Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle
Cox, a reporter for theBoston Herald, traveled into the Shan State, the lawless region of northern Myanmar (or Burma) that produces much of the world's opium, to interview Khun Sa, the drug warlord who built himself a jungle empire on drug profits and who styled himself a Shan freedom-fighter. Khun Sa, who has since "retired" and lives in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), is a complex character. This account of bearding the devil in his lair combines thorough research, high adventure, and prose pungent with the odor of poppies blooming on remote mountainsides.