Breaking New Ground in Lao History: Essays on the Seventh to Twentieth Centuries

The essays in this volume form a rich collage of the central Mekong basin spanning nearly 1,400 years of history. Gathered from an international group of scholars, each with a unique approach to the region, this research draws upon materials in more than a dozen languages scattered in archives around the world. Contributors include the two editors, as well as Martin Stuart-Fox, Tatsuo Hoshino, Souneth Phothisane, Pheuiphanh Ngaosrivathana, Meg O’Donovan, Tran Van Quy, and Bernard Gay. Topics include basic structural problems in writing Lao history; political geography from the 600s to 800s; separate discussions of Lao, Vietnamese, and Western sources of early Lao history; the Lao-Tay-son alliance in the late eighteenth century; Lao millenarian movements and French colonial rule; and the geographical history of changing territorial boundaries of modern Laos. This collection breaks new ground, and is certain to stimulate new questions, ideas, and research. It is an invaluable new resource in Lao history.

About the Editors

Mayoury Ngaosrivathana earned a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Paris and is coauthor with Pheuiphanh Ngaosrivathana of Paths to Conflagration: Fifty Years of Diplomacy and Warfare in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, 1788–1828.

Kennon Breazeale earned a D.Phil. in Southeast Asian history from the University of Oxford and is coauthor with Snit Smuckarn of A Culture in Search of Survival: The Phuan of Thailand and Laos.