The culture of the Shan peoples of Burma & their rulers is extensively explored in this volume. Shan courts flourished in the late British colonial period & in this book rare early photographs, never before published, document life in the courts & in the hill regions of Shan dominion. Susan Conway focuses again on dress & the use of textiles in the Shan states, as well as on historical chronicles, to define a fascinating people of old Burma. Lavish illustrations bring to life a rich cultural tradition of mainland Southeast Asia.