From the first hunter-gatherers to the parliamentary elections of May 2023 and the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Jean Michel Kauffmann offers a captivating account of the kingdoms that merged to form Siam and then Thailand. In particular, the author highlights the Khamhaeng, Mang Rai, Borommaracha, Trailok, Narai and Taksin kings who preceded the Chakri dynasty from which the current King Rama X descends. The great figures of the country's modern history, such as Phibun Songkhram, Pridi Banomyong and Thaksin Shinawatra, are also present. The kingdoms of Lan-Na, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and Thonburi, right up to the Royal Palace established at Rattanakosin and the present-day capital Krungthep (Bangkok), the "City of Angels", are studied at length. Not to mention specific references to the role of Buddhism, the monarchy and... France in the kingdom's history.
272 pages, 43 chapters, 140 illustrations and 23 maps make L'Histoire du Siam et de la Thaïlande the most comprehensive and recent work to appear in French on the Land of Smiles.

After studying literature and linguistics, enriched by a diploma in Vietnamese at the "langues O", Jean Michel Kauffmann began a long career with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which took him to Vietnam, Nigeria, Haiti and Ghana. He went on to manage several Alliances Françaises, including the one in Islamabad, Pakistan. His two passions, education and Asia, took him to Thailand, where he taught French and history-geography until his current thebaid. His free time was divided between the study of the kingdom's culture and history. Nothing could have seduced him more, and he modestly wrote a historical column for a local French-language monthly magazine. His enthusiasm then led him to cover and relate, from an original point of view, the entire history of this marvellous country which was once called Siam and which today, under the name of Thailand, still fascinates by its irreducible identity.