The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire
InThe Trouser People, Andrew Marshall recounts his ambitious  crisscrossing of contemporary Burma, which emerges as isolated, heartbreaking,  fitfully resilient, and, to Western eyes, certainly, often exotically  unfathomable. Marshall's compass is the life of a now-obscure Victorian  adventurer, Sir George Scott. He draws distinct parallels between British  imperialism and Burma's crushing, present-day military dictatorship. ButThe  Trouser Peopleis less analysis than witty, candid travelogue, highlighted  by excursions into the remote territory of some of the country's many ethnic  minorities. Most fascinating among these are the Wa, former headhunters who now  control much of Burma's drug trade. Through their territory Marshall tramps in  search of a mysterious lake, whose waters, Wa myth has it, were their  birthplace.This muscular, anecdotal narrative, by centering on individuals and the  quotidian complexities of Burmese life, washes a country too often capsulized in  black and white into bright color.--H. O'Billovitch