The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century

Less than a decade ago, the world cheered as a dictatorship crumbled and internationally beloved Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from twenty years of house arrest. Yet just three years after her landslide victory at the polls, the country stands accused of war crimes and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims. As an historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U was part of the momentous changes that pulled Burma toward democracy, working with the ex-generals and meeting many of the country’s biggest supporters, from Bono to Barack Obama. Yet no one was prepared for Burma’s underlying challenges, from fast-rising inequality, disintegrating state institutions, and the impacts of climate change, to the rise of China next door and issues of race, religion, and “national identity” deeply rooted in the country’s traumatic colonial past. In this riveting insider’s diagnosis of a country in crisis, Myint-U challenges the black-and-white morality tales that have never fit the realities of Burma.