Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century

A New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2019A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2020An urgent book. Jennifer Szalai, New York TimesDuring 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 countrys 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 Burmas story really tell us about the most critical issues of our time?