Hardcover, 123 pages, bw and color illustrations, Oxford 1991, new
The ancient city of Sukhothai in north-central Thailand has often been called "the cradle of Thai culture." Spanning the period from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth centuries, this important center of development laid the laid the political, cultural, and artistic foundations for the modern day Thai state. The facts concerning the founding, growth, and decline have been shrouded in mystery but drawing on twentieth-century study of scores of abandoned stone inscriptions and archaeological research, Gosling develops a rich picture of the political, religious, and cultural life of the Sukhothai period