The English translation of this bestselling graphic novel tells the story of Nok, an old blind man who sells lottery tickets in Bangkok, as he decides to leave the city and return to his native village. Through reflections on contemporary Bangkok and flashbacks to his past, Nok reconstructs a journey through the slums of migrant workers, the rice fields of Isaan, the tourist villages of Ko Pha Ngan, and the Red Shirt protests of 2010. Based on a decade of anthropological research, The King of Bangkok is a story of migration to the city, distant families in the countryside, economic development eroding the land, and violent political protest. Ultimately, it is a story about contemporary Thailand and how the waves of history lift, engulf, and crash against ordinary people.

"The artwork is at least as important as text. Sara Fabbri’s colored line drawings give the tale an urgency that words themselves cannot convey." - Asian Review of Books

"Shades of hope and humor glimmer amid the forces of inequity and impunity depicted in this memorable book that homes in on the rich lives of ordinary people, those who the country's rulers are meant to serve." - Nikkei Asia

"This book is a triumph." - Bangkok Post

"“Well informed and captivating. Much more than a didactic good-versus-evil tale, The King of Bangkok does justice to the complex people who animate a country that many of us would do well to know better.”" - Los Angeles Review of Books