Customer Reviews

Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

[Note: I commented on a draft of this book. The author is a friend of mine, but I have endeavored to keep this review objective.]

Burma has received a lot of attention in the news these past few years, but very few people know much about the country's history or problems. David Steinberg, one of the top experts on Burma, lays everything out clearly in this book. It covers everything from precolonial history to the country's future development challenges. Steinberg also tries to be evenhanded and unbiased (notice the cover, which features both the monks and the generals).

Admittedly, this is a drier, academic book than something along the lines of Thant Myint-U's The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma. This book might not be quite as useful if you've read a thorough book on Burma or follow the country closely, since this book doesn't break any theoretical ground or unveil any new discoveries. However, it is very comprehensive and includes the latest statistics and developments. The book is organized around a set of questions, which makes for easy reference.

I'd recommend it to policymakers interested in Burma or travelers who like to go beyond the headlines. As the title suggests, this book can serve as a one-stop shop on the country.

I've been reading a lot lately on Burma (Myanmar) and found this book to be a good, highly readable introduction to that troubled nation and its conditions, history and culture. I found it quite good and was pleased that a book on this issue was able to make it into bookstores, not just on Amazon.com. I recommend it highly for people seeking such an introduction or with gaps in their knowledge.

Why, then, four stars instead of five? Although Steinberg is a respected scholar of this nation, and I assume therefore a reliable reporter, he doesn't footnote as much as I'd like. Instead he just supplies a list of recommended readings at the end. When reading about a nation with a government this strange, reliable facts, distinct from propaganda, are important. Therefore when Steinberg says, for instance, that the government moved the capital in part due to astrological considerations (page 18) I would like to see a source and he does not provide one. This was especially the case when reading about bizarre economic policies and the ruling junta's constant fears of a highly implausible US invasion. In other words, although Steinberg is respected and may not feel he needs to cite sources, at times when reading about this nation and its ruling junta I felt like I was reading about something so irrational and so out of the ordinary that I needed to know where I could confirm his statements, if for no other reason if someone were to ask me to do so. Although I have read slightly over a dozen books on this nation (many reviewed on this site) and talked to many people from this nation, making me more knowledgeable than most Americans, I am afraid I have a long way to go before I am able to take everything I read in context. Therefore I wish Steinberg had footnoted and cited sources more carefully.

Secondly, I wish he had covered the role of minorities in more depth. He most certainly clarified many things and he does touch on the subject, but the bulk of people I know from Burma are not Burmans but tend to be refugees from other groups. (Burma/ Myanmare has more than 100 languages spoken within its border.) In this context, at least I really enjoyed his brief section, "Why is learning about Burma/Myanmar so difficult?" (pages 8-10) I know the feeling and agree completely.

All in all, this book is a good introduction and a welcome all-round good book on Burma/ Myanmar today. I recommend it highly. On the other hand, it's not perfect and therefore we still await the perfect introductory work on this troubled nation.

I've read quite a few books on Myanmar, having traveled there for 2 months over 2 trips. I can't think of a one that taught me more than this one. Full of fascinating facts and policy arguments that are well put. The book is essentially poli sci academic, but very easy to read due to the approachable writing style. Fascinating, and I ended up highlighting most of the book!

David Steinberg's "Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know" is not his worst work. Pitched at the interested layman, it is a mostly factual summary of Burma's recent history. In person, Steinberg is avuncular and charming. In print, he is dry.

For some years past, Steinberg has parched as an academic although much (most?) of his career has been more along the lines of an administrator in government funded NGOs: USAID, The Asia Foundation. In this book, as in all his publications on Burma, Steinberg advocates that the US government adopt policies to promote development projects and investment rather than sanctions or the promotion of democracy.

It would be unfair to accuse Steinberg of sympathy for the generals who run Burma's regime but he has adopted a sort of "if you can't beat 'em" rationale for getting in bed with them.

This is an informative unblinking realistic appraisal of contemporary Burma. It is a must read for anyone interested in what many will be srprised to learn is one of themost populous countries in the world. I lived in Burma for two years as a child in the 1950s and my heart cries out for this wonderful country and people.

The longest rebellion in the modern world still operates there. In his opening statement Steinberg admits that: "It is sad and also embarrassing to admit honestly that one cannot offer an early way out of the present set of crises [in Myanmar]"

David Steinberg has one very convincing argument that Myanmar is yet another civil war that the USA has no need to be involved with. A radical change of US foreign policy is called for, if it is not to continue the failed strategy of the past with regard ex-colonial countries that have moved toward nationalism.

Steinberg's excellent book fully covers Myanmar's crises, their causes, and solutions applied by civilian and military governments. It covers internal insurgencies as well as external foreign policy manipulation. Most Americans will be shocked to learn that the government and many people in Myanmar truly believe the US Government intends to invade their county! Steinberg says: "Fear of consipiracies (even invasions) by foreign powers or elements against the leadership have made Burmese leaders both wary and skeptical about the motivations of foreign governments toward the state and its leaders. This is reinforced by previous foreign attempts to destabilize governments and rulers and support of dissident ethnic/political groups. These nationalistic tendencies are only magnified by derogatory foreign comments about the regime, its goals and its leaders. Fear of foreign domination may contribute to the suspicions about Aung San Suu Kyi, who is supported by the Western foreign community".

Even considering Steinberg's impartial and fair handling of all parties to the crises of Myanmar, it is difficult to see lasting solutions to the issues. His final statement offers little if any consolation or hope for the future: "As the political stalemate continues, as foreign pressures for reform seem ineffective, and as the internal conditions of the peoples in the country deteriorate, those outside of that benighted country can only hope that in some Burmese manner the people will win through."

For an understanding of Myanmar, this book, Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know is on a par with Thant Myint U's book The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma. Both books are highly recommended reading.

This is the first book I've read about Burma/Myanmar, and it's most concerning the modern political history especially since 1988.

It's fine with the cards in the start of the book, one of witch shows the ethnolinguistic groups and their positions in the country. There are many both small and big groups and through out the book different problems with these groups are mentioned.

And therefore, after having finished reading the book, I can't stop speculating about if it one day in the future will end with that we will see the regime in Burma/Myanmar collapse and the country then being torn apart into smaller countries.

The reason for at the headline writing hidden in Burma/Myanmar is that I'm thinking about how little we since the Second World War have got of information about what's going on inside this country and especially since 1988 when the military made the last coup and increased the control concerning the news both receiving and leaving the country.

By reading this book I discovered different details, I did not know, or maybe have forgotten from the news years ago. An interesting one is it that by the election the 27th in May, 1990, for the 479 seats in the Parliament, at which ran for 93 parties and 87 independents. The NLD party then received 59.87 % of the votes and thereby got 392 of the seats, 82 %. And the military party which received as much as 25.12 % of the votes but thereby only received 10 seats! A strange way the distribution must have be made. But concerning which there unfortunately are no details. But in any case the military thought that they would win by the election after having allowed 252 parties, but as here seen, instead totally lost. But, as we know the military didn't release their power.

It's also strange to read that even though the country is so closed the state is not poor. In 2003 its international reserves was US$562 billions, but by 2008 it had increased to US$3.187, especially for selling gas and oil. But the people are poor, some of the poorest in the World, and the health has decreased since the Second World War.

It's also interesting reading about how the leaders are superstitious and therefore make arrangement on chosen dates. And how besides they are afraid of occupation by foreign countries, especially by USA. But to their defense it can be said that they saw how USA, among other, was in Vietnam.

After having finished this book I now think of buying a book telling about both history and culture for Burma/Myanmar in all the years until the Second World War finished. Among other reasons, also because I now live next to this country and, as it is written in the book, maybe 2 million persons from Burma are now working here in Thailand, so we se them every day. And it's always best to now about other cultures you are close to.