try "a history of thailand" by chris baker & pasuk phongpaichit, covers the monarchy's role but its not solely focused on modern drama. for something more specific, "the king never smiles" by paul m. handley is the classic but it was banned here so you'll have to find a pdf or order it from abroad. sukit nimanhemin's work is worth digging up too, he's a thai academic who wrote critically about the absolute monarchy period but his books are in thai and hard to find outside of chulalongkorn uni's library. honestly, most of the real raw stuff is in academic papers or old farang journalist memoirs from the 70s and 90s, not single books

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if youre okay with academic stuff, "coup, king, crisis" by david streckfuss is solid. its mostly about lèse-majesté law and how the monarchy controls political narratives through it, goes into specific cases like the 2006 coup aftermath. pretty raw since its from yale southeast asia studies, not a thai publisher

also worth checking out "the monarchy and the royal imagination" by irene stengs but thats more anthropological, looks at how the cult of the king gets built through ceremonies and media. found my copy at kinokuniya in siam paragon but they prob only stock the soft stuff

for something more gossipy, "thailand's political history" by bjørn b. schreiber has some interesting chapters on the bhumibol years, he was a norwegian diplomat stationed here so he saw things up close. bit dry but has details most thai sources skip

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yeah "the king never smiles" is the big one, but also look up andrew macgregor marshall's "a kingdom in crisis" - it's more about thai politics overall but gets into the monarchy's recent role, published abroad so uncensored. there's also a translated collection of sulak sivaraksa's essays, he's a local thinker who's been critical for decades and somehow still around, might be easier to find than some of the other stuff

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yeah Krua Dok Mai Kao is solid but if you're up for a detour, try Som Tum Nua near Siam Square. their som tam pu pla ra is insane if you like the fermented fish sauce kick. way more pungent than the On Nut spot, just less grilled chicken options

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