Customer Reviews

Freedom from Fear and Other Writings: Revised Edition

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Once more, Nobel Peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi presents us with a thrilling book, of which she is the author, but also being the incarnation of Burma's struggle for democracy. This book is (to use a rather 'heretic' term) a 'bible' of Burma's struggle for freedom, and is destined to go down among the books who made the country's and the region's history. You will read it in two or three hours without putting it down. This one, among her three major books, is particularly well-written, edited by her late husband Dr Michael Aris (Peace be Upon Him). Suu Kyi's account is fervid, direct, impartial. She expresses her views with submission, total lack of any aggression or resentment, peace of mind... She manages, through her writings, not just to tell of her country's bloodshed and terror regime, but also to convey a marvellous great feeling of peace and hope, in fact, freedom from fear ! She talks of the country and her people, and also of herself, explaining how she approached - emotionally and psychologically - the struggle during almost a decade of home arrest or controlled movements. She provides a recipe for all those who, with her courage, would like to join the battle for world justice. Truly a wonderful book, by one of the world's most wonderful persons, whom I met in Rangoon in 1998, and being deported from the country as a result. May G-d bless her, her country, and her struggle. Meanwhile, you might find in this book some inspiration and strength - to fight for similar causes, or just to live your everyday life. Wonderful !

I re-read this book shortly after Aung San Suu Kyi was placed, once again, under house arrest in 2003. The daughter of the man who is referred as the founding father of Burma(today called Myanmar) - Aung San - is herself a major political figure in her country. The chapter about her father - who was assassinated when the author was two years old - is an impressive, informative, and dispassionate account of Aung San's days as a student leader and his leadership of the independence movement that established modern Burma as a nation. My own father was a foreign correspondent in Burma in the late 1940s and had covered the assassination of Aung San and his colleagues. This left me since my childhood with a deep curiosity about this period of Burmese history - and Aung San's daughter's account does not leave curious readers like myself disappointed. Most of the book is devoted to the life and times of Suu Kyi herself. It includes several articles by other writers who help readers understand how a Burmese woman rises to national prominence in a country which has known but unbroken military dictatorship for decades. This book is also about Burmese culture, religion, and language, and should be on the bookshelf on anyone who has a serious interest in this curious, wretched country of tremendous unfulfilled potential.

If you have an interest in Burmese or Southeast Asian history, you might also consider reading Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace, a historical novel which I have also reviewed on this website.

This book was for me an opener into the evolution of Burma's political scene, and it proved to be a good one.

Whilst it takes some time to get accustomed to the many abbreviations of Burma's political parties and factions, once it is gotten used to, Freedom from Fear becomes an essential book for those interested in the becoming of Aung San Suu Kyi - daughter of Burma's national hero, the late Aung San - and her process of fighting and eventually winning the support of the country she always called home depite her international influences.

Though Freedom from Fear would be a good book to start learning about Burma's modern political history, I would suggest first reading about pre-colonial Burma to get a better grasp and understanding of the country's stand and place in Southeast Asia.

Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is a person of the highest integrity and dignity. In a country ruined by the illegitimate and oppressive military government, she remains the hope and the guiding light of her people in Burma (also known as Myanmar). Not unlike Gandhi, Mandela and Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi's stories inspire as much as they touch deeply our hearts. Michael Aris, editor of this book, was Aung San Suu Kyi's late husband. Unfortunately Aris died of cancer after the publication of this book. In his final days the Burmese military regime denied his visit to Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi could not attend to her dying husband in England because she knew that once she left, the government would never allow her to return. She would not abandon her people and her country. In "Freedom from Fear", she talks about her beloved country, her people's suffering, her political view, and most important of all, her hope for the future. Their stories may not be told by the media, their voices may not be heard by the international community, but the Burmese suffer no less than the people in Kosovo, Tibet, Northern Ireland or Cambodia. For the sake of human right and justice, we must give them our support, and to understand what they are up against is the first step we need to take. I strongly urge every Amazon user to read "Freedom from Fear" and other books by Aung San Suu Kyi. To get updated information and how you may help the cause in Burma, check out websites of organizations such as FreeBurma.org. Readers may also check out the Hollywood movie "Beyond Rangoon", which will give readers a quick summary of the political struggle in Burma (the movie itself is not as good as "The Killing Fields", but that's not the point here). Readers may also find a documentary film called "the Burma diary" available from FreeBurma branch in Seattle.

This book really inspired me. And all the details information written in this book are 100% accurate and I was so suprised to read all those history things that I have learnt in my childhood in my country, Myanmar. I believe this is one of the books that every patriots of Burma should have.

The best writing I've ever read ... about striving democracy in peace... I love That Woman!!!!

Moving read. Beautiful writing. Deeply spiritual. Easy to understand why Aung San Suu Kyi may be proclaimed as a saint someday in the future.

Anyone who enjoys Eckhart Tolle or Krisnamurti's readings will enjoy this.

How wonderful to hear the voice of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in this collection. Particularly mesmerizing and noteworthy are her writings "In Quest of Democracy" and "Freedom from Fear", which if you're pressed for time, are the must reads of this slender volume. I particularly liked the way she tied democratic principles to Buddhist ideals. DASSK is a remarkable woman and leader, far more than the figurehead her opposition paints her to be.

Having just come back from a visit to Burma I was really interested to pick up this book. I had tried to find it before I left and was unsuccessful but read up a reasonable amount on the country before I arrived.

Frankly, my feelings were mixed. Part 1 ,which actually takes up about half the book, is a series of essays on Burma published by Suu Kyi before she became politically active. Although there was some interesting information on the history of Burma and her father I felt as if these were a little out of place for an average reader and tended to all discuss similar issues repeatedly (background on her father and the history of Burmese Nationalism) or provide large amounts of information that was hard to digest (going through all the provinces of the country and talking about their key characteristics in one essay). They didn't really convey any sense of who the author was to me or give me much understanding of her.

I understand that due to her lengthy incarceration there are not a huge volume of speeches and other materials to draw on but reading through part 1 I rapidly found myself losing interest. I feel bad saying that but it is just my honest feelings - it was almost as if they were put in as fluff to add some length to the text (not saying that was the reason but how I felt). In particular I felt the essay titled "Intelectual Life in Burma and India Under Colonialism" was a gruelling read and just not relevant enough or set at a reasonable level for someone who does not have an indepth knowledge of Burmese or Indian history to understand. It seemed to be a very indepth, analytical dissertation style piece that is very hard for a casual reader such as myself to take much from.

Once Part 2 begins we move onto her political works and this is where I really found myself enjoying the book. Some of her speeches and writings really are truly inspiring. There is no question she is an incredible person but for the first 167 pages of the book I found it hard to connect with her. The background on her father (who is clearly a vital influence on her politics) was appreciated at first but became tired as I felt after essay number 1 no new ground was really covered - I cant count the number of times we go through the story of how her father became involved in the nationlist movement. It's a real shame for me that I felt Part 1 was such a struggle as it really restricted my overall enjoyment of the book. They could easily have cut out 2/3 or even 3/4 of this section, left enough to provide some background history on her father and Burma, suggested some other readings for those interested, and moved on.

I dont want my overall review to seem harsh but after struggling through over 1/2 the book I feel like it would be just as productive to do a little background reading on Burma before picking up this book, read the introduction and then skip straight to Part 2. Part 3 had also had similar issues to Part 1, one essay even repeatedly referencing Suu Kyi's essays in part 1 and going over her remarks again.

Hopefully in the next few years we will see an another piece of literature from Suu Kyi where she can speak freely on her experiences these last 20+ years. That is something I cant wait to read.

this book is very good for me to build my strength
and power for fight against military dictatorship
in my country. Thank you for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

KoKoOo