Bangkok

The "Topographics" series works in the reverse way to ordinary travel books. Each volume mingles analysis with anecdote to explore the creative collision between physical space or location and the human mind.

---

William Warren's "Bangkok" is an informal portrait of this most vibrant and perplexing of modern cities. Divided into two parts, the first a selective history, showing how it has developed over the last two hundred years, the second exploring the contemporary face of the city through a series of personal impressions. The author describes how the charms of the city and its people outweight the disadvantages of pollution, traffic and stifling heat. He also describes celebrities such as the early kings of Thailand's present dynasty and Anna Leonowens, heroine of "The King and I", as well as Jim Thompson, the US-born silk entrepreneur and art collector who mysteriously vanished in the jungles of Malaysia. "Bangkok" provides a much needed history of the city, but is also imbued with the warmth of Warren's love affair with its frenetic way of life.