Wyatt cites some examples of recent work on Thailand, particularly that of young Thai scholars, though a quick look on the library shelves shows that there is much recent work in these fields, These writers may not have used the term 'intellectual history'. but their research is the groundwork that will enable the construction of Thai intellectual history It is invidious to single out one writer but the work of Thongchai Winichakul in Siam mapped: a history of the geo-body of a nation (Honolulu, 1994) can be described as a work of intellectual history He demonstrates that traditional concepts of frontiers and the exercise of layers of political control came up against a foreign import, mapping, that defined boundaries precisely This was a tool, moreover, which was adopted consciously and with enthusiasm by the rulers in Bangkok who understood the power that it conferred on them. This work links with the examples given by Wyatt of past rulers adopting and adapting ideas to new in their It is also pertinent to some of Wyatt's pleas for a fresh look at the boundaries and frontiers that define Thai history.