Anna and the King of Siam

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but far from the truth...
Review: To call King Mongkut a bloodthirsty tyrant much less a barbarian not only slanders his memory but downright belittles his legacy. As if only Christian western culture has a monopoly on virtue, the book only pictures the king as a lusty womanizer. Never mind the fact that he could have been king at a much earlier age, he chose instead to become a buddhist monk to live a life of poverty and celibacy for more 20 years where he witnessed first hand the suffering of his people and became familiar with western ways. Would our own president or even Gandhi have his restraint we would have elevated them to sainthood instead of being maligned and slandered as Ms Langdon and to much greater extent Mrs. Leonowens had.