Charnvit Kasetsiri is a Thai historian and former activist who studied in the US during the 1960s-1970s. He became disillusioned with the Thai government's support for the US war in Vietnam and resigned his civil service position to pursue a PhD in Southeast Asian history at Cornell University. There, he was exposed to new perspectives about Southeast Asia and Thailand's relations with its neighbors through his studies and involvement in student activism. He went on to have a long career teaching history at Thammasat University in Bangkok, where he continued to challenge official views and promote awareness of Southeast Asian studies in Thailand.