The Handley book was published six years after the first biography of King Bhumibol, The Revolutionary King by William Stevenson. Stevenson was chosen by Bhumibol himself after reading his previous book A Man Called Intrepid, a highly controversial and hagiographic biography of the Canadian Spymaster William Stephenson which had been widely criticized and discredited by veterans and historians of the CIA, MI6, and Canadian Intelligence. Despite this, Bhumibol allegedly became obsessed with the book and personally translated it from English to Thai and had the Army and the Postal Service distribute thousands of copies. Handley commented on Stevenson's book, pages 437-439 of The King Never Smiles:
