Georg's reading list on Laos

Laos has long tradition of great textiles - woven silk products with artistic brilliance and aesthetic beauty. Here is an external book list of tribal textiles of Laos.

These are some books about Laos. I own a copy of each of these books.
(by clicking on the titles or pictures, you get directly to Amazon.de where you can order them. A link to Amazon.com website is available next to the book title)

Lonely Planet Guide on Laos (Amazon.com) Great reading with many nice pictures and a good map. Improved history section in the 5th edition. Most information changes too fast for the book (for any book) to keep the pace. 320 pages (2005) 5th edition; Lonely Planet Publications; ISBN: 1741040868

Reise Know-How on Laos (German book) Better reading about the history and poltics than older Lonely Planet Guide. Prices, etc. are as outdated quickly as all other books. (2003) ISBN: 3831712050

Footprint Laos Handbook: The Travel Guide (Amazon.com) Jane Bickersteth, Joshua Eliot, Dinah Gardner, Kim Young 336 pages (February 2000) Footprint Handbooks; ISBN: 1900949466 One more travel guide about Laos.

A History of Laos (Amazon.com) Martin Stuart-Fox, professor at University of Queensland, Brisbane A good reading about the Lao history from the point of view of an Australian historian. It lacks a bit the most recent history and the current affairs. 272 pages (September 1997) Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0521597463

Stalking the Elephant Kings: In Search of Laos (Amazon.com) Christopher Kremmer, Australian journalist Good reading about a journalist travelling through various places in Laos. Always asking about what happened to the Lao king. It is a completely different point of view as the "History of Laos". Highly recommended reading for everyone who wants to go to Laos.

Laos Culture and Society (Amazon.com) Contributions of many authors edited by Grant Evans 313 pages (1999) Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, Thailand; ISBN: 974-87090-4-3 From the cover: "Laos Culture and Society is the first comprehensive social and cultural study of this fascinating part of the world in forty years. For too long it has been overshadowed by analyses of neighbouring societies." Book Review from Lan-Xang.com

One Foot in Laos (Amazon.com) Dervla Murphy 284 pages (2001) Overlook Press; ISBN: 1585671436 Dervla tells about her trip to Laos (I guess in Dec 1998): the people she met and and her experiences she had trekking through the high mountains of Laos. An excellent reading. "A passionate, angry book that chillingly describes a beautiful but benighted country." Sunday Tribune

Mother's Beloved : Stories from Laos (Amazon.com) Bnounyavong Outhine 198 Seiten (November 1999) University of Washington Press; ISBN: 0295977361 All stories are printed in English and Lao!

Taste of Laos : Lao/Thai Recipes from Dara Restaurant (Amazon.com) Daovone Xayavong, John Bear, Roger Williams 135 pages (July 2000) SLG Books; ISBN: 0943389321 A short introduction on Lao food and many Lao recipes. This cookbook is a great gift for someone who experienced the great food in Laos. The Dara Restaurant, owned the the author, is in Berkeley, California.

Covert Ops : The CIA's Secret War in Laos (Amazon.com) James E. Parker Jr This CIA guy, Mule, tells about his service in Laos. Very interesting to read. Not too much a war story. It gave me a better unterstanding of the time of the American war in Laos. But after all, it is written by an American, so the bad things of the American influence are not mentioned in this book.

One Day Too Long (Amazon.com) TOP SECRET SITE 85 and the bombing of North Vietnam Timothy N. Castle 371 pages (1999) Columbia University Press From the cover: "This riveting tale of heroism and patriotism tells the full story of a covert military operation in Laos that resulted in the largest ground combat loss of U.S. Air Force personnel during the Vietnam war."

Lonely Planet: Lao Phrasebook (Amazon.com) a Language Survival Kit Joe Cummings 152 pages (1995) Lonely Planet Publications; ISBN: 0864422768

last updated in January 2005