Voyages
Exploring Burma Through Literature
Browse the library of our favorite books about Burma.
The Voice of Hope: Updated and Revised Edition
Aung San Suu Kyi | Seven Stories Press | 2008
The first published work of the only imprisoned Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi's The Voice of Hope, is the inspirational and intimate portrait of life at the front lines of Burma's "revolution of the spirit." Originally published more than a decade ago, this new and expanded second edition includes an interview with U Gambira, imprisoned leader of the All-Burma Monks Alliance, as well as an invaluable resource list for action toward justice in Burma.
Finding George Orwell in Burma
Emma Larkin | Peguin Books | 2006
American journalist Emma Larkin travels through Burma with the works of George Orwell—or, as many in Burma call him, The Prophet—as her guide. Larkin quickly finds that Orwell, whose mother was born in Burma, and who himself spent five years in the Imperial Police Force during the 1920s, is a fitting companion to the muggy, oppressive police state that is often cited as the least free in the world. Skillfully weaving together literary criticism with political commentary, Finding George Orwell in Burma provides a chilling look at the effects of a real-life Orwellian government on its people.
From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey
Pascal Khoo Thwe | Harper Perennial | 2003
Khoo Thwe has authored an epic hymn to his rugged, forested childhood home that traces decades of unfolding tragedy in Burma. In 1988, John Casey, a Cambridge University professor, meets a literature-loving waiter in a café in Mandalay, Burma. That waiter is Pascall Khoo Thwe, an ethnic Kayan Padaung university student whose dreams would soon be shattered by civil war. When the regime murders his feisty democracy-activist lover, he takes up arms and flees his homeland. Khoo Thwe transcends a different set of obstacles in England and comes to know both the pain of exile and the exquisite beauty of cultural memory.
Burmese Looking Glass: A Human Rights Adventure and a Jungle Revolution
Edith Mirante | Atlantic Monthly Press | 1994
Part travelogue, part memoir, Burmese Looking Glass chronicles Mirante's personal journey toward understanding the complicated political situation in Burma. In the mid-1980s, the young artist finds herself living on the Thai-Burma border, where she quickly becomes involved in the democracy efforts of Karen and Shan refugees. Written shortly following the 1988 student uprising, Mirante's book is an insightful exploration of resistance in the face of unspeakable oppression, one that will leave the reader hungry to learn more.
Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess
Inge Sargent | University of Hawaii Press | 1993
In the early 1950s, Austria-native Inge Sargent suddenly finds herself married to the prince of Hsipaw, Shan State. Arriving in her husband's homeland after a long ship ride, she quickly falls in love with Burma and its people. But then, when new leadership takes over in 1962, Sargent's husband is detained by General Ne Win's men, and Sargent is left to protect her daughter and herself from a similar fate. The story that follows is Sargent's brave and courageous memoir, detailing her life as a reluctant ruler and her determination under a ruthless dictatorship.