…reflective and illuminating…learned yet also intimate…The Hidden History of Burma is an urgent book about a heavy subject, but Thant Myint-U, whose previous work includes the marvelous The River of Lost Footsteps…is a writer with a humane sensibility and a delicate yet pointed touch.

10/14/2019

How did Burma’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi go from Nobel Peace Prize laureate to figurehead for a regime accused of genocide? Former UN diplomat Thant (Where China Meets Asia), offers a lucid, albeit complex, answer in this essential analysis of modern Burmese history. According to Thant, the stage was set for the country’s racial, ethnic, and religious divisions during 19th-century British colonial rule, when an array of cultures, language groups, and tribal identities were lumped together under an exploitative form of capitalism. With independence in 1948 came the world’s longest ongoing civil war. A brutal military dictatorship seized control in 1962 until the early 2010s, when Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and won a seat in parliament. As the military junta loosened its grip on power, Thant explains, the army signed accords with rebel groups, creating a framework in which violence improved the odds of political settlement. That model, and the government’s failure to craft a “new and more inclusive” national identity, Thant writes, influenced the rise of the Muslim Rohingaya resistance movement and ensuing military crackdown and refugee crisis, in which Suu Kyi has refused to intervene. Thant briskly synthesizes insider accounts, news reports, and academic research to make his authoritative case. This perceptive chronicle is vital for understanding Burma’s transition to democratic rule and sobering future prospects. (Nov.)

"At once absorbing, illuminating, and humane.… Invaluable in helping us understand the complexities not just of contemporary Burma but of our postcolonial world."

"An engrossing new account, elegantly written by one of the people who knows the country best."

"[Thant Myint-U’s] most impressive title to date. It features anecdotes from the author’s own extraordinary life."

"Thant Myint-U is the one indispensable author on Burma. This is an accessible, understated but powerful story of modern Burma’s journey from hope to tragedy. Thant combines insider knowledge with an admirably objective assessment to tell the story of a nation whose promise has been subverted by political betrayal, ethnic conflict, and economic folly. A well-written narrative that dwells on important themes of authoritarianism and identity."

"The book on Burma I’ve been waiting to read—a riveting behind-the-scenes account of the country’s political and social transition over recent years, a brave unravelling of well-worn myths, and an urgent plea to imagine a new story and better future for Burma."

"Thant Myint-U is a writer with a humane sensibility and a delicate yet pointed touch....Learned yet also intimate, The Hidden History of Burma is an urgent book about a heavy subject."

"Thant Myint-U’s fascinating The Hidden History of Burma is a timely reminder of the importance of intelligent social history."

"Thant Myint-U is the greatest living historian of Burma…His profoundly humane and ethical meditations on national identity, plurality, and the dangers of hyper-nationalism are vital to anyone trying to understand the Rohingya crisis or wrestling with the complexities of modern South or South East Asia."

"Acute yet empathetic, this book is essential reading for all those interested in the future of Asia and the subcontinent."

"Thant Myint-U deftly weaves together factors as diverse as nationalism, capitalism, geopolitics, and social media into a clear-eyed analysis of Burma’s troubled past and present. An essential read for anyone who wants to understand Burma and the challenges it must face in the coming decades."

"Few countries are as complex—or fascinating—as modern-day Burma. In these pages, Thant Myint-U explains the country’s fifteen-year transformation from military junta to peaceful democracy to divided and fractured post-crisis country. A must-read book, not just for those interested in Burma, but for those interested in broader questions of race, national identity and democracy in our 21st-century world."

"To much of the outside world, the story of modern Burma is both a disappointment and a mystery. The hoped-for happy ending in which Aung San Suu Kyi, released from house arrest, would lead the country to peace and prosperity failed to materialize. Instead, there have been horrifying human-rights abuses inflicted on the Rohingya community. This superb account explains what happened and why, drawing out the wider lessons for the world."

"Provides a microcosm of the forces shaping twenty-first century politics.… An essential guide to the world we are in."

"An engrossing new book about Myanmar’s troubled, unfinished transition from dictatorship to democratic rule...The Hidden History of Burma should become a guiding reference work for how we view the new Myanmar."

06/01/2019

Things were looking good for Burma when Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 2010 and reentered politics; by 2013, Fodor's declared the country one of the world's "buzzy hotspots." Now the country stands accused of war crimes owing to its persecution and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims. Renowned scholar/diplomat Myint-U, named one of "100 Leading Global Thinkers" by Foreign Policy in 2013 and one of 50 "World Thinkers" by Prospect in 2014, provides a you-are-there perspective.

Assaf Cohen is a capable narrator for this thorough examination of the many issues plaguing the nascent democracy of Burma. He is academic, earnest, and informative throughout the chapters that outline the promise and limitations facing the nation. Cohen makes clear the complex, intertwined factors of race, government, and economics that compete for dominance. He brings forth the hope and ensuing disappointment of longtime dissenter Aung San Suu Kyi's liberation and subsequent rise to power. For those wishing to learn more about this troubled country and its complicated past, this is a relatively easy listen, filled with detailed information. Cohen skillfully guides listeners through the myriad issues and considerable potential of one of the world's oldest countries. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

2019-09-02
Recent developments in a South Asian country that, the author suggests, is unduly shackled by the past.

At the beginning of the 2010s, writes Myint-U (Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, 2012, etc.), everything seemed to be looking up for his nation: An entrenched military government was giving up power to a civilian one, and "everybody, at least in the West, began to believe that the country was in the midst of an astonishing transformation." Alas, Burma, endowed with some of the planet's greatest biodiversity, is also riven by ethnic tensions and politics colored by money, much of it from the trade in opium-based drugs. In Burmese thought, writes the author, "kala" has an important role—that is, a notion of overarching ethnicity that sharply separates people into clans, tribes, groups of others. Colonizing powers reinforced this division. As the author notes, during World II, Japan backed the Arakanese Buddhists while the British armed the Muslims who are now in the headlines as the Rohingya. These groups continue to clash, with recent ethnic violence forcing untold hundreds of thousands of Burmese Muslims to take refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. The world found much hope in the freeing of former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, who became a member of parliament and then president. However, writes the author, she has since practiced politics pretty much as usual, seeking a reconciliation between her party and the all-powerful military and emphasizing "at every opportunity that she loved the army…and that she wanted more than anything to see it stronger and more respected than ever." The conflict rages on, not just internally, but also with an encroaching China. So does economic anxiety, as the government "advocated liberalization and a welcoming of foreign investment" but refused to abandon cronyism and bureaucratic micromanagement. The author calls Burma an "unfinished nation," and the description seems apt.

A pointed analysis of a country that, though much in the news, remains a mystery to most outsiders.