Product Description
A study of the often outrageous behaviour of the British government, driven largely by merchant and missionary interests, towards the Kingdom of Burma. Events surrounding the three Anglo-Burmese wars (1824-26, 1852, 1885-86), and the looting of riches from the Mandalay Palace are examined. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

junk political history
This book is badly written political history. The author has no understanding of Burmese history and simply places his superficial knowledge into the anti-colonial "template" which can be found in many books.

The author misunderstands the first burma war with the British which involved an agressive and expansionist burmese military state launching a disasterous war on British India. Rather than being the poor abused victims the author wishes to portray, the Burmese were an imperial military power no better than the British. And while the author sheds tears for the "loss" of Burmese ruled territories in eastern India, few living in those territories were sorry to see them go.

The author has a patronizing attitude toward the burmese. When, for example, the Burmans raid across their frontiers to burn and slaughter the people living there, the acts are explained away as being the result of the burmese not having the same understanding of borders as europeans.

The book is badly written and does little more than provide a politicized summary of what has already been written.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Must-Read/Exceptional Memoir of a Civil Servant
This book eloquently describes the events of Burma immediately after independence. The account here is vivid and captivating! The book is essential to understanding political events in Burma and reflects similar conditions in other newly independent countries.A must read for those interested in the history of Burma after independence!!And to any interested in learning more about a resilient society and post-colonial struggles. Everyone from authors researching this period to those who have never read anything about Burma will be SHOCKED by the story of this small district which reflects the situation of the entire country.

It is surprising to know that the government vanished in a single day!! The rebellion by various creeds brought Burma almost to dismemberment. The book shows the suffering of the Burmese people from both the insurgents and the government officials who attempted to establish normalcy.

A Must-Read/Exceptional Memoir of a Civil Servant
This book eloquently describes the events of Burma immediately after independence. The account here is vivid and captivating! The book is essential to understanding political events in Burma and reflects similar conditions in other newly independent countries.A must read for those interested in the history of Burma after independence!!And to any interested in learning more about a resilient society and post-colonial struggles. Everyone from authors researching this period to those who have never read anything about Burma will be SHOCKED by the story of this small district which reflects the situation of the entire country.

It is surprising to know that the government vanished in a single day!! The rebellion by various creeds brought Burma almost to dismemberment. The book shows the suffering of the Burmese people from both the insurgents and the government officials who attempted to establish normalcy. ... Read more

Product Description
The construction of the railway between Thailand and Burma in the Second World War using forced labor and prisoners of war has been the subject of numerous memoirs, novels and the famous Hollywood film The Bridge over the River Kwai. Yet documentation and primary sources offering an account of the railway from a Japanese, Allied, POW and post-war perspective are scarce. This six-volume collection uses documents from archives in Australia, Great Britain, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the United States, Myanmar, Thailand and Japan to present a complete picture of the reality of the "death" railway. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Human Perspective on the Burmese Conflict
This is an excellent travelogue whih gives real ensight into the normal individual "Burmese" struggling against the odds in Burma.It gives a real flavour of a very complex political situation - so many factions, parties and racial groups.

I've never been to Thailand or Burma but I found it an interesting and informative book on a little-known area.The factual information was woven into the travelogue in such a way that it was easy to digest, particularly as you got into the book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to open their eyes to the realities of the Burmese situation as a whole, while understanding it from a very human level.

Insurgency in Burma
"Kawthoolei Dreams, Malaria Nights" by Martin MacDonald offers a unique perspective on the political situation in Burma.Through his extensive travels, and his contact with the insurgent Karen, the author has acquired an insider's understanding of the struggle, its protagonists, and its victims.

Although sympathetic to the insurgents, the book provides a balanced and accessible assessment of the complex factors shaping the course of Burma's recent troubles.

Structured around the author's adventures while travelling in Burma, the book is by turns exciting, funny, and thought provoking.MacDonald has travelled through both the lowlands and mountains of Burma, as well as the shadowy frontier area along the Thai-Burma border, and uses his experiences to ease the reader into the fascinating but complicated historical reasons for the current situation.

While there are already several excellent books available about Burma, "Kawthoolei Dreams, Malaria Nights" fills a large gap in this literature, being more accessible than the heavy-going political studies (like Bertil Lintner's "Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948" and Martin Smith's "Burma - Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity") but providing a greater depth and understanding than a mere travelogue (such as Rory Maclean's "Under the Dragon - Travels in Burma").

"Kawthoolei Dreams, Malaria Nights" is recommended for anyone wishing to travel in Burma or Thailand, or for those who wish to know more about the fascinating events in this mysterious country. ... Read more

Product Description
This account of a remarkable expedition still stands as a military classic.It was written in just 12 days, only a year after the end of the story that it tells.

Customer Reviews (4)

Outstanding account of Chindit operations behind the Japanese Lines in WW2
"Beyond the Chindwin" is the account of the adventures of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition (otherwise known as the "Chindits") into Burma, 1943. For those that don't know a great deal about the Chindits, they were the largest of the allied Special Forces Units of WW2, formed and lead by Major-General Orde Wingate. In 1942, following the successful Japanese attack on Burma, the British War Office offered Wingate's services to General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief India. It was thought that there would be a role for Wingate in Burma with his proven guerrilla expertise having previously carried out guerrilla operations in Palestine and Abyssinia with great success. Wingate put forward his theory that formations of troops supplied from the air could operate for long periods in the jungle. The troops would be organised into columns, each large enough to inflict a heavy blow to the enemy but small enough to evade action if outnumbered. The columns would march into enemy territory to disrupt the Japanese army's communications and supply lines and to create havoc behind its lines.

A brigade was formed from a number of different units who then trained themselves for two enemies, the jungle and the Japanese. Keep in mind that up until this time, the British had been singularly unsuccessful in jungle warfare against the Japanese - the jungle was a completely unfamiliar environment to the British soldier, one that was scary, completely foreign and in which they weren't trained to fight. One of the reasons why both Malaya and Burma had fallen to the Japanese so rapidly. Wingate set out to familiarize his soldiers with the jungle as well as using the jungle to advantage in fighting.

The original plan was that the Chindits would be part of an offensive into north Burma but this offensive was cancelled. Wingate then proposed that the operation should still proceed, but now alone, to test the theory and gain vital experience of such jungle operations, and to test the Japanese and disrupt their planned offensives.General Wavell agreed to this and the Chindits were ordered into Burma from Imphal in early 1943. The campaign was given the code name Operation Longcloth and a force of 3,000 men operated deep behind enemy lines in North Burma, for two months living in and fighting the japanese in the jungles of occupied Burma, totally relying on airdrops for their supplies. In late March, Wingate was ordered to withdraw.

By then the Chindits had penetrated to the extreme range of their air supply and the Japanese were moving larger numbers of troops to pin them down and cut them off. Despite the obstacles of both Japanese Army units and the terrain and climate, all Chindit units returned by one means or another. Of the 3,000 officers and men that went into Burma, 2,182 came back four months later. Wingate had proved that his theory worked, that allied troops could raid effectively behind enemy lines and that air supply could maintain such operations in the jungle. Additionally, the Chindits were the first troops to fight back after the defeat in Burma and the operation showed that British troops could take on the Japanese and win. The Japanese had been thought to be invincible jungle fighters, the Chindits proved that this was not so. The legend of the Japanese superman was dealt a savage blow. This had a tremendous effect on the morale of troops in India.

Subsequently, a second and much larger expedition was launched in March 1944, with a a force of 20,000 soldiers with air support provided by the 1st Air Commando USAAF. The mission was successful and started the rot, which led to the Japanese surrender. That's the history lesson and what the military histories tell you. This book is the story of one Chindit column in the first expedition, Number Five, which was led by the author. It's an antidote to the military histories and tells you what it was really like. Ferguson's column lost half its men in casualties in the course of the expedition. Supply drops were missed, little in the way of military objectives were achieved, the column broke down into smaller and smaller groups. Despite this, the morale of the survivors was high, the boost to the British was far in excess of the military accomplishments at the time and the Japanese plans for the next offensive were disrupted. Casualties were high, but no higher than other units experienced on this front experienced in fighting the Japanese on this front.

The book is a classic account of it's kind, well-written, readable and with many lessons which can still be learnt from. Not least of which is that the book was a best seller at the time it was published - a time when the survivors of the various Chindit operations were in a position to criticize the leadership of the author had they seen cause to. They didn't, which speaks volumes in itself for his leadership and personality. Ferguson led under fire and from the front, with his soldiers, taking the same risks that they did. He was from all accounts an inspiring leader and one with a certain amount of flamboyance whom his men respected and followed.

I was a boy in New Zealand when Ferguson was Governer-General there and had the honor of meeting him - I still have the copy of this book that he autographed for me. He was well-respected in NZ at the time - a time when a high proportion of NZ men had served in the NZ Army overseas. NZ being a country with no respect for posers, Ferguson wouldn't have cut the grade if he'd been an upper-class British twit. His leadership and the strength of his personality were apparent to me as a youngster and come through strongly in both this book and in "The Wild Green Earth." Read, enjoy, and respect the efforts of those who did their best to fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today.

Turkey Shoot
This book was first published in 1945 as `Beyond the Chindwin: Being An Account of the Adventures of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition into Burma, 1943' (Collins: London). The sub-title has been changed for later editions, but the term 'adventures' in the original has deep meaning and should not be forgotten.

`Beyond the Chindwin' is a class-conscious, born-to-rule account of a military farce. Bernard Fergusson reminds me of those who `led' the disastrous Allied campaigns of the First World War. At least he does not say he did much damage to the Japanese in Burma; but he could not make such a claim, as it was no secret that the Japanese harassed the British, not vice versa. The occasional self-deprecation seems shallow, in particular his pangs of conscience about leaving half his force on a river sandbar, to be shot or captured because they couldn't swim and were too short to wade, while he made his own escape. A decent leader would have stayed on the sandbar or riverbank for at least a few more hours to encourage his men to cross. Some of his officers wanted to stay but were overruled. Why? Perhaps they were of good British stock and might be needed for another glorious campaign. Perhaps Fergusson knew he would look bad if other officers could induce the men to cross the river or were captured with them. In his Boys Own (see the book's subtitle) account of the mayhem he depicts himself as an aristocrat showing pluck under duress while the rabble succumbs. It would be interesting to read accounts of Fergusson's role by his officers and lower ranks. (Are there such records?)

In what must be some of the most shameful writing in military history, Fergusson says:

"Before pushing on, we counted heads. Our strength was reduced to nine officers and sixty-five men; in other words, forty-six men had either been drowned or left on the sandbank. Of these the latter were certainly the vast majority. It is a matter of fact that those who had crossed and were with the column included all the best men, and the men whose behaviour throughout the expedition had been the most praiseworthy. It does not absolve me from my responsibility for the others to say so, but it was and is a comfort to me that among those whom I thus abandoned were few to whom our debt, and the debt of their nation, was outstanding. There were two or three whom I particularly regretted... There were two more who, had they got out, would have had to face charges at a court-martial" (174-5).

The last sentence in Note P at the end of the book says more about Fergusson than he intended: "Over 65 per cent of the force got out safely." Tally-ho! How about "35 per cent of the force did NOT get out safely"? Moreover, he is referring to the 1943 Wingate Expedition overall, but for his group (Number Five Column) the figures were more like 50-50.

Would Fergusson himself have been court-martialled had it not been for his breeding and connections? For instance, he was protege of Field-Marshall (Viscount) Wavell, Viceroy of India, who wrote the foreword to `Beyond the Chindwin'. Fergusson was promoted, then knighted a few years later. Like Papa and Grandpapa, he became Governor-General of New Zealand; as a peer he called himself Lord Ballantrae of Auchairne and the Bay of Islands. Then there was the monocle: "His father, a First World War General, had refused to allow Bernard to go to Sandhurst [after Eton] wearing spectacles ... and insisted that he joined [sic] that august Academy wearing a monocle. That monocle probably ranks as the most famous of its kind and, when he was serving with the Chindits in Burma, it was necessary to have an air drop of monocles to make good his supply" (Geographical Journal, Vol. 47, Part 2, July 1981, p. 274). Spare me faux-eccentrics like Fergusson (and Wingate) who strive to create legends of themselves. If you want to see photographs of a monocled turkey, do an internet search for 'Photographs of Sir Bernard Edward Fergusson'. When you see the feathers in one shot, `pluck' will come to mind, Old Boy.

Green Hell: Alone in the Jungle
Indo-Burma Front 1942: After being tossed out of Burma the same year, riven internally by arguments with their allies the US and the Chinese on the best strategy to persue, the British opt for a strategy of supporting the American push in North Burma. But with resources lacking they opt for a strategy of Long Range Penetration. The British will carry the war to the enemy by supporting columns of up to 200 men in 6 seperate columns. They will march through plain and jungle (most of it at night) and launch a series of hit and run attacks hundreds of miles behind Japanese lines --- they will be called Chindits after a mythical beast of Burma.

In theory this strategy seemed both efficient and strategically sound; small amounts of men getting a lot of bang for your buck. In reality the results were disasterous; columns first start to loose one or two people to the elements, then things get worse very quickly indeed; food drops from airplanes do not go as planned; encounters with the "Japs" lead to long marches to lose them; crossing rivers miles across leads to more loses for men who cannot swim. Columns split into ever smaller units until there are just 6-man units left. These then break into a free-for-all with all units told to do everything possible to survive.

In Fergusson's column alone almost half died or ended up as POWs (almost as bad as dying). Those that survived came into allied lines over the course of months. Some even found it easier to hike to China than to cross back into India --- and all for the result of blowing a single small steel span railway bridge that the Japanese no doubt repaired so the next train could cross safely on time.

All of this said the men who endured this trauma of marches in jungle, hidden ambushes, the possibility of a lonely deaths on a deserted trail next to the bones of others who went before them (many of their graves still unknown) is one of the more harrowing tales of bravery by men and a testimony to what men and women will endure when forced to endure. There was no evacuation for the wounded, one either coped or one was left behind on the trail for either unfreindly natives, the Japanese or both. The mere prospect makes one shiver.

It is also a good testiment to the mettle of British and Commonwealth Forces and their ability to stick together under one command. The Chindits were made up of men from the English country regiments, the Ghurkas, African Regiments but most all the members of the latter stages of the English Empire were represented in some form or other on this front from Canadians to Pathans from present day Pakistan.

The one bright thing that emerges is the mutual respect and admiration of the Chindits for the, mostly American pilots who braved every kind of weather to support the men on the ground. This feeling was reciprocal and as such represents one of the few examples of cooperation in a theatre that become notorious for irrascable incidents between the Americans and the British while fighting a common enemy.

There are many of my veteran friends that would disagree with me (especially those who served with the Chindits) but the fact remains that the strategic lessons of the Chindits remains limited in the extreme. What they teach us in courage however is rich and as such one will find it hard to put this book down.

Amazing Courage, Questionable Strategy
Indo-Burma Front 1942: After being tossed out of Burma the same year, riven internally by arguments with their allies the US and the Chinese on the best strategy to persue, the British opt for a strategy of supportingthe American push in North Burma. But with resources lacking they opt for astrategy of Long Range Penetration. The British will carry the war to theenemy by supporting columns of up to 200 men in 6 seperate columns. Theywill march through plain and jungle (most of it at night) and launch aseries of hit and run attacks hundreds of miles behind Japanese lines ---they will be called Chindits after a mythical beast of Burma.

In theorythis strategy seemed both efficient and strategically sound; small amountsof men getting a lot of bang for your buck. In reality the results weredisasterous; columns first start to loose one or two people to theelements, then things get worse very quickly indeed; food drops fromairplanes do not go as planned; encounters with the "Japs" leadto long marches to lose them; crossing rivers miles across leads to moreloses for men who cannot swim. Columns split into ever smaller units untilthere are just 6-man units left. These then break into a free-for-all withall units told to do everything possible to survive.

In Fergusson'scolumn alone almost half died or ended up as POWs (almost as bad as dying).Those that survived came into allied lines over the course of months. Someeven found it easier to hike to China than to cross back into India --- andall for the result of blowing a single small steel span railway bridge thatthe Japanese no doubt repaired so the next train could cross safely ontime.

All of this said the men who endured this trauma of marches injungle, hidden ambushes, the possibility of a lonely deaths on a desertedtrail next to the bones of others who went before them (many of theirgraves still unknown) is one of the more harrowing tales of bravery by menand a testimony to what men and women will endure when forced to endure.There was no evacuation for the wounded, one either coped or one was leftbehind on the trail for either unfreindly natives, the Japanese or both.The mere prospect makes one shiver.

It is also a good testiment to themettle of British and Commonwealth Forces and their ability to sticktogether under one command. The Chindits were made up of men from theEnglish country regiments, the Ghurkas, African Regiments but most all themembers of the latter stages of the English Empire were represented in someform or other on this front from Canadians to Pathans from present dayPakistan.

The one bright thing that emerges is the mutual respect andadmiration of the Chindits for the, mostly American pilots who braved everykind of weather to support the men on the ground. This feeling wasreciprocal and as such represents one of the few examples of cooperation ina theatre that become notorious for irrascable incidents between theAmericans and the British while fighting a common enemy.

There are manyof my veteran friends that would disagree with me (especially those whoserved with the Chindits) but the fact remains that the strategic lessonsof the Chindits remains limited in the extreme. What they teach us incourage however is rich and as such one will find it hard to put this bookdown. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

the verse by the side of the road

BEST EVER!!!!!!! BOOK ARRIVED IN PERFECT CONDITION (NEW) TWO DAYS FROM WHEN ORADER WAS PLACED!******** 5 STAR PLUS!

Burma Shave signs
This book brings back so many memories from my childhood, days before Interstates and traveling along highways reading the Burma Shave signs.It kept my brother and I occupied for so many hours when we traveled.
Even if you have never seen a BS shine along a highway, the messages are still funny and appropriate.A good book to while away the time and remember "the good ole days".

great little book
I am an instructor in the AARP Driver Safety Program. I talk about this book during class and have it in class for participants to look at. Imagine my surprise when a student stole my book! So I had to buy another one. The book gives the history of the Burma-Vita company and how they got started putting out Burma-Shave signs. All of the Burma-Shave signs they placed are listed in the back half of the book. The last signs were placed in 1963. Where has all the time gone?

Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles
Great little book to bring back many nice memoriew of the 40's and 50's I had almost forgotten the many times our family traveled and we all spoke the words out loud as we passed the signs one by one until the verse was completed, several signs later!

A valuable addition to my library.
An excellent book.I purchased two--one for a friend and one for myself.They arrived in just a couple of days, well packaged.A good transaction.I highly recommend. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Account of a Forgotten Battle
For those who have read histories on the Battle of Kohima, this will appear at first anyway, as a small scale Kohima before the battle began. It is a short book and details the events leading up to the battle includingthe overall plan, the approach of Japanese forces, and the disposition ofBritish Forces in Burma to meet the expected threat. Despite the fact theeveryone knew an offensive was coming, the British, including Slim, tookthe view that the Japanese could only come one way. The forests for anapproach to attack British positions were seen as impassable by the HighCommand. The British attitude is all the more amazing given the fact thatJapanese tactics and British experience in the Japanese way of war taughtone that the Japanese soldier was a master of infiltration, striking deepbehind at lines of communication and severing all support.

Sangshak justhappened to be the only sizable force directly in the way of two entire(large) Japanese divisions. The battle that ensued is of Gunga Dinproportions with your standard motely collection of Soldiers from IndianArmy Paratrooper, English County and Ghurka regiments holding positions ona hilltop against a vastly superior force, with little water, dwindlingammo and mounting casualties.

This slender, and highly under-ratedvolume is well written and is remarkably devoid of much of the Jingoismthat still afflicts many standard British accounts of their fightingagainst the Japanese. Seaman himself faught at the battle, later escaping,and he is very balanced in his recounting; he even goes so far as tounderstandably praise the Japanese commander who ratheruncharacteristically, humanely treated the left behind Britishwounded.

Seaman also makes some effort to use Japanese accounts of thebattle in interviews he had with several of his former enemy.

All in alla good read and de rigour for anyone who fancies themselves and authorityon the Burma Campaign, or who just loves a good read about a desperate laststand battle. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
The author served in two hard-fought campaigns in Asia. From 1943 to 1945 he was an officer in the British-led Indian Army. Shipster served with the 7/2nd Punjab Regiment in the Burma theater of World War II. The Punjabis fought in the fierce close-quarters actions at Arakan and Kohima, and the final advance to Mandalay and Rangoon.

Soldiering had undergone many changes in the five short years before the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. India was now independent and the last British officers and advisers were gone. Shipster had become a company commander in the Middlesex Regiment, a British army unit with a reputation as skilled machine-gunners. The Middlesex were sent from Hong Kong to Korea on short notice to aid U.S. and South Korean forces. The steaming jungles of Shipster’s past experience were now replaced by two years of fighting, often in bitter cold, over a series of bleak hilltops. ... Read more

Product Description
Saigon, Kampuchea, and Burma. These names of places in Asia are like many that once existed but now officially do not. As the times have changed, so have the names, but many of the old labels still live on. To forget them would be to forget the people and events that made those places what they are today.Readers of this book will find accounts of one city, three countries, and four empires. Unfortunately, much of the history of these places is extremely bloody. Stories of wars, mass killings, executions, and uprisings fill these pages. In this book, however, readers will also find tales of individuals and groups of people who stood tall in the middle of all that chaos, destruction, and horror. They may not have always won their battles, but with great courage, they always held out hope for a better future. ... Read more

Product Description
A well-documented and extremely engaging account of the Burmese Communist Party that details the development of the Party and the events and forces that led to the 1989 Mutiny and fall of the CPB. The Party originated in 1939 as a small group comprised of radical intellectuals and only ten years later became an efficient organization involved in the nationalist movement. Yet four decades later the Party (torn by internal strife) was defeated by the ruling government forces. This study delves into the ethnic tensions that dominated the thought of the rank-and-file members, the support and influence of the Chinese Communist Party, the Party's involvement in the drug trade, and the complex, antagonistic relationship between the CPB and the military regime of Burma.26 illustrations. 14 maps. ... Read more

Product Description
"Deftly-written, candid, and often-amusing [story] of action, [throwing] much new light on...the Allies' toughest theater."--Springfield Newspapers ... Read more

Product Description
It is generally recognized that the war in Burma against the Japanese was as fierce as any. The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of this extraordinary campaign and personal accounts of the fighting there are greatly sought after. The author was in the thick of the action and his record is indeed a graphic and moving one.

Thereafter he was sent down to Malaya, but when the War ended, he found himself in Indonesia under the most bizarre circumstances. A bitter war of national independence from the Dutch colonial power was underway and it became necessary to employ the defeated Japanese troops to keep a semblance of order. This little known turn of events makes for the most fascinating reading and adds a new dimension to what would in any case be a first class memoir.

... Read more

Product Description
A new memoir of the author’s journeys among the brave indigenous peoples of some of Asia’s most remote and violent regions. Knowledgeably obsessed with Burma’s struggle for freedom, American artist/activist Mirante breaks laws and infiltrates borders, in impassioned journeys of discovery that take her through China, India, Laos, and chaotic Bangladesh. Down the Rat Hole is a wild and exotic headlong plunge into a hidden world of guerrilla warfare, heroin and jade trading, the AIDS pandemic, rainforest destruction, strikes and rioting, and one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th Century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Story of battered yet resilient individuals and societies.
Down The Rat Hole: Adventures Underground on Burma's Frontiers is the memoir of American author, artist, and activist Edith Mirante, who defied laws and infiltrated the borders to travel through China, India, Laos, and the chaos in Bangladesh. Obsessed with Burma's multitude of cultures and ongoing struggle for freedom, she became witness to guerrilla warfare, heroin and jade trading, the AIDS pandemic, rainforest destruction, strikes and rioting, and natural disaster. A handful of color photographs illustrate her story of battered yet resilient individuals and societies.

Adventure with Benefits
Edith Mirante's "Down The Rat Hole" is the best kind of adventure story: as we voyage with this black belt, collage making, irony sensing delightfully brave woman, we make clean get aways, relish successful disquise, mingle with murderers and develop tribal allies who, sadly, are later murdered. Socializing with war lords, drug lords and human rights activists and guerrillas and other agitators for peace and justice in South East Asia,Mirante picks a remarkable path, through mossy rainforest as well as waterfalls of trash.Mirante displays what could be viewed as an amazing experiment and illustration of an American ideal: this writer/researcher feels every pinprick of the Burmese heroin addicts, every hole cut into the skin of cultural possibilities, but she isn't afraid.Acting always as diplomat, yet everything about her is unofficial. This fearless approach to travel and intercultural communications takes her through a cyclone, where afterwards, "Tun and I wandered around in the mud, talking to people, taking some pictures, and the storm survivors with their gracious innate hospitality gave us coconut milk, or tea. If they had nothing else, they gave us water, germ-laden disaster water, which we drank and it did not hurt us."

Mirante guards her sense of humor as the valuable weapon that it is, injecting perspective into the difficult relations between tribes which despite their own best interests (and Mirante's soldierly yearning), can't seem to get it together to build a unified front of opposition against the brutal Tatmadaw dictatorship of Burma/Myanmar.

As a mother of two teenage girls, I'm giving this to my daughters (along with Julia Butterfly Hill's books). Clearly, wimps just don't have as much fun as brave people, and so Mirante is no wimp. This particular little volume is noteworthy also for it's backpack-able size. She's included great color photographs, and typical of her style, there is not even one tiny little image that includes her.

The Kachin's can't seem to get over the idea that this amazing Rambo lady of marriageable age isn't quite married at the time of the story. Here, she does describe herself, and in so doing describes so much of this culture, as she's being dressed up for a ceremony with the Jinghpaw.

"Lu Ra borrowed the outfit for me to wear. The Jinghpaw women's garments were so elaborate that they had become heirlooms, brought out only for special occasions like weddings and dance performances. I put on the knee-length woven red sarongand matching leggings, and the black velvet jacket trimmed with silver disks the size of silver dollars. Then I was trimmed like a Christmas tree by Lu Ra, Ja Seng Hkawn and Mai Mai, one of the girls from the War Office. They pinned my hair up and tied an embroidered headdress over it. Necklaces of silver fringes and silver circlets, plus pearls and coral, wound around my throat. Hoops of rattan rested on my hips and a red sash bound my waist. Somebody's pink lipstick, a swoop of eyeliner, and I was worthy of photo-ops. I posed with the Kachin Women's Association members, and the KIO Central Committee. For my `Kachin wedding photograph,' they produced the only bachelor around who was older than me, a stout genial officer well into his sixties. A least he was inches taller than me, unlike most Kachin men who leveled out below my imposing 5'3".

By getting to know Burma, Mirante finds out a lot about all of us: that, regarding `anger, brutality, addiction...everybody has something of that sort," yet women can be powerful. A fantastically brave voyage into a shaky war to defend human rights, with the added drama of being entirely true.
... Read more

Product Description
The turning point of the war in Burma in the Second World War was the Imphal/Kohima campaign of 1944. For four months there was intense and savage fighting with the heaviest of all along the road leading from Tiddim in Burma to Imphal.

The Japanese plan was to encircle and destroy this division before bursting into the plain and seizing Imphal. They failed in their first aim but, nothing deterred, General Mutaguchi, who commanded the Japanese 15th Army, took personal command and brought up all his available reserves, including all his tanks and most of his heavy artillery and prepared a final all-out thrust for Imphal. However, the British 4th Corps struck first. After three weeks the Japanese were virtually annihilated and Mutaguchi admitted in his diary that the campaign was lost.

With the door to Burma now undefended, General Slim's Fourteenth Army flooded through it to win the great victories of 1945. ... Read more

Product Description
The campaign in Burma was the longest and biggest ground war fought by the British and Americans against the Japanese. Using the Imperial War Museum's exceptional archives, Major General Julian Thompson provides a gripping and unforgettable picture of what it was really like to fight in this extraordinary conflict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best "Shorter" Introduction to the War in Burma
Although this is not one of the more famous books on the war in Burma, it is one of the best and covers nearly all of the war with tolerably good writing and extant reference and use of first-hand experiences from the British and Empire soldiers.

No major geographical area of the war is left out: Preparation and contact with the ememy and the fighting withdrawal is well described. The amphibuous operations in the Arakan, the mountainous warfare in Imphal/ Kohima, the follow up and eventual capture of Mytkylia, the fall of Rangoon and the final operations in the Pegu Yomas are all here providing a well written overview.

The main goal of the Imperial War Museum Books series is to use first-person accounts as much as possible in the text. I would say that the usage can at times be rather thick but it does not take away from the general flow of the narrative.

Reminicenses of Empire soldiers, especially the Royal Indian Army, that made up the bulk of the attacks in Burma are lacking, and Thompson is the first to admit and regret this... there is simply not that much written down... (in fairness I am sure that there is a lot of memoirs in India, but they are not readily available in England and Thompson was using what he has from the Imperial War Museum).

Also there is little on the operational views of the Japanese but that requires a historian who is capable of reading Japanese sources... once again Louis Allan's book "Burma: The Longest War" is the definitive read on Japanese intentions and assessments).

There is also a curious aside on what must be one of the most hotly debated subjects of WWII: the effectivness and supposed genius of Major Gen Orde Wingate. I will say little of this, but that this is again an Army man (Thompson) evaluating him in Army terms.... I agree with his analyses. I will leave it at that as the discussion is quite long and involved for a book of this length.

All in all the best intro to the Burma campaign available in print. ... Read more

Product Description
The postage stamps of Burma, like stamps of other countries the world over, are a colorful visual record of a unique history. Stamps represent the British colonial government through the Japanese occupation, the British military administration, Burmese independence, the revolutionary council, and the Burmese Way to Socialism. But what of the most significant event in Burma's modern history - the pro-democracy uprising of 1988? No stamp depicts it.

This imaginative book features each stamp issued in Burma through 1988, ending with a series of stamps specially created by Min Sun Min,to be issued, he says, "one day, when Burma is free." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A wonderful history lesson for philatelists!
A beautiful book for a philatelist!There's a lot in here I didn't know; this is an interesting book when learning the history of the region.

an excellent addition to the graphic design library
This is a book by a Burmese dissident turned graphic designer. It traces the design of Burmese stamps, and uses them as a vehicle to exploreeras in that country's history. This book is a fine teaching example of how graphic design is formed by and informs cultural context and how its artifacts remain in the bloodstream of a culture long after an ideology has run its course. Anyone who teaches about the making of meaning in graphic design will do well to add this text to the bibliography. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume asks whether Muslim minorities can co-exist within non-Muslim states. Yegar's new work examines the radicalization of Muslim communities during the nationalist fervour that swept Southeast Asia in the aftermath of World War II. The book traces the theological and political impact of the post-war Islamic renaissance on the creation of Muslim separatist tendencies and heightened religious consciousness. Drawing on archival and secondary sources, Yegar examines three cases of rebellion in Muslim minorities: in the Philippines, in Thailand and in Burma / Myanmar, and the communities' struggle to define their aims - be it for communal separation, autonomy or independence - and gain the means to achieve them. Far from simple religious revolts or the political reaction of a minority against a majority state, Yegar reveals the continuing dilemma facing Islamic communities struggling to decide whether to live with or apart from the non-Muslim world. ... Read more

Product Description
Burma had the brightest prospects of any Southeast Asian nation after World War II. In the years since, however, it has dropped to the bottom of the world s socioeconomic ladder. The grossly misruled nation—officially known as Myanmar—is in the midst of a political transition based on a new constitution and its first multiparty elections in twenty years. That transition, together with a recent change in U.S. policy, prompted this book.

Two military dictators have ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for nearly fifty years. A popular uprising in 1988 was brutally suppressed, but it forced the generals to hold an election in 1990. When an anti-regime party led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won by a landside, however, the generals rejected the results, put Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of two decades, and continued to exploit the country s abundant resources for their own benefit while depriving citizens of basic services. Years of Western sanctions had no measurable impact, but in 2009 the Obama administration adopted a new policy of "pragmatic engagement," encouraging greater respect of democratic principles and human rights as a basis for eventual removal of sanctions.

This thoughtful volume examines Burma today primarily through the eyes of its ASEAN partners, its superpower neighbors China and India, and its own people. It provides insights into the overarching problem of national reconciliation, the strategic competition between China and India, the role of ASEAN, and the underperforming, resource-cursed economy.

Contributors include Pavin Chachavalpongpun (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore), Termsak Chalermpalanupap (ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta), David Dapice (Tufts University), Xiaolin Guo (Institute for Security & Development Policy, Stockholm), Gurmeet Kanwal (Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi), Kyaw Yin Hlaing (City University of Hong Kong), Li Chenyang (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Yunnan University, Kunming), Andrew Selth (Griffith University, Brisbane), Michael Vatikiotis (Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Singapore), Maung Zarni (London School of Economics) ... Read more