Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma [Hardcover]

Shelby Tucker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1860645291 | ISBN-13: 978-1860645297 | Publication Date: July 14, 2000 | Edition: 1ST

Among Insurgents describes the author's journey into Burma through a border area of China closed to foreigners, through the Shan and Kachin States, and out of Burma via an area of India closed to foreigners. En route, he was detained by Communist insurgents, handed over to Kachin insurgents and arrested by the Indian Army. Among Insurgents also examines the symbiotic relationship between the civil war in Burma and the international drugs trade. The author interviewed growers of opium poppies and leaders on both sides of the narcotics divide, and his report to the US National Security Council may have contributed to Washington’s changed perception of the Burmese Army as the main player in the trade.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…endlessly fascinating and well–informed on this little–known region of Asia… The most unusual and distinguished travel book I have read in years.” -- Robert Carver, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Ten years ago, Oxford–educated American Shelby Tucker, aged 53, trekked from China to India through the forbidden jungle hill country of northern Burma—a besieged but splendid land and one of the few places remaining on earth to be explored. Along the way, Tucker was detained by Communist rebels, handed over to Kachin rebels, and arrested by the Indian Army. Despite pain and constant danger, Tucker recorded each day the beauty of the country and the hospitality of the Kachins. More than a thrilling travel book, this is a fascinating account of Burma’s fifty–year–old civil war and the narcotics trade that fuels it. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris; 1ST edition (July 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860645291
• ISBN-13: 978-1860645297
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,513,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Travel > Asia > Myanmar

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More reviews on behalf of the US distributor, Palgrave, October 25, 2000

By 

Andrea Lansing (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma (Hardcover)

"I read the book over the weekend and laughed my head off. What an addle-pated odyssey it is. The nonchalance with which he does things that could get him locked up in some bamboo cage for thirty or forty years takes my breath away. I've seldom been more aware of the thinness of the line between courage and lunacy. Luckily for his narrative, he is aware of it too, and has great fun jumping back and forth over it. I take my hat off to him, both for actually doing what he did and for writing so well about it." --Tobias Wolff

"I cannot recommend Among Insurgents highly enough. Shelby Tucker describes a quite extraordinary trek across the genuinely remote and dangerous mountainous north of Burma. His account gets to grips with an immensely complicated political scenario and is written in the classic manner. I was reminded quite often of Fitzroy MacLean and Peter Fleming." --Justin Wintle "To one familiar with the dangers inherent in such an enterprise, the story almost defies belief. A 53-year-old American teams up with a 22-year-old Swede, whom he has met on a train and known for less than an hour, with the aim of trekking across one of the most inaccessible and least explored areas on earth, in a country which, everyone recognizes, is ruled by a military autocracy and which has been engaged in a vicious civil war for nearly half a century." --Stephen Morse

"I read it in growing amazement. What a journey and what a lot of research since! Very impressive." --Robin Hanbury-Tenison

"I think [Shelby Tucker] may have written a classic of modern travel writing." --John McEnery

"Among Insurgents is a vastly impressive piece of work and life. Shelby Tucker may be a mad man, but he certainly writes wonderfully." --Peter Wolf

"I read it at one sitting, with my wife providing earthly sustenance at intervals, and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. The vitality and freshness of the enterprise shone throughout." --Robert Pelletreau

"Those of us who would never go on such an adventure (and that's most of us!) can have something stirred within us, feel a little freer, more willing to take risks, after reading this book." --Fred Fenton

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dances with Leeches, July 30, 2000

By 

Lyndall Davey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma (Hardcover)

'Among Insurgents' by Shelby Tucker is more than a travel book. This extraordinary account of a fifty-four year old writer's trek across war-torn Burma from China to India has about it - to use Fitzgerald's phrase - 'something glorious'. It is the unique blend of high adventure with the lucid and passionate exposition of his Kachin escorts' struggles against a corrupt government (bolstered by misguided Western military aid) that looks set to make this a classic. Merciless in its ironic - and at times very amusing - exposure of folly (not least his own), lyrical in its description of this little-known land and its peoples, and ulluminating in its astute political / historical analysis, this is, by any measure, a remarkable achievement.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional and most unusual travel book. Highly recommended, August 23, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Oxford, England.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma (Hardcover)

An Oxford-educated American ;awyer in his fifties walks across Northern Burma to fulfill an ambition held since his student yesrs. How he achives this, the dangers encountered en route, the various insurgent groups met, the cause that unites them against a powerful and ruthless enemy, the cameraderie of men under strain, the nobility of a man when tested to the limit of his courage, the beauty and grandeur of what is one of the last places on earth yet to be explored are the subjects of this book. But even more remarkable than the story itself is the author's extraordinary gift for writing. From the moment I began reading Among Insurgents, I was aware of experiencing something both rare and deeply inspired. I did not read, as much as savour the profound humanity as well as the poetry and humour expressed in this book and consider it the most unusual and distinguished travel book I have ever read.