Anna Harriet Leonowens' life has been surrounded by controversy and myth. From the first publication of her books in the late nineteenth century through the republication of her first two works, The English Governess at the Siamese Court: Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok (1870) and The Romance of the Harem (1872) and the more recent motion picture and dramatic versions of her works in Margaret Landon's biography, Anna and the King of Siam (1944), details of her life and literary legacy have been disputed. In spite of the controversies Leonowens remains, except for a few Protestant missionaries, the only European white woman to have been allowed entry to the royal harem of King Mongkut of Siam. Popular Hollywood motion pictures and musicals such as Anna and the King of Siam (1946) and The King and I (1956) have helped to create popular stereotypes of the English teacher...