Southeast Asia Collection Blog

Evans, Grant. The last century of Lao royalty : a documentary history. Chiang Mai, Thailand : Silkworm Books, 2009.

This is a very welcome addition to the existing scholarship (which is dreadfully scant) on Lao history. Here Evans attempts to “recover” memories of the Lao royal family. With the communist victory in 1975, the Lao monarchy was tossed into history’s dustbin. Practically all evidence of Lao royalty was expunged from the historical record by the triumphant communist party. The pre-1975 history of Laos was re-written, omitting altogether any reference to Laos’ centuries old monarchial culture and traditions. Evans reconstructs the history of the Lao monarchy. It is revisionist (insofar as it contradicts the existing historiography), yet far from hagiography. This is not an attempt to turn back the clock to the “glory days” of the Lao royalty. The image that emerges from Evans’ account is one of a Lao monarchy in crisis. Lao royals suffered one set back after another: countless indignities at the hands of the Thai, a brief but at times unpleasant engagement with French colonialism, emerging Lao (republican) nationalism, and finally, communist revolution. Evans account of the history of the waning days of the Lao monarchy fills a major gap in the existing historiography.