Anna and the King of Siam

"Rarely if ever has the inner life of an Oriental court been laid bare as in this book. The romance and the terror of the harem, the splendor of vast palaces amidst the squalor of the City of Women, comedies and tragedies...cruelties and gentle wisdom --are all there....The time is the 1860's when King Mongkut was feeling the impact not only of western imperialisms but of western knowledge. He engaged Anna Leonowens, an English woman, to teach English to his many children and his favorite concubines, and to write his extraordinary letters to foreign rulers and diplomats. Her most important pupil was the young prince who became Siam's most progressive king, who learned from her about Abraham Lincoln and later abolished slavery and made many reforms because of her teachings. But the story is mostly that of the thousands of women in and about the Royal Palaces, especially of those whom anne befriended and saved from disaster -- or could not save. This book grew out of years of research in old Siamese records, private diaries, letters and the actual writings...of Anna Leonowens herself. Chiefly known facts, partly a dramatization based on facts, it reads like fiction but it is, amazingly true. The author lived for ten years in Siam, where she not only found her materials but came to know intimately its sights and sounds and very smell, then so little changed since the days of King Mongkut and Abraham Lincoln. And...the illustrator has lived there too."

Year

1972

Language

English

Publisher

Pocket Books

Editions

1

ISBN

9780671776534

Data source: Wikidata