I have never read much in the way of history when it comes to Burma. A big fat book about the 14th Army campaign against the Nips and a memoir or two, one from a poor bastard on the Burma Railway, one PBI who actually fought at Meiktella. 
So when I saw this book in the bargain bin at my local supermarket I decided that even if it was awful, it had to be worth $4.99.
It wasn’t awful, it was great. The author is the grandchild of U-Thant and so has a credibility and an insight not available to a non-Burmese writer. The book is modest in size but still manages to cover the whole length of the last millenium while giving a decent amount of space at the end to describe how Burma got itself into the terrible state it is in now, run by muppets in uniform. If you also see this book in the supermarket, buy it. Then be ashamed that you are buying books from Foodland instead of your local independent book seller.
