Justin Wintle

An excellent in depth work about Burma's history, ethnic profiles, colonial period and attempts to bring democracy to the country since 1947. Seems like a very balanced view of Aung San Suu Kyi, her work towards democracy while resisting violence as a means of engaging with one military junta after another. And still the country is shackled by military rule and disadvantage for the populace.

That there is very little international coverage of Burma speaks to the choke hold that the junta have over the Burmese and foreigners living there. The horrors of genocide against the ethnic minorities by Burma's military regime resulted in hundreds of thousands of Karens, Mons, Chins, Kachins, Shans and other non-Burmans to flee across the border to Thailand, India and China.

In a country where, as one UN senior official in Bangkok said, " just to turn your head can mean imprisonment or show more death", rose a woman who espoused democracy and human rights, a woman who returned to Burma, leaving her comfortable life in England, leaving her husband, her sons and her friends, in the knowledge that this was the time for her to take a stand for the people of Burma, to continue the work her father, assassinated General Aung San, started.

That she has remained under house arrest starting in 1989 and not executed like many other dissenters to the military government indicate the government's recognition that this woman the people call 'The Lady" was not someone they could make quietly disappear without an international outcry and repercussions.

The woman is Aung San Suu Kyi, and her amazing story through letters, speeches and clandestine interview notes by many brave people of Burma, is well told in this book. You may not agree with how she chose to try and bring about unity, and you may not agree with her decision to choose to stay in Burma instead of being with her children, but you will admire the strength of character this Nobel Peace Prize winner displays even in the face of tremendous physical and psychological challenges. show less

More than just a biography of Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, this book depicts the context of her struggle through a comprehensive background of Burma's fight for independence (from the British) and the tortuous beginnings of the democracy movement (albeit still unfulfilled until now) and the role of her father, Aung San, in building post-colonial Burma. The book is fairly detailed as well about the rise of the generals to power, and how the regime has managed so far to keep the show more country isolated. Overall, very good background reading for anybody interested in Burma's politics, and a better understanding of Suu Kyi's principles and ongoing fight. A trifle amusing, though, is the author's penchant for unfamiliar words --- he peppers the pages liberally, which could be a little off-putting sometimes. Some commentators say the book's drawback is that the author never had an interview or direct contact with Suu Kyi herself when writing the book. I'm sure the book would have benefited greatly from this, but i'm sure too that if the author could, he would have - the current severe restrictions on access to her, though, would make this almost an impossibility. Still, i found the book enlightening and very informative. show less

This book is a great favourite and standby of mine. I first discovered it in my high school library, and I spent many pleasurable, deeply geeky hours looking up what people had said about favourite authors and actors. When I found it in a used bookstore years later I snatched it up immediately.

I have only two problems with it: first, too many sports stars and politicians for my taste. Still, it's a huge book, so I don't feel my favourites were shortchanged. Second, it's thirty years old. I show more wouldn't say it's out of date, but it's begging for a new edition. Even as is, it's a mainstay of my reference books and quote books. show less