About the Author

Professor Martin Stuart-Fox is widely recognized as one of the world's top authorities on Laos. His close association with the country spans over four decades. It began in the early 1960s when, as a young agricultural field officer, he worked there with the US Agency for International Development. Switching professions, he then became a foreign correspondent for United Press International. Over the next few years he reported from Viang Chan (Vientiane), Saigon, Paris, and Dacca. Stuart-Fox joined the staff of the University of Queensland in 1976. In 1998 he was appointed head of the history department, a position he held for five years. When Professor Stuart-Fox retired in 2005, the Senate of his University conferred on him the title Professor Emeritus. During his academic career, Professor Stuart-Fox authored five books on Lao history and politics. These included Laos: Politics, Economics, and Society; A History of Laos; Buddhist Kingdom, Marxists State; and The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang. His other published works include: The Murderous Revolution; Life and Death in Pol Pot's Kampuchea; The Twilight Language; Explorations in Buddhist Symbolism and Meditation (with Rod Bucknell); and A Short History of China and Southeast Asia; Tribute, Trade and Influence. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Steve Northup's photographic career stretches back more than 40 years. He and author Stuart-Fox first worked together in the mid-1960s as a Saigon-based reporter/photographer team with United Press International (UPI). From the news wire, Northup transferred to The Washington Post as its White House photographer where he covered the Johnson-Nixon eras. Moving to Time-Life, he spent the next 20 years on stories in Mexico and Central America together with home-based US assignments following politics, science and the arts. Northup also attended Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. He now lives on a ranch in New Mexico.