The coup leader who believed he was the reincarnation of an eighteenth-century king. The godfather slashed to death by a machete on the orders of his son. The party boss who taught his followers how to negotiate corruption with hand signals. The general whose political career charts the destruction of Burmese forests.

Thai politics often seem wild. For a dozen years, Chang Noi (the pseudonym means Little Elephant) has been stomping around this jungle, kicking up leaves, overturning rotten wood, and trumpeting in distress. This selection from the widely read column in the Nation newspaper provides lively, readable commentary on twelve years of change in Thailand’s politics, society, culture, and environment.

The sixty-four articles delve into the crisis over naked nipples, fascination with rape in TV dramas, moral panic over teenage clothing, police involvement in casinos, wrangles over damned dams, varieties of corruption, fantasies of culture bureaucrats, and fifty years of scandal behind Bangkok’s new airport. This collection is a rich and fascinating kaleidoscope of the political and social jungle that is Thailand.