xix, 243 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
Contents
Machine generated contents note: 1. Life Before Laos -- 2. A Short History Lesson -- 3. Last Days of Peace -- 4. The Little Captain and the Invisible King -- 5. The Battle of Vientiane -- 6. World Crisis -- 7. The Plain of Jars -- 8. Stalemate in Vientiane -- 9. An Involuntary Tour of the South -- 10. Success at Last -- 11. Things Fall Apart -- 12. Dream Turns to Nightmare -- 13. Ends and Means
Summary
"Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist North Vietnam, the tranquil Buddhist kingdom of Laos - the original Shangri-La - became the centre of a major Cold War crisis in the early nineteen-sixties, when Mervyn Brown served there as deputy to the British Ambassador." "War in Shangri-La is an account of his often hazardous experiences, which included the battle of Vientiane passing through his garden and a gruelling month as a prisoner of the left-wing Pathet Lao guerillas in remote mountainous jungle inhabited by Stone Age aboriginal people. His story is set against the political and military crisis that developed in the US administration in the face of the perceived Communist threat in the region." "Yet War in Shangri-La remains a personal chronicle of a remarkable episode as well as a memorable account of Laos and its people."--BOOK JACKET
