In the pre-dawn hours of 24 June 1932 a band of disgruntled Thai bureaucrats, with a small clique of army colonels supporting the, staged an unlikely coup against the government of the last absolute monarch of Thailand. Using bluff and deception, they called together a number of armored units and infantrymen at the center of Bangkok and declared a new government, a new regime to function in the name of the king but under the authority of a modern, democratic constitution: Rattamanoon in Thai. Thus was parliamentary government introduced to Thailand amid the conflicting ambitions of rising new leaders and the misapprehension of the very people to whom the king eventually bequethed his sovreign powers and governmental authority. Joseph Wright's the Balancing Act chronicles the rise of Thailand's constitutional goverment and the parallel decline and resurgence of the Thai monarchy over the past sixty years. The Balancing Act traces the modern Thailand through the long series of coups and coup attempts that followed the 1932 "revolution" up to and including the most recent coup on 23 February 1991, from the failed attempts at reform by King Rama VII in the 1920's to the monarchy's revival and restoration under the presetn King Rama IX. Drawing from a variety of resources, including schlolarly studies, contemporary journalism and the memoirs of historical figures, The Balancing Act is an excellent survey of the development of modern Thai political culture. While in places the book reads like a novel, its index, appendixes, and detailed footnotes enchance its value as a research and reference tool for academics. "Since the 1930's Thai leaders have had to walk a fine line between the requirments of tradition and innovation, and from the beginning Thai prime ministers have likened their roles to those of the circus acrobat or juggler. - from Amzon