)

On one side of the door, the rich smell of sweet, spicy food and the calm of Buddhist devotion; on the other, the strangeness of a new land. When Ira Sukrungruang was born to Thai parents newly arrived in the U.S., they picked his Jewish moniker out of a book of “American” names. In this lively, entertaining, and often hilarious memoir, he relates the early life of a first-generation Thai-American and his constant, often bumbling attempts to reconcile cultural and familial expectations with the trials of growing up in 1980s America. Young Ira may have lived in Oak Lawn, Illinois, but inside the family’s bi-level home was “Thailand with American conveniences.” They ate Thai food, spoke the Thai language, and observed Thai customs. His bedtime stories were tales of Buddha and monkey-faced demons. On the first day of school his mother reminded him that he had a Siamese warrior’s eyes—despite his thick glasses—as Aunty Sue packed his Muppets lunch box with fried rice. But when his schoolmates played tag he was always It, and as he grew, he faced the constant challenge of reconciling American life with a cardinal family rule: “Remember, you are Thai.” Inside the Thai Buddhist temple of Chicago, another “simulated Thailand,” are more rules, rules different from those of the Southside streets, and we see mainstream Western religion—“god people”—through the Sukrungruang family’s eyes. Within the family circle, we meet a mother who started packing for her return to Thailand the moment she arrived; her best friend, Aunty Sue, Ira’s second mother, who lives with and cooks for the family; and a wayward father whose dreams never quite pan out. Talk Thai is a richly told account that takes us into an immigrant’s world. Here is a story imbued with Thai spices and the sensibilities of an American upbringing, a story in which Ira practices English by reciting lines from TV sitcoms and struggles with the feeling of not belonging in either of his two worlds. For readers who delight in the writings of Amy Tan, Gish Jen, and other Asian-Americans, Talk Thai provides generous portions of a still-mysterious culture while telling the story of an American boyhood with humor, playfulness, and uncompromising honesty.