Review
Shortlisted for the 2007 National Book Awards,
Berlinsky's excellent first novel is notable on a number of
counts. Not only does it provide a wealth of highly
readable information about the hilltribes that live in the
mountainous area known as the "Golden Triangle" that spans the
borders of five South-East Asian countries (see sidebar), but it
also provides a study of two other cultural groups that are a
mystery to most of us - missionaries and anthropologists!
The protagonist of Berlinski's first book shares the
author's name, but Berlinski assures us that the book is fiction
- not least because the Dyalo hilltribe, so central to the plot,
do not exist. Having said that,
Fieldwork started off as
Berlinski's attempt to write a nonfiction account of the
conversion of many of...
Beyond the Book
About Thailand (map)
A unified Thai kingdom was
established in the mid-14th century.
Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is
the only Southeast Asian country never
to have been taken over by a European
power. A bloodless revolution in 1932
led to a constitutional monarchy.
Thailand allied itself with Japan during
WWII but has been an ally of the US
since.
It is a land of many contrasts;
endless beaches in the south attract
tourists in droves. The capital city of
Bangkok boasts state of the art
transportation such as the elevated mass
transit system known as...
