Introduction (Desley Goldston) … ix Contributors … xix 1. Martin Stuart-Fox: Evolution of a Worldview (Jessica Harriden) … 1 2. On Writing Volume One of The History of Laos (Souneth Phothisane) … 17 3. The Half Millennium Quandary: Establishing the Ayutthaya–Lan Xang Frontier 1357–1827 (Pheuiphanh and Mayoury Ngaosrivathana) … 40 4. The La Grandière, 1894–1910: A French Naval Presence on the Upper Mekong (Kennon Breazeale) … 72 5. The Birth of French Research into the Prehistory of Laos (Lia Genovese) … 91 6. Nurse Khamphanh and His Dead Horse: The Practice of Biomedical Science in Early Twentieth Century Laos (Kathryn Sweet) … 123 7. The Invention of French Laos (Geoffrey Gunn) … 144 8. Laos in the 60s (Tim Page) … 182 9. The Lao Long of Cambodia: Ethnic Lao in the Cambodian Revolutions (Martin Rathie) … 190 10. Marxist Leninist Ideology Drove the Lao Revolution (Desley Goldston) … 230 11. Mobilizing Hearts and Minds: Reconciliation Politics in Laos (Soulatha Sayalath) … 264 12. Photographing Laos (Steve Northup) … 283 13. The Ethno-Religious Identity of the Tai People in Sipsong Panna and Its Resurgence in Recent Manuscripts (Volker Grabowsky) … 290 14. An Embassy from Banten at the Court of Charles II (Sarah Tiffin) … 323 15. Tonkinese Migrant Labour in Cambodia: A Coolie History (Margaret Slocomb) … 355 16. Decentralization in Vietnam: Resolving Central–Provincial Relations (Timothy McGrath) … 375

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17. What is the First jhāna? The Central Question in Buddhist Meditation Theory (Roderick S. Bucknell) … 392 18. Biological and Cultural Evolution: A Proper Analogy (Juan Ramón Álvarez) … 416 Afterword (Martin Stuart-Fox ) … 439 Publications of Martin Stuart-Fox … 452 Index … 466

Figures War correspondent, at An Khe … 6 Protesting the Gulf War in 2003 … 14 Historical sites in Lao antiquity … 29 The Khorat Plateau … 60 Map of the Upper Mekong between Laos and Burma … 76 Lunet de Lajonquière and Finot surveying French Indochina … 102 First congress of Far Eastern Prehistory Association, Hanoi, 1932 … 113 Inoculating a buffalo, Xieng Khouang … 134 Checking mates and raising spirits … 183 The Lao Airforce self-destructs … 184 Prime Minister Souvannaphouma with Touby Lyfoung … 185 Hmong New Year, Sam Thong … 185 Playing ball … 186 Lao Army advancing … 187 Army commander Maj-Gen Kouprasith Abhay inspects damage … 187 Exclusive: Martin’s story, my photo … 188 Key Settlements in the Lao-Cambodian Frontier Region … 194 Martin and Tim at Ia Drang … 283 Dawn over Champasak … 284 Sing Kaeo Sing Kham and his shaman … 285 Early morning in Luang Prabang … 286 Racing boats at dusk on the Mekong … 286

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