Books about Myanmar/Burma
A college summer spent in Bangkok got me interested in Myanmar, and though I wanted to visit then, the timing wasn’t right. Instead, I read all I could and finally visited during the summer of 2015. Here’s the highlights (and one lowlight.) Books I particularly recommend are bolded.
Voice of Hope by Alan Clements
A series of interviews between Aung San Suu Kyi and Clements, an American ordained as a Buddhist monk in Burma. It’s worth reading for her answers, many of which are quite good. Skim over the tedious questions. (Clements seems not to understand fully this is a book about her, not him.)
Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
Guy Delise goes to cold, unfamiliar places and writes very human-seeming graphic novels about them. His Burmese book, written while the Burmese government was jailing its citizens, shows how he can make anywhere seem more charming than it has rights to be.
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
Long fiction about several generations of an Indian-Burmese family, beginning during the British invasion of Burma in 1885 and continuing about a hundred years afterward. Insanely detailed and researched — apparently it took 10 years to write. The characters felt flat, but the places make this book.
Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin
Larkin uses Burmese Days, George Orwell’s memoir, and 1984, “his second book about Burma,” to make sense of the Burmese police state. Larkin found Orwell everywhere while she was traveling, and she wrote about it all, so much so I wondered what she saw for herself.
The River of Lost Footsteps by Thant Myint-U
Well-researched history of Burma’s last hundred-ish years, written by someone whose family has played a large part in it. The best, most accessible history I found, and only a bit hagiographic. Of all the nonfiction on this list, I’d most recommend this one.
Burmese Days by George Orwell
George Orwell’s memoir of his time in the British Empire’s military, becoming increasingly disenchanted with the Empire after gin and curry at the European Club. Worth reading for the historical perspective, as nearly every other Western-oriented book about Myanmar will assume you’ve read this one.
Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know by David I. Steinberg
Most likely, you should skip this book. It’s structured as a Q&A that presumes the reader knows nothing about Myanmar and just wants to be told the hawkish, American-centric plot.
Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi’s vignettes about her home. The book’s meant to introduce Westerners to Burma, which, when she was writing, was closed to them. Her stories about tea rituals, dinners, and family norms made a foreign-sounding place more familiar.
