Land of a Million Elephants

Ever wondered what happens when you mix a forgotten kingdom, a million (or maybe eleven) elephants, CIA agents disguised as Buddhist monks, and a river that swallows your phone twice before breakfast? Welcome to Laos-the history book even history teachers pretend they've read.

Land of a Million Elephants is not your average parade of dusty facts and polite reverence. Tudor Finneran drags you off the beaten path and straight into the humidity-soaked chaos of Southeast Asia's best-kept secret. Pack your mosquito spray and your skepticism-the official story is going to need both.

• Discover how a place smaller than Kansas managed to host world wars, revolutions, and the most quietly stubborn people on the planet.

• Meet kings who couldn't keep crowns, colonizers who couldn't keep count, and freedom fighters who didn't really like fighting (but loved a good parade).

• Drown gloriously in the Mekong's current and the region's truly impressive collection of mystical, breathtaking, and occasionally very drunk elephants.

• From ancient myth to modern statehood-bombs, baci parties, clandestine CIA "help," and the world's most laid-back communists.

If you want a slow, sacred, scholarly march through Laotian history... try Wikipedia. If you want to laugh, gasp, and learn more than you bargained for while Finneran gleefully pokes, prods, and pan-fries every sacred cow (and elephant), this is your book.

Because no one else will tell you why UNESCO tastes like lemongrass, why monarchies are allergic to good luck, or what it's like to be outwitted by a rice farmer with a seventh-grade education and the patience of a Buddha.

Ideal for:

• Armchair adventurers

• History buffs who hate being bored

• Travelers with a taste for the weird, the wild, and the occasionally warped

Land of a Million Elephants-in Asia's forgotten kingdom, irreverence is the only honest guide. Grab a copy, grab your hat, and don't blame us if you end up booking a ticket to Luang Prabang. This isn't just history-it's an adventure for your mind (and your funny bone).