Key Reading on Myanmar/Burma

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Aung-Thwin, Michael A.  Myth and history in the historiography of early Burma: paradigms, primary sources, and prejudices.  Ohio University Center for International Studies/Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998.  220p bibl index afp  (Monographs in international studies. Southeast Asia series, 102) ISBN 0-89680-201-9, $25.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 1998dec CHOICE.
36-2302  DS528  97-49191 CIP 

Aung-Thwin shows that five critical episodes in early Burmese history are badly misunderstood and in need of fundamental revision. His reexamination indicates that the usual explanations for the five turning points are mythic; in four of the cases, myths were created during the colonial period by nonindigenous historians misreading or not reading the sources. Moreover, those historians were, he suggests, influenced by their contemporary appreciation (whether accurate or false) of Burma during their own time. Thus, because ethnicity had become a causal argument after the British conquest, it must have seemed reasonable to seek ethnic reasons for decisive irruptions in Burma’s past. Aung-Thwin also argues that the mind-set of modern historians was Western, hence lineal and progressive. As chronology advanced, so conditions and sophistication in Burma went from worse to better. But that is too glib a framework, Aung-Thwin asserts. He concludes by indicating how myths about even the recent past–the 1920s and 1962–are being created to accord with contemporary political and ideological approaches. No understanding of Burma’s past is possible without reckoning with this persuasive analysis. Upper-division undergraduates and above.–R. I. Rotberg, Harvard University 

Burma: the challenge of change in a divided society, ed. by Peter Carey.  Macmillan (UK)/St. Martin’s/St. Antony’s College, 1997.  254p bibl index ISBN 0-312-17422-5, $65.00. Reviewed in 1998feb CHOICE.
35-3534  DS530  96-46502 CIP 

The political skills of Burma’s ruling military elite, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), have hardly been matched, unfortunately for justice and freedom, by English-language exposures of its inhumanities. This volume of nine chapters on developments in Burma since the 1990 election is, therefore, a fortunate exception. Carey (Trinity College, Oxford) provides a useful introductory synopsis of the political issues surrounding the SLORC regime. Specific subsequent topics include minority-ethnic and refugee problems, environmental destruction, the drug trade, the growing AIDS crisis, deterioration of living standards, international aid and investment, and relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Especially noteworthy are Janelle Diller’s devastating critique of the SLORC-sponsored National Convention; Chi-shad Liang’s solid treatment of China’s support for Burma’s dictatorship by means of diplomacy, trade, arms supplies, and military training; and Martin Smith’s clear elaboration of Burma’s messy ethnic map. A necessary addition to academic library collections at all levels. — D. Kowalewski, Alfred University

Burma at the turn of the twenty-first century, ed. by Monique Skidmore.  Hawai’i, 2005.  304p bibl index afp ISBN 0824828976  pbk, $25.00. Reviewed in 2006feb CHOICE.
43-3540  GN635  2005-3440 CIP 

Burma remains one of the world’s most closed societies. Skidmore (Australian National Univ.) has gathered contributions by researchers in several disciplines with extensive on-the-ground knowledge of everyday conditions there. The unifying theme can be described as the politics of culture, an elusive problem that must be approached indirectly by examining the discreet circumvention of rules and furtive expressions of creativity in commonplace activities. Topics covered include illegal lotteries, pilgrimages and religious icons, political rumors, and music competitions. Several chapters stress the ways the military government legitimizes its own projects and viewpoints while negating the validity or even existence of alternatives. The impenetrability of the government’s unquestioned dogma may account for contributors’ heavy reliance on firsthand observations. The book contains few references to theoretical issues or literature, and even fewer attempts to situate findings beyond a strictly Burmese context. This is unfortunate, because many situations described here can immediately be extended to other Southeast Asian nations and relate to issues affecting the entire region. Jennifer Leehey’s chapter on literary life and writers’ strategies for coping with censorship stands out, in this reviewer’s opinion, as the strongest contribution. Summing Up: Recommended. Collections in Buddhist and Asian studies, upper-division undergraduates and above. — J. H. Bernstein, CUNY Kingsborough Community College 

Callahan, Mary P.  Making enemies: war and state building in Burma.  Cornell, 2004 (c2003).  268p index afp ISBN 0-8014-4125-0, $39.95. Reviewed in 2004sep CHOICE.
42-0475  DS529  2003-7602 CIP
 
This long-awaited, authoritative, and fluent account of the rise of the autarkic military regime that has kept Burma poor, isolated, and inward looking since 1962 opens with a chapter on the colonial state and continues with an analysis of the Japanese occupation during WW II, local resistance efforts, the formation of local armed forces, and a definitive chapter on soldiers as state builders from 1953 to 1962. The Burmese government serendipitously allowed Callahan (international studies, Univ. of Washington) access to some archival materials before 1962, but refused her permission to see materials after that point, despite the fact that the current ruling junta is more modern and outward looking–limited as it is–than the Ne Win dictatorship of 1962 to 1988. Callahan is one of the few scholars who understands and writes well about the Burmese military. She also appreciates how the five decades since independence have given Burma no experience with political institutions capable of accommodating dissent, or even dialogue. Recovering the promise of a democratic or even mildly participatory Burma will be difficult, especially given the past that Callahan explains so well. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — R. I. Rotberg, Harvard University 
 
Maung, Mya.  Totalitarianism in Burma: prospects for economic development.  Paragon House, 1992.  277p bibl index ISBN 1-55778-553-8, $49.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 1993jul CHOICE.
30-6403  JQ442  92-7331 CIP
 
This outstanding volume continues the serious and high-quality research begun by the author with The Burma Road to Poverty (1991). In the present study, he offers a clear analysis of Burma as a totalitarian state under military rule and how it affects both the daily lives and thinking of the people and the economy. Beginning with an analysis of totalitarianism as a concept, he applies it to Burma and shows what has happened to the nation since the soldiers seized power in 1962, suppressed a peaceful revolt in 1988, and have sought to disguise repression with promises of freedom and democracy and have continued the command economy of the past in the new dress of open competitive popular market forces; but in reality, with the same people in charge, operating in the same corrupt ways, Burma’s economic decline continues. This volume is must reading for political economists who are advancing the thesis of economic development before democracy; Burma is living proof that in its case, this least-developed nation continues to decline and the people suffer while a two-class society emerges: the military and the people. Maung’s solid, well-researched study will have lasting value; this reviewer believes it will be the standard work against which all others on the political economy of Burma will be measured. Not only will scholars appreciate this work, but it is also must reading for business practioners who want to enter the Burma market. With this second book, Maung is the leading political economist writing on Burma today. General; advanced undergraduate through professional. — J. Silverstein, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick 

Myat Thein.  Economic development of Myanmar.  Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2004.  287p bibl indexes ISBN 9812302115  pbk, $17.90. Reviewed in 2005mar CHOICE.
42-4153  HC422  2004-348706 MARC 

This extremely well written book on the economic development of Myanmar (previously known as Burma) is a welcome addition to very scanty literature available on this relatively closed economy in East Asia. Myat, a highly qualified academician and consultant to various international organizations, traces the socioeconomic development and different and often contrasting economic policies in the country during three periods: parliamentary democracy, 1948-62; the Socialist period under military rule, 1962-88; and the market-oriented period under military rule, 1988 to the present. Supported by hard-to-find statistical information and a valuable bibliography, this study will be highly useful for students of economic development in general and Myanmar–one of Asia’s least understood economies–in particular. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. — J. S. Uppal, SUNY at Albany 

Naw, Angelene.  Aung San and the struggle for Burmese independence.  Silkworm Books, 2001.  284p bibl index ISBN 9747551543  pbk, $17.50. Reviewed in 2003jan CHOICE.
40-2952  DS530   MARC

This is the first complete biography of Aung San, the Burmese nationalist of the 1930s and 1940s whose brave daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, is now leading the “Movement for Democracy” against Myanmar’s military junta. When university strikes gave Aung San a huge following in 1936, he became affectionately known as “Bogyoke,” or Supreme Commander. He wrote the rules for Burma’s “Freedom Bloc” in 1939 and became convinced that “Britain’s war was Burma’s opportunity.” With his Thirty Comrades, he formed the Burmese Independence Army and helped the Japanese “liberate” Burma in 1942. Eventually put off by Japanese duplicity and cruelty, he initiated the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League while still serving in Dr. Ba Maw’s puppet government. Aung San made contact with the British in March 1945; Mountbatten trusted him. He was universally recognized as Burma’s leader, and Attlee’s labour government eventually granted his demand for complete independence. His Panglong Agreement with ethnic minorities led to the “Union of Burma,” but then he and his entire executive council were assassinated with machine guns traced to a jealous political rival. Burma became independent without him in January 1948. Excellent scholarship. Very highly recommended for all levels and collections. — W. W. Reinhardt, Randolph-Macon College 

Smith, Martin.  Burma: insurgency and the politics of ethnicity.  Zed Books, 1991. (Dist. by Humanities),  492p index ISBN 0-86232-868-3, $69.95; ISBN 0-86232-869-1  pbk, $25.00. Reviewed in 1992may CHOICE.
29-5344  DS530  91-5031 CIP 
 
For an understanding of Burma’s (now Myanmar’s) prolonged, continuing, and largely unknown crisis no better work is available than this detailed, well-written, and informative book by a British journalist-scholar, based mainly on “journalistic research” in the 1980s during many hazardous trips around Burma. Smith provides revealing analyses of the role of various major organizations and groups, including the repressive regime of General Saw Maung, who seized power in 1988 in a bloody coup, backed by the military (the Tatmadaw), the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), the National Democratic Front (NDF) and other insurgent alliances among many ethnic groups, and the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD won an overwhelming victory in the general election of May 27, 1990, but was barred from assuming office by the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and the military. Burma’s troubles continue, with little hope for a better future as long as the present military-dominated government remains in power. The author believes, however, that the long-range future lies in the hands of the country’s young people, who are showing “new determination and spirit,” but whose sufferings may be only beginning. Highly recommended to upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and general readers who are willing to undertake a serious study of the unfolding Burmese tragedy. — N. D. Palmer, University of Pennsylvania 
  
Steinberg, David I.  Burma, the state of Myanmar.  Georgetown University, 2001.  342p bibl index afp ISBN 0-87840-842-8, $67.50. Reviewed in 2002jan CHOICE.
39-3047  DS530  00-61037 CIP 

Steinberg (Georgetown Univ.), an observer of Burma’s development for more than 40 years, notes that this is not a comprehensive study of Burma. Instead, it is “a study of contending authorities and issues of legitimacy essentially since 1988….” One wonders, why not write a balanced account? One glaring imbalance appears in his treatment of the thought and action of military rulers and of the Burmese people and the opposition. Steinberg thoroughly examines the ideology advanced by military thinkers and civilians who share their view, but offers far less about the thought of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition, or of the civilian Burmese intellectuals who take a different approach. Steinberg does not convincingly explain why the government and its thinking are rejected by the people who, in the main, share its culture and religious beliefs, but not its politics. In a nation where the educated youth have been accepted leaders since the 1920s, he offers no convincing analysis of why they stand against the military and sacrifice their lives to bring it down. Though one may not agree with this study, this serious analysis should not be ignored because the author rests his arguments on the facts as he understands them. Graduate level and above. — J. Silverstein, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick 
 
Thant Myint-U.  The river of lost footsteps: histories of Burma.  Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006.  361p afp ISBN 0-374-16342-1, $25.00; ISBN 9780374163426, $25.00. Reviewed in 2007jul CHOICE.
44-6395  DS530  2006-9199 CIP 
 
This new book has already received a number of positive reviews, and so is most likely already on the acquisition list for many libraries, where it certainly deserves to be. Best appreciated as a popular history, Thant Myint-U’s book covers Burma’s distant past to the present day in an engaging style, with many intriguing characters and dramatic moments. The book has limited footnotes, but demonstrates a strong grasp of the key materials needed to study Burma’s precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial story. The best chapters are those that describe Burma’s occupation by the Japanese during WW II and the postwar drive to independence. These chapters show the benefit of the author’s own long-standing research interests, and are valuable reading for anyone interested in anticolonial movements and in Japanese military activity in Southeast Asia in WW II. The chapters covering the author’s personal history are also of general interest, offering a sense of a different Burma than the one that readers may be familiar with from newspaper accounts of the country’s current regime, and providing a more informed perspective on this now isolated place. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — S. Maxim, University of California, Berkeley 
 
Tucker, Shelby.  Burma: the curse of independence.  Pluto, 2001. (Dist. by Stylus Publishing, VA),  282p bibl index ISBN 0-7453-1546-1, $69.95; ISBN 0-7453-1541-0  pbk, $19.95. Reviewed in 2002may CHOICE.
39-5339  DS530  2001-2154 CIP 
 
With this title, Tucker places in historical perspective his most recent foray into Burma with Kachin rebels, Among Insurgents (2000). He carefully examines the complicated geographic and ethnic factors that have determined Burma’s development and presents a detailed description of nationalist politics at the outset of WW II. Much attention is paid to Burma’s extraordinary leader Aung San, who first aided the Japanese and then went over to the British. Aung San’s “triumph” was the 1947 “Aung San-Attlee Agreement,” effectively nullifying Britain’s wartime promises to Burmese minorities. The subsequent, much celebrated “Panglong Agreement” promising regional autonomy was farcical at best. Still, Tucker thinks “heroic” Aung San was probably assassinated by his own dominant Burmans. There followed a series of military governments–“narcocrats” and “kleptocrats”–that have made Burma the world’s largest heroin producer, supplying 56 percent of American consumption. In opposition there is only Aung San’s brave daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy cries out for United Nations’ condemnation of an outrageously brutal, corrupt dictatorship. “Save for the short period under British rule, Burma has never known peace or unity.” Very highly recommended for all levels and collections. — W. W. Reinhardt, Randolph-Macon College 

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