Chronicles of Chiang Khaeng goes far beyond a mere annotated translation of four Lu chronicles. Grabowsky and Wichasin take the annotations out of their meticulously researched footnotes of the translation proper and deftly integrate them into a history not only of a principality in northwestern Laos but a panorama of the jostlings for power among other chiang and their respective chao in the upper Mekong region. Myth and history merge in these chronicles, which document sibling and spousal rivalries in networks of intermarriage and political alliances among the elite of the region. All of this took place at a time in history when the British and French arrived on the scene to engage China and newly emerging Siam in a mapping exercise that brought an end to centuries of regional rule by previously fairly autonomous city states.
