The Hidden History of Burma

A Crisis of Race and Capitalism

Thant Myint-U

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781786497901
• eBook ISBN:
  9781786497895
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2020

A New York Times Critic's Pick 2019

'A sobering account, told elegantly and eruditely.' Financial Times

'Thant Myint-U is the greatest living historian of Burma.' William Dalrymple

Precariously positioned between China and India, Burma's population has suffered dictatorship, natural disaster and the dark legacies of colonial rule. But when decades of military dictatorship finally ended and internationally beloved Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from long years of house arrest, hopes soared. World leaders including Barack Obama ushered in waves of international support. Progress seemed inevitable.

As historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U saw the cracks forming. In this insider's diagnosis of a country at a breaking point, he dissects how a singularly predatory economic system, fast-rising inequality, disintegrating state institutions, the impact of new social media, the rise of China next door, climate change and deep-seated feelings around race, religion and national identity all came together to challenge the incipient democracy. Interracial violence soared and a horrific exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fixed international attention. Thant Myint-U explains how and why this happened, and details an unsettling prognosis for the future.

Burma is today a fragile stage for nearly all the world's problems. Are democracy and an economy that genuinely serves all its people possible in Burma? In clear and urgent prose, Thant Myint-U explores this question - a concern not just for the Burmese but for the rest of the world - warning of the possible collapse of this nation of 55 million while suggesting a fresh agenda for change.

'A compelling account of modern Burma's bloody history' Amitav Ghosh

INDEX

Adams, Brad, 233

Albright, Madeleine, 46–47

All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), 39, 124–25

Al-Qaeda, 207–8

Amarapura, 8, 69

Amherst, Lord, 14

Amnesty International, 156, 238

ancient history of Burma, 7–8

Anglo-Burmese Wars, 14–16

Aniston, Jennifer, 81

Annan, Kofi, 73–74, 74–75, 231, 235, 237

Ansar al-Islam, 235

Arakan

invasion of, 13–14

kingdom of, 9–10

Mujahid Party in, 30

Muslims of, 26–27, 109

nationalism, tied to identity, 35–36

under Ne Win, 36–37

as part of new British Burma, 14–15

as province district, 17

recent fighting and tensions in, 248

See also Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army; Rohingya people

Arakan Army, 244, 248

Arakanese Buddhists, 244, 248

Arakanese people

ethnic identity of, 35–36

Muslim minority of (see Rohingya people)

Arakan National Party, 244

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)

civilians killed by, 235, 236–37

as new militant outfit, 1–2, 231–32

seen as Islamic threat, 237

See also army-ARSA conflict

Armenian community, 20

army-ARSA conflict

Arakanese Buddhist demonstrators attacked, 243–44

attacks and massacres, 237–40

Aung San Suu Kyi response to, 240–41

changed landscape following, 243

crisis views, differing, 241

international reaction to, 240, 241

journalists prosecuted, 243

massacre allegations disbelieved, 242

Min Aung Hlaing speeches related to, 241–42

response to ARSA attacks, 238–39

Western bias of, criticized, 242

ARSA. See Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army

Asian Development Bank, 195

Asiatick Society of Bengal...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Map
• A Note on Burmese Names
• Introduction
• One: New World
• Two: Changing Lanes
• Three: Drifting To Dystopia
• Four: Tempest
• Five: Fighting Chance
• Six: Alignment
• Seven: Blood And Belonging
• Eight: Virtual Transitions
• Nine: Unfinished Nation
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index