Download or read book In Search of the Silk King written by Maya Herman and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2005-08-24 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maya Herman In Search of The Silk King A Novel Among many stories I heard in Southeast Asia, the most fascinating is the story of the legendary American “silk king” of Thailand – Jim Thompson. It is as mysterious as Asia itself. The name Jim Thompson seemed to follow me from the first moment I arrived in Bangkok. The more stories and rumors I heard, the more I became fascinated by them. They had all the ingredients of a good novel or a major movie – romance, mystery, glamour, exotic locations, and more. The legend of the “silk king” and his disappearance remains as mysterious today as it was in 1967. No clues were ever found. Only unanswered questions remained. Using poetic license, I decided to write a novel that might answer some of them. As such, the novel is very loosely and only in part based on the real life of Jim Thompson, as I learned of it primarily through living in Bangkok, traveling extensively throughout Southeast Asia and writing about it in my book of travel essays, The Jade Window (Bangkok, 1998). It is also in part based on the information I gathered in my research from the newspaper articles on Thompson, William Warren’s indispensable biography of him, on the interviews with Warren and Henry Thompson, through Alexander Macdonald’s notes and OSS archives, for all of which I am immensely grateful. Still, my “Jim Thompson”is not a historic but a fictional character. In Search of The Silk King is a work of fiction written in many voices that are tempered with the measure of truth. Any errors – biographical, historical, intended, or otherwise - are solely mine. This is the story of an adventure told in hero’s voice and in various voices of the people who knew him. It is also the story of his life that had the sweep of a historical romance and the power of a heroic quest. As Jim Thompson’s absorbing tale unfolds, the reader discovers what happened after his disappearance, how he succeeded and suffered and eventually found the truth. It is a novel of suspense, of fate and love lost and found. The “Jim Thompson” of my novel thinks of himself as an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. There are, on the tapes he sent from his after-life in exile to a journalist friend, his memories of the past: his childhood desire to travel to exotic places ... of his first and greatest love, of his marriage. As a young man, Jim went to New York and worked as an architect. He met Vera, a Russian ballerina, and fell in love with her. He gave her a brooch designed as a pair of ballet slippers made of emeralds and diamonds as a token of his great love. When Vera decided to go back to her old lover she returned one of the two slippers. Jim kept the slipper as the memento of his love that would prove to be fatal. After the breakup, Jim tried to find a new direction in life. He married a woman he barely knew and enlisted in the Army. This was his way of escaping the loss of his first great love that would mark his whole emotional life. He went to Africa where he worked for the OSS with Maurice, a half-French, half-Laotian mystery man. Not eager to return home, Jim volunteered to go to Southeast Asia. This was the real beginning of his journey. He fell in love with Bangkok and wanted to stay there even after the war was over. His wife Pat did not share his enthusiasm and agreed to a divorce. Jim returned to Bangkok with a plan to renovate the Oriental hotel. He did not succeed in that, but found his true vocation in a forgotten art of silk making. Jim almost single-handedly revived the Thai silk industry and became the most successful American businessman in Thailand. There is a story about silk. Jim’s life seemed full. He built a beautiful house and opened a new store. He seemed to have finally found his fulfillment. He had a beautiful young mistress, Nicole, and seemed

Download or read book The Case of the Silk King written by Shannon Gilligan and published by Choose Your Own Adventure. This book was released on 2007-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reader journeys to Thailand to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Jim Thompson, the "Thai Silk King."

Download or read book The Missing Thai Silk King written by Martha Galleher and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Solved written by Edward Roy DeSouza and published by Word Assn Pub. This book was released on 2010 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mystery surrounding Jim Thompson's disappearance in Malaysia sparked off what was to become a seven-year investigation. The subsequent media attention generated by the search triggered a number of theories, some proving to have rather sinister connotations. In this intriguing book, the author seeks to evaluate most, if not all, of the speculative, and partially substantiated opinions which have been formed over the years. Communist conspiracy, suicide or simple misadventure? Only after reading this story are we in a position to decide.

Download or read book The Case of the Silk King written by Shannon Gilligan and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reader's decisions control an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of an American businessman in Thailand.

Download or read book The Silk King written by Mary Wells and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second in the Aitkin family trilogy, begun with T̀he expatriates'.

Download or read book Case Of The Silk King written by Shannon Gilligan and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Silk Road in World History written by Xinru Liu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient trade routes that made up the Silk Road were some of the great conduits of cultural and material exchange in world history. In this intriguing book, Xinru Liu reveals both why and how this long-distance trade in luxury goods emerged in the late third century BCE, following its story through to the Mongol conquest. Liu starts with China's desperate need for what the Chinese called "the heavenly horses" of Central Asia, and describes how the traders who brought these horses also brought other exotic products, some all the way from the Mediterranean. Likewise, the Roman Empire, as a result of its imperial ambition as well as the desire of its citizens for Chinese silk, responded with easterly explorations for trade. The book shows how the middle men, the Kushan Empire, spread Buddhism to China. Missionaries and pilgrims facilitated cave temples along the mountainous routes and monasteries in various oases and urban centers, forming the backbone of the Silk Road. The author also explains how Islamic and Mongol conquerors in turn controlled the various routes until the rise of sea travel diminished their importance.

Download or read book American Kingpin written by Nick Bilton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye. It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts. The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet. Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It’s a story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real.

Download or read book The Ideal Man written by Joshua Kurlantzick and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the West's greatest spy in Asia tried to stop the new American way of war—and the steep price he paid for failing Jim Thompson landed in Thailand at the end of World War II, a former American society dilettante who became an Asian legend as a spy and silk magnate with access to Thai worlds outsiders never saw. As the Cold War reached Thailand, America had a choice: Should it, as Thompson believed, help other nations build democracies from their traditional cultures or, as his ex-OSS friend Willis Bird argued, remake the world through deception and self-serving alliances? In a story rich with insights and intrigue, this book explores a key Cold War episode that is still playing out today. Highlights a pivotal moment in Cold War history that set a course for American foreign policy that is still being followed today Explores the dynamics that put Thailand at the center of the Cold War and the fighting in neighboring Laos that escalated from sideshow to the largest covert operation America had ever engaged in Draws on personal recollections and includes atmospheric details that bring the people, events—and the Thailand of the time—to life Written by a journalist with extensive experience in Asian affairs who has spent years investigating every aspect of this story, including Thompson's tragic disappearance

Download or read book Pilgrims on the Silk Road written by Walter R. Ratliff and published by Walter Ratliff. This book was released on 2010 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synopsis: They were seeking religious freedom and the Second Coming of Christ in Central Asia. They found themselves in the care of a Muslim king. During the 1880s, Mennonites from Russia made a treacherous journey to the Silk Road kingdom of Khiva. Both Uzbek and Mennonite history seemed to set the stage for ongoing religious and ethnic discord. Yet their story became an example of friendship and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Pilgrims on the Silk Road challenges conventional wisdom about the trek to Central Asia and the settlement of Ak Metchet. It shows how the story, long associated with failed End Times prophecies, is being recast in light of new evidence. Pilgrims highlights the role of Ak Metchet as a refuge for those fleeing Soviet oppression, and the continuing influence of the episode more than twelve decades later. Endorsements: "Walter Ratliff's history of the Mennonite Great Trek to Central Asia offers a new angle of vision upon one of the most remarkable events of Mennonite history. Pilgrims on the Silk Road puts the Great Trek into the context of nineteenth-century imperial rivalry and of the Russian conquest of Khiva. The author tells tales of Muslim-Christian cooperation that resonate with meaning in our twenty-first century of religious polarization. Ratliff's perspective is revisionist without being contentious. I hope this book will find a wide readership." -James Juhnke, Bethel College, Emeritus "In Pilgrims on the Silk Road, Ratliff has brought to light a fascinating but little known chapter in the history of European involvement in Central Asia, along the silk road. His portrait of the Mennonite mission to Khiva makes for great reading and an excellent companion to such classic works as Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game." -Charles M. Stang, Harvard Divinity School Author Biography: Walter Ratliff is a journalist and religion scholar from Washington, DC. He holds degrees from Georgetown University, Wheaton College, and the University of New Mexico. He is the producer/director of the documentary "Through the Desert Goes Our Journey" (2008).

Download or read book Silk And Steel written by Catherine King and published by Sphere. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revenge Mariah Bowes thinks that being alone and penniless is the worst thing that can happen to her, but then she becomes the innocent victim of a horrifying act of revenge. Deception Daniel Thorpe is consumed with guilt, it's his fault that Mariah endured such a terrible punishment, he'd never realised the terrible consequences his affair with the beautiful Lily would bring. Will he ever convince Mariah to trust him again? Secrets But for Mariah there are further horrors to face, truths to uncover. Not least the terrible secret that her father, Ezekiel Bowes, successful iron master and respectable member of the community, is determined no one will ever discover.

Download or read book Foreign Devils on the Silk Road written by Peter Hopkirk and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold, and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left, and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasurees and guarded by demons. In the early years of the 20th century, foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures, and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.

Download or read book Princeton Alumni Weekly written by Jesse Lynch Williams and published by princeton alumni weekly. This book was released on 1986 with total page 1010 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Silk for Silver written by Anh Tuấan HoÁng and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the political and commercial relations between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Vietnamese kingdom of Tonkin from 1637 until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The VOC exported silk and silk piece-goods from Tonkin to Japan. The author focuses on various aspects of the mutual relationship between the VOC and Tonkin, and how this fitted into the larger picture of the intra-Asian trade. The book reveals the vicissitudes in political relations, and the varying trends in the VOC's import (silver and copper) and export (silk, ceramics, musk, and gold). While examining a great deal of detailed archival materials, the author evaluates Dutch influence on Tonkin's feudal society and economy. The book also offers a fascinating sketch of how the Vietnamese trading elite maximized their own profits by dealing with various western tradesmen, including the English and French.

Download or read book The Silk Road A Very Short Introduction written by James A. Millward and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-10 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images, this Very Short Introduction illuminates the historical background against which the silk road flourished, shedding light on the importance of old-world cultural exchange to Eurasian and world history. On the one hand, historian James A. Millward treats the silk road broadly, to stand in for the cross-cultural communication between peoples across the Eurasian continent since at least the Neolithic era. On the other, he highlights specific examples of goods and ideas exchanged between the Mediterranean, Persia, India, and China, along with the significance of these exchanges. While including silks, spices, and travelers' tales of colorful locales, the book explains the dynamics of Central Eurasian history that promoted Silk Road interactions--especially the role of nomad empires--highlighting the importance of the biological, technological, artistic, intellectual, and religious interchanges across the continent. Millward shows that these exchanges had a profound effect on the old world that was akin to, if not on the scale of, modern globalization. He also disputes the idea that the silk road declined after the collapse of the Mongol empire or the opening of direct sea routes from Europe to Asia, showing how silk road phenomena continued through the early modern and modern expansion of the Russian and Chinese states across Central Asia. Millward concludes that the idea of the silk road has remained powerful, not only as a popular name for boutiques and restaurants, but also in modern politics and diplomacy, such as U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's "Silk Road Initiative" for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Download or read book Search of the Moon King s Daughter written by Linda Holeman and published by Tundra Books. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Included in one of the 2004 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults lists Nominated for the White Pine Reading Program of the Durham District School Board Gentle Emmaline loves nothing more than books and flowers and her little brother Tommy. Sadly, her idyllic country life in Victorian England comes to an abrupt end when her father dies of cholera. The family is forced to move to a mill town, where Emmaline’s mother is dreadfully injured in a factory accident. To ease her pain she takes laudanum and is soon addicted, craving the drug so badly that she sells Tommy into servitude as a chimney sweep in London. Emmaline knows that a sweep’s life is short and awful. Small boys as young as five are forced to climb naked into dark chimneys, their bare feet prodded by nail-studded sticks to keep them working. If Tommy is to survive, it is up to Emmaline to find him. Linda Holeman brings a bygone period to life in a book of serious historical fiction for young adults.