The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma

Thant Myint-U tells the story of how Burma became the "poisoned Shangri-la", possibly the second weirdest country after North Korea. At first sight, Burma is a battle between the evil dictature and Aung San Suu Kyi. But Thant Myint-U gives us an infinitely more complicated picture, from thousands of years ago until the present day, with a civil was that has lasted for 60 years. The state-building suffered severely both when the british conquered Burma in 1885, as well as they were thrown out in 1948. But the book is more than just a story lesson. He has a clear message: Boycott is perhaps an easy answer to what to do with the country. Too easy. The dictature is extremely xenophobic, and avoids any influence from outside the country. They would not mind any boycott. Instead one should delicately try to interact more with the country. Thant Myint-U gives no easy fix, but a very sober and well-written overview. I have one minor remark: The map provided in the book should be more informative, many places mentioned in the text are not included.

Best writing on modern Burmese politics yet to appear, should be read by all the ostriches with their heads in the sand who believe that sanctions, boycotts, embargoes and the like will have any effect on the junta. Sanctions that target an entire country, rather than its leaders, are at best ignorantly undertaken and ultimately unethical.

This is a great introduction to Burma and its history. It is well written, clear, and sometimes funny. Furthermore, it is not too detailed for novices. The author's main point is a good one. Discussion of Burma tends to be largely ahistorical. Few consider Burma's history when deciding policy. I wouldn't exactly consider US senators to have this level of sophistication, but it seems that somebody should, especially lobbyists. Through history, the author shows Burma as having been often isolated and torn, with little institutional capacity to govern after the British took over. I thought the last few pages were a bit glib and not well argued. I disagree with current US policy of isolation, but the author loses his depth of understanding and seems to label the Burma lobby in the same brush as the government of Burma. The truth is, sanctions probably have relatively little effect on Burma. If the author has shown anything, it is the extent to which Burma's government isolates itself from international norms and pressure. While perhaps more aid money and business would go into the country without sanctions, much of it would not go in anyway because of the government's pervasive mismanagement and corruption (Global Fund pulled out because of misuse of its funds; Red Cross was recently expelled). Despite these last few pages, the book is overall a great read for novices and long-time Burma watchers.

This is really two books (or more) woven into one: 1) in part a well-written and fast-paced history of Burma, with many insights into how Burma's history intersects with global history and 2) a personal memoir and observations about Burma today, with many stories drawn from the author's very interesting family history as well. I found the book by turns amusing and sad and generally very engaging. It's definately something non-experts can enjoy, including those without any prior knowledge at all of Asian history, let alone Burma. In a way, there is something in it for everyone, from military history, to travelogue, to political commentary, to archeology. My only wish would be that the author spent a little more time on the present day.

The book starts with a dramatic account of the fall of Mandalay to the British and the bloody guerilla war which followed in the late 19th century. It then describes the tumultuous 1988 uprising which led to the death of hundreds of protesters and what the author sees as the failed international policy towards Burma ever since. He blames this failed policy on the lack of any appreciation of Burmese history and what follows over about 300 pages is his telling of Burmese history, with a lot of stories from his own families history and his own travel around Burma thrown in. At the end he returns to international policy towards Burma and his criticism of sanctions and attempts to isolate the country because of its repressive military government. The author is the grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant and so has a sort of special perspective on at least modern Burmese history. It's scholarly, with lots of footnotes, but not at all 'academic' in style. It has lots of colorful anecdotes and is often really funny. There's an undercurrent of humor throughout the book. At times though its very sad and poignant. I think one of the most interesting things in the book is how it connects events in Burmese history to events going on around the world at the time, from Ming China and Mughal India, to British politics to Japanese planning for World War Two. The best parts are the more personal parts, I think. I'd recommend this to any armchair history reader and especially to anyone interested in Asian history or the British empire. For Burma-philes like me, this will probably be a favorite book for a long time.