Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle [Hardcover]

Christopher R. Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

A reporter's journey into Burma to interview the mysterious drug lord, Khun Sa.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cox, a reporter for the Boston Herald, traveled into the Shan State, the lawless region of northern Myanmar (or Burma) that produces much of the world's opium, to interview Khun Sa, the drug warlord who built himself a jungle empire on drug profits and who styled himself a Shan freedom-fighter. Khun Sa, who has since "retired" and lives in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), is a complex character. This account of bearding the devil in his lair combines thorough research, high adventure, and prose pungent with the odor of poppies blooming on remote mountainsides.

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps 60% of the heroin in the U.S. originates in the Golden Triangle, where Laos, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) meet. But when Boston Herald reporter Cox went to Southeast Asia in 1994, his aim was to enter Shan State in eastern Burma, a section run by warlord Khun Sa, depicted by the DEA as the evil demon of the heroin trade. Cox was accompanied by his friend Jay Sullivan, a veteran obsessed with finding American POWs and MIAs in the region and aided by an American wheeler-dealer whom Khun Sa trusted. Cox portrays Burma, a brutal police state, as eager to share in drug profits. Thailand has converted itself into a vast bordello, where the number of HIV and AIDS patients may soon reach two million. Khun Sa, according to Cox, sought to make Shan State an independent nation and to phase out heroin production, but the world would not help. Edgy and told with dark humor, Cox's report is richly informative. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805038639
• ISBN-13: 978-0805038637
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,636,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars C'mon, it's a great read!, October 5, 2000

By A Customer

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This review is from: Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle (Paperback)

Wow. Talk about a peltering! Poor Chris Cox writes a good and entertaining book about his looney adventure in Thailand and Burma, and the critics go ballistic. The venom is astonishing!

Well, the fact is that Chasing The Dragon is a pretty interesting tale, and certainly offbeat considering that it begins with a private mission to find MIAs in SE Asia ... in 1994!

But its more than simply a whacky story. There's a goldmine of history on Burma and Thailand, and I think Cox is one of the few writers to have actually put recent (post-1950) Burmese politics into a coherent framework.

Along the way Cox gets his interview with Khun Sa (the crux of his journalistic mission), and that's quite a coup. But that he also has some adventures; takes Xanax to adjust to his 12-hour jet lag; and describes some of the seamier corners of Asia is not outside the scope of the story. That's the way that travel in Asia often is!

Ecotourists might be offended. There is too much here that doesn't work for that strict Puritanical mindset ("Porno tapes as a gift to Khun Sa! My God!"). But you don't have to be a Robert Pelton fan to understand what's happening in Chasing The Dragon. You just have to have gone off the Lonely Planet path to a world that is markedly different from your own.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting at times, but overall disappointment, January 26, 1998

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[e-mail] (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle (Paperback)

Cox takes on an ambitious journey to write about his impressions of the Golden Triangle, Khun Sa and the opium trade. While Cox does manage to provide an education regarding the region in terms of history, politics, and society, his writing style is lame. Cox writes in a manner that highlights his lofty opinion of himself; he seems to think he is really cool for taking on a journey which not a lot of others would consider. He likes to address his advertursome life of travel, danger, booze, drugs (Xanax) which seems so self-satisfying. And while his one-liners aren't as pathetic as you'll find in Rambo movies, they're not far behind. Basically, if you think the guys who write for Fielding's Dangerous Places, you may like Cox.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rambles a bit, but the final result is satisfying, August 19, 1997

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EarlRandy "earlrandy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle (Hardcover)

Cox went up the mountain to see the king and he lived to write about the experience. This is a very well-written book and Cox's painstaking research is extremely evident on every page, but sometimes he provides more information than one might desire.

Cox paints elaborate pictures of urban and rural Asian lifestyles that will remain with you long after you finish the book. Often, reading this book before bedtime, I dreamed of the world Cox visited. From derelict junky hangouts in Boston, to Thailand sex districts, to Asian-based USA DEA sweaty offices, to dusty Ho Mong roads, to Shan State poppy farm houses, each vista is delicately unveiled by Cox.

All in all though, by the time the tale is told, Cox weaves a satisfying modern-day adventure. The finale (though minus fireworks) is preceded by enough side-stories and mini-adventures to make Edgar Rice Burroughs proud.

One last word of caution: When you visit Cox's Golden Triagle tale, don't forget your dictionary. I am a would-be author and I would say I have a better-than-average grasp of the English language, but if I had to chop off a finger every time I reached for a dictionary or thesaurus, I and a couple of friends would be handicapped.