War in Shangri-La : a memoir of civil war in Laos / Mervyn Brown ; foreword by Lord Carrington.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Mervyn.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brown, Mervyn.

Diplomats--Great Britain--Biography.

Diplomats.

International relations.

Great Britain.

Laos.

Diplomats--Laos--Biography.

Laos--History.

History.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--Laos.

Laos--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 243 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Radcliffe Press ; New York : In the United States and Canada distributed by St. Martin's Press, 2001.

Summary:

Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist North Vietnam, the tranquil Buddhist Kingdom of Laos--the original Shangri-La--became the center of a major Cold War crisis in the early sixties, when Mervyn Brown served there as deputy to the British Ambassador. He has written a fascinating and highly readable account of his often hazardous experiences, which included the battle of Vientiane passing through his garden and a grueling month as prisoner of left-wing Pathet Lao guerrillas in remote mountainous jungle inhabited by Stone Age aboriginal people. His story is set against a detailed account of the developing political and military crisis. It reveals the tensions that developed in the US between the newly elected President Kennedy, his Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and their advisors in the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon while a regional policy was formulated in the face of the perceived communist threat.

Contents:

1. Life Before Laos 1

2. A Short History Lesson 10

3. Last Days of Peace 29

4. The Little Captain and the Invisible King 42

5. The Battle of Vientiane 56

6. World Crisis 73

7. The Plain of Jars 87

8. Stalemate in Vientiane 106

9. An Involuntary Tour of the South 123

10. Success at Last 161

11. Things Fall Apart 182

12. Dream Turns to Nightmare 199

13. Ends and Means 226.

Notes:

Errata slips inserted.

Includes index.

ISBN:

1860647359

OCLC:

47934352