Very Thai: Street, Style and Society in the Kingdom

How a book by a Bangkok-based British author came to embody a shift in Thai cultural consciousness.

Thailand has faced a public relations crisis in recent months. The May 22 coup and the recent murder of two British tourists have cast a shadow over the sunny "Land of Smiles" image of golden temples, graceful dances and saffron-robed monks carrying alms bowls.

But neither political turmoil nor idealized cultural traditions reflect the reality of daily life as it is lived by ordinary Thai citizens. Discovering what really makes the nation tick was precisely the goal of veteran Bangkok-based British journalist Philip Cornwel-Smith when he set out to write his enlightening, encyclopedic and entertaining book, Very Thai: Everyday Popular Culture, now in its second edition.

Drawing on a wealth of insight from experts on history, anthropology, sociology and design — and generously illustrated with colorful photographs taken by Cornwel-Smith and American photographer John Goss — the book examines everything from aesthetics to folk arts. Most significantly, it does so without succumbing to clichés or dwelling on the seedier side of life in Thailand, as exaggerated by media and bar-girl fiction.

"I wanted to give a refreshing look at Thailand, to explain 'low status' or 'realistic' aspects of Thai culture. Not wholly modern, not wholly traditional — these are the criteria for things in the book."

While a book that shuns hackneyed ideas about the kingdom's beguiling culture would unsurprisingly be of interest to foreigners, Very Thai struck a chord with the Thai public as well. In the years following the release of its first edition in 2004, the book came to symbolize a shift in Thai society, which was on the cusp of a cultural awakening.

"The book came out at a time when the popular culture just started to become legitimized within the broader culture," Cornwel-Smith says. "It wasn't counted as 'culture' until that point. Ideas of 'righteousness' and 'prestige' were part of the official culture. Street life didn't really fit into that. But it's unambiguously a form of culture."

Indeed, street food stalls, motorcycle taxi drivers in multi-hued jackets, cats nibbling on fruit offerings at a shrine, a jumble of power lines sagging above a man dozing on a concrete bench just feet from where hot-pink taxis and tuk-tuks zip by — these are the common street vignettes that Very Thai accounts for, in impressive detail.