The coup leader who believed he was the reincarnation of an eighteenth-century king. The godfather who was 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 destructionof 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...