- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Fsg Adult; 1st Edition edition (Dec 25 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0374163421
- ISBN-13: 978-0374163426
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 635 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #499,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Analysis of Burma has been "singularly ahistorical," Thant Myint-U (The Making of Modern Burma), a senior officer at the U.N., observes. With an eye to what the past might say about Burma's present status as a country in crisis, Thant Myint-U examines the legacy of imperialism, war and invasion. Recounting in a well-crafted narrative the colorful histories of Burmese dynastic empires from ancient times to the 18th century, Thant Myint-U then focuses on how, during the 19th century, the Burmese kingdom of Ava fought and lost a series of border wars with the British East India Company, culminating in a treaty that marked the beginning of Burma's loss of independence. Considering the country's longstanding global isolation in the context of its geographic and cultural singularity, Thant Myint-U interweaves his own family's history, writing extensively about his maternal grandfather, U Thant, who rose from humble origins to become secretary-general of the U.N. in the 1960s. Profiling 20th-century Burmese leaders such as Aung San, U Nu and Nobel Peace Prize–winning activist Aung San Suu Kyi, Thant Myint-U beautifully captures the complex identity of a little-understood country, concluding with a trenchant analysis of Burma's current predicament under an oppressive regime. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
An international pariah for the past four decades, Burma has seen its profile, though not its military government's reputation, rise higher in recent years because of the saga of Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Thant contributes welcome context to her plight under house arrest, as well as to Burma's, writ large with this history. It reaches into ancient mists, establishing the origins of Burmese national traditions (in terms of revered places, admired kings, and Buddhism), and commences concretely with three wars that culminated in Britain's colonization of the country in 1885. Administratively part of British India, Burma regained some autonomy in the 1930s, but its nationalists, according to Thant, were inclined toward ideological extremism, with baleful effects: the founder of the military regime, Ne Win, sided with the Japanese invaders in World War II and in 1962 imposed a form of nationalistic socialism that suffocated the economy and isolated the country from the world community. This readable, reflective history will support revived interest in Burma. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well written history of a fascinating country,
By Jayne H.L. (Oxford) - See all my reviews
This review is from: River Of Lost Footsteps (Hardcover)
The book is mainly a history of Burma, starting back in ancient times but concentrating on the last hundred or so years. It has lots of colorful anecdotes and interesting insights, connecting Burma's often violent history to people and events around the world. It's fast-paced and a very good read. The book is also part memoir and travelogue and the author weaves in the history of his own family, which served Burma's kings for hundreds of years, and the history of his grandfather U Thant who became the UN's third Secretary General in the 1960s.The author concludes with a hard-nosed critique of present western (including Canadian) policy towards the country. The River of Lost Footsteps is often dramatic and sometimes funny in a dry sort of way and though it's well footnoted, it's not at all academic in style. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good history about Asia or about colonialism and certainly anyone interested in Burma.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction to the history of Burma.,
By
This review is from: River Of Lost Footsteps (Paperback)
The book explores the history of Burma in an attempt to explain the current situation and explores the way forward for that country. I found it to be easy to read and very informative. I highly recommend it if you are interested in Burma and Southeast Asia overall.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
class consciousness,
By Bodomar (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: River Of Lost Footsteps (Paperback)
This is a typical book about the history of Burma written by someone who belongs to (or thinks he belongs to) the upper echelons of burmese society. The book is partly autobiographical, which is the way aristocrats tend to write history in most countries. The author tends to overestimate the "grandiosity" and "antiquity" of burmese history (the present military regime likes to do that also!). The history of most countries, including Burma, is in reality often a power struggle between small (elite) groups and is a lot more mundane than what is written in the history books. Unfortunately this "trivial" fact has substantial consequences on the economic plight of average citizens, in Burma and elsewhere.Although biased in many ways, I do think the book is well written and informative, especially for people who are unfamiliar with the "complexities" of burmese history and society (because they tend to think of Burma as an isolated exotic place!). It is written by a young burmese author who grew up in the USA, but who is the grandson of former UN secretary general U Thant (he mentions that a few times in the book!). I was born in Burma, of humble parents, but I leave it up to authors like Thant Myint U, to write the modern "Maha Yazawin Gyi" (Big Royal History) of Burma. I certainly don't agree with everything that is said in the book. On p.202 a burmese man says: "What made me feel sad was that we should be placed in the same category as the African" (because an english girl asked him whether burmese eat human flesh) It makes me feel sad as a burmese man to hear that kind of prejudice against Africans. Didn't we all come out of Africa?
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