Fear and Loathing in Bangkok

Christopher G. Moore—creator of the internationally acclaimed Vincent Calvino crime-fiction series—turns his sharp, compassionate eye toward the moral undercurrents of modern Thailand. Fear and Loathing in Bangkok collects Moore's most provocative essays on crime, corruption, superstition, and survival in a city that both seduces and shocks. From "I Am Awesome," the story of a hapless Thai outlaw with five wives and a hole in his leg, to "Speeding Red Bull's Hit 'n Run," "The Tragedy of Elephants," and "Ghostly Crying Babies," Moore dissects the collisions of wealth, power, and fate that define contemporary Thai society. Equal parts reportage and literary noir, these dispatches trace the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, law and impunity, compassion and absurdity. Witty, fearless, and deeply humane, Fear and Loathing in Bangkok captures the rhythm of a metropolis where anything can happen and usually does. It stands as both a chronicle of Southeast Asia's cultural contradictions and a mirror held up to every society wrestling with inequality, corruption, and belief. For readers of Graham Greene, Pico Iyer, and Hunter S. Thompson—Moore's essays remind us that the wildest frontiers are often inside our own moral imaginations.