{"product_id":"2940015489811","title":"Anna\u0026#x2019;s Real-Life King of Siam","description":"The people of Siam (now Thailand) were insulted when English governess Anna Leonowens, after spending five years as a royal tutor to his children, wrote two books depicting their beloved King Mongkut as a tyrant. Insult turned to outrage when Broadway and then Hollywood adapted her story as the musical The King and I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, King Mongkut was Siam's greatest ruler. Inheriting a country rife with medieval customs and feudal ignorance, he almost single-handedly brought Siam into the nineteenth century. Among his many accomplishments, he sparked the reform of the Buddhist religion; spoke eleven languages; mastered history, geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The result: He?] transformed himself from a god-king to an approachable, tolerant leader. In a diplomatic triumph, he played European powers against each other so deftly that Siam, alone among the nations of Southeast Asia, never succumbed to colonial dominance. This short-form book shares the story of this thoroughly remarkable man.","brand":"New Word City, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147830280432,"sku":"2940015489811","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940015489811_p0.jpg?v=1763628955","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015489811","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}