Silkworm Books: 32 books

This book gives insight into the many aspects of stress, and shows how we can develop skillful ways to deal with stress and prevent burnout and other stress-related complaints. The author examines the various forms of stress we experience at work and in our private lives, giving particular attention...

Long before people in the West started to study the workings of the human mind, Buddhism was trying to understand body and mind through introspection and meditation. This knowledge has grown to be a very thorough and detailed classification and analysis of mental and physical phenomena. This refined...

In this volume, Anthony Reid positions Southeast Asia on the stage of world history. He argues that the region not only had a historical character of its own, but that it played a crucial role in shaping the modern world. Southeast Asia’s interaction with the forces uniting and transforming...

In 1948, Burma was a promising young democracy with a bustling free market economy and a standard of living that surpassed nearly all of its other Asian neighbours. Fifty years later, Burma is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a military dictatorship in Rangoon and 50,000 armed rebels...

The rural, Lao-speaking people of northeastern Thailand constitute over a third of the entire population of Thailand. Over the last century, this ethnically separate community has evolved from a traditional peasantry into “cosmopolitan” villagers who are actively shaping Thai politics. Eminent...

Ambassadors from Versailles in wigs and lace mounted on elephants crossing rice fields... Siamese mandarins prostrate before the throne of Louis XIV... a Greek adventurer... a scheming French Jesuit­— these are just a few of the colourful characters that playa role in the early history...

In Chongqing, Ling Ling had been a waitress earning twenty-five dollars a month; a few years later in Hong Kong she was making six times that each day. Kelly taught preschool in Beijing for ten years before moving to LA and opening a brothel. These are just two of the eighteen Chinese women interviewed...

Thai national artist Thawan Duchanee has spent his life creating art that deeply reflects Buddhist philosophy. He is internationally renowned, and his art is masterful both for its intricacy and for its subtle portrayal of Buddhism. Thawan expresses Buddhist wisdom with incredible versatility....

Cambodia’s long-time opposition leader and former finance minister Sam Rainsy is committed to establishing democracy in his homeland. He is in exile in France to avoid a twelve-year prison sentence on politically motivated charges, and is banned from contesting the July 2013 elections. In this autobiography,...

This outstanding classic of the Thai language is an entertaining folk epic set in the social panorama of traditional Siam. The tale is a spectacular love story rich in romance, adventure, violence, farce, and magic, and ending in the tragic and enigmatic death of its heroine. Written in lively...

This selection of essays, originally published between 1988 and 2010, demonstrates that in the study of Buddhism a concern with detailed accuracy in philological and textual specifics can be combined with an attempt to deal with wider (and difficult) philosophical and sociological issues. The first...

Part fact, part fiction, part myth, and part legend, this book brings to life the kingdom of Ayutthaya from its roots in the kingdom of Sukhothai to its eventual destruction by the Burmese in the year 1767. It is the turbulent story of both the kings and their kingdom, from its birth to its downfall.  Robert...

The lost civilization of Angkor left no written records, and only its ancient stones can tell the tale. The Story of Angkor exposes the history of this oncemighty Southeast Asian empire through the secrets hidden inside the temples and buildings located around the city of Siem Reap. It guides the...

This remarkable work of documentary fiction takes place in Burma, spanning more than two decades of the pro-democracy movement. It is a spare and poignant portrayal of the country’s continuing political instability and two fictitious families whose lives are inexorably shaped by the turmoil....