The Hidden History of Burma

The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century by Thant Myint-U is interesting and troubling. The book charts the deeply complicated history of Burma (the name "Myanmar" is quickly eschewed as nativist). Myint-U is a member of several UN peacekeeping operations and his perspective is personal and valuable. A large portion of the text serves to explain how Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's de-facto leader, went from a Nobel Peace Prize recipient to essentially condoning a genocide of Rohingya Muslims. According to Myint-U, she didn't change: the West just never understood Burma in its oversimplified quest for "democracy." It's a fascinating read.

The book isn't perfect, though. Some of the writing is hasty or clunky. We are given explanations for major historical periods in a paragraph or two. Myint-U has a strong personal bias, that he is honest about, but that colors the explanation of events. The Rohingya Genocide, something the book leads up to for 230 pages, is explained in only a short chapter, and I wanted to learn more about this still-evolving crisis. Still, Thant Myint-U knows infinitely more about Southeast Asia than I ever will, and I learned quite a bit from his flawed, but perceptive, narrative.