'The Bangkok Connection' chronicles the story of Leslie 'Ike' Atkinson, charismatic former U.S. army master sergeant, career smuggler, card shark and doting family man whom law-enforcement agencies code-named Sergeant Smack. His criminal activities sparked the creation of a special DEA unit code-named Centac 9.

It is 1967 Bangkok and teenager Jon Cole, son of a US Green Beret colonel serving in Vietnam, is coming of age in Thailand. Drawn to the underbelly of Bangkok by GIs on R&R from Vietnam, the army brat soon discovers ganja and opium, which leads to a career as an international drug smuggler and jail time inside Bangkok’s notorious prison, the “Bangkok Hilton”. A memoir of an American smuggler spanning four decades

Cool Bangkok is your guide for where to shop, dine, party and sleep in style in one of the world’s most popular travel destinations. Featuring more than 130 clubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and other venues, all of which have been carefully selected for their individuality and personal flair, this book enables you to strike off from the capital’s well-trodden tourist paths and confidently explore side streets and hot spots in search of new experiences. Suitable for tourists and residents alike, the guide profiles a range of places that are testament to the city’s diversity, whether you’re after haute couture or urban fashion, molecular gastronomy or fiery street food, or stripped-back blues or Dutch electro. As cool isn’t synonymous with cost, care has been taken to include venues that match a range of budgets, suitable for anyone from fashionistas to dime-store divas.

The Rough Guide to Cambodia, in full color throughout, is the ultimate travel guide to this spectacular region. With 30 years of experience and our trademark "tell it like it is" writing style, Rough Guides covers all the basics, includes practical details travelers need to know, and unmissable alternatives to the usual must-see sights.

This new study brings together leading experts to show how the modern world began with the coming of the railway. They clearly explain why it had a greater impact than any other technical or industrial innovation before and completely redefined the limits of the civilized world. While the effect of railways on economic development is self-evident, little attention has been paid to their impact on international relations. This is unfortunate, for in the period from 1848 to 1945, railways were an important element in the struggle between the Great Powers. This took many forms. Often, as in East Asia, the competition for railway concessions reflected the clash of rival imperial interests. The success or failure of this competition could determine which of the European Powers was to dominate and exploit the markets of China and Siam. Just as often, railways were linked with military matters. Prussia’s success in the wars of German unification depended on its strategic railways just as much as on the strength of its armies, and the rail links remained a vital aspect of German military thinking before the First World War. So, too, did they for the Russians, whose vast Empire required rail links capable of moving the Tsarist army quickly and competently. Just as importantly, railways could be vital for Imperial defence, as the British discovered on the North-West frontier of India. This book will be of much interest to students of international history, military history and strategic studies.

Thailand’s capital, Krungtep, known as Bangkok to Westerners and “the City of Angels” to Thais, has been home to smugglers and adventurers since the late eighteenth century. During the 1970s, it became a modern Casablanca to a new generation of treasure seekers: from surfers looking to finance their endless summers to wide-eyed hippie true believers and lethal marauders leftover from the Vietnam War. Moving a shipment of Thai sticks from northeast Thailand farms to American consumers meant navigating one of the most complex smuggling channels in the history of the drug trade. Peter Maguire and Mike Ritter are the first historians to document this underground industry, the only record of its existence rooted in the fading memories of its elusive participants. Conducting hundreds of interviews with smugglers and law enforcement agents, the authors recount the buy, the delivery, the voyage home, and the product offload. They capture the eccentric personalities who transformed the Thai marijuana trade from a GI cottage industry into one of the world’s most lucrative commodities, unraveling a rare history from the smugglers’ perspective.

The articles in this edited collection, first published in 1985, consider the competing theories of the nature of development and underdevelopment in Southeast Asia. Each chapter challenges the academic orthodoxies and dominant traditions of Southeast Asian studies, particularly in relation to orientalist history, behaviourist political science and development economics. Overall, the contributions offer an alternative framework for analysis, which considers the structural changes to the political economy of Southeast Asia, as well as the relationship between the state, economy and class at a domestic level. This is a fascinating collection, of value to students and academics with an interest in Southeast Asian politics, economics and history.