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The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century Paperback – February 23, 2021

by Thant Myint-U (Author)

4.4 417 ratings

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A New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2019
A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2020

“An urgent book.” ―Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

During a century of colonialism, Burma was plundered for its natural resources and remade as a racial hierarchy. Over decades of dictatorship, it suffered civil war, repression, and deep poverty. Today, Burma faces a mountain of challenges: crony capitalism, exploding inequality, rising ethnonationalism, extreme racial violence, climate change, multibillion dollar criminal networks, and the power of China next door. Thant Myint-U shows how the country’s past shapes its recent and almost unbelievable attempt to create a new democracy in the heart of Asia, and helps to answer the big questions: Can this multicultural country of 55 million succeed? And what does Burma’s story really tell us about the most critical issues of our time?

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

February 23, 2021
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

0393541436
ISBN-13

978-0393541434
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Provides a microcosm of the forces shaping twenty-first century politics.… An essential guide to the world we are in."
― David Runciman, author of How Democracy Ends

"At once absorbing, illuminating, and humane.… Invaluable in helping us understand the complexities not just of contemporary Burma but of our postcolonial world."
― Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity

"An engrossing new account, elegantly written by one of the people who knows the country best."
― John Reed, Financial Times

"A must-read book, not just for those interested in Burma, but for those interested in national identity and democracy in our twenty-first-century world."
― Ian Bremmer, author of Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism

"[Thant Myint-U’s] most impressive title to date. It features anecdotes from the author’s own extraordinary life."
― Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Wall Street Journal

"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."
― Emma Larkin, author of Finding George Orwell in Burma

"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."
― Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

"Thant Myint-U’s fascinating The Hidden History of Burma is a timely reminder of the importance of intelligent social history."
― Martin Chilton, Independent (UK)

"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."
― Pratap Bhanu Mehta, author of The Burden of Democracy and former vice-chancellor, Ashoka University

"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."
― John Reed, Financial Times

From the Publisher

This paperback edition includes a revised epilogue.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (February 23, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393541436
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393541434
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #333,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #174 in India History
- #216 in Southeast Asia History
- #287 in Asian Politics

Customer Reviews:
4.4 417 ratings

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Thant Myint-U
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Dr Thant Myint-U is an award-winning writer, historian, and international public servant.
He was educated at Harvard and Cambridge University, where, after completing his PhD he taught history as a Fellow of Trinity College (1996-1999).
He has served on three United Nations peacekeeping operations, in Cambodia (1992-3) and the former Yugoslavia (1994-5) as well as at the UN Secretariat in NY (2000-2006), including as Chief of Policy Planning in the Deparment of Political Affairs and Senior Office in the Executive Office of the Secretary General.
From 2008-2021 he worked in Myanmar, as adviser to the president and special adviser on the peace process (2011-2015), founder and chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust, and chairman of U Thant House.
He is the author of four critically acclaimed books on Burmese and Asian history. He is currently writing a new book: "Another Tomorrow: U Thant, the United Nations, and the Untold Story of the 1960s". is also the author of numerous articles, including for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs.
In 2013 he was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the "100 Leading Global Thinkers" of the year and in April 2014 by Prospect Magazine's as one of 50 "World Thinkers". He is a recipient of the Fukuoka Grand Prize from the government of Japan (2015) and the Padma Shri award from the President of India (2018).
From 2021-2022 he was Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge. He is also United Nations Special Adviser on Humanitarian Diplomacy and a senior adviser to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
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Thant Myint-U
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Thant Myint-U is an award winning writer, historian, conservationist, and former advisor to the President of Myanmar.
thantmyintu.com
He was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the "100 Leading Global Thinkers" of 2013 and by Prospect Magazine as one of 50 "World Thinkers" of 2014. In June 2015 he was awarded the "Fukuoka Grand Prize", Japan's highest cultural prize and in May 2018 the "Padma Shri", one of India's highest civilian honours.
He is the Founder and Chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust, the Founder and Chairman of U Thant House, a Founding Partner of the Ava Advisory Group, and from 2012-2016 was a member of the (Myanmar) National Economic and Social Advisory Council. As a Special Advisor for the peace process he was part of the team that led negotiations towards the 2015 "Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement" between the Myanmar government and ethnic-minority insurgent armies.
Thant Myint-U is a Myanmar national but born in New York City to Burmese parents in 1966, 'returning' to Burma for the first time when he was eight years old. He was educated at Harvard and Cambridge University, where he completed his PhD in history in 1996.
He has served on three United Nations peacekeeping operations, in Cambodia and in the former Yugoslavia, as well as six years with the UN Secretariat in NY, including as the head of policy planning in the Department of Political Affairs. In 2004-5 he was the Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General responsible for the 2005 World Summit.
Thant Myint-U taught modern history for several years as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and is the author of three books, The Making of Modern Burma, The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, and, most recently, Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, which was short-listed for the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz Book Award in 2012.
thantmyintu.com
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

417 global ratings

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Glenn A. Auve

Complicated country

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2021

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Fascinating. I read the author's River of Lost Footsteps several years ago. This sort of picks up where that book left off. It's a good first hand account of all the changes taking place in Burma before the coup and current horrible situation. I guess it needs another updated epilogue now. Lots of good insights. It's a fairly quick read evenv for a slow reader like me

One person found this helpful

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Ian

Excellent background, but…

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2021

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I only just began reading this book when I starting to realize it was kind of pointless to read any book about the situation in Burma/Myanmar these days, because by the time the ink is dry on the author’s manuscript, the situation in Burma has changed significantly, to say nothing of what has happened by the time the finished book actually hits the shelves.

This book will give you some excellent history, but do not expect it, or any book, to bring you up-to-date on the situation as it is today.

2 people found this helpful

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Howard Schulman

An excellent introduction to current day Burma

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

Thant Myint-U's book on Burma was interesting. I'm not sure why you are reading this book, but for me personally I had just spent 2 weeks travelling around Yunnan Province China (October 2019) which bordered Burma and, culturally it was more like Burma than China. Xishuangbanna was blast and worth the trek to get there, once/if the Corona virus thing goes away.

Additionally, I was totally puzzled at how Burma went from being a rapidly up and coming capitalist star prospect, ready to join the community of nations, praised by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and then suddenly several years later back in the military repressive, genocidal dictatorship category, all the while Aung San Suu Kyi was in charge. Additionally, Burma is one of the countries bordering China, so I thought understanding Burma would help me to understand China better.

This book addresses all those issues and is fairly easy to read. The author, we learn as the book unfolds, is the grandson of a Burmese hero U Thant, who was Secretary General of the UN from 1961 to 1971, taking over just after Dag Hammerskjold was killed in a plane crash.

Additionally, although the author grew up in the USA, in affluent Harrison, NY (where I also grew up, totally coincidentally!), we learn that he is very involved, as the grandson of U Thant, in Burma today, heading up an effort to preserve historically significant colonial buildings in Rangoon and many other efforts.

So, the author's perspective is not just as an academic, studying the problems, but one who is in the middle of things there now in addition to having a deep personal connection through his grandfather U Thant. The author seemed pretty matter of fact, though I did occasionally wonder about biases in his writing, given his current involvement, though he really did seem very straight forward.

The book does review Burma's past history but all this is focused on better understanding the situation as things are today, Burma's colonial history and it's multitudes of ethnic populations.

Lastly, the book mentioned Obama's visit there in 2012 at Yangon University, and that he gave the best speech anyone in Burma had ever heard. I highly recommend anyone getting this far into this review to listen to it.

I did the audiobook and was quite happy. The book is relatively short, but sweet. Easy to read and well-written.

6 people found this helpful

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ALBERTO NAVARRO

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF BURMA.

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2023

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THIS IS A VERY INTERSTING BOOK THAT
CLEARLY POINTS OUT ALL THE PROBLEMS
FACING BURMA TODAY, UNLIKE THE WESTERN
NARRATIVE OF GOOD ( AUNG SAN SUU KYI),
VERSUS EVIL ( THE ARMY RULERS), THE REALITY AS THE AUTHOR SHOWS IS MUCH
MORE COMPLEX AND THERE IS A LOT OF
GREY SHADES, ALSO THERE IS THE WEIGHT
OF PRESENT HISTORY, BURMA IS A NATION
THAT HAS A VERY RICH ANCIENT CULTURE,
HOWEVER SINCE 1885 ,WHEN THE BRITISH
DEPOSED THE LAST MONARCHY, IT HAS
SUFFERED 63 YEARS OF BRITISH COLONIALISM,AN INDEPENDENCE
THAT HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO ETHNIC,
RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL INSURGENCIES
THAT LASTS UP TO OUR DAYS,26 YEARS
OF A DISASTROUS SOCIALIST QUASIMARXIST
REGIME, WILD CAPITALISM AND THE HARSH
AND PUNITIVE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS OF
THE WEST WITH ITS HOLLOW RETHORIC
OF "DEMOCRACY " AND " HUMAN RIGHTS ".
IN THE END AUNG SAN SUU KYI COULD NOT
COPE WITH ALL THE TROUBLES AND FINALLY
IN 2021 SHE WAS DEPOSED BY A MILITARY
COUP.

One person found this helpful

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H.

Must-read book to better understand the whirlwind journey of Myanmar in the past decade

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

What happened when the 'local' (the generals, the activists, the academics, the businessmen) and the 'international' (the diplomats, the experts, the samaritans, and the global capitalists) suddenly came together to negotiate and deliver goals as elusive and intractable as democracy, development, modernity, and peace to a country like Myanmar whose history and complex realities have usually been, both domestically and aboard, reduced to narratives of 'good versus evil' and 'us versus them'? To me, this book comes across as an honest attempt to answer this question from the perspective of a person, who belongs to both the 'local' and the 'international' but perhaps does not fully identify with either. The book takes the reader through the author's intellectual, personal, and political journey in Myanmar in the past decade - in doing so, it paints a vivid picture of politics of hope, politics of cynicism, and politics of opportunism taking place in the same country at the same time. Only time will tell which ultimately wins out but the book suggests that the writing is on the wall.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Myanmar, especially to the current generation of Myanmar youth asking themselves the question of what they can do for the country.

7 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Akshay

A brief in Burmese history

Reviewed in India on May 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

Fantastic book which unlocks Burmese history from its pre-colonial core to its current shambolic state. The writer gives a good assessment of how the Burmese population constantly suffered due to the shortsighted decisions of the military junta and offers significant criticism of the Aun San Suu Kyi government's failures. Eventhough the writer himself is a well-known statesman in the Burmese power circles, he has managed to keep the tone of the book neutral without being too lopsided on its multiple stakeholders. Although the Rohigya issue isn't written in depth, the book gives a valuable debrief on the reasons leading to the massacres.

A good read if you want to know the post-colonial political history of Burma.

(The sour point for me was the condition of the book. It was definitely a second hand copy. Quite disappointed at that.)

3 people found this helpful

Specky Bob

A highly readable history of modern Burma

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a highly readable history of modern Burma.

The section I found most interesting was the part which covered the transition from decades of miliary rule to democracy, in which the author played a not so small part himself. To the ignorant and uninitiated (me), the army generals of the junta had been invisible and faceless, but Thant Myint-U describes how open some of them were to change, to new ideas, to trying something new.

The book is not long, but is rather thin on the topic of the Rohingyas, which I found surprising. Many of us were shocked and baffled by Aung San Suu Kyi's silence in the face of the global outcry (rather akin to Heidegger's post-war silence on his Nazi-era actions?) and then by her defence of her government's actions. Unfortunately, I am still none the wiser as to how a beacon of democracy and hope came to be associated with one of the worst atrocities in the 21st century. I wanted to know more about the exact relationships between the powers that controlled the army and NLD politicians. I also wanted to know more about the role of Buddhist nationalists and how they influenced national policies. You won't find detailed answers such questions in this book.

Also, a couple of detailed maps and bibliography containing academic publications (as opposed to journalistic sources) would have been more helpful.

In spite of all these criticisms, I found the book to be highly informative and agreeable. While the world's focus tends to turn towards the army generals, Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic conflicts, etc., the author's consistent emphasis on the plight of the poor, and the devastating impact of climate change on the country that will far outweigh what's been experienced so far (e.g. Cyclone Nargis) surely deserves more attention. It has inspired me to read further on this country's history, culture and contemporary politics.

5 people found this helpful

S L.

Great explanation of Myanmar’s recent history

Reviewed in Italy on April 2, 2020

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Well written by a well informed author

Cristine Frees

A “must read” for everyone interested in the coherence of the Burmese situation today!

Reviewed in Germany on November 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Another great and perfectly researched book of the well known historian Thant Myint-U. It’s easy and fascinating to read and by looking back into the history of this great nation it gives an explanation about where Myanmar is standing today. A “must read” for everyone interested in the development of Myanmar and helping tremendously understanding the complex situation of this great country. Moreover I find that it’s a total love declaration to Burma, and that’s especially great for me to find out.

One person found this helpful

Fred on Albert

Insightful

Reviewed in Australia on July 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

Very insightful review of recent events in Burma. Covers a lot of ground very clearly.

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